Honey Juice

Tomb Ghosts did not have normal human bodies. Half their bodies were buried in the earth, and these skeletal creatures liked living in damp soil.

Recently, however, many so-called adventurers had attacked their village, forcing them to crawl out of the ground and fight.

Whenever they died, their souls returned to the village altar, where their bodies were reconstructed and they were resurrected through corpses. However, their memories from their previous lives did not survive.

And so, many Tomb Ghosts in the village died, and many Tomb Ghosts were resurrected.

Those Tomb Ghosts who had never died all felt the threat posed by the adventurers.

Death was not frightening. What frightened them was that their memories would not follow them to the resurrection altar.

So the older generation of Tomb Ghosts banded together, leaving the resurrected young adults to suffer at home while they went out to gather spacetime stone powder.

At last, today, the Tomb Ghosts completed a grand summoning ritual.

Above a pitch-black pool, mist drifted upward, condensing into an indescribable mass.

Its oppressive presence completely overwhelmed the cave's eerie atmosphere.

Feeling an invisible force burrow into his body, the old ghost presiding over the sacrificial ritual pressed his forehead against the edge of the pool and raised the vine basket in his hands.

The basket, woven from plant vines, held a pool of unidentified dark brown liquid.

Holding the vine basket aloft, the old ghost prayed, "Great Cthulhu, our mountain village faces a crisis of frequent adventurer invasions. Please grant us the ability to retain our souls' memories!"

As the old ghost spoke, he wondered whether such a request might be too difficult to fulfill.

But gods were omnipotent. He firmly believed that.

If Cthulhu did not respond, it would mean their offering was not precious enough, not worthy enough.

"This is Honey Juice, treasured by our village for a hundred years!"

"Please accept your servants' offering!"

He set the vine basket on the pool. The indescribable mist enveloped it, and before long, the basket vanished without a trace.

Great Cthulhu also heard their request.

They wanted to retain their souls' memories?

Wasn't that asking too much? What could I do to let my followers retain their souls' memories?

Ke Meng went through his skill list, examining each entry.

Retaining a soul's memories ought to fall under soul-related skills.

As an evil god, he had considerable expertise in manipulating souls.

Let me see what soul skills I have, Ke Meng thought.

At the sacrificial site, all the Tomb Ghosts heard indistinguishable noise pouring into their heads. Their skulls felt ready to split, and hallucinations began to flicker before them.

Before long, Ke Meng found a soul-related skill called Soul Harvest.

Soul Harvest: Harvests the target's soul and stores it in an extradimensional space. It can serve as one of the materials for creating a Ghost Apostle. (Only usable when the target dies.)

Ke Meng understood. This skill was one of the steps in creating a Ghost Apostle.

So, should I harvest their souls?

Ke Meng saw the crowd of trembling Tomb Ghosts. Their offering was not anything bloody or evil, either. He decided to let it go and spare them this once.

Too lazy to keep looking, he casually activated Group Random Buff Magic.

Humm.

Invisible ripples spread from the pool. Some Tomb Ghosts burst apart and died, some sprouted branches, and some turned into giant monsters.

Others transformed on the spot into rising masses of holy light. With a boom, golden rain exploded across the air, its droplets falling like arrows over more than half the tomb.

The vast majority of the Tomb Ghosts were hit, instantly losing four-fifths of their HP. Some light arrows dealt critical damage, killing their targets outright.

But some were lucky, gaining several levels and becoming elite monsters. With the added title of "Elder," they brimmed with confidence.

Very satisfied with the scene, Ke Meng ended the sacrificial ritual.

Where in the world could anyone get whatever they asked for? As a major boss, Ke Meng naturally did not need to worry about much. He simply answered their prayers with Random Buff Magic, guaranteeing absolute randomness without any rigging behind the scenes. Fair and impartial, with no cheating young or old.

Some time later, Ke Meng opened his eyes and saw that, sure enough, another vine basket had appeared on the floor.

The basket was pitch-black all over and seemed shrouded in mystery, giving him a hazy, bewildering impression. It seemed not to be woven from vines, but made of water.

The basket contained dark brown Honey Juice. He had no idea what that stuff was, and it felt just as mysterious.

Big Fur Dog had woken up too and was nudging Ke Meng on the bed.

Big Fur Dog had grown larger again. His shoulder height was now at least a meter, putting him in giant-dog territory.

His food intake had not increased, though. He was still fed a single dried fish.

Big Fur Dog whined, feeling terribly wronged. His owner clearly had a whole bag of dried fish, yet gave him only a tiny bit.

After feeding the dog, Ke Meng fed the cat, staring into Big-Faced Cat's eyes as he did.

Fifteen seconds later.

Strange knowledge had increased!

Ke Meng looked dazed. At last, he knew what the Tomb Ghosts' mountain village had sent him.

Honey Juice

Anything coated in Honey Juice becomes a mysterious existence, prompting people to imagine a mysterious backstory for it. It does not change any materials or increase strength.

The vine basket was currently one such mysterious existence, giving Ke Meng an impression of some inexplicable backstory. It was clearly made of woody vines, yet it made him imagine vines woven from flowing water.

It really was a very bizarre thing.

He just did not know whether viewers would get the same impression of a mysterious backstory if he filmed it.

To test the effect, Ke Meng decided to use Chen Momo as his video test subject later and ask whether she felt anything mysterious about it.

Ke Meng put on gloves, moved the vine basket into the spare bedroom, and set up a camera.

Then he fetched a toothbrush, dipped its bristles into the dark brown Honey Juice, held it there for two seconds, and pulled it out. The bristles had all been stained dark brown.

A few seconds later, the dark brown color faded at a visible speed, and the bristles soon turned white again.

Looking at the white bristles, Ke Meng felt a mysterious impression.

It was as though the toothbrush in his hand was a new kind of craft item combining modern chemical engineering with all-natural stone.

This mysterious impression kept encroaching on his thoughts, trying to twist his perception and make him believe the toothbrush's bristles were made of stone, while his perception of the toothbrush's body remained unchanged.

But Ke Meng knew that was false. The bristles were not made of stone.

A dozen or so seconds later, Ke Meng returned to normal. He no longer thought the toothbrush's bristles were made of stone, nor did he think the vine basket was made of water.

You successfully resisted mental interference. Resistance +0.1.

The system sent a notification showing that Ke Meng's resistance had increased to 2.1.

"Oh, so resistance can increase." This was the first time Ke Meng had learned that he could gain resistance outside of quests.

Thanks to the system notification, Ke Meng had also unraveled the mysterious mechanism behind Honey Juice.

Honey Juice affected an observer's brain through mental interference, causing the brain to automatically imagine an item backstory with a mysterious premise.

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