"Cracked Divinity (Gold)"
"Description: A strand of cracked divinity left by a seventh-star aberrant, distinct from the cracked divinity left behind after the fall of mythological existences or divine avatars. This divinity contains a large amount of corruption and may be used for arranging mythological rituals? The risk is high, and further methods of use are for the user to explore."
Fang You clasped this strand of golden divine radiance in his hand.
This was the second strand of cracked divinity he had obtained. The first, after being repaired, merged with the god-slaying weapon Qian Hong, unleashing powerful might.
As for this one...
"According to the description, it's inferior to normal cracked divinity, but it's at least equivalent to a treasure that can contain divinity."
Aberrants of the seventh star were treasures all over. Besides this strand of cracked divinity, several blue-tier and purple-tier materials were collected from its corpse.
And a high-grade aberrant item.
"Monster's Nest (Purple)"
"Ability: Infuse with life energy to hatch third-star to fifth-star aberrants from the 'Monster's Nest.' The number and level depend on the infusion amount and mental strength. The hatched monsters are not true aberrants and can only exist for a period, obeying only simple commands."
"Side Effect: The user will be implanted with a monster egg. Once the critical threshold is breached, an aberrant may hatch by breaking through the user's body."
"Tsk..."
Fang You frowned.
Judging solely by its ability, this aberrant item was undoubtedly an SSR among purple-tier items, the cream of the crop. It seemed equivalent to a weakened version of a seventh-star aberrant hatching its offspring.
A seventh-star hatching could be described as endless. If the combat time were extended, Fang You himself might be drowned in a tide of aberrants.
Perhaps seventh-star world-ending aberrants could create super-waves on their own? It was likely, even on a larger scale, ceaseless, until the waves consumed the entire world.
A weakened version, a very, very weakened version. If it could create a small wave, it would still be quite formidable.
However, the side effect was also quite disgusting.
As expected of something dropped by a seventh-star aberrant.
Let Master Wang see if he could weaken this side effect... No, even if weakened, the implantation of a monster egg within the body was quite unsettling. If the side effect could be transferred, this aberrant artifact would be a true top-tier item.
This trip had yielded a significant amount of materials.
Fang You had also gained a general understanding of his combat power and Qian Hong's.
—Against a mythological-level being, perhaps he was capable.
If facing a giant seventh-star aberrant comparable to a mythological existence, Qian Hong, with its focus on destructive power, would have more advantages. Of course, if facing a true god with multiple abilities and rationality, it was difficult to say if it would be so easy.
Overall, this venture had been smooth... Not at all!
The most fundamental goal was to allow An Jianyou to control a seventh-star world-ending aberrant, which would elevate Sister An to mythological combat power.
This would increase the peak combat power of the Xin Huo faction by one-third.
Now, it had all fallen through.
"Don't be discouraged. If it fails, it fails. Once you reach the mythological level, we can control six or seven, even eight of them."
"I was too weak. If I were a little stronger, I would definitely have succeeded."
An Jianyou was still somewhat dejected.
Through her description, Fang You roughly understood.
The process of control, of imprinting within the aberrant's body, was like a tug-of-war. He had initially severely injured the aberrant, reducing its "strength." Afterward, An Jianyou had continuously "pulled." The process was initially quite smooth, with hope in sight, but at the final moment, the rope of the tug-of-war... broke.
"This might be because the world-ending aberrant contained a strand of divinity, causing a qualitative change."
"After all, there's a chasm-like gap between the seventh and sixth stars."
However,
An Jianyou had golden legend potential. Her talent had already been upgraded by one tier, she possessed a legendary aberrant artifact, and had various skills like meditation to assist her. She was quite extravagant.
The entire process also demonstrated that it was possible for a sixth-sense being to control an aberrant comparable to a mythological existence.
She just needed to be a little stronger, just a little bit stronger!
And Sister An still had considerable room for improvement.
"Then, Mentor, after I upgrade my meditation to Master level, I'll try again."
She bit her lip, feeling a touch of unwillingness.
She clearly understood that only by possessing mythological combat power could she share some of the burden with her mentor and have the right to break through the thorns and light a torch on the dark path ahead.
But upgrading meditation by one level?
This improvement was too slight. Trying again would likely be difficult, and she would suffer backlash again.
Seeing the still rather weak An Jianyou, Fang You shook his head, "Don't rush. Take more time to improve. Try again when you are better prepared."
"But..."
"No buts. Besides, such world-ending aberrants are hard to find. This might be the only one in the shallow layer."
Sister An immediately deflated.
She couldn't muster her stubbornness.
What Fang You said was not a lie. Seventh-star aberrants were extremely rare. Discovering this one was a matter of luck. The most reliable way to capture a seventh-star world-ending aberrant was to venture deep into the aberrant realm, into those dangerous, unknown places.
"However, seventh-star aberrants are beings that contain divinity. Even in the deeper layers, they might not be that easy to find."
"Either you won't find any, or upon finding one, you'll be plunging into the lair of even more dangerous existences."
"In the future, when An Jianyou ascends to the seventh-sense mythological level, she will definitely be able to contract seventh-star aberrants, at least a few. But the difficulty then won't be how to imprint them, but how to find them... let alone finding SSRs or SRs among seventh-star aberrants, even finding a single seventh-star won't be easy."
This was the flaw of the aberrant-controlling lineage!
Alright, it wasn't really a flaw, at most it reduced it from cheat-level to slightly-cheat-level.
As his thoughts wandered, the two of them had not returned to Blue Star. The Hundred-Eyed Flying Fish was still flying aimlessly. Suddenly, the Flying Fish abruptly halted, and An Jianyou looked in a certain direction with intense focus.
"There's an aberrant!"
"It seems to be a rare sixth-star aberrant!"
An Jianyou was seeing a rare aberrant of the disaster level for the first time.
The highest-level rare aberrant in her current party was a "Creepy Laughing Puppet," though it was not a fourth-star but a fifth-star she had captured separately.
She had always wanted to capture rare sixth-star aberrants that could be used in a wider range of combat scenarios.
But she hadn't encountered them.
Seeing An Jianyou's gaze, Fang You nodded slightly, "Seventh-star world-ending aberrant, we'll come back for it when we're better prepared. Before then, capturing a few sixth-star aberrants to supplement our forces wouldn't be bad."
"Rare ones are even more worth capturing."
He smiled and told a story.
"In our recorded aberrant bestiary, most aberrants have fixed star levels. Even a third-star individual among the Knocking Children is called a Knocking Child King, not a Knocking Child. Ordinary aberrants occasionally mutate, becoming stronger at most, but never reaching the point of breaking through star levels."
"However, the data recorded for some rare aberrants is peculiar. Like your Creepy Laughing Puppet, there are fourth-star and fifth-star ones, but there have also been two-star ones that were encountered and destroyed by an exploration team."
"According to rumors from the Great Oasis, these rare aberrants possess unique self-evolutionary abilities. It doesn't matter if you can't contract a seventh-star aberrant; who knows, maybe your Creepy Laughing Puppet will evolve to the seventh-star level on its own one day."
"There's also a legend that the unfathomable, terrifying existence at the deepest part of the aberrant realm evolved from some kind of rare aberrant."
Fang You was just joking.
He wanted to cheer up the dejected An Jianyou. As an employer, he had to care for his golden-employee.
However, An Jianyou listened quite seriously. Did she actually believe it?
How could she believe evolutionary theory?
Cough cough, however, the possibility of rare aberrants possessing the ability to "breakthrough" did exist, but the timescale might be ten or a hundred years. By then, if An Jianyou hadn't reached beyond the seventh sense, it would be his fault as the boss for not cheating enough.
One dared to speak.
One dared to listen.
Seeing Sister An rekindle her fighting spirit, Fang You decided to define this legend as true.
As they spoke, they quickly arrived at their destination. The target aberrant appeared in their sight... He noticed it without An Jianyou needing to point it out!
It was just a bit strange.
Rare aberrants were usually "petite" in size and possessed strong stealth abilities, making them assassins among aberrants.
This one before them, though small in size, was anything but stealthy. Its bright red figure stood out starkly amidst the predominantly "black" and "gray" tones of other aberrants.
It was clad in a red robe!
Its face was indistinct, and its size was about that of a normal person. At first glance, it resembled a human awakened, but humans, the minions of evil gods, and aberrants were different. Anyone with a bit of experience could discern the difference in their aura.
Moreover, this red-robed aberrant, unlike other rare aberrants, did not conceal its aura. It permeated outward.
There was also a rational impact that assailed their ears.
An even more direct piece of evidence was...
"Red-Robed Aberrant (Sixth-Star)"
"Bestiary Completion: 10%, information updates in real-time upon contact."
The bestiary had already displayed the information.
This red-robed aberrant also noticed their arrival. Its entire form twisted and stretched, its red skirt billowed in the wind, and in an instant, its body grew to tens of meters tall.
But Fang You was faster. The Lightning Hand Seal had already been unleashed.
Brilliant lightning enveloped the red robe that resembled a waterfall. Lightning and the red shadow collided, emitting explosive sounds. In the next moment, from between the fingers of the hand seal, countless blood-red silk cloths spread out.
Fang You: "???"
The dignified Lightning Hand Seal, a secret technique fused and created by his mentor Fang, was unable to deal with a mere sixth-star aberrant, let alone a world-ending aberrant?
Impossible!
He was the invincible sixth-sense!
Fang You's right hand clenched. The colossal hundred-meter Lightning Hand Seal in the distance radiated even brighter light and pressed forward.
But it couldn't be moved.
The red silk cloth continued to seep out, attacking like giant pythons.
"Something's wrong."
"There's definitely something wrong!"
This was definitely not because his mentor Fang was too weak, nor because the Lightning Hand Seal was too mediocre, but because this sixth-star aberrant had a problem! A big problem!
It...
As the battle continued, the mentor seemed to be at a disadvantage. However, this was surely to gauge the full data of this red-robed aberrant.
An Jianyou understood perfectly.
Her eyes were also fixed on the battle. She could naturally tell that this aberrant was not normal, far too powerful for a sixth-star disaster level.
If she hadn't just faced a seventh-star aberrant and known the terror of the seventh-star level, she would have thought this was a seventh-star world-ending aberrant.
And as the battle deepened, with both pairs of eyes watching, the data regarding the red-robed aberrant in the bestiary was continuously updating.
This aberrant...
It was evolving towards the seventh-star level!