Chapter 18: An Awakening and Chilling Killing Intent

The mysterious factor, intangible, elusive.

It seems one could never capture it, yet there are various examples to prove its existence.

At this moment,

inside Black Blade's body, the accumulated mysterious factor seemed to be ignited by an invisible force, suddenly boiling.

At this moment, his face began to distort ever so slightly.

The whole person was like plunging into an abyss.

Wind howled, and beasts roared.

Twisted and ugly faces appeared before Black Blade, and countless exhausted screams echoed in his ears.

But although Black Blade's face twisted in pain, his eyes remained calm.

Like a veteran who had experienced countless life-and-death situations, he was suffering but fearless.

However,

willpower does play a certain role in the process of Awakening, but it's not everything.

Black Blade's willpower was strong, but the embrace of the mysterious was also extremely terrifying, entwining and opposing him. Perhaps, with his own willpower and solid foundation, he wouldn't fall into Mysterious Evil and had a relatively high chance of Awakening.

However, in any case of Awakening, it involved the mysterious factor flowing in and permeating the process.

Inevitably one would be influenced.

That was the normal situation.

At this time,

under the guidance of the Awakening, an indescribable force, seemingly existent and non-existent, enveloped him, and Black Blade's face gradually became serene. His will, like a sphere, slowly rotated, impregnable.

In the struggle against it, he shattered and digested the mysterious bit by bit, truly integrating it into himself.

At a certain moment, he truly reached a critical point.

Pop—

It was as if something had broken open.

Around Black Blade, an invisible wind surged, dust overflowed, visibly spreading out in ring after ring.

He stood up, his right hand forming a fist slowly placed before his left chest.

His head bowed slightly.

"The fire passes on, humanity endures."

...

'Prompt: Apostle of Fate·Black Blade Awakened!'

'Prompt: Apostle of Fate·Black Blade's physique has greatly increased, spirit has greatly increased, mystery has returned to zero, life energy has opened, and the talent 'Chilling Killing Intent' has been acquired.'

Black Blade's panel underwent massive changes!

Fang You glanced at the prompt and then pulled up Black Blade's information.

'Black Blade (First Awakening)'

'Physique: 3.2+3.5'

'Spirit: 1.3+0.8'

'Mystery: 0'

'Life Energy: 4.86' <6.7×0.6+2.1×0.4>

'Skills: Basic Swordsmanship (Proficient: 16%), Blade Slash (Master: 5%), Mysterious Evil Tracking (Proficient: 16%)'

'Equipment: Beginner's Battle Sword'

'Ability: Chilling Killing Intent'

—

'Chilling Killing Intent'

'Description: When entering this state, Black Blade can dispel most negative effects with strong killing intent, including the influence of Mysterious Evil on the mind, and also possesses a deterrent effect.'

'Remark: Awakened Abilities can also be enhanced through training and other means.'

"This Awakening upgrade is incredibly awesome!"

"Especially with his physique jumping straight to 6.7, Black Blade is simply inhuman!"

"And there's an additional attribute of life energy."

Fang You studied for a while.

Life energy isn't considered an individual attribute; it's still based on the two dimensions of "physique" and "spirit."

When physique and spirit are combined, life energy is born.

In theory, as long as one is alive, everyone has life energy. Black Blade had it before too, and to use special abilities like "Mysterious Evil Tracking" and "Blade Slash," he needs to extract and press his own life energy.

The sequence here seems a bit off.

It can cause harm to the body and also has a large consumption... Of course, this harm refers to long-term use; a few days won't be a problem.

—These above are the explanations about life energy that Fang You read from the game interface.

"So, with this blue bar of life energy, Black Blade's endurance has been greatly improved, and using special abilities will be smoother too."

"With this in place, Black Blade can fully support the expert-level performance of Blade Slash, and due to the influence of life energy, the single burst damage might even be stronger."

"Besides that..."

Awakened Ability is the key point!

Since special abilities have emerged, a single awakening really is extraordinary.

And Black Blade's abilities, possessing control, crowd control, and defense among other effects, are considered superior, even though Fang You currently doesn't have other Awakened Abilities for comparison.

"Since accumulating mystery can lead to awakening, does that mean Blue Star might also have special individuals who have awakened?"

Fang You felt it was highly probable.

Putting aside the dangers, awakening is an opportunity for everyone.

Could it be that among the black-coated officials he met last time, there were some?

Standing on the side of humanity, Fang You still hoped that the officials would be more powerful and capable of removing the escaped Serpent Mother.

However, during the removal of the Mysterious Evil at the construction site, the lackluster performance of those two black-coated individuals still left him somewhat concerned.

"Black Blade's delivery opportunity for today has been used up, and he needs some time to adapt to his body after the awakening."

"Wait until tomorrow. If the Serpent Mother still hasn't been dealt with by tomorrow, I'll let Brother Black Blade take action."

"I figure that Brother Black Blade, with one awakening, should have the capacity to arm-wrestle with the Serpent Mother."

Black Blade, ah, Dad has done everything he can; the rest is up to your performance.

...

In the following time, Fang You occasionally opened the task dispatch module to check the positions of the Mysterious Evils.

They were changing.

Although the map's detection function for Mysterious Evil positions doesn't update constantly... about every ten minutes or so, it's still adequate to allow him to track the movement of the Serpent Mother.

Looking at the marked positions, Fang You breathed a sigh of relief.

"Fortunately, this terrifying Mysterious Evil left the abandoned building but is moving very slowly."

"The specific reason is unclear, but it's ultimately a good thing."

"However, from another perspective, it's been one to two hours since it happened, and this Mysterious Evil still exists, which indicates..."

The officials probably also find it troublesome.

It's not easy to deal with.

Fang You entered a local forum, where he heard from the folks inside that the abandoned building in the south of the city and the surrounding areas have already been locked down, and the residents of that area have been organized for evacuation.

They say there are several bandits hiding inside the abandoned building.

"Have there been a lot of bandits this year? The day before yesterday, Jiangbei City was also locked down because of bandits, right?"

"Ah, there was also an incident with a toxic gas leak."

"No way, surely no one actually believes they're bandits? If you ask me, there must have been some mysterious event. Haven't you noticed that asylums, cemeteries, and the like have been gradually getting locked down? Based on my research, there definitely has been a change in the world, it's very likely the revival of spiritual energy."

"Humph! Tremble, for we are going to enter a grand era!"

"The guy upstairs is crazy."

"Hey, drag him away, drag him away."

"But indeed, things have been quite restless recently."

After scanning for a while and particularly noting down those locked-down areas, Fang You closed the forum.

The saving the world skill is currently on cooldown.

He opened the item column and used the remaining Skill Book "Palm Thunder"!