Is it impossible?
Fang You would not give up, but with the current methods, it was indeed almost impossible. At best, he could only delay, delaying to the extreme.
The range of a Level 5 map could cover more than half of Donghuang. Level 6, Level 7… It was estimated that at Level 7, the map could cover the entire Blue Star, detecting malevolent entities worldwide.
However,
It would only be detection. Not to mention the severe shortage of manpower to eliminate malevolent entities everywhere, even if there were enough people, there would always be some time between the emergence of a malevolent entity and the arrival of personnel.
And where malevolent entities existed, there would be erosion.
This was something he had already realized – in areas with many malevolent entities, such as deep mountains and dense forests, wisps of gray mist might drift.
The White Wood Forest was a heavily eroded area, and this was just a mountain forest.
Abroad, the small town where they had established a branch was also an area with high erosion. The malevolent entities that bred there were always numerous.
And the more malevolent entities that bred, the harder they were to eliminate, and the faster the erosion would deepen… This was a vicious cycle, and there was no solution.
He pondered, then purchased more intelligence from Yi Yueluoxi.
Indeed, it included the information about awakening that the silver-haired girl was eager to sell. This was the most expensive piece of intelligence.
He bought it, but only a part of it.
Yi Yueluoxi seemed to hail from an oasis power. In these oasis powers, awakening was a topic that inevitably needed to be researched, deeply researched.
After years of research, their understanding of awakening indeed far surpassed that of Blue Star.
But,
"Still no stable awakening method?"
"Is there still a considerable chance of death from failed awakening?"
"The specific criteria for quadruple awakening are not very clear either?"
He really wanted to say "that's it."
The silver-haired woman objected, "How do you understand the difficulty involved? The path of mystery is the path of evil gods. Those cultists awaken easily because they are no longer human, perhaps similar to malevolent entities. Even so, they have a high mortality rate, it's just that the cultists themselves don't value their own lives."
"But we want to remain human. To awaken and maintain distance from malevolent entities is naturally very difficult!"
"Where is there an absolutely perfect method in this world? Embracing mystery, awakening, is inherently an incredibly dangerous path!" Da Feng Novel Network
She revealed quite a few details.
For instance, in case of failed awakening, their oasis possessed a powerful technology that could save them. However, even if they were saved, they would mostly be severely injured, disabled, or intellectually impaired.
Once awakening failed, complete recovery was extremely difficult.
"Therefore, awakening is always done with the utmost caution. Accumulating mystery is not difficult, but it's normal to prepare for several years before awakening."
"What's with that look of disdain on your face?!"
"You can't buy this technology even if you want to, this is top-secret information!"
Fang You didn't want to buy it either. It was still too mediocre.
He wondered if Yi Yueluoxi's oasis was mediocre, or if they all were.
In the end, he bought a formula for a special potion called 'Boiling'.
Its effect was to ignite mystery, allowing the user to touch upon awakening.
However, it also had many limitations and flaws.
Firstly, it might not necessarily allow one to touch upon it; there was a probability involved. Regardless of whether one could touch upon it, a portion of one's own mystery would be consumed. Using this potion, 20 units of mystery for a second awakening would definitely not be enough; it might require 30 or 40.
This was a limitation.
Whether there were other side effects was still unclear.
Fang You simply sent the formula to Yin Ling for verification.
This was the first half of the formula.
"Now, let's talk about the price. Qi crystals, strange items, mysterious materials, and the like are all acceptable."
Yi Yueluoxi's lips curved upwards, her mood pleasant.
Her oasis was indeed not bad, but too many people were crammed into such a small oasis, and the resources were never enough.
She had to find her own way.
And a world not yet devoured had a much higher chance of giving birth to mysterious treasures and qi crystals. Even the 'drop rate' of killing monsters in this shallow realm was higher than in their place.
It was just that her current body had limitations, otherwise, she would have rolled up her sleeves and gone out to kill monsters herself.
Her eyes sparkled with the shape of qi crystals.
At this moment, Fang You spoke, "Besides qi crystals, strange items, and mysterious materials, I have a more superior trading plan."
"Trading with food."
"Food?"
Although the oasis was small, they did grow grains, so food was not a problem… at least not a severe one. Food was not important; in an environment fraught with crisis, strength was fundamental.
Just some fresh food, and you want to buy her precious information? Absolutely not.
She wouldn't sell it like this even if she were an idiot!
A strange, large bird suddenly flew in from outside. It looked like a flesh puppet with an unusually large beak.
This seemed to be a strange artifact, not a strange item, and of very high quality!
She was somewhat surprised, and somewhat excited, "Are you planning to trade with this strange artifact? Then let this guide of mine identify…"
"You're dreaming."
Before she could finish speaking, her mouth was sealed.
She could only slowly form a question mark as she saw the white-robed youth opposite her take out item after item from the flesh bird's mouth.
It was actually a spatial strange artifact!
This was incredibly precious!
Her eyes turned into the shape of qi crystals, but in the next moment, she was captivated by the items one by one.
"This is called Donghuang Roast Duck."
"Roast Whole Lamb."
"Boiled Fish."
"Steamed King Crab."
"Chicken Wings Family Bucket."
"Happy Water for Otakus."
"..."
"You can pick some yourself."
Yi Yueluoxi couldn't understand any of these names. The only ones she could vaguely understand were 'lamb' and 'fish', but they were completely different from the lamb and fish in her understanding. Looking at them, she couldn't tell what was what.
They just looked very delicious.
But just being delicious, hmph, that wasn't enough to buy her precious information!
Yi Yueluoxi thought.
A wave of fragrance wafted over, and she couldn't help but inhale deeply, her nose twitching. She even seemed to be salivating.
So fragrant…
Actually, she had lied earlier. She wasn't from a world that had not been devoured; she was born in the oasis, a pure oasis dweller.
But she had indeed interacted with people from other reality worlds and heard the older generation in the oasis describe the scenery and food of the reality world.
She had never heard anything smell so good!
"You can try all of these, they're free."
"Free?"
They looked expensive, but since this person said they were free, she wouldn't be polite.
Yi Yueluoxi observed and chose what she believed to be the correct way to eat.
She delicately picked up a piece and put it into her mouth.
Her eating posture was elegant and pleasing to the eye, but soon her movements became faster and faster, her hands becoming afterimages, and the food in front of her floated up.
To say she was gobbling? No.
Even though she ate quickly, she remained elegant, like a proud noble, savoring each delicacy.
It was just a bit exaggerated.
After a while,
She let out a gentle burp and only then realized that she had wiped out the entire table of food in front of her.
Did I really eat this? No way!
Recalling the process of the wind sweeping through fallen leaves just now, Yi Yueluoxi couldn't help but blush, wishing she could cover her face with her hands.
Too unreserved, too ungraceful! Fortunately… fortunately, no one else from the oasis saw it, or her image might have collapsed.
Her suitors could form a queue that would circle the oasis several times!
"Cough."
"This guide admits that the cuisine of your world… is quite tasty."
"But this is all ordinary food. It's not enough to buy precious information. At most, at most, it can offset a part of the cost."
All of it was impossible; her information was very valuable!
Just as she was about to say this, she heard the following sentence.
"We can provide all of these in large quantities."
"Large quantities? How large?"
"As much as you want, but the price…"
Yi Yueluoxi fell silent.
She watched as the young man opposite her took out more and more delicacies from the mouth of the flesh bird, without repeating any of them.
Another wave of enticing aromas assailed her senses.
Although she was already full, she suddenly felt hungry again.
"If, if the quantity is large, it's not impossible."
"At least one ton, no, no, five tons!"
Fang You 'bargained' with Yi Yueluoxi, and finally, purchased the information at a price of 3.5 tons of various finished delicacies.
The food would be prepared by restaurants outside, preserved in spatial strange artifacts, and delivered by An Jianyou.
Yi Yueluoxi also had a spatial strange artifact. She carefully packed the steaming hot food into it one by one.
This transaction was now completely concluded.
Watching the two leave, after a long while, she lowered her head in thought and murmured to herself, "Did I get taken advantage of again?"
But thinking of the delicious food, it seemed… even without a single qi crystal in her hands, she didn't feel bad.
She was taken advantage of, but she was willing.
…
Returning to the secret realm, Fang You began to sort through the information obtained this time.
He finally had a more systematic understanding of the strange realm, malevolent entities, and cultists. Yes, it was almost enough to compile a textbook, tentatively titled "The Strange Realm: From Survival to Exploration," and include it in advanced courses.
Most of the awakened individuals at this time were not yet qualified to enter the strange realm, but they could start learning, and then hold irregular examinations.
The strange realm was definitely a strategic stronghold of the future.
There was also the transaction with the silver-haired woman…
He mused, "The cuisine of Blue Star appears to be unexpectedly popular. It seems similar transactions can continue, with larger trading volumes… This depends on how much Yi Yueluoxi can consume."
"And the goods for trade…"
He felt that it shouldn't be limited to secret information; there could be more.
He also wanted qi crystals and strange artifacts!
This time, he got off scot-free.
But he didn't just want to get off scot-free; he wanted Yi Yueluoxi to pay extra.
Thinking about it made him feel happy.
He then looked at the "Strange Realm Exploration" interface. He was no longer in the strange realm, but An Jianyou was still out there working for him.
He had even captured Xing Jinglei and Yi Luoxi, two strong men, to accompany An Jianyou in exploration.
The small avatars of the three were currently moving slowly within the strange realm.
In the distance on the map, some special markers could be seen.
Other than that, it was vast darkness with no other operational keys. He kept researching, randomly clicking all over the game interface – when he didn't understand something, just click, click, click, and something would eventually be revealed.
As a result, he didn't reveal anything.
But,
"Ding!"
"Tip: The spark of hope has accumulated 10 kilometers in the strange realm, and the strange realm exploration level has been upgraded to Lv2, gaining a new function 'Strange Realm Guidance.' You can consume 'Clue Points and Destiny Points' to obtain hints for treasure locations. The current remaining clue points are 3. You will automatically receive 3 blank clues each month. Clues can accumulate. Please explore other acquisition methods yourself."
It's out!
Although he didn't click it, the accumulated steps reached the requirement.
It seemed that the functions of strange realm exploration were unlocked gradually?
He knew this module wouldn't be this rudimentary.
After studying the new Lv2 function for a while, Fang You understood its usage.
Blank clues could be filled in directly by him with information, but the more precise the clue, and the higher the level of the treasure it pointed to, the more destiny points would be consumed.
Conversely, the vaguer the pointer, the lower the consumption.
He didn't have precise directional information, so he could only give a vague description, which was ultimately classified as a 'Defensive Strange Item'.
"Ding!"
"Tip: Obtaining guidance for 'Defensive Strange Item' requires consuming one 'Blank Clue' and '50 Destiny Points.' Do you wish to start guidance?"