Chapter 29: Generous Caesar???
Su Xiao folded the medical record sheet and put it away. There was a name on it that had always been obscured by bloodstains—that was 'Rosa...'.
Once or twice could be coincidence, but this name appeared seven times in total, and each time the latter part was covered by bloodstains. This was no coincidence.
Besides this, Su Xiao was very concerned about Patient No. 5, who had undergone seven-stage beast transformation. According to his understanding, the Nightmare King had undergone four-stage beast transformation. By the fifth stage, rationality was basically gone. The sixth stage was rarely achieved by anyone. As for seven-stage beast transformation, it was merely a concept.
According to Maid Anas's popular science explanation, seven-stage beast transformation only existed in theory. Theoretically, a seven-stage beast transformer could instantly cause the mental beast transformation of the strong—meaning that as long as one saw him, their sanity would plummet, and then they would transform, all without any battle taking place.
A being that had transformed to this extent was terrifying. Before finding a way to resist mental beast transformation, it was impossible to fight them. If one didn't escape fast enough, death came upon sight.
Su Xiao continued to investigate forward. The ground was covered with shredded paper and glass shards. He was looking for the location of the ward. 'Rosa...''s blood was very valuable, and there should be blood collection vials from her in the ward.
"Boss, over here."
Bahamut's shout came from ahead. Su Xiao looked toward the sound and saw a figure sitting on a wooden chair at the far end of the east side of the roof.
Approaching to examine it, Su Xiao found that the figure sitting on the wooden chair was a dried corpse. On top of its head was a metal helmet shaped like an iron bucket. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that this stained iron bucket helmet was not only thick but also had a seamless, finely crafted feel. He tried to touch it.
[You have obtained Church Knight Head Bucket.]
[Church Knight Head Bucket]
Origin: World of Paintings
Quality: Holy Spirit Rank · Set Item
Category: Armor
Durability: 142/159 points
Defense: 72~75 points (Head only)
Equipment Requirements: True Stamina 185 points, undergo Sun Baptism Ritual.
Equipment Effect 1: Mind Suppression (Passive), after wearing this equipment, the upper limit of sanity is temporarily reduced by 50%, but the rate of sanity loss is greatly suppressed.
Set Effect (Not activated, requires collecting three pieces to initially trigger the set effect. Total of nine pieces. Collecting five pieces triggers the maximum set effect. This is the Sun Church Set).
Rating: 1000 (Holy Spirit equipment rating 700~1000 points.)
Introduction: The Sun Church played an indispensable role in the history of the World of Paintings. They fought on the front lines against mental beast transformation. There are rumors that the Sun Church's worship of the sun originated from an outer world, a civilization named Chiriad. The Sun Church firmly believed that as long as one had faith in the sun, they could overcome the beast within.
The Sun Church's worship of the sun indeed came from the outer world, Chiriad. However, the Sun Church regarded the 'Chiriad Civilization's' attempt to create an artificial sun with hostility and contempt. The Sun Church's creed was: The sun is sacred!
When a Hunter encounters a believer of the Sun Church, after wearing the 'Church Knight Head Bucket,' the believers of the Sun Church will have a favorable impression of you, being more willing to cooperate, negotiate, and trade with you. If you wear five or more pieces of the 'Sun Church Set,' the believers of the Sun Church will have a sense of trust in you. If you are attacked, the Sun believers will become enraged and fight alongside you or surround the enemy.
Selling Price: 107 Soul Coins.
...
Su Xiao removed the [Church Knight Head Bucket] from the dried corpse's head. This item was good. The equipment requirement of undergoing the Sun Baptism Ritual was something he had already fulfilled.
This puzzled Su Xiao, but upon reflection, it should be related to his visit to the Holy Land, Chiriad. The Chiriad civilization originally had a very high rank, and the worship of the sun easily resonated with more people.
This was like faith. If people were made to believe in an unseen deity, it required a certain amount of mental indoctrination, a low level of intimidation, and some favors.
In terms of intimidation, for example, if one did evil deeds in life, their soul would be tortured and punished after death. Believing in a deity could exempt one from this posthumous punishment.
Compared to believing in an unseen deity, believing in and worshiping the sun was more direct. The sun was something everyone could see. Moreover, while the sun was high above, it also represented justice, authority, warmth, life, light, and so on.
Obviously, the founder of the Sun Church had discovered some records or items related to the Chiriad civilization within the World of Paintings, became obsessed, and eventually founded the Sun Church.
Interestingly, the Sun Church was somewhat hostile to the Chiriad civilization, or more precisely, it was a 'cloud hostility.' The Sun Church knew of the Chiriad civilization's existence, but the Chiriad civilization was unaware of the Sun Church's existence. That was basically the relationship.
Su Xiao was very interested in the [Sun Church Set]. This Holy Spirit rank set had nine components. Collecting five of them would trigger the set effect.
It could be foreseen that the effect of the [Sun Church Set] wouldn't be very strong, much weaker compared to other Holy Spirit rank sets. However, this set would definitely not be difficult to collect.
What puzzled Su Xiao was that Caesar, who would pluck a goose as it flew by and even felt a sense of property loss when taking a dump, would actually give up the immediate benefits. This... was too unbelievable. He even suspected that someone was impersonating Caesar.
Perhaps Caesar was afraid of something inside the ancient castle and didn't dare leave Room No. 7? Adhering to the principle of not letting fertile water flow to others' fields, he made this choice? Although Caesar was greedy, it had to be said that sometimes Caesar was a good collaborator.
Su Xiao tossed the [Sun Church Set] to Bahamut. This thing needed to be thoroughly cleaned and deodorized before wearing, as it had been on a dried corpse's head for many years.
After exploring the eastern half of the roof, Su Xiao walked toward the unexplored western half. After a search, aside from a few medical record sheets, there was no other gain. When the World of Paintings reached its end, this ancient castle served both as a clinic and a shelter. This could be seen from the castle's layout, as many areas were sealed off.
Finding nothing on the western half of the roof, Su Xiao wasn't disappointed. He didn't have the habit of feeling a loss if he didn't pick up a bargain.
Regarding the ancient castle, he had a few things to clarify. First was the Young Miss, and second was Patient No. 5, the only seven-stage beast transformer in history.
Thinking of this Patient No. 5, Su Xiao recalled knocking on Room No. 5 earlier and the old man who spoke with him from behind the door. There were both some points of agreement and many inconsistencies between the two.
Assuming the old man in Room No. 5 was indeed Patient No. 5, the ancient castle couldn't restrain him at all. Moreover, beast transformation was entirely about pain, distortion, and the death of consciousness, not a method of becoming stronger.
Su Xiao stood at the very edge of the western half of the roof. Perhaps due to the ancient castle, the purple-black semi-fluid in front seemed blocked by an invisible wall. He tried to raise his hand and touch the purple-black semi-fluid.
A cold and obscure pain came from his fingertips. Su Xiao looked at his fingertips, which gradually returned to normal from being stained purple, and the pain also subsided.
The area outside the ancient castle was filled with this purple-black semi-fluid. Su Xiao wanted to determine whether he could enter this semi-fluid to investigate, to see if everything around had completely disappeared or had become dilapidated.
Another point was that Caesar was being so generous this time, giving up easily obtainable benefits. He might really be facing a difficult problem.
"Meow."
Beini's call came. Su Xiao quickly walked over and saw a 'slug' in front of Beini. With just one glance, he could tell it was a somewhat clumsy alchemical product.
Caesar was obsessed with alchemy. Su Xiao naturally remembered this.
Everything made sense. The reason Caesar took out the copper key and gave up the easily obtainable benefits was that the bastard was indeed in trouble.
Su Xiao speculated that the room Caesar was in had two exits. One was the door to Room No. 7, and the other was a hole in the wall, behind which surged the purple-black semi-fluid.
Caesar, that bastard, had imbued his survival ability into an alchemical creature, then had that creature charge into the purple-black semi-fluid. After that, the alchemical creature passed through the wall hole of Room No. 7, crossed the purple-black semi-fluid, and arrived at the roof.
This alchemical creature not only came to the roof but also found the copper key. Caesar happily thought it was the key to Room No. 7 and immediately had the alchemical creature return. Only after returning did he realize something was wrong. This copper key was more likely the key to the roof.
Caesar didn't give up. He had the alchemical creature enter the purple-black semi-fluid again. This slug alchemical creature arrived at the roof for the second time and then kicked the bucket.
Su Xiao didn't quite believe that Caesar was trapped. There was only one possibility: inside Room No. 7, there was something both dangerous and tempting enough to make Caesar salivate. That was why he didn't use his survival ability to escape. That bastard couldn't leave, not because he couldn't, but because he was unwilling to.
Su Xiao really wanted to know what kind of good thing could make Caesar willing to take such a big risk.