The logic has reached a deadlock here. If Gray doesn't leave, he will die from acclimatization problems. If he goes back, he will still die from acclimatization problems. Even if he goes to the Wilderness of Chaos, strange rules will still erode him.
It's going to be tough for Gray to survive...
Ed glanced at Gray's left arm, which had been mostly replaced, and narrowed his eyes slightly.
After a long while, he looked at Willow seemed a little unsure of what to do:
" Willow, could you tell me again about the Psionic Energy Formula you used on the corpse of the Soul Returner?"
Ed is referring to the spell Willow used on the remains of the [ Dark Archmage ]. Her operation successfully created a new, unique plant within Ed's Root Network that did not originate from him. It felt like an external machine had been connected to the local area network. Ed still vividly remembers the scene where he and Little Green were reconciling accounts in his mind.
"Yes, the name of that technique is [ Imbalance ], and there's a similar one called [ Disorder ], both of which were created by my mother."
Willow introduced them as if they were her own treasures:
"If the ' Imbalance ' is successfully released, it can selectively alter the subject's physical coordination, causing specific mutations."
"' Disorder ' is even more radical, completely disrupting the subject's physical balance and causing it to develop in an unknown direction."
As Ed listened, he mentally used Little Green to perform a localization translation:
These two techniques are clearly designed to target four special attributes, and they are extremely valuable in actual combat. It's just unknown whether players will be able to learn them.
Imbalance means concentrating all special attribute points on a single special attribute. Willow must have chosen plant, which is why the [ Dark Archmage ]'s unconscious but still valuable body became an unclassifiable tree. If all attributes were transferred to Mechanical Compatibility through Imbalance, that corpse might have become a twisted, gigantic part...
Disorder is essentially a random reset of all the target's special attribute points and their random distribution. Take players, for example. Each player's body is compatible with special attributes. If Disorder is released on the transformed [ Lion Hidden in the Eyes ], causing his Animal Compatibility attribute to drop, his body will immediately be unable to withstand the power of the half-dragon and will disintegrate. Furthermore, the increase in other attributes will bring more negative effects. The greater the difference between the new attribute points and the previous attributes, the more severe the negative effects brought by this area will be.
What a ruthless Psionic Energy Formula...
After reaching level ten, Ed took the time to carefully observe the so-called Soul Returner. He discovered that as players spent more time in the World of Disorder, not only did their physical bodies gradually become stronger, but their souls also became more resilient.
This is how the soul and body can always remain in sync. It would be strange if Ed simply created a super soldier and stuffed the player's soul into it.
This aligns with what Willow said earlier: the underlying logic of this world is the concept of the soul, and players can only unleash their full combat potential when their bodies and souls are in harmony.
Willow's two skills can be considered a special attack against the Soul Returner. Unlike the natives, almost all players enter the World of Disorder with the mindset of playing a game. Therefore, most of them will naturally have an unbalanced skill point allocation, which makes their ability to withstand risks lower than that of ordinary native individuals.
Fortunately, this lich, still in her developmental stage, is now a member of her own faction. If she had joined the Tree Worship Church back then, who knows what kind of powerful Psionic Energy warlock she would have faced later...
Ed put aside his whimsical ideas, listened to Little Green's translation, and looked at Willow:
"I need you to cast the first spell."
"To whom?"
Ed remained silent, his gaze fixed on Gray system had crashed again.
"Huh?"
"To allow him to survive here, we must improve his compatibility, or rather, affinity, with the plants."
Ed earnestly expressed his thoughts:
"Being in this state means he can't kill Blood Corpse, and without killing Blood Corpse, he can't become stronger. Therefore, he has no attribute points to allocate to Plant Compatibility, and his save file is dead..."
Willow didn't know what attribute points were, but she could roughly understand what Ed meant. It was a consensus among demons that the tempering of battle would make an individual stronger, and Ed didn't need to explain anything further. In Willow's opinion, it was just that his way of expressing himself was a bit problematic. For example, even if one became stronger, an ordinary individual couldn't choose which aspect of their personality to be strengthened. But she didn't interrupt Ed and continued to listen.
"His current Mechanical Compatibility is insufficient to overcome the rules here, so his body is experiencing acclimatization problems, or rather, Rejection. In that case, it would be better to abandon mechanical affinity altogether. I need you to use a spell to transfer his mechanical affinity to the plant realm. This way, he can not only adapt to the rules and environment here, but I can also further repair his body."
"I plan to replace all the metal components with wood, and use plant tissue to replace the parts that cannot be perfectly replaced, thus transforming him into a... half-tree person."
Willow finally understood; Ed wanted her to help Gray reset his stats.
She had never done such a thing before. Although she was a lich who prided herself on her knowledge and research, the spells of Disorder and Imbalance were always used to attack enemies.
Ed's intention is to make her, the butcher, perform surgery on someone. Although the same Psionic Energy Formula is used, it sounds utterly absurd to anyone who knows even a little bit about the inside story.
"Me, me?"
Willow pointed to herself, feeling that unless her mother were resurrected within her, it was absolutely impossible.
Ed's gaze became serious and sharp:
"Yes, it's you. Only you can do this right now."
"But what if I accidentally transfer too many..."
Ed nodded:
"Then he'll just die in an instant."
Ed, instead of his usual mildness, was adding fuel to the fire.
Sure enough, Willow's reluctance to retreat became even more obvious upon hearing this.
Ed knew that saying something like that once was enough; saying more would only cause unnecessary anxiety, so he changed direction and continued his little combo of stirring up trouble:
"I thought that challenging the unknown was something liches excelled at, but it seems I was wrong..."
"Crunch."
Willow gripped her staff tightly and looked intently at Ed:
"I'll take this job."