NABC Chapter 37 The Grave Robbers' Chronicles
Chapter 37 The Grave Robbers' Chronicles
After selecting and reading the log entries that she could understand, Luo Lan closed the hardcover book and organized her thoughts.
The amount of information in his mind was overwhelming. Putting aside the cryptic spells and arrays, the notes on the experimental records alone were very beneficial to Luo Lan:
[The direction of this journal research might just be the solution to the problem I'm currently facing...]
The problem of being unable to survive in the wilderness due to the depletion of biomass energy has finally found a glimmer of hope for a breakthrough.
Luo Lan flipped back to the pages of the hardcover book that described the design principles of the stitched corpse.
The moment the fingers touched these pages, arcane light shone on its own, projecting a three-dimensional anatomical diagram of a stitched corpse of the corresponding type into mid-air.
The distribution of bones, muscles, and internal organs is displayed in a rotating pattern, down to the precise direction of each blood vessel—it must be said that the author of this diary truly wanted to spread knowledge.
But Luo Lan temporarily ignored these detailed arcane arrays, fixing his gaze on a short description in the logbook, which consisted of only a few lines, and scrutinized it several times:
"The chaotic aberrations created by the [Flesh-Splattered Rotting Nest] and the evil creatures corrupted by the [Blasphemy and False Faith] can survive normally in an environment devoid of any chaotic aura."
[Normal survival in an environment free of chaotic energy...]
This is precisely the deadlock that Luo Lan urgently needs to overcome. Once this problem is solved, the sky's the limit.
And right below this entry, the blogger, named "Earles," directly provides a key to this problem:
"Using order as a vehicle to carry on chaos."
Based on the existence of [Condensation], Luo Lan estimated that as long as he gave it the remains of an Order creature, it could piece together a body that could function normally in the outside world.
[So, how do we create a vessel for order?]
A new and thorny problem arose.
According to the log, the supernatural organs that have been pieced together on Luo Lan's body, such as the Thunder Crocodile Lung, the Giant Centipede Mouthparts, and the Armored Spider Spear, are all products of demonic creatures that lean towards the chaotic side.
Even the human corpses that once belonged to the Order faction, after being made into stitched corpses, became dependent on the chaotic aura and found it difficult to leave the air of this closed underground palace.
In this dungeon, which the old mage Ers called the "Nest-Type Rift," Roland found no physical materials with the Order attribute.
Even more deadly, the log mentions that due to the existence of the so-called "Spirit Exorcising Dead Zone," the area within a hundred miles around this rift is shrouded in a certain force field, and all living beings with souls have been expelled.
You can't get a new body if you can't travel more than a hundred miles away, and you can't travel more than a hundred miles away without a new body.
A single-minded approach has become a double-edged sword.
[Tsk...this is a bit troublesome.]
Luo Lan could only patiently flip through the research log several more times, scanning each page of the recorded passages, hoping to find other solutions.
[Wait... what's this guy who calls himself a "Hero" and is dressed as a paladin?]
The last dozen or so pages of the log record a story about a guy who looks like a paladin who broke into this rift.
After dealing with the old mage Ers for a few days, he seized the rift with his superior strength and carved a hidden "water tomb" deep within it, waiting to enter it to "hibernate" after his death.
Unable to defeat the old mage, he could only pack his bags and leave in frustration, and the diary ended there.
[Hero, Paladin, Hibernation, Water Tomb...]
The answer lies in the riddle itself.
[Whether he's a hero or not is beside the point, but since this person is a paladin, his body must be considered a "vessel of order," right?]
For Luo Lan, as long as he could find the resting place of this deceased person and directly take over his remains through [Condensation], all the problems would be solved.
[Water Tomb.]
From top to bottom, the only places in this underground palace that could be described as "water," apart from a few stinking puddles in the sewers, could only be the vast underground river at the very bottom.
So, Luo Lan put the hardcover book down and prepared to jump back into the sewer cave through the hole in the ground.
But when they reached the hole, they saw the tightly closed stone door on the wall still glowing with arcane light.
Having previously gained a vague understanding of arcane arrays through "eating books," Luo Lan vaguely deduced that the runes on the inside and outside sides of this arcane gate were not the same.
As he walked toward the gate, Luo Lan tentatively reached out again, this time without his fingers being burned by the arcane magic.
The arcane spells on the gate changed rapidly several times after being touched by fingertips.
"boom--"
The arcane gates opened in response.
[So it really is a door that can't be opened from the outside?]
One side was impossible to open, while the other could be opened easily. Luo Lan had a strong sense of déjà vu and couldn't help but complain to herself.
Opening the tightly closed door saved Luo Lan the trouble of climbing back up the cave, and she went down the circular stone staircase of the underground palace.
……
……
Based on the information recorded in the notebook, Luo Lan once again infiltrated the underground river and began his "tomb raiding" operation.
The dark green river water in this area still had that viscous texture, and the underwater light was dim.
Luo Lan had swum through the area countless times when she was clearing out the poisonous fish, but she hadn't noticed anything unusual then.
At this point, we had no choice but to activate the ultrasonic sensor and scan the underwater surface meter by meter, striving to avoid missing any hidden blind spots in this place full of reefs and deep silt.
"Buzz—"
An invisible ultrasonic vibration emanated from Luo Lan and spread outwards in all directions, where the light was dim.
With the help of the three-dimensional map woven from the constant feedback of sound waves in his mind, Luo Lan began to conduct a thorough search of the underwater area.
After most of the day had passed.
[Hmm? Where am I...?]
The ultrasound feedback deviated from Luo Lan's field of vision.
Several collapsed boulders lay askew on the muddy ground ahead. The ultrasonic waves passed through them and revealed a gap in the mud layer hidden by the boulders, just wide enough for one person to pass through.
But in Luo Lan's single eye's [thermal vision] and normal field of vision, what was clearly in front of him was a flat, muddy bottom covered with dark green moss and without a single pit or bump.
Luo Lan swam to the top of this area.
With his left hand loosely clenched, a faint red glow gradually gathered in his palm.
【Pale-light crystal cluster lv.1】
A crystal block emitting a pale red glow appeared out of thin air in Luo Lan's palm.
With a flick of his wrist, he used the glowing crystal as a "guide light stick" and threw it at the patch of mud in front of him that showed a gap in the ultrasonic waves.
The crystals emitting a faint red glow did not react with the silt; instead, they sank straight down, the faint light disappearing bit by bit into the silt, as if there were nothing there.
Luo Lan stretched out an arm and tentatively inserted it downwards.
The arm passed right through the moss-covered mud without any resistance.
This small patch of land is like a high-precision optical projection, even simulating the dim lighting effect of accumulated decaying matter perfectly, making it indistinguishable from the real thing.
You can see it, but you can't touch it.
[Illusion? Or something else...]
With the eight spider spears extending from his back in a defensive stance, Luo Lan slid down into the illusory opening.
"Thump!"
After passing through the illusory mud, Luo Lan instantly lost buoyancy and fell onto a cold, hard metal floor.
Luo Lan turned and stood up, looking back at the gap she had crawled through. Looking out from the gap, she saw a pale blue light curtain that rippled slightly under the water pressure, completely isolating the underground river water.
After confirming that his sudden intrusion had not triggered any traps or monsters, Luo Lan began to observe his surroundings.
[Wait, is this art style right?]
Having explored the dungeon for so long, encountering all sorts of monsters and the old mage's magic diary, Luo Lan always believed that he had transmigrated into a fantasy world.
But the scene before her eyes made Luo Lan wonder if she had traveled through time again.