In the bedroom before starting the game, Fang You recalled the horrific battle from the night before.
"Brother Black Blade killed the Mysterious Evil 'Knocking Child' in two moves, which seemed easy, but in reality... it was still quite dangerous."
"The main issue was the energy consumption."
Last night, Fang You had noticed that after using two 'Blade Slash' moves to kill the Knocking Child, Black Blade's breathing became much more rapid, clearly indicating a significant physical exertion.
After all, there was no mana bar on the panel.
He surmised that using skills might consume physical strength, or possibly both physical strength and spirit power.
This was yet to be determined.
He could only verify this when he had skills of his own.
'Black Blade'
'Physique: 2.6'
'Spirit: 1.2'
'Mystery: 0.1'
'Skills: Basic Swordsmanship (Beginner), Blade Slash (Beginner), Mysterious Evil Tracking (Beginner)'
'Equipment: Novice Warblade'
Um, there are more than just two-dimensional attributes, after Black Blade killed the Mysterious Evil last night, an extra line 'Mystery' appeared, he had already explored Black Blade inside out last night, but couldn't figure out the meaning of 'Mystery'.
It seemed like nothing more than a decoration.
He guessed that 'Mystery' might be the equivalent of experience points.
After all, gaining experience from killing monsters... that made sense too.
Let's wait and see if there will be any changes later.
"In my hands now, I still have one Physical Fitness Elixir, two Double Benefits Cards, and four Skill Training Cards."
"Leaving aside the Double Benefits Cards, the other two items are usable on Black Blade."
"Especially the Skill Training Cards, which I can't use but Black Blade can. According to the instructions, they improve the proficiency of a certain skill, equivalent to several months of hard training."
Awesome!
Fang You was tempted, but unfortunately, for now, they could only be used on Black Blade.
He was not reluctant to use them; after all, the wool comes from the sheep. Brother Black Blade was his only Apostle of Fate, and without Black Blade, he would hit a bottleneck.
It's not like he could enter the fray himself and stand a chance!
Fang You used the Elixir.
'Alert: Gave the Apostle of Fate·Black Blade "Physical Fitness Elixir," Black Blade's Physique increased from 2.6 to 2.8.'
The improvement was a bit low, probably because Black Blade's physique was already so strong. The higher it was, the harder it would be to improve, which made sense.
He wasn't too surprised.
He then picked up the 'Skill Training Card' and used it on Black Blade.
.....
The space was empty, with walls on all sides shining with metallic luster.
Black Blade was wielding his warblade, chopping, striking, slashing, flicking... He trained the basic swordsmanship over and over again.
Suddenly,
he paused, his pupils filled with astonishment, surprise, and more confusion, but it quickly all calmed down.
Under the mask, he had no expression, no emotions.
He just continued to swing the basic swordsmanship, mechanically, tirelessly practicing.
As was his body, so was his heart.
As if he could maintain this posture, continue training for decades, for centuries.
Until at a certain moment, it felt as if something inside his body exploded.
....
'Alert: Black Blade's skill "Mysterious Evil Tracking" has improved to Proficient.'
'Alert: Black Blade's skill "Blade Slash" has improved to Proficient.'
'Alert: Black Blade's skill "Basic Swordsmanship" has improved to Proficient, Physique increased from 2.8 to 3.1.'
What Black Blade felt at this moment was not clear to Fang You.
Outside of the projection state, he could not tap into Black Blade's perspective; he could only see from the panel that Black Blade's skill proficiency had gone up an entire level.
From the beginner level to the proficient level, the change must be substantial, right?
'Mysterious Evil Tracking' and 'Blade Slash' were key skills, Fang You immediately upgraded them for Black Blade. After hesitating for a moment, he used another Training Card on 'Basic Swordsmanship'.
He didn't believe there were useless skills.
As expected,
"Improving basic skills can also lead to a boost in physique?"
"Perhaps other skills work as well, just the improvement isn't as noticeable?"
"So, the improvement in basic swordsmanship could not only enhance one's physique but also potentially make Black Blade's sword skills even more exquisite?"
These were all his guesses.
The panel only provided simple descriptions that weren't intuitive.
However,
once he dispatched Black Blade on a mission and spied on... observed Black Blade's combat, he'd be able to find the answer.
...
Fang You gave Black Blade a 'rest' command.
After patiently waiting for about two hours, during which he played several matches and saw the capitalized "FAILURE" on his screen, Fang You silently tossed his phone aside.
"Damn game, ruining my youth!"
"I might as well go save the world."
He picked up his old phone running the Savior Game, opened the mission dispatch module, and chose a mission point closest to him.
A one-star mission.
The rest was unknown.
Fang You was also a bit nervous.
Black Blade, my buddy... you can take down that little Mysterious Evil, right?
'Ding!'
'Prompt: Please select the Apostle of Fate to dispatch. Currently available: "Savior of Destiny," "Black Blade."'
Of course, he could choose both.
There were three black boxes on the screen.
Fang You chose Black Blade, solo.
'Prompt: Since Black Blade is a special Angel Envoy, deployment is required. Would you like to deploy this Apostle of Fate? Current deployment locations are:'
'① Within a 100-meter radius centered on the Savior of Destiny.'
'② Around the mission site, random deployment.'
...
Whoosh whoosh~!
The wind howled, and the sky gradually darkened, as if signifying that something unfortunate was about to happen.
"Why did it turn cloudy all of a sudden? This is just too bad."
"Wei Ge, what should we do? Should we wait for the sun to come out before we go?"
Two young men wearing black trench coats crossed the external cordon and walked into the construction site, which had ceased operations.
The slightly younger-looking Ke Yuan turned his head and asked.
The young man to his left had his hands deep in his exceedingly large pockets, his gaze unwaveringly fixed on something in the distance.
The entire construction site was silent.
No sign of people could be seen, with only the wind whistling as if it had isolated the site from the outside world.
"Wait? We can't wait."
"That sort of thing is like a time bomb, liable to explode at any moment. We don't have time to wait, and what's more, there is a residential area all around. If that thing moves and hides in a place crowded with people..."
Gulp.
The young investigator Ke Yuan swallowed hard.
He understood the seriousness of the situation, or perhaps it's more accurate to say that when it came to that sort of thing, there were no trivial issues.
The Investigation Bureau.
Formally called the Supernatural Investigation Bureau, also known as the Seventeenth Bureau, it's responsible for investigating and dealing with abnormal events lurking beneath reality.
It was established just seven years ago.
But such abnormal events used to be very rare; however, in the past few months, the situation suddenly became severe.
Ke Yuan was a new recruit who came on board during this period, after some time of training. He was recently assigned to the Baijiang City branch of the Bureau.
He had also participated in several investigations with Wei Ge.
It's just that the previous incidents were mere suspicions, showing some abnormal traces, but whether or not those things were present, they couldn't determine.
It's uncertain.
Investigating mysterious events and coming up empty-handed is common. There are also times when investigations reveal them to be just regular or human-made incidents.
Ke Yuan was really hoping for the latter.
Dealing with those things is never not dangerous, even though they are the honored investigators. In reality, their understanding of these things is minimal. Invisible and intangible, they vanish like smoke after being exorcised, as if never existing. It's through experience and deduction that they've gained some understanding of those things.
For this incident, other units had sent over some scene photos. After analysis by the City Investigation Bureau... the probability of that type of thing existing at this construction site was as high as 99%!
If they didn't encounter it, there was only one possibility: that thing had moved!
Between the two, Ke Yuan hoped he would come across it.