Lord of Enigma - Chapter 42
Chapter 42: The Strange Sketch Drawing
In the evenings, Tang Qi’s cultivation process at home typically went like this — making bullets, spending about an hour practising the Chaga Fighting Technique, and lastly a whole night of meditation.
But tonight was obviously a little different. After Tang Qi digested the spiritual energy he got from devouring Serand the Dual Knife-Wielding Man’s vengeful spirit, the full and abundant feeling inside his head let him know that he didn’t need to do any more meditation next, because there wasn’t much point to it and might even attract danger.
Fortunately, other than meditation and the fighting technique, Tang Qi had other things he could do.
After adjusting his condition, Tang Qi went over to his workstation and made some replenishments for the two types of bullets he used earlier in the evening.
After packing up, Tang Qi returned to the first story.
There was an additional sizable package in his hands when he came down.
Inside were his spoils for the night.
He opened the simple and crude but durable package unhurriedly. The various objects inside were then revealed one by one.
They were a messy stack of sketches, a dozen or more canine teeth that were as white as snow, an old notebook, and a couple of rust-covered kitchen knives, respectively.
Every item gave off a faint glow.
Tang Qi understood what that glow meant — traces of the supernatural.
Only supernatural objects would give off a faint glow under Tang Qi’s gaze.
He didn’t read the information fragments of these supernatural objects right away. Instead, Tang Qi picked up the notebook first.
The notebook belonged to Mr. Scana, the dog owner who was killed by the Dual Knife-Wielding Man.
[Mysterious Object: Scana’s Manuscript]
[Status: Complete]
[Information Fragment 1: This is the fruit of Mr. Scana’s entire life’s labor. The method to breed a crossbred hybrid hellhound is recorded in detail inside. Perhaps the past experiments were cruel and unforgivable, but this method can indeed breed a fearsome wolfdog that possesses a bit of hellhound bloodline.]
[Information Fragment 2: If handed to a high-level animal trainer, it may be possible to perfect the manuscript and breed a real hellhound.]
After glancing at the few information fragments that flew past his vision, Tang Qi flipped the manuscript open. He merely skimmed through a few pages before putting it aside.
Just like what the information fragments said, the experiments were indeed extremely cruel.
Should anyone with even a bit of obsessiveness towards moral purity see it, they would burn it immediately.
Though Tang Qi didn’t do that, he wasn’t interested in delving deep and studying it either.
Not because of his morals, but because there wasn’t the need to.
“An animal trainer?”
“He was able to breed a Hybrid Hellhound yet he still couldn’t enter the ranks of ‘Class Specialists’. This path seems very difficult to advance in. Also, the combat style doesn’t suit me,” Tang Qi murmured, his words revealing a small story known only to those in the supernatural realm.
Although the mystical realm had sunk into silence for a hundred years due to that “mysterious meteor”, some weak supernatural powers still remained. These powers were also the foundation that led to the revival of the mystical realm, the return of the Spirit Tide, and the re-establishment of order.
And in the future order of the supernatural, the various “Class Specialists” that had once shone brilliantly in ancient times would definitely come back into play in the mystical realm once more.
The so-called “Class Specialist” was actually a term referring to those who had already mastered supernatural powers and were capable of continuously leveling up. For example, that old witch whom Tang Qi had yet to meet — Old Morgan’s mother, Samra the Black-Snake Witch. She was a Class Specialist.
Tang Qi couldn’t be sure of her grade but she must be a “Witch”, one who was familiar with a lot of black magic.
With the return of the Spirit Tide, Class Specialists who possessed complete legacies would only become more and more powerful.
Others in the supernatural realm could only be forced to chase after their backs. And in addition, there wasn’t much hope for them.
Take for example a young man who obtained “Scana’s Manuscript” by chance. He would be considered as having the potential to become an “Animal Trainer” Class Specialist. But to truly enter their ranks would probably be a terribly arduous journey.
This knowledge was what Tang Qi had deduced through Old Morgan’s manuscript and the many weird books, such as “Monster Files”, “Strange Phenomena of the Federation over the Last Century”, “An Overview of the Secret Assessment of the Occult”, etc., that he had read during this period of time.
Perhaps the information wasn’t very accurate; maybe they were also known by other terms in the mystical realm. But in the order during ancient times, the accuracy of information was still rather reasonable.
It was also because of this that Tang Qi already had some plans in mind regarding the path he should take in the future. “Scana’s Manuscript” was not part of it.
Placing the manuscript aside, Tang Qi then glanced at the canine teeth.
[Mysterious Object: Hellhound Teeth]
[Status: Complete]
[Information Fragment: Originating from the crossbred hybrid hellhounds. These teeth possess Sturdy, Sharp, and a few other mysterious attributes. They may be used in the creation of secret potions, as well as to create other supernatural objects, such as weapons.]
As expected, the teeth were supernatural materials. They even had quite a few uses.
But if he wanted to truly use them appropriately in a practical way, a fair amount of experimentation was necessary.
Unlike the following two kitchen knives that were straight-up supernatural weapons.
[Mysterious Object: Serand Dual Knives]
[Status: Complete]
[Information Fragment 1: These are the knives that Serand used to kill his wife and children with. They were contaminated by the power of an insane grudge and successfully evolved into supernatural weapons. They do not need to be decrypted. The wielder will automatically be equipped with mad knife-wielding skills when holding them. However, they will also enter a state of confusion and madness.]
[Information Fragment 2: People with a weak will who use the knives will commit suicide very quickly.]
“Dangerous weapons!”
After silently bestowing it a description, Tang Qi placed the dual knives aside as well.
There was one last item among the spoils.
Stuffed among a stack of sketches was a supernatural object capable of turning an artist into a slave.
After obtaining “it”, that artist had changed from a human into a Slave of Desire.
This implied that the item was a dangerous object.
Tang Qi didn’t wish to turn into a Slave of Desire. Thus, he didn’t pick it up to examine it right after he killed the artist but came back here instead. After all, Thorns High was enveloped in a holy and pure power at all times even though Tang Qi still hadn’t found the source of that power even till now.
But this didn’t get in the way of him borrowing its power. Even a black magic precious artifact like the Balance Scale of Soul Exchange had been rapidly weakened.
That yet-to-be-examined rough sketch wouldn’t be any different. But even so, before he went on to take it out for viewing, Tang Qi’s power of the furnace that had increased by several times was already gradually flowing out and stood ready to act in his palm.
At the same time, Tang Qi also retrieved a cup of cerulean blue “saltwater”.
To prevent unforeseen accidents, Tang Qi specially melted another piece of blue sea salt. He didn’t use it to make bullets, but poured it straight into his mouth at this point, and kept it there instead.
Spell-breaking!
Purification of evil!
Although it didn’t sound like it was as powerful as that “red sea salt” which Tang Qi had already used up a piece of, towards those strange evil existences, the blue sea salt was clearly more suitable.
Of course, it was also because Tang Qi was only left with one last piece of red sea salt, while the stock of blue sea salt was not as low.
Keeping the saltwater in his mouth and tolerating the saltiness, Tang Qi finally flipped through the sketches left behind by that artist who had committed several murders.
Rustle, rustle, rustle!
The first sketch was a customer portrait that didn’t turn out well.
The second was of an apple, probably a practice piece.
The third was of a curvaceous nude portrait of a woman in a very seductive pose.
The fourth was of a man and a woman entangled together where the man was actually the artist himself.
…
Inside the room, there weren’t any other sounds. Only the rustling of the sketches could be heard.
Except that even after going through a good half of the sketches, there still wasn’t any sign of the special interface in his vision. He didn’t sense anything in his mind either.
Even though the saltwater that came from melting the blue sea salt could dispel evil, it was also real saltwater. Tang Qi felt like his tongue was close to losing its sense of taste.
Rustle!
Tang Qi flipped over another rough sketch reflexively.
Just as he was about to go on to the next sketch, just like what he had been doing…
Boom~
Without giving Tang Qi any time to react at all, pitch-black tentacles suddenly shot out from that rough sketch without any warning whatsoever. In just the blink of an eye, they were about to wrap about Tang Qi and drag him into the world within the sketch.
