Leaving his father's study, Tang finally let out a long breath.
"But from this situation, thinking positively, as long as there are no sacrifices and large-scale sacrificial rituals, the Cosmic Dark Side won't be able to penetrate."
If there were other more convenient ways to summon down the contaminated parts of itself, it wouldn't have done this.
Overall, it wasn't an unsolvable problem.
"Nothing should happen in Tingen. The Never-Ending Theater is with me now. Trying to carry out large-scale slaughter in the territory of someone who can seal a '0' level Sealed Artifact carries too much risk of exposure. If I were the Cosmic Dark Side, I would abandon Tingen and go to other cities."
The Blasphemy Sect might have other "0" level Sealed Artifacts, but not many.
Tang walked towards his room while opening the System storage.
The Sealed Artifact formed by the twisted Trick Sorcerer and Winner lay quietly within.
'Sealed Artifact: [A Moment of Luck] (Mutated Niu Hulu Edition).'
'Item Information: Once the Extraordinary characteristics of a Winner, it was combined with the Extraordinary characteristics析出 (precipitated) by the Trick Sorcerer's mental breakdown and death, simultaneously possessing the Extraordinary abilities of both the Trick Sorcerer and the Winner!'
'It possesses some 'living' characteristics.'
'Description: This is a wooden cane inlaid with gold, smooth and flowing throughout. The length of the cane is moderate, ergonomically designed, and one can see phrases left behind in Ancient Hermes script engraved on the cane, roughly translated as 'Brief luck is not lifelong luck.' However, this Ancient Hermes text is now mostly obscured by strange stains, but it still makes one feel that the former owner of this item considered occasional luck quite important.'
'But ever since it stayed with its former owner through thick and thin, through life and death, it seems to have undergone a slight change.'
'This item can passively store luck. When spirituality is injected again, it will grant the wielder a 'surprising' coincidence. Of course, whether this coincidence is good or bad, the Niu Hulu-ed cane does not know. Perhaps you can tell it the tragic stories of its former owner? It will surely be happy to listen.'
'Wielding this item will enhance the wielder's Extraordinary abilities in areas such as divination and anti-divination.'
'As a cane, this item also possesses the functions that a cane should have; when encountering enemies, you can pick up the cane and, while trying your best not to smash the enemy's dog head, transform them into your marionette: when you inject spirituality, the spirit threads of the struck person will initially be controlled after three seconds, and after fifteen seconds, they will completely become the marionette of this item. However, the number of marionettes cannot exceed thirty, otherwise you might become the one with a smashed head. After all, a cane is just a cane, it's not a person!'
'Wielding this item, the wielder can copy their Extraordinary abilities to the controlled marionettes. The maximum number of such special marionettes is five, and the marionettes can only be placed within an 800-meter radius of the cane.'
'Wielding this item, the wielder can exchange positions with the marionettes!'
'Possesses some spell-like Extraordinary abilities of the low and mid sequences of the Magician and Faceless pathways.'
'Negative Effects: It will occasionally bring bad luck to the wielder, after all, luck is conserved.'
'When held long enough, perhaps the wielder will also become its marionette!'
'Note: This item consumes a large amount of spirituality, and it seems to be irrational, occasionally reciting strange knowledge... The best way is to tell it things it likes to hear and soothe its emotions.'
Overall, the Extraordinary abilities of the Trick Sorcerer seemed to have been inherited, but all had been weakened, possibly due to the fusion with the Extraordinary characteristics of the Winner and the weakening caused by its own mad death.
"As for... things it likes to hear?"
This Sealed Artifact, contaminated by 'mad knowledge,' seemed to be very afraid of some knowledge that 'shouldn't be seen or heard.'
Would reciting the Blessed One of the Primordial Chaos and Infinite Heavens a few times directly cause it to die suddenly?
Tang threw this Extraordinary item into the 'Craftsman' module, intending to directly break it down and recombine it. However, Tang thought for a moment and asked the System, "System,"
The System didn't make a sound. It felt like the host was plotting something bad.
"Do you think what it recites could be some secrets of 'above the True Gods'?"
The kind that would cause sudden death upon hearing.
'That... is also possible,' the System said cautiously in its mechanical voice after large data calculations.
"Alright, help me optimize it then, no need to break it down and recombine it." Tang said, "After weakening the negative effects... it's best if it speaks when told to speak, and shuts up when told to shut up, and the things it says are the kind that others 'love to hear.'"
He emphasized the word 'love to hear,' and the System fell silent.
Were you planning to cosplay yourself? Cosplay the True Creator and play with others?
"Is it not possible?"
'It's not that it's impossible, optimization can be done as much as possible, but what it will say cannot be guaranteed.'
The System stammered.
"Enough."
Tang was also satisfied enough.
As for Tang himself being able to hear it... the murmurs of these 'mad knowledge' themselves originated from him. Even if the cane got excited, it shouldn't directly cause him to lose control. Moreover, there was the System's shell. If it didn't work, he would first accumulate a wave of knowledge fragments and prepare 'Knowledge Follows the Person' before trying again.
"In addition..."
Sitting in his room, Tang looked at the Extraordinary characteristics of the Sequence Four Black Knight of the Secret Suppliant pathway, which had been purified, broken down, recombined, and no longer possessed the True Creator's mental contamination.
He felt that he was still missing a mystical item with very strong offensive capabilities.
The Never-Ending Theater was too vast after all, and outside the theater, the 'Proprietor's Ring' was useless.
"A powerful offensive Extraordinary item is still needed."
The Master of Marionettes was ultimately weak himself, and could currently control at most only one marionette.
After thinking for a while, Tang had the marionette that followed him in travel again, and the two returned to the theater. Olson had already sorted out those Extraordinary characteristics and was preparing to pack them up and send them back to his family after leaving the theater.
"I didn't hear anything I shouldn't have heard," Olson said. "When it's daytime, I will write a letter to inform the family about this at the same time."
"Okay."
Tang temporarily didn't tell Olson his guess about the Blasphemy Sect's actions. Through the ability of the 'Proprietor's Ring,' he left the area he had temporarily designated as the 'square' and entered a special space filled with pitch-black curtains hanging from high above, with countless 'stars' flickering with faint light among the curtains.
These 'stars' were all Extraordinary characteristics separated from that huge marionette!
The colorful Extraordinary characteristics hung upside down in the sky. The entire special space was covered with countless black curtains, forming small compartments to isolate each Extraordinary characteristic, rejecting the law of Extraordinary characteristic aggregation while also adding a 'filter' to prevent low and mid-sequence people who saw them from directly going mad and losing control.
The ring on Tang's little finger flickered slightly with white light, and two Extraordinary characteristics fell.
They were the Extraordinary characteristics of a Manipulator and a Noiseless Hunter.
(End of this chapter)