Chapter 92: Harvest

Purple Thunder Heavenly Escape is a unique method of movement in the Purple Mansion Manual. Like a body-shifting art from the Magic World, it can be mastered when one reaches fifth-level cultivation in the Purple Mansion Manual.

At first, Purple Thunder Heavenly Escape allowed movement only to places within one’s line of sight. After level two, one could send out static electricity and move to any location where that charge was detected.

Ou Xiaolu tested it. With the cooperation of static sensing and sight, he could move freely through traffic, across countless rooftops, and back and forth through every room. Nothing seemed able to obstruct his path.

The feeling made him reluctant to stop, but he thought of the fact that they were still not in a safe place, and the boss’s corpse still had to be dealt with. So he swallowed his impulse and turned to the things the boss had left behind.

First came the experience. Completing the mission and killing the boss gave him a total of 450 experience points. Since 80 percent of that had already flowed, together with the power of his prior World Consciousness, into the Purple Mansion Manual, this battle granted him only 90 points.

Adding in the earlier fights—killing the Silver Dragon Bloodline wretch, slaying 27 Poker Soldiers, and removing Magic Council members along the way—Ou Xiaolu had already filled one-third of the experience bar needed to reach Level 3.

A few more battles like this and, in no time, he would reach Level 3 and gain another incarnation.

With this insight, Ou Xiaolu naturally began planning for that new incarnation. Everything worth collecting had to be collected now.

From the fallen boss’s loot, there were definitely things not to be missed: three items in total—two blue and one purple.

The most conspicuous was a final pool of mercury on the ground. As he stepped toward it, he saw a face writhing endlessly inside the metal, as if screaming soundlessly.

“Twisted Mercury Head, Decorative Card, Blue, Reputation +1. A twisted mercury head can be hung on the wall as decoration, showing your combat strength and granting a little reputation, since you have slain a World Consciousness.”

Ou Xiaolu reached in and gave a hard pull. He truly lifted a head made of mercury; it kept writhing, and the longer he stared, the more it looked like Xiao You’s face.

This kind of thing left him speechless. He kept running into them from time to time: the previous Encountered Active Headless Werewolf had been like this too. Would his home end up stacked with trophies like this?

The thought made him grimace. He could picture his whole room crowded with such humanoid ornaments.

Shaking the image from his mind, he looked next at the purple item. It had appeared in the mercury pool; what he saw was a gem of silver and red streaks. When he held it, he felt liquid moving inside. Under lamplight, mercury and magma seemed to chase one another within it.

“Arcana and Flame, Equipment Card, Purple. As long as one has even a hint of magical potential, one can learn basic, intermediate, and advanced arcane and flame magic.”

When he looked at that card, Ou Xiaolu could hardly keep still. Even though he was someone with a bit of magical potential, he had always wanted to learn magic anyway.

Yet thinking about the abilities each incarnation could bring, he decided to incorporate this gear into his next incarnation.

The final item was also in the pool, hidden deeper down. Had the blue glow not been so obvious, he would never have noticed the pool floor could be lifted.

It was a small wooden wand like the ones the magi outside were carrying, seemingly full of mana.

“Wand-Wizard Legacy, Legacy Card, Blue. Can be taken to other worlds; once activated in the proper world, it can pass on the power lineage of a Wand Wizard.”

Reading the card’s description, Ou Xiaolu guessed this was meant for occupying other worlds. If he were to invade a star system, no matter how advanced his own technology was, he might still fall behind the natives. In that case, he could simply take a legacy and inherit the power of a wizard there.

Lift the world’s development level up to his own, and exploring it becomes much easier. Who knows—the world might even become richer and more vibrant once a new line of inheritance appears.

With that thought, he raised the priority of the Wand-Wizard Legacy by a notch. After all, it could introduce a new profession. Arcana and Flame could at best let him master a handful of powerful spells, but this one could do more.

After securing all three items the boss had dropped, Ou Xiaolu walked around the room again and scanned it once with his sonar locator.

After confirming nothing was missed, he finally said to Xiao You, “All right, I’m ready to leave. When Buss comes back, tell him the one behind the scenes has been handled. This world should be much safer now. Ask him to take care of things here himself, and also give me the Sun Coral Egg.”

Xiao You paused, then understood that Ou Xiaolu planned to take the Sun Coral Egg away. She had held it for so long that she felt reluctant, and asked quietly, “Will I ever be able to see it again?”

Ou Xiaolu looked once at the Sun Coral Egg, then at her. “You should. It’s just that by the time you see it next, it will already have become Sun Coral.”

After that he nodded to the Red Queen and the White Queen. “Please take care of Xiao You.”

Both queens nodded. The Red Queen even said, with a hint of disdain, “Our relationship with Xiao You is very good. Even without you asking, we’ll look after her.”

Ou Xiaolu smiled faintly, blinked once, and Buss regained control of his body.

The instant he was back in himself, Buss’s first reaction was to raise his left arm. “Why does this arm feel like I haven’t used it in ages?”

The Red Queen and White Queen had not finished speaking when he continued, patting his own body, “My strength feels different. My inner power has gone from ten years of training to sixty years at once. How is this possible? How could my strength rise so much in one instant?”

Now the two queens had no words. They did not know what Ou Xiaolu had been doing; they had only seen the final moment, when he looked like someone who had taken a mighty restorative tonic, dashing wildly through the room.

Buss, somewhat confused, stood there examining the changes in his body, while the Red Queen and the White Queen watched silently, not caring at all that they were still deep inside enemy territory.