Chapter 497: Distribution (Last day of the month, asking for monthly votes)

3 White Coat Street, inside the 601 apartment.

Lumian, Fors, Jenna, and Anthony looked at the silver-white full-body armor placed in front of them, all falling into silence.

Before reading the corresponding information, they all felt that this sealed artifact was very strong and powerful. That "Light Storm" with short intervals was a complete killing weapon, and even Gardner Martin, a Sequence 5 "Reaper," was willing to give up other magical items for it. But after reading the detailed data, their first reaction was to stay away from this armor named "Arrogance."

On that sealed artifact data sheet, there was a warning written in red ink:

"The betrayal curse originates from the hatred and pain before the fall of a god. Even an angel cannot truly avoid it, only reducing the influence of negative effects to a certain extent. The only solution is to crush this armor and reduce it to a pure Beyonder characteristic. But in that case, it will lose its own specialty—for example, not needing to wait too long, only needing an interval of two minutes to use 'Light Storm' again—and Beyonders who consume the potion prepared from that Beyonder characteristic to complete advancement will also suffer from betrayal within a reasonable range, not too serious, for a long time."

Associating it with Gardner Martin's death scene, Fors, who originally felt the description in the data was too exaggerated, was inexplicably afraid, thinking that the betrayal curse might be more terrifying than imagined.

Lumian looked at Fors, Anthony, and Jenna respectively, discovering that not a single person was willing to take this war trophy.

He smiled and said:

"I'll choose first."

After finishing, he pointed to the Gardner Martin remains left on the coffee table:

"I want the 'Reaper'."

That Beyonder characteristic combined with his finger, forming an exceptionally sharp, white bone-knife-shaped item that emitted a cold, icy light. The holder must be careful enough not to accidentally injure themselves with it.

Immediately following, Lumian cast his gaze toward the blackened bone flute from General Philip:

"I'll trade for this with the 'Hypnotist' Beyonder characteristic and the 'Decency' brooch. Anyway, you guys can't use it."

According to the data provided by "Magician," although this bone flute was very powerful and special, it would cause the user to fall into bad luck related to blood disasters such as injury and death. Only Lumian among those present could resist this negative effect and reduce its influence, not being too unlucky.

Actually, if the resentment of General Philip at the time of his death wasn't so strong, and the bad luck curse formed by the combination of the power of the "Dead" pathway blessed wasn't so exaggerated, Lumian would be relatively harder to bear. After all, no one hoped to be unlucky all the time, even if it wasn't fatal, it would bring great trouble.

—If the bad luck was too strong, it would be equivalent to prying at the fate of Termiboros, which was connected to Lumian's fate. The power of this bone flute wasn't enough to affect an angel.

According to "Magician's" description, the bone flute Lumian named "Dirge of Hatred" had three abilities:

"Simple playing can make it emit a sharp, ear-piercing sound. This can both bring damage at the spirit body level, causing the target to experience dizziness, nausea, convulsions, etc., and can also cause Beyonders whose physique is not strong—equivalent to ordinary adults—to suffer direct blows, or temporary blindness, or sensory paralysis, or internal organ damage.

"The dirge that seems to ring from the depths of the River of Fate will cause the enemy's spirit or body to suffer a weak-point attack. Those with unstable mental states will experience symptoms similar to mania, those with psychological problems will have corresponding hidden dangers erupt, those with excessive desire have a probability of being triggered on the spot, those with existing illnesses or old injuries will inevitably have the corresponding situation worsen, and those who are not lucky enough will become very unlucky. Of course, the player must know a little about musical instruments and know how to play the bone flute, otherwise, it will only produce noise, similar to the effect of simple playing.

"This bone flute is not hard and cannot be used for blocking, but the places it stabs are equivalent to vital points. And if it hits a true vital point, the enemy will either be killed in one strike or will carry the fate of social death for a long time afterward."

Fors saw Lumian place that colorless gelatin with many bubbles and the "Decency" brooch carved into a golden lily on the coffee table, nodding imperceptibly:

"Very fair."

Seeing that Anthony and Jenna didn't object, Lumian took out a deep black cloth bag similar to a coin purse and put the "Reaper" Beyonder characteristic and the "Dirge of Hatred" bone flute inside.

This was one of the true rewards given to him by "Magician":

"Traveler's Bag."

This was a Beyonder item without characteristics, handmade by "Magician." It seemed to only hold one or two hundred coins, but it had another space inside, equivalent to the entire 601 apartment, and could store a large number of items, including that "Arrogant Armor."

"Magician" also did a certain seal inside this item. Beyonder characteristics placed inside didn't need to change positions regularly, and the negative effects of magical items would also be significantly reduced.

Similarly, "Traveler's Bag" needed to be resealed and reinforced every six months, otherwise, it would become ordinary and no longer have magical abilities. In that situation, if the items inside couldn't be taken out in time, they would be lost in the Spirit World and difficult to find back.

Likewise, Fors also received a "Traveler's Bag" as a reward.

After taking his share, Lumian looked toward Anthony Reid, signaling this "Psychiatrist" to choose.

Anthony smiled bitterly:

"I contributed the least, so I'll take this 'Hypnotist' main material. I feel my psychological problems are considered cured, and I can consider advancing."

In his exchanges with Lumian, Fors, and the others, he often heard some words and sentences that seemed to contain a lot of occult knowledge. He was very restrained and didn't ask, but under the influence, he still understood quite a few laws and essences that he wouldn't have thought of before. A door to a new world seemed to have been opened before his eyes.

"No problem." Fors didn't act coyly and let Anthony choose more. She directly said to Jenna, "I want that mirror fragment left by the fake Martin."

That item called "Mirror World Fragment" by "Magician" was not only a clue for her subsequent investigation into the state of the "Primordial Witch," but it also had a certain specialty itself:

After using it to reflect a target, it could create a corresponding "Mirror Person," but it couldn't replicate things with divinity, and the maintenance time couldn't exceed five minutes.

The "Mirror People" created using that fragment were of two types: one was the shallow mirror image type that completed replication within ten seconds, and the other was the deep inversion type that took one minute to succeed. The former, as long as the original owner hadn't changed gender, was still in the original state, similar to those Fors and Lumian had encountered before, but these mirror people were relatively weak, only equivalent to the original owner at a certain stage in the past, and didn't possess abilities like "Mirror Substitute." The latter were those they encountered this time, perfectly replicated, and possessed special features.

Of course, for a "Pleasure Witch," the practicality wasn't strong. Since you've already used a mirror to reflect the opponent's figure, why not just cast a curse directly instead of creating a "Mirror Person"?

"You can take another one." Lumian said to Fors, "You don't need to be humble. In the few battles this time, your contribution was second only to mine."

"What do you mean by second only to you?" Fors scoffed, while moving the "Decency" brooch a little toward her direction.

The remaining war trophies were only that small wooden box painted with dark paint and equipped with a leather curtain on each side, and the "Arrogant Armor." Jenna didn't hesitate and chose the "Powerholder's Dark Box" item.

According to Lumian's retelling, her lucky coin no longer brought extra luck, only exerting effects in certain special scenarios. Therefore, she didn't feel she could resist the betrayal curse of the "Arrogant Armor"—if she were arrogant enough not to recognize even this and blindly relied on luck, Gardner Martin's end was a bloody lesson.

The "Powerholder's Dark Box" was used by holding a valuable item, reaching into the dark wooden box from the side "curtain," and handing it to the hand-shaped object that reached out, stating one's request. This could make complex things simple and difficult things easy.

Of course, the goal one wanted to achieve must have a sufficiently clear target and couldn't be described too vaguely. For example, one couldn't directly say "I want a certain Beyonder characteristic or magical item." One needed to find the corresponding Beyonder characteristic or magical item but be unable to reach a deal, then make the request. That could make the seller change their mind and likely give a very high discount.

Such "dark box operations" had many application scenarios, and could even allow two humans with deep hatred to reach a reconciliation through a handshake inside the box—what they were shaking hands with wasn't actually the other party.

The "Powerholder's Dark Box" belonged to the active remains of blessed power, had no Beyonder characteristics, and could only be used nine more times. The negative effect was that after each use, one might encounter a transaction from evil creatures like devils.

Watching Jenna put away the "Powerholder's Dark Box," Fors said with a smile:

"I want to trade the 'Decency' brooch for that black 'Primordial Witch' statue, or trade it for clearing the debt?"

According to the opinion of "Justice," she intended to take this special statue to test the reaction of the Witch Sect and exchange it for their rewards.

"This, this is everyone's war trophy." Jenna responded blankly.

Fors said with a smile:

"No, it's yours. At that time, only you, who was carrying the lucky coin, could take it, so it belongs to you.

"Simply put, this is the harvest of 'luck'."

Jenna looked at Lumian and Anthony respectively, seeing them both nod slightly, indicating agreement, before muttering:

"Damn, you guys make me feel very embarrassed... I'll take the 'Decency' brooch. The debt still has to be paid back personally to have meaning."

As she spoke, she handed the black "Primordial Witch" statue to Fors, while she herself put away the "Decency" brooch carved into a golden lily.

Finally, everyone cast their gaze toward the silver-white "Arrogant Armor" and fell into silence once again.

After a long while, Fors shouted:

"Charles, you keep it. Treat it as a public item that anyone can use.

"Currently, only you and I can carry it conveniently, and you are about to go to Santa Port in the Gaya Province of the Feynapot Kingdom. You won't be able to borrow my 'Mirror Substitute' anymore. At critical moments, the use of this armor will be very great."

Lumian had already decided to go to Santa Port in the Gaya Province of the Feynapot Kingdom next to investigate the prayer-to-the-sea ritual there and search for the traces of "Fool's Day" core members "Bard" and "Salted Fish Superman."

ps: Last day of the month, asking for monthly votes~

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 498 =====