Chapter 18 Thanatos' Substitute Puppet

"【Thanatos' Substitute Puppet】, another sealed artifact..."

Sullen held the eerie, jet-black puppet, a pensive look appearing in his eyes as he examined the information revealed by Appraisal.

This looks a bit like a degraded version of that old nun's death-transference ritual...

It can negate and transfer one fatal injury?

Thinking this, he dripped a drop of blood onto it.

The wooden-looking material absorbed the blood, a flash of dark light disappearing in an instant.

Appraisal showed that the contract was successful.

Sullen felt as though he had signed a contract with some unseen entity.

Although the curse backlash of a high probability of mental derangement after resurrection seemed severe, compared to losing his life, this backlash was acceptable.

Moreover, Sullen felt that "mental derangement" didn't seem like such a big deal to him.

"Mr. Black's friends seem very easy to get along with..."

Sullen muttered to himself as he looked at the puppet.

He naturally knew that this thing was a freebie.

Truthfully, the materials produced by the headless nun were spoils of war from that cloaked man.

Without him, Sullen could never have provoked the ultimate Boss in this cursed space, which was currently "T-level" difficulty. At most, he would have wandered around the first and second floors.

This was a gift left by Him.

However, Sullen didn't feel like he had gained much of an advantage.

If nothing else, this incident in the cursed space would probably be pinned on "S-Rank Wanted Sullen" again.

But that was fine.

Sullen felt that this kind of fair trade relationship was the most reasonable.

.......

Sealed artifacts couldn't be placed in storage rings, so Sullen could only hang the puppet on his body.

He then looked at the Abomination Living Corpse's injuries.

It had taken a punch to the chest, creating a bloody hole, and several bones were broken...

But it wasn't dead; it was rapidly recovering.

This made him look forward even more to advancing to Tier 2 and comprehending true spatial abilities.

When that time came, the Black Scythe, Living Corpse, puppet... he wouldn't need to keep them by his side all the time.

He also looked forward to those magical spatial spells that the "Magician" Edward had displayed before...

Coming to this 【1911 Hotel】this time had provided everything he needed. He not only found the advancement materials but also had a surplus of Dark Spiritual Power.

He didn't know where that "Curse Source" came from, but Sullen had been absorbing the ghost mist since he didn't show any signs of distortion.

Then, in just a few hours, his Dark Spiritual Power had increased by several hundred points, almost to the point where it couldn't increase anymore.

He could advance at any time after leaving this place.

.......

With the "Curse Source" sealed, this space gradually began to collapse.

No light gate appeared. The scene of this thousand-year-old luxury hotel gradually crumbled before his eyes...

There were probably some valuable spoils of war, but there was no time to search for them. They would turn into energy and return to nature.

At the same time,

In the temporary camp outside the cursed space, the Wasteland Hunters were still busy.

The heads of the five great families' Wasteland Hunter groups had already made a decision to increase the "casualty rate" recently in order to break the seal ahead of time.

The next batch of personnel entering the space were lining up to register, while the unsuspecting independent Wasteland Hunters were listening to the temporary captain explain the precautions for the ruins.

There was a time difference between the cursed space and the outside world. The last batch of people had only entered recently. Normally, there was still some time before the exit light gate would appear.

But at this moment, an anomaly suddenly occurred.

Not far from the camp, on the site of the 1911 Hotel ruins, a mirage-like, shimmering illusory image suddenly appeared. It looked like the interior of a bustling hotel, but it was littered with corpses, a scene straight out of a Shura field.

This anomaly naturally attracted the attention of everyone in the camp.

"Look, what's that!"

"Huh... isn't that the scene inside the cursed space?"

"How can there be so many corpses? What happened? That's the Sand Scorpion group that went in earlier. I know some of those guys."

"No, this is a sign that the cursed space is about to collapse!"

"..."

The Wasteland Hunters were shocked, and as they watched the hotel phantom begin to disintegrate, they understood what was happening.

Hearing the commotion in the camp, several group leaders of the Wasteland Hunters in the tents quickly came out.

They were all dumbfounded by the scene before them.

"How could the cursed space suddenly collapse?!"

"Could it be that someone got the 'Curse Source'? Impossible... the Curse Source of this space should be on the third floor. The difficulty of just the explored second floor is already A+. Where would that team have the strength? Moreover, didn't we arrange for someone to release that anomaly in Room 1021? They should have been wiped out..."

"..."

At this moment, someone remembered the abnormal number of people who had entered the space earlier.

A hundred people, but only sixty or so had entered.

"Not good, a high-level professional mixed into the Wasteland Hunter group! Someone went for that thing!"

"We must stop him, or we're all dead if the Black Tower finds out the 'Curse Source' is lost!"

"..."

This reminder immediately woke up the heads of the major groups, and their expressions changed.

.......

The collapse of the cursed space was rapid.

Less than a minute after the anomaly appeared outside, the "mirage" suddenly shattered into specks of light and disappeared before everyone's eyes.

At this time, several Tier 2 Wasteland Hunter group leaders were armed and ready, waiting for anyone to come out alive, and they would immediately swarm them.

Even without the cloaked man's reminder, Sullen naturally guessed that he would be ambushed by a group of people after coming out.

The collapse of the space could only have one or two reasons. Explanations were useless; he either had to fight or escape...

He secretly rejoiced that he had already scouted the escape route when he entered the ruins.

The collapse of the cursed space was like the end of a movie for Sullen, the light and shadows dissipated, and then he saw a group of burly men glaring at him, ready to fire...

However, their target wasn't Sullen, but a group of cloaked figures scattered in various directions.

Bang, bang, bang, a burst of gunfire erupted, and various control spells were unleashed on this group of cloaked figures.

But soon, they realized something was wrong.

Those cloaked figures exploded in a barrage of fire, but instead of flesh and blood, there were wood chips flying everywhere.

Looking closer, under the tattered cloaks, there were only wooden dummies.

"Not good, these are all puppets!"

"Be careful, get out of the way! That giant is holding the 【Nyx Black Scythe of Hypnos】!"

"That man is 'S-Rank Wanted Sullen'! Damn it, we have to catch him!"

"He also has the 【Shroud of Oz the Ice Man】, watch out for invisible targets!"

"..."

The camp was in an uproar.

And Sullen himself had quietly flipped over the camp wall during the first round of artillery fire.

He was wrapped in the Shroud, and with the puppets attracting fire, he naturally escaped very smoothly.

As for the Abomination Living Corpse, it had taken some gunfire, but as long as it wasn't turned into mincemeat, it was fine.

It had the Black Scythe in its hand. A single swing would force several Tier 2 professionals to avoid its edge; no one dared to block it head-on.

Orders were important, but life was more important.

None of these veterans dared to be the first to stick their necks out, and they chased after him while shouting from the crowd.

Just like that, Sullen darted into the ruins and easily shook off the group of professionals.

.......

Sullen didn't return to the Storm Manor camp.

The advancement materials were still hot in his hands, and he was in good condition.

He planned to find a remote place on the outskirts of the ruins to advance directly to Tier 2.

To avoid being besieged and disturbed, he ran around the outer city of the ruins for half a circle, took some measures to prevent tracking, and finally found a bunker that looked exactly like the one he had stayed in before and went inside.

After resting for a while, Sullen sealed the bunker entrance and cleared out a space.

He began to draw a hexagram formation.

The auxiliary materials needed to set up the Tier 2 advancement formation had long been prepared, and he was already skilled in drawing a double-ringed hexagram formation.

Red copper powder mixed with mithril formed the base, outlining a perfect outer ring. The hexagram pattern of the inner ring was drawn with a mixed coating of refined borax and sunflower oil ground in proportion, and two drops of wind wolf tears were added to gather the four basic elements of earth, wind, water, and fire. At the corners of the formation were runed red crystals, which were already high-level materials. Of course, he couldn't forget the alchemical core of mercury and the curse crystal as energy...

With everything set up, Sullen took out the 【Magician's Top Hat】.

He stood in the center of the hexagram formation and began to chant the common incantation of alchemy: "Following the law of equivalent exchange of all things, praising the glory of the original Creator, witnessing the miracle of creation with alchemy..."

For the second professional advancement, Sullen felt nothing but anticipation, with no other emotions in his heart.

As the light of the alchemical formation gradually brightened, the top hat gradually merged into the formation. In the golden hexagram formation, there was also a wisp of black light representing the "spatial attribute."

After the hat melted, a mysterious force began to merge into Sullen's body.

The process of merging spatial power was a magical experience. Sullen felt as if he were traveling in the stars, seeing an infinitely vast world of void...

This made him feel as if he had previously been a graffiti character on the "canvas" of space.

And at this moment, he felt the sensation of leaving the "canvas" and touching the world outside the painting.

That world was still very blurred; he couldn't see it clearly yet.

But he felt it truly and clearly.

.......

Half an hour later, the dazzling light of the hexagram gradually faded.

The initial fusion of the materials was complete.

Sullen sat down cross-legged and began to meditate, absorbing and stabilizing the special force that had merged into his body.

Advancing to Tier 2 was different from Tier 1. The greater the energy merged, the more time it took to digest the materials.

The 【Magician's Top Hat】was a very golden material with a tremendous amount of energy.

Even if Sullen successfully merged and completed the digestion process, it would take a long time.

Just like food eaten in the stomach, you must digest it to convert it into nutrients to nourish the body; otherwise, it will be wasted.

Time passed, and half a month went by.

Sullen had been meditating and digesting the nutrients brought by the advancement materials and had hardly left the bunker.

Fortunately, there were no mutated monsters or Wasteland Hunter groups to disturb him, and the digestion went smoothly.

On this day, he finally felt that the energy that had been forcibly poured into his body and the feeling of murmuring in his ears had completely disappeared. Sullen realized that he had successfully entered the realm of a Tier 2 professional.

The data on the panel was the most intuitive. The process of daily soaring had subsided, and the increase had begun to become gradual and imperceptible.

"Phew... no wonder the gap between Tier 1 and Tier 2 professionals is so great. Not to mention the awakened abilities, the data alone is several times greater. The physical strength is simply not on the same level..."

Sullen opened his eyes from meditation and let out a long breath. His eyes were shining brightly, and he couldn't hide his excitement: "But then again, the increase from rare golden advancement materials is really exaggerated."

Looking at his data panel again, there had been earth-shattering changes.

Almost all attributes had been improved.

Strength and resilience, the melee attributes, had a slight increase,

But the increases in the warlock attributes such as "agility," "skill," and "perception" were very exaggerated.

"Perception" went from 13 to 24.

"Agility" went from 36 to 95.

The increase in the "skill" attribute was the most exaggerated, going directly from the initial 51 points to a three-digit 145.

The changes in data were intuitive, but they were also pale.

The feeling was what really mattered.

Agility was not just about running fast, but also about changes in nerve and muscle reactions.

At this moment, Sullen could finally understand what kind of physical qualities were needed to "split bullets with a knife." Now he felt that his nerve reaction speed and the precision and control of his body had reached that level.

A "divine skill" that was once astonishing in the eyes of a newbie had now been mastered by him.

As long as a bullet came, his nerves and muscles could fully react and predict the position of the bullet, easily avoiding it.

Within a certain distance, the speed of a bullet leaving the barrel could not be faster than his perception and reaction!

And the nearly threefold increase in skill was even more exaggerated.

Sullen made a grasping motion with his five fingers in the void, controlling a rune puppet with one hand.

Before, his control was limited to simple running, slashing, and crude straight punches and kicks...

Therefore, in daily combat, he used the puppet's rune abilities more often than their physical abilities.

The reason for this was still insufficient skill.

He had the will but not the power, and he could not reach that level of "microscopic" control.

But now, under Sullen's finger control, the puppet made a series of complex movements, jumping, tumbling, scratching its ears and cheeks, raising a gun and pulling the trigger, throwing darts...

Under precise control, it could even perform a complete set of vigorous fighting and grappling punches...

It looked almost indistinguishable from a real person.

Moreover, with high skill, Sullen finally understood why Mr. Black and that "Magician" Edward could cast spells in actual combat with just a pinch of their fingers.

Before advancing, it took him about a second to undo the eight warlock seals of the Spider Lance Armor.

Now, pinching these Tier 1 seals was almost instantaneous.

It wasn't that he didn't make seals, but it was eight seals in an instant.

Superb skill had allowed him to reach a terrifying level of control over his body.

Of course...

What was most anticipated was the magical "spatial ability."