[Welcome to Soul Blossom, lost Summoner.]
A ethereal voice startled Leo awake. He sat up, only to find himself lying under a blue sky.
Blue sky... this was something children in Zaun would never see in their entire lives. Kids born and raised in the Zaun ravines could only look up to see massive metal pipes and various roaring mechanical tanks. As for the sky they might glimpse by sneaking into the Upper City, that wasn't Zaun's sky.
Looking around, Leo's expression was utterly bewildered.
He saw that the ground here was pure white, the sky a vibrant blue. In front of him, where he sat up, was a colossal light screen. Its edges were adorned with strange, ink-wash style animal patterns, though Leo couldn't identify the creatures. He looked elsewhere on the light screen and saw endless white mist emerging, seemingly concealing something on it.
"This..."
Leo rubbed his eyes, then pinched the back of his hand. Feeling the pain, he stood up, and a thought spontaneously arose.
"A cheat code?"
Leo, with his maxed-out adaptability, beamed with delight.
Transmigrating to a godforsaken place like Runeterra without some kind of cheat ability really wouldn't make sense!
But... Soul Blossom?
Wasn't Soul Blossom just a skin universe?
No, wait a minute, to be precise, Soul Blossom wasn't strictly a skin universe. More accurately, it should be considered a sub-world of Runeterra. If Runeterra was a material plane, then Soul Blossom was a spiritual plane.
Isn't Yone's story a perfect example?
Calming down, Leo stood up and walked to the light screen, reaching out to touch it.
"Pop—"
His hand passed through the light screen, as if popping a bubble. The screen dissipated, revealing a large canvas before Leo. It was covered in white mist, but he could still discern various large black question marks.
At the same time, something appeared in Leo's mind.
[Name: Leo thorn] [Race: Selectable - (Human Soul / Spirit Monster / Undead Demon)] [Soul Strength: 2 (Scattered Soul)] [World Exploration: 0] [Current Items: None]
Leo reached out and touched "Human Soul."
Even now, he still didn't understand what his "cheat" was all about. Descending into the Soul Blossom world... what was the use of descending into the Soul Blossom world?
Could it help him become stronger?
But the question was, could his physical self become stronger?
If only his spiritual realm grew stronger, what was the difference from playing a game?
Yes, having a game to play was cool, and in the two cities, gaming could pass the time. But the problem was, was this the time for him to be playing games?
[Race confirmed as Human Soul.]
[Due to map exploration being 0, the first descent will be to a random location.]
[Proceed with descent?]
[Yes / No]
[Descent Attempts (3/3)]
Leo nervously clicked "Yes." The next moment, his hand, which had touched the canvas, felt a powerful suction. Accompanied by swirling currents of air, the pure white ground, the azure sky, the entire small world, along with Leo, was sucked into the canvas.
The light and shadows dissipated, and his feet found solid ground. Leo looked at the world before him, his pupils constricting slightly.
He couldn't see the sky because towering purple trees obscured his view. He couldn't see far ahead either, as half-human-height weeds grew rampant, making it difficult to discern the path.
But the pervasive purple color told Leo one thing: he seemed to have randomly arrived in a very dangerous place...
In the Soul Blossom worldview, beings were divided into two factions: the serene Spirit Blossom (明昼) and the chaotic Nightshade (夜幽). And now, he had clearly come to the Nightshade territory.
Because purple was the dominant color of the Nightshade. Heroes of the Nightshade faction, led by Thresh, were all depicted in dark purple.
In his mind, the ethereal voice sounded again:
[Summoner, based on your Soul Strength, this descent will last for half an hour.]
[Map discovered - Purple Imprisonment Mountain]
[Map Exploration: 0.01%]
[Accumulated rewards in progress.]
[Good luck, Summoner Leo.]
"Exploration?"
"Rewards?"
These two keywords significantly eased Leo's initial anxiety. Under the mysterious transcendent power of Runeterra, there was no reason why Leo couldn't bring these rewards back to the material realm. Therefore, whether he would end up as mangled pieces in the sump depended on how effective this "cheat" would be!
With this thought, Leo began his exploration.
But in such a directionless place, with weeds as tall as a person and trees like a vast sea, Leo's progress was arduous. Like a headless chicken, Leo pushed forward stubbornly.
Watching the descent timer count down, Leo realized he had walked for thirteen minutes, but the surrounding scenery remained the same, and the exploration progress hadn't increased. This gradually made Leo feel a little irritable.
Just as he was thinking this, a strong wind, carrying a pungent odor, suddenly blew past.
Leo instinctively turned around, blinking his eyes, and saw a body wearing the same tattered Zaun clothes as him, standing rigidly with its back to him. The difference was, that body had no head.
Huh... wait, isn't that me?
Leo blinked again, this thought instinctively forming in his mind.
The next second, his vision went dark, and Leo lost consciousness.
[Detected living creature in Purple Imprisonment Mountain. Relevant bestiary unlocked.] [Purple Imprisonment Mountain Exploration Value +3] [Purple Imprisonment Mountain registered as Descent Point #1] [Accumulated rewards being distributed... Award received - Soul Value 0.3!]
"Damn it!"
With a loud curse, Leo awoke, finding himself back in the Soul Blossom space, under the blue sky and white ground. Before him was the large canvas, now displaying the data from his recent descent.
Leo stood up, walked to the canvas, studied it for a moment, and then touched the [Purple Imprisonment Mountain Bestiary].
The next second, the canvas transformed. A nine-square grid appeared, and in the first row, third column, a purple, hedgehog-like creature appeared on the canvas, lifelike and looking rather top-heavy.
[Nightshade Beast] [Species: Spirit Creature] [Soul Strength: 15 (Scattered Soul)] [Danger Level: Low] [Description: Lost souls that found no way home, long lost within the Purple Imprisonment Forest. Without a guide, they gradually forgot themselves, becoming unconscious wandering spirits of Purple Imprisonment Mountain, transforming into mountain spirit creatures.]
"This thing killed me?"
Leo looked at the hedgehog-like purple creature, his scalp tingling.
Nightshade Beast. He really was in Nightshade territory.
Then, Leo saw the words below the bestiary entry, green-colored: [Activate].
Leo pressed it.
[Activated Purple Imprisonment Mountain Bestiary entry three, gained Power +3]
Leo blinked. Power...
His own character panel only displayed Soul Strength. So what was this "Power"?
Closing the bestiary, Leo looked at his personal data again, only to find that his Soul Strength had become 2.5.
The exploration reward only added 0.3 to his Soul Value, so the extra 0.2... was that the reward for activating the bestiary entry?
Did Soul Strength equal combat power?!
He clenched his fist, but felt no obvious change in his body.
After some thought, Leo reached out and touched the canvas again.
The white mist on the canvas stirred, and a black question mark vanished. What appeared next was a mountain, and Leo's mouth twitched as he looked at it.
[Purple Imprisonment Mountain]
On the canvas, purple trees obscured the sky, and eerie purple clouds encircled the small mountain.
The reason Leo's mouth twitched was that the shadowy outline of this mountain directly brought to mind a particular figure.
Behind Purple Imprisonment Mountain was a black silhouette. This shadow had a pair of curved long horns, a towering figure, with an unclear face and clothing, but he could vaguely make out that it was holding a lantern-like object in its hand.
Ah,
Who else could that be?