Eye of Amotava
Bai Xiaowen rushed straight to the altar behind Eliki, reached into the offerings placed before the Hydra Statue, grabbed them, and ran.
Spirit Realm Rules Message:
"You have obtained 10 Netherworld Grass".
"You have obtained 12 Ghost Hydra Eyeball".
"You have obtained 3 incense sticks."
"You have obtained an unknown item *1".
Bai Xiaowen glanced at the notification and chuckled to himself. Since he was leaving anyway, he might as well make the most of it, and getting a dozen or so Ghost Hydra eyeballs was already a pleasant surprise.
Ghost Hydra exist in the Pale Mire, but they are rare, and are usually surrounded by Swamp Hydra, making them difficult to find and eliminate. The fact that the Snakefolk Tribe offered the eyeballs of Ghost Hydra as tribute was unexpected for Bai Xiaowen, but upon reflection, it made sense.
The Ghost Hydra is a mutated Many-Headed Snake that has absorbed negative energy such as Ghost Mist. In the eyes of the Snakefolk, it is roughly equivalent to a divine beast Divine Favor. Using them as tribute is similar to how local officials in ancient China presented white deer to the emperor as auspicious omens. Aren't white deer just deer with albinism?
The Snakefolk warriors who had been chasing after Bai Xiaowen were even more enraged to see Desecration the Snake God, and they rose to give chase. However, Bai Xiaowen activated the speed-up skill on his shoes and ran so fast that the Snakefolk quickly lost sight of him.
Of course, this was also related to the chaos within the Snakefolk Tribe. Although at the central altar, Eliki used her Divine Descent to drive away Qi Ruifeng and other Hero Class in one fell swoop, outside the tribe's high walls, a large number of Awakened students were still chasing the Snakefolk troops, and the sounds of battle and shouts could be heard everywhere.
If there were no other awakened individuals and Bai Xiaowen was the only one, it wouldn't be so easy for him to escape after killing the two Boss Tier of the Snakefolk Tribe.
Taking advantage of the chaos, Bai Xiaowen hid in a stone house decorated with seashells, took a few deep breaths, and began to examine the treasure chests of the two level 7 BOSSes.
Both bosses have Battle Rating of A, and each has 3 draws that will not be missed.
Bai Xiaowen was not surprised by this Battle Rating. In comparison, Eliki's strength was clearly superior to Kasares, who was the overall Boss Tier of the entire Snakefolk Tribe. However, Kasares was killed by Bai Xiaowen alone, which earned him extra points in the Battle Rating, while Eliki was killed by Bai Xiaowen and Li Shuyi working together.
Bai Xiaowen first opened Kasares's treasure chest and randomly selected three cards from the eighteen gold cards.
"You have acquired the equipment: Sea Serpent Trident."
"You have obtained an equipment Enhancement Card: four-star."
"You have obtained 5 Superior Psionic Crystal."
[Sea Serpent Trident (Bind on Pickup)]
[Quality: Heroic Tier (Gold)]
[Equipment Slot: Two-Handed]
[Equipment Requirements: Base Strength 20, Base Agility 20]
[Attribute: Additional Attack Power 15~30]
[Additional Skill: Spear Throw: After charging, throw the trident in a direction, hitting the first target in its path (whether friend or foe), dealing heavy damage and knocking them back. Cooldown: 8 hours.]
[Durability: 35/40]
[Note: Get out of the way, you bunch of useless trash!]
This Gold Equipment trident is Polearm Weapons, characterized by its incredibly high attack power, which is typical of two-handed golden weapons. Polearm Weapons also have the slowest attack speed among two-handed weapons.
As for the additional Spear Throw skill, it is undoubtedly one of the BOSS Kasares's skills, and its effect is outstanding. However, be careful not to accidentally injure friendly forces. When Bai Xiaowen scanned Kasares's data and intelligence, he was thinking about whether he could use this skill to trick Kasares's teammates. However, this idea did not have a chance to be realized - the Vengeful Spirit had drained Kasares's Divine Might, and the opponent was unable to release this skill from beginning to end.
The other two items that were revealed, Four-Star Equipment Enhancement Card and Superior Psionic Crystal, are both great items for enhancing equipment; getting them is definitely worthwhile. Bai Xiaowen was even planning to buy some more equipment Enhancement Card to level up his equipment.
Kasares's treasure chest was a decent find, but Bai Xiaowen was even more excited about Eliki's. As the Boss Tier of the Snakefolk Tribe, and possessing the extraordinary skill of Divine Descent, Eliki was practically a Rare Boss, if not quite. The Dark Gold Tier patterns on her treasure chest alone were enough to prove its exceptional quality, placing it a level above ordinary Boss Tier ' chests.
Bai Xiaowen selected the first card.
"You have obtained the item: Alert Stone."
[Alert Stone: A-Tier item, two stones forged by magic. If one shatters, the other will shatter regardless of the distance between them. Can be used across dimensions.]
Upon seeing this item, Bai Xiaowen recalled the group of Lobsterfolk who were on guard at the entrance to the circular mountain road in the Pale Swamp. As an enslaved race of the Snakefolk Tribe, they should possess a Alert Stone, which they would crush immediately upon the invasion of an enemy. Once the Snakefolk Tribe's Boss Tier Eliki, sensed this, she would immediately issue an order for the Snakefolk Tribe to hide within the Internal Isolation Array.
This is also why previous Awakened Ones hadn't discovered the Snakefolk Tribe during their explorations of the Dead Spirit Lake. In fact, if Bai Xiaowen and Li Shuyi hadn't used their Gliding skills to land directly in the Pale Swamp and discovered the Snakefolk beforehand, he would have had a hard time uncovering the hidden truth about the Snakefolk Tribe.
For Bai Xiaowen, the Alert Stone doesn't have any special use yet. It's mainly used to transmit messages in the Spirit Realm, but it can only transmit the simplest "safe/danger" information, so it's not very valuable in the Spirit Realm exploration.
After much thought, the Alert Stone can only be given to my younger sister Xiao Jun, or to family members like Li Beihai. That way, if Bai Xiaowen and Li Shuyi are delayed in returning from their adventures in the Spirit Realm, it won't cause them too much worry.
Bai Xiaowen clicked on the second card, and a flash of light appeared, revealing an icon of a Gold Equipment —a bracer.
[Matriarch's Bracer (Bind on Pickup)]
[Quality: Heroic Tier (Gold)]
[Equipment Slot: Wrist]
[Equipment Requirements: Base Strength 17, Base Agility 20]
[Attribute: Strength +2]
[Additional Skill: Whirling Dance: Passive, increases melee attack speed by an additional 20%.]
[Durability: 34/35]
[Note: In the matriarchal society of the Snakefolk, the female chieftain must possess exceptional physical abilities to command respect.]
This bracer is a pretty good Gold Gear. The 2 points of strength are just a bonus; the main improvement is the additional 20% attack speed from the Whirling Dance skill. Keep in mind that this is a passive skill, and the 20% attack speed is a permanent effect.
However, the somewhat awkward situation is that neither Bai Xiaowen nor Li Shuyi currently meets the equipment requirements. Bai Xiaowen is 1 point short of basic agility, while Li Shuyi is 1 point short of basic strength. In this case, they can only improve their basic attributes through Enhancement Potion to meet the equipment requirements.
Fortunately, Bai Xiaowen and Li Shuyi hadn't used the Enhancement Potion many times. Bai Xiaowen had used it twice, both times during the Non-Awakened stage (once for strength enhancement and once for agility enhancement), while Li Shuyi had only used it once, so the success rate of enhancement was guaranteed.
Given that the Whirling Dance skill increases "melee attack speed", this bracer is more suitable for Li Shuyi.
Bai Xiaowen clicked on the last gold card and received the following message: "You have obtained the item: Withering Petal".
Bai Xiaowen stared blankly at the few Withering petals in his hand, speechless. These "Withering petals" belonged to the miscellaneous items category, similar to the "underwear with writing" that Bai Xiaowen obtained after killing the Little Bai envoy Elliott in the Aaron Plane World.
"This Grand Boss Tier's Golden Treasure Chest was a bit disappointing; it only dropped one piece of Gold Equipment, a rather unimportant bracer. The other two draws were even worse..."
Bai Xiaowen muttered something and put the items into her Storage Space.
In this raid on the Snakefolk Tribe's altar, Bai Xiaowen killed two bosses and, in addition to two Golden Treasure Chest, also retrieved some offerings from the altar. The "Netherworld Grass" and "Ghost Hydra Eyeball" are self-explanatory, but Bai Xiaowen doesn't know what the remaining two items are yet; he'll have to take a closer look.
Among them were three incense sticks, which, like the Withering flower petals, were worthless junk.
The last offering was a round stone the size of a fist, dull and lacking any apparent value.
Bai Xiaowen frowned. Incense was of little value; it could be understood as a special item needed for sacrifices. But would the Snakefolk Tribe use an ordinary, worthless stone as an offering? What was the meaning behind this?
Bai Xiaowen used his Insight Talent on the stone and was surprised to receive a notification that 100 Psionic Points had been deducted. A thought struck him; this further confirmed that this stone was no ordinary object.
"It's just 100 Psionic Points, I've got plenty of money. Pay up!"
After Bai Xiaowen made the payment, the surface of the ordinary round stone glowed slightly. However, after the light dissipated, the stone's description remained Transformation: miscellaneous items.
Bai Xiaowen then received a second hint.
"Unknown factors have interfered, resulting in a deduction of 10,000 Psionic Points. Pay now?"
"Puff..."
Bai Xiaowen felt like he was going to vomit blood. At the same time, he felt his left eye twitch slightly and he felt a stinging sensation.
Bai Xiaowen quickly realized that the "unknown factor interference" in the prompt message was probably interference from the Eye of Evolution. The fact that 10,000 Psionic Points had to be deducted to appraise such an ordinary round stone further proved that the origin of the round stone was far beyond Bai Xiaowen's expectations.
"Payment."
A faint red light emanated from Bai Xiaowen's left eye.
As the red light shone upon the round stone, a strange thing happened: large chunks of dust and stone chips peeled off its surface. Finally, a bright green vertical pupil was revealed.
Spirit Realm Rules Message:
"You have obtained a special item: the Eye of Amotava. This eye contains a mysterious and powerful force."
He spent 10,000 Psionic Points, only to receive a simple description, nothing more. Bai Xiaowen gripped the fist-sized, emerald-green vertical pupil, frowning as he carefully examined it.
"Did the female boss, Eliki, use this eyeball when she cast the Divine Descent?" Bai Xiaowen had a good memory, and he quickly recalled.
Could it be that this special item can be used to activate the Divine Descent? Thinking of the two aura skills of the Divine Descent, the Despair Aura and the Shadow Aura, Bai Xiaowen felt a surge of excitement.
Bai Xiaowen shook her head, quickly dismissing the idea.
It's true that this eyeball is the medium for initiating Divine Descent, but the essence of Divine Descent should be to invite a god to possess one's body and borrow a portion of the "god's" power. Bai Xiaowen believes that this skill must have a prerequisite: faith in the target "god," Amotava.
BOSS Eliki's profession is "Amotava Faith Priest," so she has no problem with faith and can get a response from Amotava. But if Bai Xiaowen uses this skill, Amotava probably won't even hear it. Even if it does, it will just turn over and continue sleeping, ignoring Bai Xiaowen.
Even if Bai Xiaowen could activate the Divine Descent, he wouldn't want to. Activating the Divine Descent would halve all his attributes, and permanently, unless Amotava returned the sacrificed life force...
"At least one thing can be analyzed: the ' Eye of Amotava ' is a special item beyond my current level, involving issues of faith and Divine Might."
Bai Xiaowen solemnly put the eyeball away. He didn't think that Psionic Points was a waste; it could only be considered an advance investment.
Does God really exist?
If this question were asked in the Common Era, when science was advanced, most people would give a definite answer: it doesn't exist.
However, in the Psychic Energy Era, the answer to this question is uncertain.
At least, judging from the devout attitude of the indigenous people who believe in various gods in the Spirit Realm Plane, gods definitely exist.
Ninety-six years have passed since the dawn of the Psychic Energy Era, and awakened beings are exploring the Spirit Realm Spirit Realm Plane and uncovering its secrets. Increasing feedback suggests that God exists. Some experts even claim that as humanity continues to evolve, it too will one day reach the level of God.
According to Bai Xiaowen's speculation, gods are probably just beings whose ability to control Psionic Particles has reached a certain level. They are essentially still living beings, only their level of evolution is much higher than that of humans, awakened beings, and Evolver. That's all.
Unfortunately, very little information about Evolver and even higher-level powerhouses is circulating on Earth. Even now, Bai Xiaowen only knows the most basic things, such as that those below level 10 are Awakened, and those above level 11 are Evolver. It seems that an unseen hand is covering up this information.
Furthermore, information about Advanced Awakened is rarely disclosed to intermediate and lower-level awakened beings.
If Bai Xiaowen had access to intelligence from a higher level, he should be able to make a more reasonable inference.
"Psionic Points wasn't a bad deal. Perhaps this eyeball can help me uncover some secrets about God."
A longing welled up in Bai Xiaowen's heart. If he could, he would certainly want to evolve into a god, not only out of a thirst for power, but also out of curiosity about the unknown: What would it feel like to become a god? Would one truly be omniscient and omnipotent, immortal?