Chapter 2: The Ancient Castle and the Young Lady
Inside the pitch-black small wooden hut, Su Xiao sensed his surroundings but did not immediately leave. He was still unfamiliar with the current situation, and exploring the hut was the best choice to deduce the state of the World of Paintings.
Light seeped through the gaps between the wooden planks. After an initial scan, Su Xiao determined the general layout: the hut he was in was a room, and beyond it lay a corridor.
Overall, he was inside an ancient castle. The castle had two floors, and outside it was nothing but chaos and darkness, as if the entire world consisted solely of this castle.
Su Xiao pressed his hand against the inner wooden wall of the room. After a layer of crystal enveloped his left hand, he broke through the wood with a crack.
A noise came from the hole, like the roar of rushing river water. A black-purple fluid surged outside the wall, but strangely, it did not flow into the room through the breach.
Su Xiao tried touching the black-purple fluid rushing past outside. His hand became wet, and the fluid glowed with a purple fluorescence upon contact. Within seconds, the fluid on his hand was gradually stripped away, pulled back into the torrent outside by an invisible force.
[Warning: Your Sanity has decreased by 1 point.]
The notification appeared. Su Xiao's Sanity, originally 330 points, dropped to 329. Although it only decreased by one point, he sensed an increase in the surrounding threat level. If his Sanity fell too low, he would suffer unknown interference. Below 1 point, it would mean his death.
Su Xiao could clearly sense that when his Sanity dropped below 1 point, a very bad situation would occur, with over a 99% probability of death. As for the 1% chance of survival, it was something he never wanted to gamble on—he couldn't win, and he didn't have that kind of luck.
Su Xiao opened the team channel and was relieved to see that the member icons representing Bubu Wang, Amu, Baha, and Beini were all lit, indicating they were within real-time communication range.
Su Xiao: "Sanity report."
Su Xiao: "329/330."
Baha: "210/210."
Amu: "195/195."
Bubu Wang: "113/113."
Beini: "112/112."
Bubu Wang: "Attached image (dog head mocking the one above)."
...
Su Xiao was not surprised that Baha's Sanity cap was 270 points. After all, Baha's Void Bloodline came from an Ancient God, Dominator Sotos, a once very powerful Ancient God.
Regardless, Baha had some connection to the Ancient God system, so his Sanity was naturally high. As for Amu, that simpleton feared few things, except hunger.
Bubu Wang and Beini's Sanity were not particularly high, but not low either, having traversed various grand scenes all the way to the Eighth Rank.
Bubu Wang, Amu, Baha, and Beini were all on the first floor of the castle. Su Xiao was in no hurry to regroup. The known information so far was that they could not leave this castle.
It wasn't that the place was sealed off; the semi-fluid rushing outside represented darkness and chaos. Su Xiao estimated that only this castle remained in the World of Paintings, with everything else swallowed or taken away.
Su Xiao took out two [Scroll Fragments] from his storage space. The texture of the [Scroll Fragments] was similar to cloth, but very tough. If Su Xiao's guess was correct, these items had properties similar to a World Core.
In the World of Paintings, there was a [World Painting] that served as the world's core. Only when the [World Painting] was complete was the world whole. Each time a piece was torn from the [World Painting], a part of the world would disappear, replaced by that black-purple semi-fluid.
Although this was a world of paintings, it was also a real world—one on the verge of extinction.
Su Xiao pushed open the wooden door of the room. The walls on both sides of the corridor were made of piled black stone, damp and cool. Braziers on the walls burned with a weak flame, as if the fire and light of this world were about to fade.
Passing through the damp, dark corridor, Su Xiao arrived at the living room on the first floor. It was spacious. Carved long chairs showed elegance amid age. The fireplace burned weakly, and the deer head specimen hanging on the wall seemed to watch everyone.
On the right side of the living room, an area devoid of furniture, four paintings hung on the wall. The first two were clear in content, while the latter two were tightly wrapped in chains.
Su Xiao looked at the first painting. It depicted a pointed Gothic dark-style building. The colors were heavy—dark, oppressive, and somber—yet it exuded a unique mystery and an irresistible allure. Despite the danger, one couldn't help but explore it. This was the charm of dark art.
Below the frame of this painting, two characters were branded into the wood by melting black metal: Nightmare.
Su Xiao looked at the second painting. Its content was simple: a sandy yellow desert and a sun above it, nothing else.
The latter two paintings were too tightly bound by chains, and Su Xiao did not rashly cut them with his blade. In such a situation, only an idiot would do that.
After examining the two paintings, Su Xiao turned his gaze to the corner. There, an easel held a canvas, and a white-haired little girl sat before it. Due to her height, she needed a high stool to paint on the canvas.
The girl appeared to be around fourteen or fifteen years old. The lower half of her face was covered by a silver mask studded with rivets, elegant yet cruel.
[Warning: You are observing the Young Lady.]
[Warning: Do not perform any actions that harm the Young Lady. If the Young Lady is harmed, you will become the absolute mortal enemy of powerful beings such as the Nightmare King and the Blazing Sun Lord, and you will be rejected by the World of Paintings.]
[Tip: The Young Lady is a neutral unit and is not affected by Charm attribute negotiations. The Hunter's Charm attribute is -9 points. The Young Lady will not have initial hostility toward you due to your Charm attribute.]
[Current Young Lady Friendliness: 0 points (Friendliness above 20 points allows entry to the second floor of the castle).]
[Tip: The Hunter can hand over obtained Scroll Fragments to the Young Lady. Each Scroll Fragment increases the Young Lady's Friendliness by 5 points.]
[Tip: After all participants in this world have arrived, the Scroll Fragment Battle will officially begin!]
[Tip: The Scroll Fragment Battle is similar to a World Battle.]
[Tip: The World of Paintings is an extremely special world. It can produce many unique resources. After the world is repaired, Contractors will no longer be teleported into it; only Workers will be sent to perform resource tasks.]
...
Seeing these notifications, Su Xiao was slightly surprised. He had "accidentally" obtained two [Scroll Fragments]. Now it seemed this was clearly a form of entry qualification.
Suddenly, Su Xiao recalled the origin of the second [Scroll Fragment]—it was a mission reward from Reincarnation Paradise. This was a bit "coincidental."
Obviously, this time Su Xiao was representing Reincarnation Paradise in battle. His opponents came from the Void and other Paradises. In short, this was a World Battle with a small number of participants.
As for how to seize this world, the method was simple. The [Scroll Fragments] in this world were limited. Before the end of this world's progress, whichever side obtained the most [Scroll Fragments] would be the ultimate victor.
At that point, the [Scroll Fragments] obtained by all sides would return to their original positions, restoring the World of Paintings. The extent of restoration depended on how many [Scroll Fragments] each side could recover.
This was a winner-takes-all scenario. Anyone else who found [Scroll Fragments] was just working for nothing. The loser eats dust? Think again. In the World of Paintings, if you lose, you don't even get to eat dirt—you only get to eat farts, commonly known as "the loser eats farts."