The sky was vast and clear, sunlight warming the soft green grass, releasing a fresh, sleep-inducing fragrance.
Xia Zhi sat on the grass, his gray eyes looking into the distance, pupils lightless.
He had gone blind.
But not completely blind.
Although his eyes could no longer see any scenery of this world, because of the system's existence, he could clearly sense everything around him even with closed eyes.
It was a miraculous feeling, like having a god's eye view.
Whether in front or behind, zoomed in or out, even down to a speck of dust on his hair, Xia Zhi could sense everything clearly - countless times clearer than his original eyes.
However, this sensing ability had limits - he could only perceive within a twenty-meter radius around himself.
Beyond twenty meters was complete darkness.
Xia Zhi sat like this, lost in thought for a while.
At some point, he came back to his senses and called up the system interface.
He opened [Shop].
Then opened [Recycle].
Two options appeared on the interface:
-
1. [Virtue Template]
Quality: Gold
Type: Template
Property: Anti-Divine
Effect: Quantifies rationality, maintains sanity until pressure reaches 200
Hidden Effect: +30% Virtue probability
Recyclable: 100 points
2. [Radiant Wings]
Quality: Diamond
Type: Special Equipment
Properties: Sky Soaring, Light Healing, Void Breaking
Effect: Automatically masters flight, all light magic spells level 5 and below, all spatial magic spells level 3 and below
Hidden Effect: Initial favorability with Sky Soaring species starts at "Friendly,"favorability growth rate +100%
Recyclable: 10,000 points
Xia Zhi stared at the system interface, pondering for a moment.
The [Virtue Template] came from the newbie package that was converted to an anti-divine property package.
The [Radiant Wings] came from opening the diamond chest obtained from that deity's progress bar.
One was gold quality, one was diamond - the gap was too large to compare them.
The Virtue Template was specifically anti-divine type, offering resistance only when facing deities, mostly useless otherwise.
More critically, he still had the terrible debuff Torment: [Obsession]. Attribute Penalty: [-25% Damage, -5 Precision, +2 Speed, +10 Evasion]
As long as his pressure didn't decrease, [Obsession] would continue affecting his rationality.
Earlier, when making eye contact with the deity, his normally cautious nature should have made him choose to teleport immediately when the world coordinates locked. But under [Obsession]'s influence, he chose to stay and risk everything.
Though he succeeded and got a diamond chest reward, it cost him his eyes.
Xia Zhi disliked this feeling of deviating from his true nature. Without hesitation, he chose to recycle the [Virtue Template].
"[Virtue Template] recycled."
"Obtained 100 points."
"Torment [Obsession] effect removed."
"Pressure quantification effect removed."
"Warning, host's sanity approaching collapse!"
A splitting headache suddenly struck him as negative emotions rapidly grew from within. Mad whispers seemed to echo in his ears again.
"System, block."
The world became quiet again. Xia Zhi closed the [Recycle] interface and returned to the [Shop].
He quickly filtered through items and found what he needed.
[Spirit Calming Pill]
Quality: Silver
Type: Consumable
Property: None
Effect: Calms mind and spirit
Hidden Effect: None
Price: 50 points
He purchased it, and a small bottle of pills appeared in his hand.
Opening the bottle, he took one pill.
Xia Zhi stared blankly into the distance with his lightless eyes, waiting for the medicine to take effect.
"System, unblock."
Everything was normal.
The hidden danger was resolved.
Time to consider the important matters.
Xia Zhi stood up from the grass, using his god's eye view to look at the soft grassland within his twenty-meter radius, falling silent again.
Where exactly am I? Which direction should I go? Why do all directions look the same?
When in doubt, there's no choice but to spend more points.
Standing still, Xia Zhi opened the [Shop] again, browsed for a while, and his gaze settled on an item.
[Divination Staff]
Quality: Silver
Type: One-time item
Property: Lucky
Effect: Points to the best direction from current location
Hidden Effect: None
Price: 30 points
Xia Zhi glanced at the item next to it, also a [Divination Staff], but with platinum quality and changed from "one-time item" to "permanent item," with a price of 3,000 points.
Experiencing a platinum item at one-hundredth the price was acceptable.
Xia Zhi chose to purchase it, and an exquisite wooden staff appeared in his hand, feeling comfortable to touch.
He placed the staff upright before him, let go, and it wobbled before falling in a particular direction.
After five seconds, the staff mysteriously vanished from the ground.
Xia Zhi looked up and silently walked in that direction.
Given the unclear situation and his partial blindness, despite having [Radiant Wings], it was better not to fly for now.
Along the way, he kept his god's eye view active, carefully observing everything within his twenty-meter radius.
The terrain didn't change much, mostly flat.
He often saw small animals - rabbits, birds, and such eating fruits by the roadside, but they showed no progress bars, likely because their rank was too low to qualify.
When tired or thirsty, Xia Zhi would stop to pick fruits he'd seen birds and beasts eating.
The taste was somewhat sour and unpleasant, but generally not poisonous.
The sky gradually darkened, red sunset glow tinting the grass and trees, dreamlike.
Xia Zhi stopped, staring at the horizon with his lightless gray eyes.
Though his vision was limited, he could still glimpse how beautiful the world was at this moment.
"I really wish I could open my eyes and see properly."
Xia Zhi murmured, then moments later awoke from his reverie, shook his head, and laughed freely.
"Getting to live another life is already extremely lucky. As for my eyes, there will surely be ways to restore them in the future."
He continued walking forward.
The sky grew darker, and the wind turned cold.
Though his god's eye view system detection allowed him to walk freely even in darkness, nights could be more dangerous than days, so it was best to find a place to rest properly.
There was a thick tree ahead, so Xia Zhi walked toward it, planning to spend the night in its branches.
The night grew deeper.
Xia Zhi closed his eyes, leaning against the trunk, maintaining a light sleep state of alertness.
Suddenly, a clear, melodious cry of distress reached his ears.
It sounded like some bird's painful cry after being injured.
Xia Zhi awoke from his light sleep, immediately scanning his surroundings but finding no danger.
Still, he couldn't relax - danger might lurk beyond his twenty-meter range.
The mournful cry came again.
It seemed to be calling for help.
Xia Zhi carefully determined the direction - it was exactly where the lucky staff had pointed.
He leaned against the trunk, silent for a while, but finally climbed down from the tree. With Holy Judgment in one hand and Spatial Transfer in the other, he slowly walked in that direction.
After walking about a hundred meters, Xia Zhi came upon a large crater that looked like it had been made by a meteorite.
In the center of the crater lay a beautiful, injured celestial crane.