Chapter 705: Fate Appropriator

Black... In fortune, this represents encountering disasters related to one's own death... Does the color not being rich enough mean that this disaster only brings the possibility of death rather than inevitability, or is there still a certain hope of solving it? Hmm, look at others' more often later, maybe I can find rich black, which might mean that as long as I choose the corresponding tributary, the fate of death is already doomed... Lu Mian maintained his observation of Franca and "Madame Hela's" fate and made corresponding guesses.

Because the tributaries were constantly changing, Lu Mian couldn't grasp the target's future fate very clearly, and could only peek at one or two of them. The black "mark" allowed him to confirm the focus very intuitively.

This was not mentioned in the mystical knowledge that came with the "Fate Appropriator" power. Lu Mian deeply suspected that it was the unique ability formed after "observing fortune" was sublimated to "observing fate" and could be blended with "Reaper's" "weakness detection":

Just like discovering the weaknesses on the target's body and soul, discovering the weaknesses at the fate level, that is, the tributary leading to death!

It's the same as my previous inference. The two abilities that also use eyes to observe in the "Hunter" and "Fate" pathways have merged... Lu Mian took the opportunity to look at the fate rivers of "Madame Hela" and Franca again, finding that he could grasp parts of their past and present fate fragments, just like when he used "Fallen Mercury" to hunt others' fate.

And different from that time, now he could "see" directly, without needing to extend spirituality and touch the corresponding illusory long river, which was composed of complex symbols connected head to tail and shimmering with mercury-colored waves, with the help of corresponding abilities.

That is to say, he could "see" part of the target's fate without the target noticing.

Of course, compared to touching the corresponding fate long river through abilities, using eyes to see obviously had limitations—most of the life scenes in the mercury-colored river were very blurry in this situation, and the closer to the present, the clearer they appeared. Similarly, the less they involved high-level things, the clearer they were.

In this matter, the life fragments of "Madame Hela" and Franca formed a sharp and powerful contrast:

The past and present fragments highlighted in the mercury-colored waves of "Madame Hela's" fate long river seemed to be shrouded in fog, and parts seemed to be hidden in the night, completely unable to be seen clearly, and only a very few could be peeked at. Franca's was much clearer, especially in the last week or two. Except for fragments involving high-level existences like "Land of Night," Lady "Justice," and "Black Witch," Lu Mian could see them all.

During the experimental observation, Lu Mian suddenly froze.

Two or three seconds later, he moved his gaze away uncomfortably.

"What's wrong?" Franca asked with curiosity and concern, "If you don't want to talk about specific abilities, you don't have to."

Only then did she realize she was too eager just now, actually asking about the situation of "Fate Appropriator" and possible blended abilities in front of Lady "Madame Hela."

Lu Mian swallowed saliva unconsciously, steadied his mind, looked at "Madame Hela" and said:

"There's nothing I can't talk about.

"I'm no longer just able to observe fortune. I can directly see the fate long river corresponding to you, from the main trunk to the tributaries, but most of them are not clear. I can only sense them clearly when I truly use the ability to hunt fate, and there is a time limit.

"Hmm, in the tributaries of the fate long river I saw, one should be leading to death..."

Lu Mian briefly talked about his initial guess, and the color of his eyes gradually returned to normal.

"Since it's not inevitable death, it should be called a death tribulation," Franca's attention was attracted to the symbolic meaning of "black."

Death tribulation? Lu Mian and "Madame Hela" both looked at Franca, waiting for her explanation.

Franca laughed awkwardly:

"Simply put, it's a disaster, crisis, or event that will bring death. If handled well, there is a possibility of surviving."

So that's it... Lu Mian thought for a moment and said:

"Then this ability is called 'Eye of Disaster,' the eye that can see death disasters."

He didn't care too much about what it was called. Useful and easy to use was the most critical thing.

Lu Mian then digested the mystical knowledge that entered his body following the power of "Fate Appropriator":

The core of "Fate Appropriator" was actually hunting fate, but this was divided into three abilities.

The first ability was "Hunt Fate," which directly "hunted" away the desired fate by contacting the target's fate long river.

This was different from the ability of "Fallen Mercury." It didn't need to kill the target to "hunt" the target's fate, but it required a certain amount of time. The lighter the corresponding fate, the faster it was completed; the heavier it was, the slower it was.

—The lightness and heaviness of fate fragments referred to the importance of the target's overall fate.

Of course, as a "Fate Appropriator," Lu Mian could also "hunt" the target's fate fragments by killing the target, and because the target's overall fate was fixed and wouldn't change anymore, the time required to complete the "hunt" was very short.

And as a "Fate Appropriator," Lu Mian could store two fate fragments on himself for a long time, exceeding the one of "Fallen Mercury."

—Normally it was three, but Lu Mian neither went to be a dancer nor acted as a mendicant monk, and didn't even sign full special contracts. That is to say, when he was in the first three stages of the "Fate" domain, he almost never leaned toward the power giver in daily life, and the fusion with power was relatively poor.

If he hadn't practiced the core spirit of "Ascetic" well, the fate fragments he could store currently might only be one.

The second ability was "Exchange Fate," using a fate fragment stored on himself to exchange for a certain fate of the target.

It was best to match the lightness and heaviness of the fate fragments, light to light, heavy to heavy, otherwise the speed of exchange would be very slow, perhaps five or six minutes.

Matching lightness and heaviness was one aspect, and the importance of the fate fragment itself was another aspect, which would also significantly affect the speed of exchange, but in general, it was faster than "hunting" the corresponding fate directly—except for the "hunt" of killing the hunting target.

And regardless of "Hunt Fate" or "Exchange Fate," there was currently a restriction that he couldn't attack the target before completion.

In this point, it was not as convenient and flexible as "Fallen Mercury."

The third ability was "Push Fate," which was spending huge spirituality to directly push the target's future to develop toward a certain tributary.

This ability wasn't like this originally. It was more about influencing the development of the target's future fate through rituals, curses, etc., and after blending with the characteristics of "Reaper," it became directly pushable.

This, paired with "Eye of Disaster," allowed Lu Mian to see some possibilities.

Of course, he evaluated it and felt that with his dual spirituality of "Reaper" and "Fate Appropriator," he could currently only push twice.

"The core abilities of 'Fate Appropriator' are all the deepening and simplification of 'Turning Luck'..." Lu Mian made an evaluation from the whole.

After becoming a "Fate Appropriator," the contract limit he could bear as a "Contracted Person" reached twelve, and the endurance brought by "Ascetic" also increased significantly.

This made Lu Mian consider signing two to three more contract abilities later to enrich his combat style and increase corresponding trump cards.

But he wouldn't really sign twelve, and didn't even want ten, as that would make the intensity and types of negative effects exceed the endurance of "Ascetic." Lu Mian didn't want to become a fake Beyonder like Father Guillaume Benet who was easily caught by weaknesses and guessed the tendency of actions.

Another major change of "Ascetic" was that "storage" was upgraded to the extent of being able to store external fate fragments, truly becoming an important part of "Fate Appropriator."

And rituals like "Beast Transformation" could be more simplified. For example, Lu Mian previously had to wrap the target with ritual sheepskin to meet the prerequisite of turning the other party into a sheep by chanting incantations. Now he could achieve the prerequisite requirement by covering the other party with sheepskin, which was more symbolic.

The flexibility of "Dancer" and others also had a not-small improvement. Lu Mian could now make various movements that were terrifying and unbelievable. If only seeing the corresponding projection, ordinary people would think that was a monster.

In addition, Lu Mian's spirituality had a significant increase. The simplest standard of measurement was that he could use "Spirit World Travel" sixteen or seventeen times.

But whether it was "Fate Appropriator" or "Reaper," the improvement brought to his physical strength was quite limited.

Confirming his own changes, Lu Mian thanked "Madame Hela," asked about the time of the next "Curly-Haired Baboon Research Society" gathering, and returned to the real world with Franca.

After returning that "Fool" gold coin to Jenna, Lu Mian briefly mentioned the abilities of "Fate Appropriator," and finally said:

"Since I have the ability to directly see part of the fate fragments, I will decide on the specific plan after observing Mo Lan Avigny at close range." 【705-57

"Good." Franca raised both hands and feet in favor of any measure that could reduce risk.

Lu Mian immediately stood up and said to Franca and Jenna:

"Then I'll be going first. Remember to ask for me at your occult gatherings during this time if there's a 'Harvest Priest' potion formula and the corresponding Beyonder materials."

"No problem." After seeing Lu Mian off, Franca turned back and asked Jenna suspiciously, "Why is he acting a bit strange? Doesn't he usually have to tease people and crack a few jokes before leaving?"

Jenna also felt this wasn't normal and fell into deep thought.

Suddenly, her expression changed slightly.

Jenna lowered her head, looked at the book in her hands, and said thoughtfully:

"Maybe he just obtained the Gift's power and his state isn't very stable, so he needs to hurry back and rest."

"That's true." Franca was immediately relieved.

She didn't think much more about it, and couldn't be bothered to; the night was so wonderful, it couldn't be wasted on such unimportant matters.

………

Boulevard District, outside the Rose Ballroom of the Champs-Élysées Hotel.

Many reporters stood in front of the hotel's most iconic indoor golden fountain, waiting for the Minister of Industry, Mo Lan Avigny, who had completed cooperation negotiations with the Loen Kingdom delegation, to come out.

Lu Mian had changed into the black woolen coat he had prepared long ago, put on a silk top hat, held a rented, new-model, frameless black-and-white camera, and with his appearance disguised as an ordinary passerby, he blended in among these people under a forged reporter identity.

PS: Third update, asking for guaranteed monthly votes~

(End of chapter)