Chapter 261: The Painting Banquet

"Silence?"

"What's the use?"

Yun Mu smiled.

Not to mention that her base attack power is as high as 60 points, even if she couldn't cast spell skills, it wouldn't have much of an impact. Furthermore, if only she were silenced, didn't she still have teammates? She had already acted just now and couldn't continue to cast skills anyway; this silence was thrown completely without meaning.

"You play as poorly as an AI."

Yun Mu mocked casually, letting Lucy use the skill 【Blade Constellation I】 to attack the enemy that had revealed an opening.

"Hah!"

Lucy raised her palm, and dazzling starlight gathered in it, then transformed into the shape of a sharp blade, stabbing toward 【Painting Spirit: Starry Sky】! 【-55!】

A scarlet damage number jumped out from above the enemy's head, and under Yun Mu's slightly surprised gaze, the health bar of 【Painting Spirit: Starry Sky】 was instantly emptied.

When did Lucy get so fierce? 30 points of Spell Strength, Immoral Notebook +5, Path Desire +5, the damage modifier for Blade Constellation I is +35%, plus the 20% damage modifier from the Sword Mastery trait, and 5 points of armor penetration, 12 points of defense... huh, it seems about right.

It seems that spending a large amount of Gold Coins to upgrade Lucy earlier was the right choice; now she can even one-shot small monsters.

Sigh.

Thinking of how Lucy's damage used to be low and how she would be beaten into a Near Death state by enemies at every turn, Yun Mu felt a moment of emotion.

【You have won a battle!】

【Detected effect of player Path 【Desire】, roll the Dice? Yes/No】 "Of course."

Looking at the game prompt popping up in her mind, Yun Mu nodded without hesitation.

Every time a battle ends, she counts on this! The familiar 20-sided Dice appeared in her mind, and as Yun Mu gave a light mental tap, the Dice began to spin rapidly.

Rumble... Yun Mu stared fixedly at the image of the spinning Dice, and as its speed slowed down, a font emitting a silvery-white glow appeared before her eyes.

【17】

【Affected by 【Desire Dice】, the loot you harvested in this battle has increased by 17%!

You obtained 【Gold Coin】 *1845!】 (Desire Dice +17%, Pickpocketing +8%)

【You obtained a large amount of EXP!】 (Desire Dice +17%)

【You obtained item 【Faded Starlight (Green)】】 【Faded Starlight (Green)】

【A special crystal formed after absorbing starlight, containing the power of the stars within. Placing it in a scene with sufficient starlight can restore the energy inside.】

【When the energy is fully restored, the item 【Faded Starlight (Green)】 will be converted into 【Starlight (Green)】】

"Not equipment?"

Yun Mu picked up the gray-black crystal on the ground and said with slight disappointment.

"This is a crystal condensed from the power of stars; the power inside has been exhausted." Lucy moved close to her side at this moment, looking at the crystal in her palm as she spoke.

"Lucy, do you know how to use this thing?" Yun Mu looked at her with some curiosity.

"Mm." Hearing her question, Lucy nodded: "Star Crystal is a relatively common alchemy material; besides that, the star power stored inside can also drive some alchemy items."

"Also, um..." After thinking for a moment, Lucy looked at her and said: "It should also be able to be used as a material for a painting. In fact, that monster just now was created using this Star Crystal as a material."

"Hm?" Yun Mu realized there was something else hidden in her words.

"Are we in the Painted World right now?" she said.

Thinking carefully, didn't the enemy encountered just now have a trait called 【Spirit in Painting】 in its attribute bar? Does it mean the spirituality within a painting? The monster's name is 【Painting Spirit: Starry Sky】; could it be saying that it is the spirituality within a painting titled 【Painting: Starry Sky】?

"That's right, that's about it."

Yun Mu voiced her thoughts, and after listening to them, Lucy nodded in agreement.

She looked up at the ceiling, where twisted colors were tangled together in disorder, constantly shifting to form the top layer of this space.

Besides that, all directions, even the ground they were standing on, were the same.

Looking back in the direction they came from, the mechanical Gate that had blocked the two of them had disappeared; if they wanted to go back, they would likely hit the air wall that Miss Yun mentioned.

"We can only try moving forward; if we keep going, we might find a way out." Lucy looked at Yun Mu.

"Not going to try walking back to see?"

"No, there's probably..." Before Lucy could finish her sentence, she saw that Yun Mu had already turned and started walking in the direction they came from.

And unsurprisingly, she bumped into the air wall.

"Damn it, I don't approve of games that don't hide items in corners!" Yun Mu slapped the air wall in front of her with some unwillingness.

She had certainly guessed this would be the result, but sometimes, as a game enthusiast, she just couldn't control her urge to explore the map.

She wouldn't give up until she had explored everything! "Miss Yun, if there really were any special items, Chester, being a Treasure Chest monster, would have discovered them immediately." Lucy, following behind her, patted the Treasure Chest monster that Miss Yun had named Chester with some helplessness.

She added immediately: "When it comes to treasure hunting, they are the professionals."

"Gaba gaba!" Chester nodded proudly in response.

"Fine, fine, I know you're amazing." Feeling the emotions coming from the contract, Yun Mu rolled her eyes, then took Lucy, as well as the Scarlet Knight and the Goblin Brave, and walked toward the direction she considered to be forward.

Before long, the Painted World seemed as if it had been punctured, disappearing from their field of vision in the blink of an eye.

They had returned to the original corridor!

"Miss Yun, look here." Lucy poked her shoulder at this moment, signaling her to look behind them.

"Huh, what's this?"

A wall blocked the path behind them, and hanging in the center of the wall was a painting.

The pattern on the painting was a starry sky, but this starry sky looked like a child's casual graffiti; messy pigments were mixed together without any pattern, forming countless stars.

This was an Oil Painting, and Yun Mu could clearly see the shocking brushstrokes remaining on the work.

However, the painter had likely made it look like this on purpose; even the current Yun Mu would not have the ability to achieve such an abstract effect.

"We were likely inside this painting just now." Lucy made her judgment. Painting Spirit, Painting Spirit... so that's what the Dungeon name meant?

Yun Mu nodded thoughtfully, then looked at the walls on both sides of the corridor.

The small windows that had appeared every certain distance before had already disappeared, replaced by white candles hanging on the walls, burning slowly.

"Do these candles have any special meaning?" Considering the decryption process just completed, Yun Mu walked up to the candle closest to them and looked up to observe it.

"Perhaps, but it's not apparent for now." Lucy followed by her side, watching the burning candle, and shook her head.

"Let's record it first."

Saying this, Lucy raised her hand and used Alchemy to craft a stone tablet, recording the appearance of the burning candle.

"Let's go." Putting away the crafted stone tablet, Lucy looked at Yun Mu and said.

"Mm." Yun Mu thoughtfully compared the pattern on the stone tablet with the candles in reality, surprised to find they were nearly ten-tenths identical.

"Does Miss Lucy know how to paint as well?" She asked curiously while catching up to her.

"No, I don't." Lucy denied.

She looked at the stone tablet in her hand: "It's just some small tricks, much like the cameras of the Frost Kingdom; it can only replicate the patterns of images in my mind."

"Without a concrete concept of the appearance, I have no way to perfect it and paint it onto paper."

"Ah, to be precise, I don't know how to use a Paintbrush to paint at all."

"It is merely an application of Alchemy."

"I see." Satisfied with her curiosity, Yun Mu stopped speaking and quietly moved forward into the depths of the corridor together with Lucy.

Along the way, the two observed the appearance of other candles, and after comparing them with the images on the stone tablet, they discovered that all the candles were exactly the same.

Even the length of the burn was identical!

This further solidified the idea that there was something wrong with these candles.

And after advancing for about three or four minutes, a familiar stone wall blocked their path.

"Mm, this decryption doesn't look too difficult either." Lucy stared at the mechanical ring on the stone wall and said after observing it for a moment.

"How so?" Yun Mu, who was beside her, asked curiously upon hearing this.

In truth, she wasn't completely without a clue herself, but compared to using her own brain, she was more willing to wait for her teammate to finish the decryption.

After all, thinking hard was actually quite troublesome.

"The stone ball in the center of the ring this time should represent the table, and the six rings surrounding it can be simply divided into five identities based on the patterns."

"The King." Lucy pointed to the pattern of the man wearing a crown and sporting a thick beard.

"The Queen." This is a woman wearing luxurious clothing and a queen's hat.

"The Prince." This is a young man with a determined gaze, sharp features, and wearing something similar to a military uniform.

"The Princess." A Young Girl wearing a beautiful Western-style dress, dancing gracefully in the image.

"The Knight." A Soldier holding a sword in both hands and wearing full armor.

"This... um, Old Man?" The last pattern depicted an old man with an impassioned expression, as if he were telling something.

"The number of candles in each pile is exactly six, corresponding to the people in these patterns."

"The length of the candles represents the nobility of the status; the longest candle is the King, followed by the Queen, then the Prince, and so on. Therefore, the order should be..."

"The Princess, the Knight, the King, the Prince, the Queen, and finally the Old Man."

As Lucy spoke, she turned the ring on the Gate.

As she turned the Old Man on the outermost ring to the corresponding position, a familiar trembling sound rang out, and the wall blocking the two immediately sank into the wall structure.

At the same time, the familiar choice of branching paths appeared in Yun Mu's mind.

【Suiji Shijian】

【Battle Area lv22 (Elite)】

The space opposite the Gate seemed to be cut into two, the area on the left shrouded in fog, where nothing could be seen, while on the right, Yun Mu clearly saw a Faceless One holding a Paintbrush, waiting for her arrival there.

It looked like another Painting Spirit, but she didn't know what painting the other party represented this time.

However, compared to the Battle Area, the 【Suiji Shijian】 side seemed more attractive to her.

After all, with a random event, anything is possible.

Having made up her mind, Yun Mu walked toward the left.

And the moment she took her step, the space leading to the 【Battle Area】 on the right instantly dissipated, as if it had never existed, leaving only a straight corridor leading to the 【Suiji Shijian】.

【You have encountered 【Painting: Banquet】. In this painting, people are holding a banquet for a certain festival. The mayor, as the host, warmly entertains you and invites you to attend the banquet together at night. You decide—】【1. Gladly agree. (Go to the Painted World, enjoy the festival, enjoy the banquet.)】【2. Politely decline. (The Painted World is fake after all; this banquet is not worth attending!)】【3. You monster, reveal your true form at once! (You think you can fool me with this low-level trap? Great Wei Heavenly Dragon!) 【Battle Option】】【4. Ask the mayor what kind of festival this is? 【Charm Option】】 "Does this even need thinking?"

Yun Mu looked at the painting floating before her and the game options popping up in her mind, and without hesitation, she chose option 4.

Just kidding, when it came to Charm, she still had some confidence.

After all, as a hidden attribute, although Yun Mu could not view her own Charm value, various skills, traits, and equipment items had already increased her Charm attribute many times.

A mere mayor, watch me handle this with ease.

【You ask the mayor what kind of festival this is. Because of your Charm, the mayor agrees without much thought.】 Nice, she knew there would be no problem!

【Ghost Festival. It is said that on this night, the dead will return to the Xianshi. Because they resent those who survived, they will attack the living, and if one does not want to be dragged into the underworld, one needs to disguise oneself as a ghost to confuse the dead.

And in order to let the dead return to the world of the dead contentedly, the town will also hold a sumptuous banquet to let those who have died return to the underworld after they are full. As the mayor speaks, you notice an old knight in the painting. He looks a bit dim-sighted, wears flashy but impractical armor, and has a long sword hanging at his waist.

Can such an old man really be qualified for the job of a knight? You cannot help but think so.

Out of curiosity, you decide】【1. Ask the mayor about that old knight. (Might get some useless information?)】【2. Ignore it. (Forget it, he's just an old knight, what does he have to do with you?)】(End of chapter)