"What exactly is your relationship with the Shrine?" Xu Yuan asked.
"It is me, and I am it. One body, two parts," the Paper Strip said.
"I see. I thought you two were a couple... Is there anything you need me to do?"
Xu Yuan asked again.
"You need to win the 'Peerless Hero' challenge. Then we can gain the power to rebuild ourselves," the Paper Strip said.
"...All right. I'll do my best."
Amid the broken stones and tiles,
the offering table still stood intact.
An incense burner rested on it.
Three sticks of incense quietly appeared from the Void, settled into the burner, and began to burn, sending up curls of blue smoke.
"What's this?" Xu Yuan asked.
"In the Corpses-witnessing ritual, you won the battle of sacrifice and unlocked our system of powers."
"I turned the powers of the three branches into three sticks of incense. Look at them, and you'll see the details."
The Paper Strip spoke.
Xu Yuan looked at one stick and immediately sensed the power within it.
"Gaze System."
"First basic skill: Disruption."
"Description: While an enemy is under your Gaze, they continually lose sanity for three seconds. Once per minute, until the day they die." He looked at the second stick.
"Whisper System."
"First basic skill: Whisper."
"Description: Create a piece of history unknown to anyone, or known to all... (omitted) (a small portion has been mastered)." That was the Paper Strip's ability.
The third stick.
"Dimension System."
"First basic skill: Deep Dive."
"Description: Choose a secret and conceal it in an Abyss Dimension beyond anyone's perception, so no one can learn of it."
After reading them, Xu Yuan clicked his tongue in admiration.
"These abilities are all ridiculous. If I'd lost to that Oddity just now, it could've learned more and