Taiping Residential Area,
Fang You was unaware of the disaster situations in various places, but he had come across some unusual information online.
Events as significant as the South Suburban Gate of the Mysterious Realm, if predicted and sealed in advance, were likely concealed, causing minimal damage and impact.
However, not all disasters could be foreseen. As more catastrophic events emerged, the existence of the eerie and malevolent would eventually become undeniable.
"First, undergo the second awakening, then carve out an entrance to the organization's base, and afterward, search for suitable personnel."
This was today's plan.
He had to at least accomplish the first part.
He clicked on his character.
"Hint: 'Savior of Destiny' can undergo a second awakening. This guidance requires consuming 'Destiny Points x3' and 'Ghost Crystals x9'. The awakening probability is 60%. Failing the second guidance will consume more resources."
He would awaken, wouldn't he?
Fang You took a deep breath, gritted his teeth, and pressed the button.
A mysterious effervescence swirled around him, and he felt as if he were falling into an abyss.
This was the second time.
He was mentally prepared, but the impact he suffered this time was even more intense, dozens of times more so than the first time!
It was also far more potent than facing those three flesh-and-blood giants directly that day.
Back then, he was at a distance, but now, Fang You felt as though he were surrounded by ten flesh-and-blood giants, their terrifying madness assaulting his mind.
He didn't want to be afraid, but some things could not be altered by sheer will.
Gritting his teeth, he closed his eyes and forced himself to endure.
He had to endure even if he couldn't!
But closing his eyes couldn't block the horror before him. It was the same whether his eyes were closed or open. Ten flesh-and-blood giants were locked around him, and an even more terrifying presence was slowly coiling around him.
Cold and slippery.
It might just be a hallucination, but he couldn't treat his current predicament as one.
He thought this in his heart, but he couldn't act on it.
Fang You continued to hold on, enduring in the abyss. His expression gradually became dazed, like a sleepwalker lost in a nightmare.
He didn't know how long had passed. When Fang You regained his senses, cold sweat had soaked his clothes, his lips were bitten bloody, and his spirit was somewhat weakened, with little strength left in his body.
"Failed?"
"Did the second awakening still fail?"
Not far away, Hei Tong was pacing back and forth before him, looking anxious. Seeing that the mysterious aura around him had subsided, Hei Tong glanced at him, then tilted its head, let out a meow, and transformed into an illusionary streak, darting into the bedroom.
It went back to reading its novels.
Before Fang You opened his eyes.
...
Fang You took a while to gradually recover. He picked up his phone and saw that an hour had passed.
When he opened the Salvation Game again, it was as expected; the prompt indicated that the awakening had failed.
But fortunately, he hadn't lost any limbs, and his status panel only showed "Fatigued."
He was fine.
It was just his heart that was greatly pained.
"Even with the guidance for awakening, the entire process remains incredibly difficult. And this is only the second stage."
Awakening was too difficult. Sometimes, sheer willpower wasn't enough.
Fang You admitted that his willpower couldn't compare to his old brother Hei Dao. At least, he couldn't get up at four in the morning to exercise while injured... he would at least aim for five.
This time, the failed awakening had also brought some changes to his panel.
His accumulated mysterious value had decreased by 10 points.
It still met the conditions for awakening.
"Mysterious: 22.6!"
He tried it.
"Hint: Would you like to proceed with the second guidance? This guidance requires consuming 'Destiny Points x4' and 'Ghost Crystals x12'. The awakening probability is 11%/68%. Failing the third guidance will consume more resources."
The former was his current state. With his shaken state, awakening would clearly be like looking for death.
The latter represented a normal state, and the probability had increased.
Fang You shifted his posture, calmed his mind, and then took out paper and pen. After pondering for a while, he began to record.
Failure was an established fact and couldn't be changed. What needed to be done now was to find the reason for the failure... Well, thinking about it carefully, failure was also a unique experience.
Thinking of it this way, it wasn't so sad anymore.
Recalling the process just now, there was still a mysterious effervescence, followed by a feeling of falling into an abyss. If there was anything different from the last time, besides the greatly amplified terror he faced, it was the flesh-and-blood giants.
"Ten flesh-and-blood giants surrounded me."
"Compared to other horrors, the flesh-and-blood giants were the most tangible, direct, and terrifying to me."
"Is there a possibility that because I killed the flesh-and-blood giants and absorbed the mystery from them, I encountered the flesh-and-blood giants during the awakening?"
Fang You pondered.
This possibility seemed quite high.
Later, he could ask his old brother Hei Dao to write down his awakening experience and see if the dangerous situations he faced during his awakening involved the two-star eerie beings he had killed.
If his old brother Hei Dao had a similar experience, his guess would be highly probable.
"Then..."
"The flesh-and-blood giants are three-star eerie beings. Could this also have caused my awakening success rate to decrease significantly?"
This was pending.
His awakening success rate was truly low, only 60%. This was definitely not because he was incompetent... at most, just a little bit.
If this guess were true, avoiding killing eerie beings of higher levels as much as possible might slightly increase the success rate.
But then again, how many people could kill an eerie being of a higher level?
Fang You recorded his insights and conjectures one by one. The description of the awakening process reached its end. Before failing, he became dazed and disoriented, like a sleepwalker in a terrible nightmare.
But a nightmare was just a dream, and the horror was not even one-ten-thousandth of facing the flesh-and-blood giants directly.
Rather than saying he failed the awakening because he became dazed and disoriented, it was more likely that he entered that state because of the failure.
This was a protective mechanism.
It was precisely because of this that he didn't suffer any significant trauma after the awakening failed, only a great expenditure of stamina.
Fang You tapped the tip of his pen, wrote down his conjecture, and then closed the notebook.
After resting for a while, he picked up his beginner's wooden sword and began practicing basic swordsmanship.
Or he would meditate and rest.
Occasionally, he also assigned tasks to his old brother Hei Dao and An Jianyou.
When his condition and state of mind recovered to their peak, Fang You took out his phone and opened the Salvation Game. "Let's try again. This time, it will definitely succeed!"
He pressed down heavily.
The mystery once again boiled.
His mind plunged into an boundless abyss, with ten extremely clear flesh-and-blood giants practically touching his skin all around him.
Fang You bit his tongue, focused his mind, and guarded his heart!
Endure, endure, endure, endure!
He didn't know how long it took. When he opened his eyes, a faint golden light flickered within them, and an invisible wave of energy erupted from his body, creating circles of dust.
It scattered onto Hei Tong, who was peeking from a distance. Hei Tong meowed, bristled, and shook its fur, batting at the dust.
Fang You stood up.
Power surged within him. His vision, hearing, smell, and other senses were all greatly sharpened, as if the shackles that had been bound to him were completely broken.
Without a doubt, he had succeeded this time.
Second Awakening.
"Ding!"
"Hint: 'Savior of Destiny' has completed the second awakening. Physique +5.8, Spirit +3.2. Awakened abilities have been enhanced."
(End of Volume 1. Although the title for Volume 2 has not yet been decided.)