Chapter 17: Guiding Awakening!

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Embrace the mystery, to awaken?

Jiang Tingqiu, Wei Nian, Ke Yuan, and other investigators pondered, waiting for Director Zhou to continue.

The square-faced man paused, slowly revealing the secret, "In fact, you are all already on the path to embracing the mystery."

He said, "Mysterious Evil represents the unknown, and when we as investigators come into contact with the Mysterious Evil, when we expel it, we have already been touched by the mystery. We are gradually accumulating the essence of mystery, and once it has built up to a certain threshold, an awakening might be possible."

"The more mystery one accumulates, the more likely they are to awaken. In other words, we investigators are the group most likely to have an awakening."

"After an awakening, one indeed gains the means to directly harm Mysterious Evil. One might possess some special abilities, and both one's physical strength and mental prowess can be enhanced."

"This sounds very promising, right? But if awakening were really so wonderful, the headquarters wouldn't keep this secret hidden."

"Because the process of awakening poses far greater dangers than the advancements it brings!"

Director Zhou said, "Mystery stems from Mysterious Evil, to embrace the mystery is to embrace Mysterious Evil, you can imagine what that entails."

"The chance of death during the process of awakening is incredibly high, and even then, death may not be the worst outcome. Some investigators who fail to awaken become even more terrifying forms of Mysterious Evil."

"So, you should understand why the headquarters would choose to keep this information under wraps."

Director Zhou's gaze turned to Jiang Tingqiu.

The headquarters feared that investigators like Jiang Tingqiu, who were too obsessed, would go to great lengths to awaken, even if it meant diving into the midst of Mysterious Evil.

This approach could indeed have a decent chance of triggering an awakening, but an even greater chance lies in the failure to awaken, leading to death, madness, or transforming into Mysterious Evil.

Overeagerness could lead to disaster!

However, the situation has now changed, and despite the potential risks, the Investigation Bureau has found itself compelled to... reveal this secret.

...

In an ordinary residence within the Tai Ping Residential Complex, Fang You was browsing through the game log, his mind elsewhere, his fist clenched.

Powerless!

If... it were just a game, then failing to beat a monster would have just been a part of the game, but this wasn't merely a game.

It was reality!

Even if he could see the movements of the Serpent Mother through the game interface and avoid it, what about others?

How much harm would such a terrifying form of Mysterious Evil cause throughout Baijiang City? How many lives would be lost because of it?

He wasn't so foolish as to charge in recklessly, but he was desperate for power.

If he just had a little more time, if he could train Black Blade to be even stronger, would he be able to…?

Fang You flipped through the game diary.

'Black Blade looked directly into the eyes of the Serpent Mother, his sanity slipping.'

'Black Blade returned, hating his own weakness, so he doubled his daily training regimen, vowing to train to the brink of death.'

'Black Blade in training.'

'Black Blade in training.'

'Black Blade rest... in the midst of training.'

Even though he couldn't see from Black Blade's perspective, Fang You could imagine the guy was training himself to death.

Black Blade's skills were improving rapidly; in just a few days his basic swordplay reached 15% proficiency, increasing by more than 2% per day, flying by, training far faster than Fang You himself.

But,

Purely training Black Blade would still take thirty to forty days to break through, and even if the basic swordplay did break through and Black Blade's physique improved, Fang You didn't think he could confront the Serpent Mother.

The gap was too wide.

"Is there really only one way to improve the fighting power of an Apostle of Fate, by increasing skill proficiency levels?"

Fang You pondered, frowning, "But even if one skill is mastered to peak mastery, you need a corresponding foundation to support it, right?"

And now, even the organization's number one fighter, Black Blade, was still only a mortal.

He had only mastered some slightly extraordinary abilities.

He couldn't even handle a two-star Mysterious Evil.

What if higher-level, more terrifying Mysterious Evil appeared in the future? Wouldn't they be even more unstoppable?

This made no sense!

Fang You flipped back and forth through the exceedingly simple game interface, uttering a 'huh' when he clicked on Black Blade's information tab.

'Black Blade'

'Physique: 3.2'

'Spirit: 1.3'

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"Mystery: 1.01"!

Apart from the Mystic Value being slightly higher than before, there seemed to be no change, but the crux lay in this Mystic Value. Fang You was certain that there hadn't been an exclamation mark next to the Mystic Value before.

Here, there was a great secret!

He clicked.

"Prompt: The Apostle of Fate, Black Blade, has accumulated more than one unit of Mystic Value and has the potential for Awakening. Would you like to begin the guidance for Awakening? "

Fang You clicked, and the page changed.

The explanation for Awakening listed in the game was excessively detailed, an endless amount of words, and Fang You's eyes became sore from reading... It was like reading a research paper!

But he dared not skim through it.

Fang You carefully read and understood each word and sentence, spending quite a while before he grasped the meaning of Awakening.

He showed a look of joy.

"Awakening—isn't that the very path to power I've been desperately seeking?"

"The Mystic Value is indeed like I guessed, similar to experience points, which normally don't help with combat strength but can possibly lead to Awakening once accumulated to a limit."

One unit is the limit.

It didn't necessarily mean one could awaken, though; one unit of Mystic Value was just a starting point, a possibility for Awakening.

The more Mystic Value accumulated, the higher the probability of Awakening, but at the same time... the higher the risk of going mad or even transforming into Mysterious Evil.

This was a double-edged sword!

So in a sense, the earlier the Awakening, the safer it was, and the moment at "1" was just perfect.

However, Awakening wasn't something you could just do whenever you wanted.

It depended on fate, it depended on luck.

At the same time, the process of Awakening was also one where the mysterious factor integrated into the body, releasing madness.

Accompanied by danger.

The instruction manual also listed various awakenings.

Awakening by being overly obsessed, pursuing Mysterious Evil, and using its power for Awakening, had a very high trigger rate but was the most dangerous.

Next was the natural Awakening in the primitive stage.

The vague and unsuspecting Awakening.

The Awakening by serendipitous coincidence.

And Awakening facilitated by rituals.

By utilizing auxiliary artifacts for Awakening.

And so on and so forth.

However, rituals, artifacts, and the like were not specifically explained and not important since the game interface provided a 'guided Awakening' mode.

More direct! Safer!

"Prompt: Would you like to guide the Apostle of Fate, Black Blade, to awaken?"

"Prompt: The current guide for Awakening requires 'Fate Points ×1' and 'Mysterious Crystals ×3', with a 90% probability of Awakening. Failure will result in more resources being consumed for the second guided Awakening."

"Prompt: Would you like to start guiding the Awakening?"

Fang You glanced at the game interface.

He currently had 2.9 Fate Points leftover, with 9 Mysterious Crystals.

The cost for one Awakening was enormous, but what was there to hesitate about?

His turn, begin the guidance!

In the same empty, silent space, where only the sound of a blade swinging could be heard, Black Blade stopped in his tracks, and the war blade was sheathed.

Guidance,

Awakening,

Beneath his mask, his gaze seemed to recall something, but then it quietened down once again.

Just slightly lifting his head with reverence, he looked ahead.

As if an invisible finger lightly touched his forehead.

Suddenly,

Mystery boiled over.