Chapter 615: The Prosperity Contracts and the Thorn Weeping Rite |
Bright moon high overhead, stars turning in the sky.
Cheng Shi was back. After an intensely compressed trial, he'd returned to his rooftop.
Though the Prosperity trial had lasted only a single day, that day had felt as long as several combined. He'd shuttled between the Void, reality, history, and dreams—navigating among Void, Existence, Civilization, and Chaos. He'd met countless people, spoken countless words, and even had audiences with several gods!
Who would have imagined all of that fitting into twenty-four hours?
Cheng Shi hadn't slept for an entire day and night. The instant the trial ended, crushing exhaustion slammed into him. His legs buckled and he collapsed flat on the ground.
If he hadn't remembered his original purpose in the trial's final moments—frantically switching his faith to claim Big Cat's gift—he'd have forgotten this was supposed to be the "simplest" trial they'd both prayed for together.
'So where exactly was the "simple" part?'
The simplest moment of the entire trial was probably when Big Cat transformed into a bear and punched open the Howling Iron Prison's gate. Indeed—brute force was always the most efficient problem-solving method.
Unfortunately, even as Today's Hero, he still didn't have Big Cat's ability to practically steamroll a trial. And as his contact with the gods deepened, raw power alone was becoming less and less sufficient under their watchful gazes.
With that thought, Cheng Shi smiled and pulled from his inventory the trial's biggest prize—the Prosperity item Big Cat had promised him to boost his mental energy.
The Thorn Weeping Rite. SS-rank quasi-divine artifact. A thorned whip covered in barbs...
When he realized he was gripping a whip whose handle was also covered in barbs, blood already seeping from his palm, the smile froze on his face.
'Excuse me—you call this a buff item?'
'A buff for what? Bloodletting to improve circulation?'
Cheng Shi's lip twitched as he began studying it in detail.
Thorn Weeping Rite (SS): Quasi-divine artifact. A whip-punishment used by rainforest tribes faithful to Prosperity to prove their devotion. The target suffers both physical and mental damage.
Special Effect — Wailing Is Worship: If the target sings a hymn of Prosperity while being whipped, the strike inflicts no mental damage.
Special Effect — Prosperity Brings Rebirth: When a lash causes only physical damage, a small amount of the target's mental energy is restored.
"..."
Reading the effects, Cheng Shi's jaw dropped. His entire composure unraveled.
He even began questioning whether this had truly come from a rainforest tribe. This looked far more like a Decay creation!
Harm yourself, praise your Benefactor, gain power... How was this not one hundred percent Decay?
'Prosperity is dead, and it's still pulling plot twists?'
So if it worked as described, the usage would be: when his mental energy was depleted, he'd pull out the whip, flog himself, while simultaneously singing praises to Prosperity, then gradually recover mental energy through the bloody mess—and finally use the recovered energy to heal the injuries he'd just self-inflicted?
'Self-sufficient. A free beating for nothing, basically.'
'This doesn't even look like a Decay creation anymore. This is a pure Clown prop!'
'How does this deserve an SS rating?'
'Big Cat, oh Big Cat—you may not know I'm the Clown, but you've certainly got the Clown role down pat for me!'
Cheng Shi was speechless. He looked at the whip, then gripped it tighter—letting the barbs dig deeper into his palm. When the blood was flowing freely, he suddenly let out a holler:
"PRAISE PROSPERITY!"
When this decidedly undevout praise landed, he felt a subtle shift in his fully charged mental energy!
It was like a brimming reservoir suddenly gaining a few extra cubic meters of water. But the surplus didn't overflow the dam—it stacked above the surface in some miraculous state, becoming an additional reserve.
"!!!"
In that single instant, Cheng Shi understood why this thing was an SS-rank quasi-divine artifact.
The upper limit!
Its lashes could increase the maximum capacity of mental energy. And it wasn't limited to self-use—it worked on others too. Meaning that with good timing, it could be the ultimate pre-battle team buff!
Cheng Shi shot upright, eyes blazing, and spent nearly the entire night experimenting with the Thorn Weeping Rite's mechanics. After exhaustive testing, he finally mapped out every one of its effects.
The whip didn't actually raise the reservoir's permanent capacity. It was more like excavating a temporary spillway beside the reservoir.
He could keep flogging himself to accumulate mental energy bonuses, but after half an hour at most, any unconsumed surplus would dissipate entirely.
In other words, the buff stacked for a maximum of thirty minutes. Factoring in the wind-up and cooldown of spellcasting plus other time losses, this could roughly double his mental energy capacity under ideal preparation.
What did double mean? It essentially gave a player an entire extra round of output before a fight ended. Peak-level battles never dragged on too long—a few minutes was typically enough to determine victory.
So Big Cat's eye for gear really was exceptional. Whether used for pre-battle preparation or clutch comebacks from a deficit, this item was remarkable.
The only downside: the flogging genuinely hurt.
Besides the Thorn Weeping Rite, Cheng Shi had also received two contracts.
Though both were only A-rank, their utility was fascinating.
The Nature Homecoming Contract let the user temporarily transform into a plant—returning to nature. The plant couldn't move but provided an omnidirectional field of vision within a certain radius.
The Tree Spirit Prayer Contract let the user bond with a tree and share part of its vision.
In simple terms: two recon tools, designed to give players a more covert intelligence advantage in small-scale or sustained engagements.
They seemed a bit niche, but for an information-warfare specialist like Cheng Shi, they were practically dream items.
'Big Cat really gets me. She knows I lack large-scale recon capability, so she hand-delivered these right to my door.'
'If she treats me this sincerely, I should reciprocate. Next time we meet, I might as well tell her my other identity. That way she won't hear it from someone else and come back to interrogate me.'
'Though... what excuse should I use?'
'Right—I'll say I found an opportunity through Lord Yu Xi and then got tricked into the Fun God's service.'
'As fellow Void walkers, I naturally couldn't refuse. And there was no way I could see through Deceit's tricks. So I had no choice but to eat the loss in silence.'
'Hmm. Reasonable. Very reasonable.'
Cheng Shi smiled—genuinely happy.
As for the other trial reward, some Mini Gavel Toy from the Grand Tribunal... he pulled it out, took one look at its squishy texture that couldn't even crack a walnut, and tossed it straight into the warehouse.
"Just a toy. Not even B-rank. Worse than the wood-bird clock the Dragon King gave me."
Speaking of the wood-bird, Cheng Shi remembered Big Cat asking him for a gift.
"..."
'Whatever—I'll save it for Big Cat. Call it a Destined Ones membership gift.'
'Come to think of it, I still haven't collected the Dragon King's entry fee. Wonder if he...'
Right as that thought formed, his phone rang.
He picked up with a peculiar expression. Sure enough—the caller was the very Dragon King he'd just been thinking about.
Li Jingming didn't waste time on pleasantries. He opened with the question that had been burning in him for ages:
"Cheng Shi—what happened inside Chernosly's dream? What went wrong with Order?"