Embrace the mysterious, and awaken?
Jiang Tingqiu, Wei Nian, Ke Yuan, and other investigators pondered, looking at Director Zhou for more information.
The man with the square face paused, then slowly revealed the secret, "In fact, you are already on the path to embracing the mysterious."
He continued, "The 'gui xie' represent the mysterious. When we investigators come into contact with and eliminate 'gui xie', we become tainted by mystery, gradually accumulating it. When this mystery reaches a certain threshold, awakening may occur."
"The more mystery a person accumulates, the more likely they are to awaken. In other words, we investigators are the group most likely to awaken."
"After awakening, you indeed gain the means to directly harm 'gui xie', possibly acquire special abilities, and your physical and mental strength will both be enhanced."
"This sounds wonderful, doesn't it? But if awakening were truly so wonderful, the General Bureau wouldn't have kept this secret."
"Because compared to the enhancements, the entire awakening process is far more dangerous!"
Director Zhou stated, "Mystery originates from 'gui xie'. Embracing mystery is embracing 'gui xie'. You can imagine the implications."
"The mortality rate during the awakening process is extremely high. Moreover, death is not the worst outcome. Some investigators fail to awaken and transform into even more terrifying 'gui xie'."
"So you understand why the General Bureau has hidden this information."
Director Zhou's gaze fell upon Jiang Tingqiu.
The General Bureau feared investigators like Jiang Tingqiu, who were too obsessive and would recklessly throw themselves into the midst of 'gui xie' in their desperate pursuit of awakening.
This method might indeed trigger awakening with a decent probability, but a greater possibility was failed awakening, leading to death, madness, or transformation into a 'gui xie'.
Excessive eagerness could instead lead to disaster!
However, the situation had now changed, and despite the considerable risks, the Investigation Bureau had no choice but to... reveal this secret.
...
In a seemingly ordinary apartment in Taiping Residential Area, Fang You was distractedly flipping through his game records, his fists clenched.
No power!
If... if this were just a game, then it would be understandable if he couldn't defeat monsters. But this was not just a game.
This was reality!
Even if he could see the movements of the 'Gui Xie Snake Mother' from the game interface and evade it, what about others?
If such a terrifying 'gui xie' became active, what harm would it bring to the entire Baijiang City? How many lives would be lost because of it?
He wasn't foolish enough to charge in headfirst, but he desperately craved power.
If he had a little more time, if he could train Hei Dao to be stronger, would he then be able to...
Fang You flipped through the game log.
'Hei Dao stared directly at the Gui Xie Snake Mother, sanity declining.'
'Hei Dao returned, hating his own weakness. He doubled his daily training plan, vowing to train himself to death if he didn't die from it.'
'Hei Dao training.'
'Hei Dao training.'
'Hei Dao resting... still training.'
Although he couldn't see from Hei Dao's perspective, Fang You could imagine that Hei Dao was training himself with all his might.
Hei Dao's skill proficiency also increased rapidly. In just a few days, his Basic Saber Technique had reached 15% proficiency, progressing at over 2% daily, like flying. His training speed far surpassed Fang You's own.
However,
Simply training Hei Dao would still take thirty to forty more days to break through. Moreover, even if his Basic Saber Technique broke through, Fang You didn't believe Hei Dao's physical enhancements would be enough to contend with the Gui Xie Snake Mother.
The gap was too vast.
"Is the only way for a 'Destiny Apostle' to increase their combat power by leveling up their skill proficiency?"
Fang You pondered, his brow furrowed. "But even if a skill is cultivated to perfection, it still requires a corresponding foundation to support it."
And now, even the organization's top fighter, Hei Dao, was merely a mortal.
He only possessed some slightly extraordinary abilities.
He couldn't even deal with a two-star 'gui xie'.
What about more advanced and terrifying 'gui xie' in the future? Wouldn't he be even more incapable of dealing with them?
This was illogical!
Fang You repeatedly scanned the extremely simple game interface. As he clicked into Hei Dao's information panel, he let out a "hiss."
'Hei Dao'
'Physique: 3.2'
'Spirit: 1.3'
'Mystery: 1.01!'
Besides a slight increase in mystery value, there seemed to be no other change. But the key was this mystery value. Fang You was certain that the exclamation mark next to the mystery value wasn't there before.
There was a big secret here!
He clicked.
'Prompt: Destiny Apostle · Hei Dao's accumulated mystery value has exceeded one unit, possessing the possibility of awakening. Would you like to guide the awakening?
Fang You clicked, and the page jumped.
The game provided extensive instructions regarding awakening, thousands of words, making his eyes ache... it was like reading a research paper!
But he dared not skim through it.
Fang You meticulously read and understood each word, sentence by sentence. It took him a long time to grasp the meaning of awakening.
A look of joy appeared on his face.
"Awakening, isn't this the path to becoming stronger that I've been desperately seeking!"
"The mystery value is indeed like experience points, just as I suspected. Normally, it offers no combat power, but accumulating it to a certain threshold can lead to awakening."
One unit was the threshold.
It didn't mean awakening was guaranteed; one unit of mystery was merely a starting point, a possibility.
The more mystery accumulated, the higher the probability of awakening, but at the same time... also the higher the chance of going mad, or even transforming into a 'gui xie'.
This was a double-edged sword!
So, in a sense, the earlier the awakening, the safer it was. The precise point of '1' was the most suitable.
However, awakening wasn't something you could just decide to do.
It depended on fate, on luck.
The awakening process itself was the integration of mysterious factors into the body and the release of madness.
It was accompanied by danger.
The instructions also listed various types of awakenings.
Excessive obsession, seeking 'gui xie', and using their power to awaken had a high trigger rate but were the most dangerous.
Next was natural awakening in its primordial stage.
Awakening in a daze.
Awakening by chance.
Awakening through a prepared ritual.
Awakening using auxiliary treasures.
And so on.
However, the ritual and treasure sections lacked specific details, which was unimportant, as the game interface offered a 'guided awakening' mode.
More direct! Safer!
'Prompt: Would you like to guide Destiny Apostle · Hei Dao to awaken?'
'Prompt: This guided awakening will consume 'Destiny Points x1' and 'Gui Crystal x3'. The awakening probability is 90%. The second attempt at guided awakening will require more resources.'
'Prompt: Would you like to begin guided awakening?'
Fang You glanced at the game interface.
He currently had 2.9 Destiny Points remaining and 9 Gui Crystals.
The cost of one awakening was considerable, but what was there to hesitate about?
It was his turn. He initiated the guidance!
In the same empty, silent space filled only with the sound of blade swings, Hei Dao stopped and sheathed his sword.
Guidance.
Awakening.
Beneath his mask, his eyes seemed to recall something, but then subsided.
He only raised his head slightly with reverence, looking forward.
As if an invisible finger gently tapped his forehead.
Instantly,
Mystery boiled.