Chapter 301: Rune-ization
"An interesting concept." Bai Mo fixed a few of the rune creatures charging at him, then used his psychokinesis to meticulously disassemble the runes that comprised them.
His avatar in the European Union focused on a different direction of research than Chris Ding's current one: rune arrays on a fixed medium. For instance, the rune he recently carved on a ruby to summon his main body's power was one of his latest achievements.
Chris Ding, on the other hand, employed rune shaping, a discipline imbued with the characteristics of Wu Zhi's world, using runes as a core control mechanism to achieve an effect similar to creating combat puppets. As someone who disliked close-quarters combat and believed it severely damaged her image, Chris Ding was exceptionally fond of this summoner-like fighting style, which led her rune army to become her signature tactic.
"Is he trying to learn this technique on the battlefield?" Chris Ding asked the bracelet, noticing the frequency of spells aimed at her had dropped.
"Possibly, but without a guide, how could he possibly learn it in such a short time?"
What followed seemed to confirm Wu Zhi's conjecture. Continuously, bizarre rune creatures appeared from behind Bai Mo, only to self-destruct moments later, appearing to be failed imitations.
Although Chris Ding didn't believe Bai Mo could truly master her signature skill under such circumstances, she still made every effort to disrupt him.
She keenly perceived that the structure of this avatar wasn't perfectly stable and was likely to collapse on its own before long. This meant that as long as she could stall, she would have a chance to claim victory.
Seizing the bracelet could be done anytime, but inspiration wasn't always available. Bai Mo was currently in a phase where his inspiration had just been ignited.
Compared to the emergence of this advanced inspiration, the current battle was a trivial matter. Even if he were to detonate his avatar right now, the loss would merely be a six-million-valued ruby, specially processed with runes. He could have as many of those as he desired. Enemies? Old acquaintances? Transactions? All of it could be deferred.
Bai Mo had almost entirely diverted his thoughts to this problem, leaving only a single thought within his battling avatar to manage the most rudimentary movements.
Inside the testing ground, all avatars, except for those engaged in other crucial experiments, ceased their work and sat idly in a corner.
From Chris Ding's perspective, the magic machine gun that had been relentlessly suppressing her had suddenly transformed into a magic pistol with a pitiful rate of fire. The distorted rune creatures appearing sporadically behind him seemed to confirm that he was still deep in thought.
This sudden change stunned the few people present. The avatar, which had been completely overwhelming its opponent, unexpectedly went silent.
However, she quickly regained her composure. Whatever the reason, an enemy afflicted by a "brain-drain aura" was a good thing. She finally had the leisure to summon her rune army, layering protections three deep around herself. Chris Ding was truly terrified by the preceding barrage; the intense headache still hadn't fully subsided.
She merely continued to reinforce her defenses, showing no intention of attacking whatsoever.
"Aren't you going to seize this chance to kill the avatar?" Wu Zhi asked from within the bracelet.
"I'm afraid my attack wouldn't kill it, but rather wake it up." Chris Ding, who had considerable experience researching avatars, quickly deduced the true reason for the enemy avatar's current state: its main body had something extremely important to attend to and had temporarily withdrawn all projected will and thoughts.
She pondered whether to leverage her high-damage turret-like nature to spend a significant amount of time setting up a grand move capable of instantly annihilating the avatar, or to seize this opportunity to escape Florence directly, fleeing to a place he couldn't find.
While eliminating this avatar certainly wouldn't be interfered with by Pope Gondor, it might draw interference from Mu Si, the Witch, who was standing nearby. Chris Ding never imagined that the super-assassin hired by the European Union had coincidentally been rescued by this cold and merciless individual.
Yet, slinking away felt incredibly unpalatable to her. She was so close to victory, only a step away, but this sudden turn of events had put her in an awkward predicament, caught between a rock and a hard place.
"Is that so?" Just as Chris Ding was still hesitating, Bai Mo's avatar suddenly uttered this sentence.
Then she realized that this madman was actually trying to fully rune-ize his entire avatar!
Six years ago, Chris Ding had entertained the thought of rune-izing her body during her cultivation, but Wu Zhi had immediately stopped her. Under Wu Zhi's explanation, she understood that body rune-ization was simply not something someone at her current level should even conceive of.
It wasn't until two years ago, when she felt she had successfully found her place in the "sea of primal force" and had advanced to a Super-class Mage, that she believed she was qualified to explore such a matter.
Thus, she secretly attempted to rune-ize a small part of her body. The result was that after only rune-izing a single finger, her brain was nearly overwhelmed by an ocean of information, yet simultaneously, she felt that this finger was omnipotent, just like when her entire being had been connected to the "sea of primal force" back then.
However, for the safety of her brain, to prevent it from bursting under the vast information, she immediately made the rune-ized part self-destruct. Afterwards, she consumed numerous tonics and elixirs to fully restore her finger.
"He's committing suicide, isn't he?" Watching her enemy walk the path of self-destruction, Chris Ding suddenly didn't know how to react. Give him a push? Unnecessary, he was going to die anyway. Lend a hand? She wasn't that much of a saint to save someone who had nearly killed her.
"Hard to say." Wu Zhi, however, held a different view. "Keep watching, and remember every detail. Even if he ultimately commits suicide, his attempt holds extraordinary significance for accumulating future experience for you all."
"Once a certain level is reached, most life forms will choose to undergo Elementization of their bodies, and rune-ization is one such path. My race is different from yours, so I cannot guide you; this step can only be explored by yourself."
Bai Mo, in the testing ground, certainly wouldn't be so insane as to start experimenting with his main body; last time was, after all, an accident. Just like before, he first used his avatars and projections to probe, "throwing a stone to ask for directions" step by step, trying various approaches, until he reached the stages that absolutely required his personal involvement.
By the time this avatar in Florence began rune-ization, he had already "broken" over a dozen avatars in Tianqing.
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