Chapter 1 Time Crunch

ps. I'm a little rushed, so I'll update first and revise later. Sorry, sorry, the reading experience will be better in twenty minutes.

This round of attacks is probably the last joint effort of these experts from the Oliver family.

Suren had already killed two Rank 2 melee fighters and severely injured a magic-based warlock.

The few who were still alive didn't make a sound.

Without melee professionals to restrain him, the ranged magic users didn't dare to show their faces. If they cast spells again, the spatial rifts cut out by the Black Scythe would definitely be faster than their casting speed.

His chest had taken a heavy blow, and his blood was still churning, but Suren wasn't in a hurry to make any big moves.

He conveniently reaped the gray mist fragments from the corpses of "Iron Tiger" Rhine Lute and "Viper" Bright Giles beside him, and gained a lot of melee experience.

It had to be said that the soul quality of the inner city professionals was indeed very high.

Rhine was originally a professional who came from the inner city military academy. With this wave of harvesting, Suren directly obtained a large amount of military-grade mechanical knowledge and various military knowledge.

In terms of mechanical knowledge alone, this was the highest quality he had ever harvested.

...

Half of the six Rank 2s in the space were gone, and the most dangerous moment had passed.

The churning blood subsided, and Suren slowly took out the other two living corpses, then switched back to the Black Scythe.

The "Trickster" Lloyd indeed had a treasure that could resist the Black Scythe's attack, but its use was not without cost.

Two ordinary living corpses plus an Abomination could normally make ten consecutive strikes.

That was enough to kill him.

Suren smiled easily in his heart, flexed his five fingers slightly, and controlled the living corpse to slash towards the location where the sound had come from earlier.

His ability to "locate by sound" had allowed him to determine Lloyd's exact location long ago.

However, the gnome's target wasn't big, so the arc of this slash was very large, in order to ensure that it would definitely hit.

Just as this slash came down, the ordinary living corpse wielding the knife triggered an instant backlash, and suddenly collapsed into two sections.

However, Suren didn't care.

Because at this moment, he heard a subtle sound, like the sound of a glass bead breaking.

Suren smiled gently, knowing that he had hit.

At the same time, he also confirmed Lloyd's precise coordinates!

"This is easy..."

He didn't panic, switched the Black Scythe to another living corpse, and slashed again.

In the smoke, there was another faint cracking sound.

Then another slash, and another sound.

Suren thought he would make a full five strikes, after all, the information he had obtained was that the glove could hold five "Cursed Source Crystals".

But when the third strike landed, and he was preparing to swing the fourth, the gnome master's mentality collapsed.

Three strikes after three strikes...

Endlessly.

Being fixed there and used as a target to be cut, anyone would probably have a mental breakdown.

Suren watched as the cross in the sky suddenly disintegrated, and the black lines that were wrestling with him also released their strength at the same time.

"Ah..."

A painful scream came from the thick smoke.

Suren knew that the spell had collapsed, and Lloyd had suffered a backlash of power.

The [Puppet Theater] collapsed, and Suren was no longer restricted, letting out a slight breath of turbid air.

The last bit of threat was gone, and he felt relieved.

He retracted his hair and controlled the puppet to rush towards the direction where the sound had come from.

Looking again, in front of a broken building guarded by more than a dozen heavy armored knight puppets, Lloyd had already fallen to the ground, spitting blood and on the verge of death.

Suren looked at him, still having a breath, raised his gun and pulled the trigger, unceremoniously sending him on his way.

"Bang!"

The gunshot rang out, Lloyd died in response, and more than a dozen black knights instantly collapsed into pieces of various sizes.

These more than a dozen heavy armored knights were also the puppet master's very famous puppet legion - [Twelve Heavy Armored Knights].

They were also treasures excavated from ancient ruins.

Forged from a special alloy, the puppets were light in weight, easy to control, and the workshops were sturdy. They were much better in quality than the intermediate anti-riot dolls Suren was currently making.

Unfortunately, against spatial rifts that ignored obstacles, they were useless.

Watching the gray mist emerge from the corpse, Suren then passed through the debris and walked over.

He raised his hand and devoured the fragments.

A large amount of memories instantly flooded into his mind.

[Acquired 'Lloyd Rodney's memory fragments*5]

[You have obtained a piece of information: 'There is an ancient relic in the Oliver family's treasury, that is a perfect treasure that fits my puppet art lineage...']

[You have mastered some 'puppet making experience']

[You have obtained [Arcana·Puppet Theater (Fragmented)]]

[You have comprehended the silk control skill [Secret Skill·Hundred Finger Dance]]

[You have obtained a large amount of 'puppet art experience']

[Mental power +0.7]

After familiarizing himself.

An increasingly strong look of joy gradually appeared in Suren's eyes.

This fishing ambush was largely for this guy.

And the harvest was richer than expected!

...

Suren simply digested the memory fragments in his mind, and the joy in his eyes was hard to hide.

He muttered in a voice that only he could hear, "I didn't expect to actually strip the [Puppet Theater]..."

Instantly, various detailed manipulations of that secret method, as well as Lloyd's years of combat experience, appeared in his mind.

This made Suren instantly feel that he had gained a lot.

Directly stripping this kind of "finished skill" with a high degree of proficiency could save him at least several years of hard work.

Looking at the "Fragmented" mark, he didn't care too much.

Although he didn't know which part was missing, he happened to have a complete scroll of spell details in his hand.

When he went back and compared it, he could immediately complete it.

And the surprise wasn't just stripping the [Puppet Theater].

That [Hundred Finger Dance] skill was also an ability that all puppeteers dreamed of!

Lloyd was able to control so many silk threads, and this was directly related to his silk control skills that he had honed over and over again. It wasn't that he had a hundred fingers, but because his silk manipulation skills had reached perfection, and his ten fingers danced like a hundred fingers were dancing together.

This was a truly "master level" silk control skill.

Normal puppeteers would have to practice hard for several years, or even more than ten years, to reach this level of proficiency... and it would also depend on their learning talent.

Suren achieved it in one step.

It couldn't be said to be a big surprise.

He got two puppet arts that he happened to be lacking, as well as a large pile of puppet art fragments, crafting techniques...

Suren felt that this wave was a real big profit.

Stripping this Lloyd's fragments had caused his own attainments in the field of puppets to skyrocket by a large margin.

Even if he didn't reach the "master level", he was at least an "expert".

This was a harvest that saved him ten years of struggle!

And finally, there was a fragment of obsession in the memory fragments...

"A cursed object that is very compatible with puppet art?"

Suren's eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at that piece of information.

What kind of treasure would make a puppet master like Lloyd covet it?

But it was in the Oliver family's treasury, even if he coveted it, it seemed that he couldn't get it...

But suddenly, looking at the colonization that was slowly gathering on the corpse, an idea suddenly popped into Suren's head.

Perhaps... it wasn't completely without a chance?

...

Suren pulled off the storage rings on Lloyd's hands.

He glanced at them casually, and there were a lot of puppet materials and finished products, all of which were good things that he could use.

It had to be said that this guy, as Danze's teacher, had a lot of good things in his hands.

He harvested a wave last time when he killed his alchemical puppet, and now there were so many more...

Tsk tsk.

Suren didn't bother to look at the things in the storage ring in detail. At this time, he also took off a glove that the gnome was wearing on his other hand.

The gloves seemed to be woven from silver threads, were very soft to the touch, and were inlaid with five gems on the back of the hand.

Three of them had already been shattered, and two were still intact.

The reason why this guy was able to withstand three spatial strikes from the Black Scythe without dying was thanks to this glove.

After identifying it, Suren felt that he seemed to have made a big profit again.

[Chronos's Spatial Glove]

Description: A certain bored ancient alchemist transformed a spatial magic device from a trophy into a simple and crude alchemical product, just to prevent his rival from teleporting away in a duel.

Details: The glove solidifies the super-order spell 'Titan's Grip' (duration 8/15), consumes energy to cast the spell, and performs a spatial solidification on the target area, imprisoning spatial fluctuations within the range that are not higher than the spell's own law level; of course, it can also consume energy to passively resist a spatial rift near the wearer; minimum energy consumption 1 unit of cursed source crystal/time;

Evaluation: This is a very tasteless alchemical item, consuming ten times the energy to cast a not-so-practical spell; but in reality, this is a spatial magic device, spatial affinity +30%, spatial spell power amplification 7-16%;

Suren looked at the details of the gloves and immediately felt a sense of amusement. "Didn't you say this was a 'seal object'..."

Obviously, it wasn't.

The gloves were borrowed from the Clarke family by Danze.

It seemed that even the Clarke family, who owned the item, didn't fully understand the use of these gloves.

However, after seeing the details of the gloves clearly, Suren's expression was a little strange.

The thing they borrowed was indeed very restrained to his abilities.

But it shouldn't be used like this.

If they found a professional who had mastered spatial abilities and took the initiative to cast "Titan's Grip" to solidify the space around Suren, he wouldn't even be able to teleport, and he would be gg on the spot.

But they only understood a passive ability, which was used to resist the Black Scythe's attacks.

Perhaps they felt that the cost of trying was too high, and the ability was too tasteless?

Suren raised his eyebrows and guessed the reason why the Clarke family didn't completely understand the use of these gloves.

After all, this was really... a very tasteless ability!

Suren looked at the three shattered gems on the gloves and didn't know what to say.

The origin of these gems was not small.

They were called "Cursed Source Crystals".

They were the same thing as the hard currency Cursed Crystals.

Ordinary Cursed Crystals = 10,000 Liso;

Top-quality Crystals ≈ 100,000 Liso;

Cursed Source Crystals were worth 10,000,000 Liso, and that was just the theoretical price!

This kind of top-level gem, which was said to only produce one or two in a vein, was priceless in the market.

Even the inner city chaebols didn't have many of them, and they were truly rare strategic resources that couldn't be bought with money!

But it consumed so much energy to cast a spell that couldn't control people or cause damage... it just solidified the space, preventing the target from using spatial spells to escape.

Even Sabina, who had received the news, thought it was a "seal object".

Suren had just cut three times in a row to prevent any accidents.

One strike was 100,000,000, which seemed a bit painful...

However, Suren would never dwell on the past that couldn't be changed.

There were still two intact ones.

Just these gems alone were worth 200,000,000.

This was the most valuable trophy he had obtained so far.

He took the gloves and tried them on his left hand, and found that they didn't affect his finger flexibility at all, and wouldn't affect his silk control.

Moreover, regardless of whether the "Titan's Grip" skill was tasteless, Suren valued the other attributes of the gloves more.

He himself had mastered spatial abilities, and as soon as he put on these gloves, he immediately felt the enhancement attribute of "spatial affinity +30%".

He raised his hand and grabbed in front of him, and the space immediately twisted out ripples, which was much easier than before.

"Very good..."

Suren suddenly became very fond of them.

With these gloves on, his ability to control space visibly increased by several percent.

This spatial magic device could only truly发挥作用 in the hands of a spatial ability user.

This time, he had really "sniped" a treasure.

...

The rich trophies gave Suren surprise after surprise.

But he didn't bother to look at them too much.

There were still a few survivors in this space, so he couldn't be careless.

Although they probably wouldn't show their faces again.

Originally, Suren's plan was to leave here after killing the "Trickster" Lloyd.

After all, the barrier was now full of thick smoke, and it was impossible for Suren to find the survivors in a short time.

The more he delayed, the more reinforcements there would be outside.

But now, he had a new idea: "Try a new spell?"

Thinking of this, Suren suddenly became interested, and his hands formed thirty-six mysterious warlock seals in a row.

In the next second, a blue six-pointed star array that almost covered the entire sealed space suddenly lit up in the sky, and a huge cross phantom slowly condensed into a physical entity from the alchemy array.

That's right,

He was casting [Puppet Arcana Puppet Theater]!

Although he didn't know what was missing from this warlock, the basic functions could be used without any problems.

It was just that the moment this spell was condensed, countless silver hairs floated out of the sky.

Suren pinched the warlock's seal, and his perception was connected to the cross in the sky, as if it was an extension of his own limbs.

That feeling was very magical, and as the silk threads extended, it seemed that his perception was slowly spreading out in all directions. It wasn't that his mental power could be distracted to every silk thread, but like a spider web, as soon as the silk thread touched something, it would immediately feed back information.

For example, the two simplest types of information: inanimate objects, and living objects.

Suren had unlimited hair, and focused on one direction. He quickly found the thunder mage Earl Jemha, who had been shot earlier.

As expected, he wasn't dead. That guy was hiding in a corner and didn't come out.

As soon as the silk thread went over, he immediately noticed the movement there, as if someone had touched the sweat on his body, and Suren immediately sensed it!

"Hehe... got one!"

Suren felt the prey in the net struggling, and also controlled more silk threads to pour over there.

Probably because of his serious injuries, there was no movement soon.

The distance wasn't far, and Suren walked over, looking at the purple-robed warlock who had been strangled to death in the pile of silk threads.

The "gray mist" had already emerged, and after harvesting a wave, he got a large pile of rune, spellcasting, and alchemy knowledge experience.

At this moment, Suren realized the power of this [Puppet Theater].

In this space, the enemy couldn't hit you, but you could easily kill anyone.

In this theater, the caster could control everything.

...

The silver hair spread infinitely, and soon discovered a few more survivors of the encirclement group, and they were strangled one by one without Suren having to go over in person.

There were still two Rank 2 professionals hiding in the space. They didn't realize what was going on when the silver hair was spreading.

But when they saw the silk threads binding them, they heard Baohe's exasperated voice in the communicator.

"Damn it, Lloyd, what are you doing!"

"Nidam, be careful. This silk thread isn't Lloyd's, it's cast by that Suren!"

"How is that possible? How could he know [Puppet Theater]?"

"..."

Anyone would probably not understand.

How could a wanted criminal know Lloyd's unique arcana?

However, even if they didn't understand, they had to fight.

In the communicator, the voice of "Blood Raven" Langfero cursing angrily came again: "That kid probably has some kind of fast learning skill talent, or a cursed object! Damn it, our operation plan has been completely exposed, damn it, there is an internal spy next to Danze!"

Suren listened without changing his expression.

It didn't matter if he was guessed. It had come to this point, and they couldn't struggle anymore.

After all, they were Rank 2 professionals, and their methods were not weak.

Although the two were surrounded by silk threads, they were still struggling to fight back, but their positions had been completely exposed, and they were trapped in a limited range.

Suren didn't have time to waste with them. He raised his hand and slashed with the Black Scythe.

On the other side, because his foot had been tied by the hair, he drew his musket and fired three stacked shots.

Both sides went silent at the same time.

Suren walked over and first stripped the soul of the fire mage Nidam.

Then...

Looking again, he actually harvested the soul of a Rank 1 professional named "Rose" from the corpse of "Blood Raven" Langfero.

Suren chuckled, and then understood what was going on.

He smiled sheepishly, "These guys from the Raven Gang really have some strange life-saving abilities..."

The outfit was Langfero's, and so was the storage ring.

Even the heartbeat and breathing sounds nearby were gone. This feigned death was completely flawless.

If it were someone else, they might have really been deceived.

But soul fragments couldn't be faked.

This corpse was just a scapegoat.

Suren looked at the more than a dozen corpses nearby, and couldn't tell where that guy was hiding.

But he didn't want to waste any time.

Without any warning, he pulled out the [Blue Ghoul] and replenished each corpse with a shot!

"Pa!"

"Pa!"

"Pa!"

"..."

Just as this series of gunshots was about to replenish all the corpses, one of the corpses suddenly came to life and flew up with a "whoosh".

Langfero wanted to escape, but how could Suren leave this guy alive?

At such a close distance, he drew the [Thunder Serpent] and fired three more shots, hitting his heart.

The corpse crashed to the ground, and Langfero's face still had an unbelievable expression.

At this point, all six Rank 2 professionals in this space had been killed.