Chapter 2557: This Place Silences
Ordinary invisibility cloaks only allow players to conceal their forms by blending in with the surrounding environment, but the player does not actually disappear and can still be sensed, especially by those with Super Evolution Power. For anyone within their control range, unless separated by a very thick barrier, it is as obvious as if placed right before their eyes.
"Melting into space," however, can eliminate this drawback. Instead, it uses Space Power to hide one's form, even allowing a person to easily approach an opponent mid-combat without being detected, while also shielding them from instruments. This provides an opportunity to seize the initiative in battle.
As for the effect being better in stillness, that is simply because high-speed movement inevitably stirs up airflow or produces sound, which is not a difficult problem to solve.
The function of "Fate's String" is actually quite similar to the "Time Ring." The only difference is that the Time Freeze power emitted by the "Time Ring" is easily broken free from by time-space type items. This is slightly different from the mutual interference that occurs when ordinary time-space items and instruments are used together—likely a deliberate limitation set during the creation of time-type items. "Fate's String," on the other hand, requires a time-space item of the same or higher grade to interfere and render it ineffective. However, its target is a single person and has strict time limits, making it less convenient than Super Evolution Power.
Among the three A-grade items, the one Xu Huo was most satisfied with was "Dreamlike False Teeth." This item can compel players below the Super Player level to obey commands, which is not far off from the ultimate height of Mental Power evolution. Moreover, it only requires spoken words, and the conditions for use are very simple.
The Big Head Doll had given him two special items. He wondered if the "Halo of Justice" among them could double the effect of this item.
He would find time to test it again.
He roughly glanced over the B-grade items. Although two of them looked interesting, they would rarely be used in his current level of combat, so he just looked them over and set them aside.
In addition, there was one item upgrade opportunity, marked as being able to upgrade an A-grade item once. However, this upgrade did not mean raising an A-grade item to a Super Item, but rather a single enhancement of the item's effect.
The items Xu Huo used most frequently in his daily routine were the Black Blade and "All Things Want to Cut Everything." After his Mental Power evolved again, he even used "All Things Want to Cut Everything" less often. The Black Blade was currently his most convenient close-combat item. Although its effect could still be upgraded, after a moment of hesitation, he chose to upgrade the "Life Core."
Previously, to avoid being targeted by the Eerie Sound Knights, he had used this item very carefully. Of course, many times he didn't need it at all. It could melt the metal of an entire city into dust, but in actual combat, such large-scale control was often unnecessary. Moreover, the metal objects it could melt had limitations. Although it could destroy a city, it could not break through the metal objects truly used to protect important items, causing too much meaningless casualties.
As a support item, it required the holder's strength to be sufficient to unleash its maximum potential. If the "Life Core" were upgraded, for someone like him who possessed the triple evolution of Time, Space, and Mental powers, everything within the reach of his evolution power would become transparent.
The item began to upgrade. Xu Huo then looked at the several special items.
[Hands Full of Fragrance: When using this item, the holder can instantly pick a random bouquet of fresh flowers from within their current district. An excellent item for visiting the sick, calling on friends, expressing love, or apologizing. If there are no flowers in that district, please do not force the item to do the impossible.]
[Bouncy Ball: Anyone who steps on it must bounce for a full ten minutes before they can get off—born from the resentment of a former circus performer.]
[This Place Silences: A special item created by an Artificer who, after losing a close friend and under the dual emotions of grief and anger towards the guests at a raucous funeral, made this item. When used, it forces everyone within a thousand-meter radius centered on the holder to clench their teeth tightly until the item's effect wears off. Item duration: three minutes.]
"This Place Silences" would be quite suitable for dealing with those traits that require "speaking out" as a medium.
Next came the Trait Upgrades.
His original primary trait, "Memory Flashback," was upgraded to "Beautiful Memories Between You and Me." "Memory Flashback" originally forcibly made others recall memory fragments related to Xu Huo, thereby causing a pause in thought and disrupting combat. After the upgrade, it became "involuntarily" recalling all memories related to him. Based on the description, it should be an increase in duration and intensity, with no significant change in effect.
The second upgraded trait was "God-Level Acting," which went from forcing a ten-second stare from everyone within the field of vision to half a minute. Consider it a version 2.0.
In addition, there were the usual three items: White Notes, potions, and tickets, along with a bunch of miscellaneous discount coupons.
This was the entirety of the personal rewards. For a B-grade Instance with an SS rating, obtaining three A-grade items and two major trait upgrades was considered quite generous.
Whether time-type items or mental-type items, they were relatively difficult to obtain in the game. So while the quantity seemed small, they were all highly valuable.
There was also a special gift from the game.
A Light Gentleman medal, one Luggage Compartment upgrade, and a Mutant Plant Nutrient Supplement.
Xu Huo had seen the Light Gentleman medal many times before. Aside from being accumulated and exchanged with the Game Government for Gray Player status, the Painting Woman particularly liked it. It probably helped her abilities somewhat, though how much was hard to estimate.
This time, the Luggage Compartment upgrade was quite generous, upgraded all the way to 1000.
As for the nutrient supplement, he wondered if the game knew he was growing a Mental Power Mutant Plant and specially sent it. He opened the instruction manual and saw:
[This nutrient supplement is exclusively for S-grade Mutant Plants. Please use with caution.]
That was all it said, not even a dosage recommendation.
Last time, he had changed the soil and the bucket for that seed. Now it was stuffed in the Luggage Compartment, and the sprout hadn't even emerged yet. He figured it wouldn't grow too quickly, so he would deal with the nutrient supplement later.
Of course, the biggest gain this time was the Super Item "Reversal Ring." It allowed free travel between districts via wormhole points. Although it could only be used three times a day, it could be used on himself or on an opponent, making it especially convenient. Its biggest difference from "Angel's Fangs" was that it was random and not fixed to a specific district.
After sorting through all his gains this time, he finally turned his attention to the situation in District 001.
There were plenty of players from District 001 under the Dimension. From the Joint Capital's initial emergency preparations to the sudden announcement of a celebration, everyone knew that nothing major was likely to happen in District 001 for a while.
Some sharp individuals caught wind of things and figured out a bit of the situation, guessing that District 001 might have been targeted by other districts. However, for some reason, the crisis suddenly lifted. Moreover, many people had suddenly disappeared from within the District Government, and quite a few had vanished without a trace. Only a small number had been secretly arrested by the Enforcement Department. This move was not insignificant, so it naturally couldn't be hidden from outsiders.