A false alarm

It must be said that Kronos's imagination is truly exceptional. The Word-Mantra can enhance one's own power, and then the Eye of Time, after being enhanced, can be used to examine the future of the Lucky One Cane.

In reality, the Lucky One Cane was simply crafted from the Beyonder Characteristic of Sequence 7 "Lucky One," and theoretically, Kronos should have been able to foresee a part of its future.

However, what he wants to see now is quite special. It's not just about the future of the Walking Stick. If we only look at the future of the Walking Stick as an object, then it will probably remain in Kronos's hands for the next year or two.

However, what Kronos wanted to see was the outcome of the Luck Judgment, which could be the beginning of another possible Timeline, hence Kronos's caution.

His Spirituality rapidly drained away, and Kronos even felt a stinging pain in his brain and eyes. Just before his Spirituality was exhausted, Kronos vaguely saw the Lucky One Cane emit golden light, followed by a scene indicating success.

Upon seeing this result, Kronos did not hesitate to withdraw his gaze from the Timeline of the Walking Stick and then closed the Eye of Time.

At this point, Kronos was almost Spirituality depleted, and the best option was to immediately close his eyes and meditate.

But no, the future he had just glimpsed might change if there was any delay, so Kronos quickly got up and pulled out the Walking Stick in front of him.

Using the last bit of Spirituality he had left, he communicated with his Walking Stick and then activated the luck assessment.

Golden light flashed across the Walking Stick, lasting for ten seconds before abruptly ceasing and the golden light illuminating continuously. Kronos then heard a voice say, "Successful assessment."

The prediction was indeed successful. Because the timing of this prediction was so unusual, Kronos was worried that he might have seen something else on a different Timeline.

However, even though the assessment was successful, it is not advisable for Kronos to immediately delve deeper, as he is currently in a state of Spirituality depletion.

So Kronos sat down again, preparing to finish his "Nine Secrets" meditation for the day ahead of schedule. This would allow him to improve his condition and increase his chances of success should a battle come later.

The entire luck assessment takes about an hour, while completing the entire "Nine Secrets" meditation takes forty-five minutes. Therefore, Kronos did not spend five minutes on each hand gesture, but kept the overall time to about thirty minutes.

After completing his meditation, Kronos felt refreshed. Although his Spirituality had not fully recovered, it was sufficient.

He pulled the Lucky One Cane from the ground in front of him, then gripped the Elf Charm in his hand and began heading West of the Village.

Having already surveyed the entire village from above and confirmed that the source was in the West of the Village, and now, with the Eyes of Mystery Prying activated, a simple assessment suggests that the source of the black power has likely remained unchanged.

This is a good thing. If the source of the power is a living thing, it will definitely take action upon discovering such a significant change in the village.

Since nothing has changed, it means that the source is either inanimate or dormant, which greatly reduces the difficulty.

Kronos slowly made his way West of the Village, his muscles tense. His Eyes of Mystery Prying remained open, constantly monitoring the movements of the extraordinary power, ready to respond immediately should anything change.

Fortunately, even when Kronos reached the area where the black power was most concentrated, the power permeating the air remained completely unchanged.

Perhaps because a considerable amount of time had passed, these five courtyards in the West of the Village were now filled with a very strong energy, and these courtyards belonged to the families in the village who were ill.

Kronos knew that this was why the power hadn't spread completely yet. In a few more days, the people in the outermost circle would probably start to get sick noticeably, until it spread throughout the entire village.

It's just unknown whether the epidemic will worsen over time. If it does, then the first few families to fall ill may not see the epidemic spread to the whole village.

However, because these four or five courtyards were already permeated with a dense black power, it was difficult to find the source from the outside. The only way was to go inside and search little by little.

The time allotted for determining luck hasn't passed yet, so Kronos might encounter danger in the last courtyard or a stroke of luck in the first. As for what will happen, he'll have to discover it for himself.

Because everyone in the village had evacuated their homes in such a hurry, almost no one had time to lock their doors, so Kronos didn't need to jump over the wall and simply pushed the door open to enter the courtyard.

Because the Eyes of Mystery Prying was never closed, Kronos could discover clues by carefully examining everything.

So he started from the courtyard, his eyes not missing anything, even carefully observing the ground.

Then there were the houses, thatched huts, and even the outhouses built by the villagers themselves; Kronos went inside to take a good look at all of them.

After Kronos finished looking through the first courtyard, his heart sank, because he saw nothing. That basically meant that what he was looking for was dangerous, so luck had allowed him to escape unscathed.

Human instinct tells him that since it's dangerous, he should leave; he shouldn't be so stubborn about some things, and he should give up when necessary.

But another voice in my head, the voice of reason, said that since there was no movement, it meant that whether it was an inanimate object or a living thing, there was a high chance of dealing with it. This could be an opportunity.

Kronos didn't let the two voices fight on indefinitely. In the blink of an eye, he made a choice and decisively pushed open the door to the second courtyard.

But still, nothing was found. Then came the third and the fourth, and still nothing was discovered.

Standing at the entrance to the fifth courtyard, Kronos had only seven minutes left in his lucky streak, which was probably not enough for a protracted battle.

However, if his opponent completely overwhelms him, or if he decisively runs away, he should still be able to win.

Kronos gripped the Charm in his hand tightly; it was his only hope for a comeback. He could barely manage Sequence 5 strike, and if he ran afterward, he should still be able to save his life.

Slowly pushing open the courtyard Gate, Kronos found the layout and furnishings to be similar to the previous houses. He carefully stepped into the courtyard.

There was no response, so Kronos began to observe the things in the courtyard. However, he did not focus on the courtyards as intently as he had on the previous ones. Instead, he kept more than 80 percent of his attention on his surroundings.

There was nothing unusual in the courtyard, so Kronos entered the house. But as he continued to observe, there was nothing unusual in the house either. Then, there was nothing unusual in the storeroom, nothing unusual in the shed, nothing unusual in the outhouse—there was nothing unusual anywhere.

What's going on? How can it be gone? If that's the case, where did this black power come from? Can it appear out of thin air?

Having no other option, Kronos could only conclude that his observations were not thorough enough, and had no choice but to re-examine the courtyards.

However, by this time, Kronos's lucky streak had passed, and he would have to rely on his own efforts to overcome any future challenges.

After another careful investigation, Kronos finally discovered an unusual location.

In the very first courtyard he explored during his initial round of investigations, luck was on his side, but he simply didn't notice it.

Just outside the back wall of the first courtyard, there is a small mound. According to the Eyes of Mystery Prying, this mound possesses extraordinary power, and it is not weak at all.

However, by this time, Kronos had confirmed that it was an inanimate object, which made things easier. Whether it had Beyonder Characteristic or Beyonder Item, it was an opportunity for Kronos.

Kronos took a rake from the thatched hut and gently pushed down the mound of earth, revealing the carcass of a cat.

Cat carcass?

Could it be that someone actually bred an Assassin cat like in the novels?

Does anyone actually do this kind of crazy stunt?

But to be able to raise a Sequence 5 cat, one must at least be Demigod, right?

I wonder if disturbing this cat's grave will anger that Demigod?

So Kronos didn't move, but instead replaced the Eyes of Mystery Prying with the Eye of Time, hoping to find some answers.

But as soon as Kronos's gaze fell on the cat's Timeline, he sensed something was wrong. This wasn't a Sequence 5 Assassin cat; it was at most Sequence 8, because Kronos could easily see very far.

As he delved deeper into the Timeline, Kronos came to understand the cause and effect.

This cat was originally a wild cat from the mountains. It would occasionally come to the village to beg for food. The adults in the village were busy making a living every day, so they didn't have the compassion to feed a cat. Therefore, it was the children in the village who fed it.

The child in front of us was the one who liked the cat the most, and the stray cat was always well-fed whenever it came.

About twenty days ago, this cat ate a black, jelly-like thing in the mountains. Less than a minute after eating it, it felt extremely uncomfortable.

They wanted to ask for help, and the first person they thought of was this family's child.

If that jelly were an Assassin's Beyonder Characteristic, the cat might have survived, but unfortunately, it was Sequence 5 "Demoness of Affliction" Beyonder Characteristic.

The power of its Beyonder Characteristic rapidly eroded the cat's body, so it couldn't hold on until it could seek help from the children in the house.

Later, the cat's body was discovered by the family's child, who was very sad and buried it outside his back wall.

In fact, the disease-causing power it emitted did not come from Beyonder Characteristic; otherwise, the entire village would have been wiped out in a single day.

This small amount of power was the same power that eroded the cat's body, and it only dissipated after the cat died.