Chapter 234: Blood of God and the Spirit Deer |
After finishing the distribution of Points, Bai Mu began to take inventory of the items and Titles he had obtained in the Script.
There was no need to elaborate on the Wish Stone. He had kept the stone Ashi carved in his inventory the entire time. His face was etched into it, and the girl's devotion protected him as if she were willingly offering herself up to block a fatal blow on his behalf.
The stone had not shattered in the Script, and now it remained with him like a lucky charm.
Aside from the Wish Stone, there were two other items: the Blood of God obtained from slaying the "Mountain Evil God (God's Head)", and Tu Ya's Deer Summoning Necklace. The credit for finally slaying the "God" had ultimately fallen to Bai Mu. As for the necklace, it was the exact beast-tooth necklace Tu Ya had left behind. That likely counted as Bai Mu completing a Side Quest, though perhaps it shouldn't be called a quest, but rather a bond between comrades.
[Name: Deer Summoning Necklace]
[Type: Special Item]
[Quality: Rare]
[Effect: Use actively to summon a Spirit Deer mount that obeys your commands. Use again to cancel the summon. Each summon does not reset the Spirit Deer's Health and Stamina, but when dismissed, its Health and Stamina will slowly recover. If the Spirit Deer's Health is depleted, the equipment enters a 240-hour cooldown.]
[Note: Tu Ya is a legendary deer. In mythology, she almost became food for the ancestors, but the envoy saw her extraordinary nature and saved her, substituting a wild boar to fill their bellies. She followed the envoy into battle, ending the calamity, and finally died a natural death in the thirty-sixth year of her life. It is said that after the envoy departed, she would always gaze silently toward the east. She was buried under the first oak tree that grew after the disaster. To commemorate her achievements, the ancestors erected a statue of her, and on the thirty-sixth day after every New Year, people come to lay flowers beneath the oak tree.] He had gained a freely summonable mount, which was essentially Tu Ya. Judging by the description, Tu Ya had already passed away. She had lived for thirty-six years, an exceptionally long lifespan for a deer, as their lifespans typically did not exceed twenty years. Moreover, Tu Ya had been an injured deer; living to thirty-six proved that the Shaman had followed Bai Mu's instructions and taken good care of her.
In Scripts with relatively large maps, the Deer Summoning Necklace would be quite useful. Four legs were significantly faster than two. Furthermore, deer excelled at navigating complex terrain. Even on rugged and uneven mountain paths, Tu Ya could walk as if on flat ground. Unlike vehicles such as motorcycles or cars that had terrain requirements, she could even carry Bai Mu up flights of stairs inside buildings.
However, her size was comparable to a horse, so if the space was too narrow, she would struggle to perform well. She was mainly a mount for non-combat situations. A deer might fare decently on an ancient battlefield where swords and blades clashed, but pitting her against the monsters in a C-rank Script would be pushing it too far. Regardless, Bai Mu was still delighted to receive the Deer Summoning Necklace. He had experienced the sensation of riding a deer, and it was a genuinely pleasant experience. He then moved on to the next item:
[Name: Blood of God]
[Type: Consumable]
[Quality: Unique]
[Effect: Upon use, acquire the Bloodline "Mountain Beast God". This Bloodline will overwrite any existing Bloodline and cannot be removed or replaced by any means. The Bloodline reduces maximum Health by 30%, and all attributes except Spirit suffer a negative 50% penalty. Based on the reduced base attributes, it drastically increases the maximum capacity and recovery speed of any special energy, and boosts specific skill damage. It also grants special bonuses depending on the surrounding environment, with the bonus effects strengthening according to the concentration of "life" in the vicinity.]
[Requirements: None.]
[Note: Pure Blood of God, not a tainted substance. It is brimming with a spirituality that mortals struggle to endure, as if one can hear murmurs whispering in their ears.] A Unique grade Bloodline item. Its effects seemed a bit complicated at first glance, but its function was easy to understand. It was a Bloodline with incredibly powerful buffs, yet equally glaring drawbacks.
It certainly fit the characteristics of a "God". The deity in the Corrupted Forest Blood Hunt was a "God" with extremely weak defenses. Even a Matchlock Musket could kill it. Bai Mu figured that even without a Matchlock Musket, a blade could probably chop its head off. Its physical defense was indeed pathetic. Its true uniqueness manifested in its ability to alter the surrounding environment and its special power to absorb life after death.
The Bloodline's effect of reducing Health wasn't that big of a deal, but the negative 50% penalty on base attributes was a massive headache. This was a flat 50% penalty across the board, rather than merely halving the raw base stats. If it were the latter, one could find loopholes by using attribute-boosting items like the "Little Pig Doll" or the "Lord's Pendant". But with the former, even the bonuses provided by items would be slashed in half.
This was an extremely polarized Bloodline, equivalent to abandoning most of one's foundational stats to transform into a skill-reliant Player. The words "drastically increases" were certainly tempting, but the negative effects simply could not be ignored, especially for a Player like Bai Mu who relied heavily on his physical capabilities. Of course, the value of this item was undeniably high, particularly for Players who specialized in skills. The more skills they had and the stronger those skills were, the greater its value became. This was actually a late-game specialized Bloodline, not very suitable for low-level Players. For someone who favored the "Blood of God", its power would be irreplaceable, even capable of triggering a qualitative transformation.
However, for Bai Mu, this wasn't the kind of Bloodline he preferred. The main issue was that it couldn't be overwritten by any means. Using it meant committing entirely to a single path with no turning back, severely limiting his future choices.
Only those who had already established themselves as skill-focused Players would experience a massive leap in power by using it.
The good news, however, was that Bai Mu didn't need to use it himself. As it happened, he had a mage for a teammate. Although this teammate currently only possessed two offensive skills, her future potential was limitless. Combined with this Bloodline, he could almost picture Xiao Wei turning into a magical machine gun. Besides, with him around, Xiao Wei wouldn't have to worry about her reduced attributes and Health.
As for the restriction on her growth path, Xiao Wei's innate passive skills dictated that she would gain the most from being a mage. Everyone had their own unique talents; there was no need to deliberately stray from those talents to walk a path full of thorns.
Therefore, after reading the description, he decided to let Xiao Wei use the "Blood of God".