When Ash, Sonia, and Diya were looking at each other in the sports car, being chased by the Heroic Soul Legion from behind, they couldn't help but wonder: How did it develop to this point?
Half an hour ago, Ash discovered a golden area labeled "Don't miss it if you pass by" through the virtual map. They went in and found that it was a small cafe with three books and three cups of coffee on the table according to the number of people.
Ash originally thought it was a "Question of Fate", but after opening the book, he found that it was not, but a virtual realm mechanism that makes people love and hate it - "Blessing and Curse of Chaos Shopping Book"!
"Congratulations to every magician who has opened this book. You are extremely lucky. Your destiny is about to change. You are the light, you are the electricity, you are the myth of the future!"
"This book was compiled by the 'dramatic poet'... Please remember this name, because... he is the narrator of fate, holding the power of contradictions, directing countless joys and sorrows, and witnessing the separation and reunion of the world."
"Billions of magicians in the virtual world are not even half as good as... half a point!"
"This book needs to comply with the following purchase rules—"
"①Every blessing and curse has a price. Every time you buy a blessing, you will inevitably receive a random curse of the same price, and vice versa. It's an equal exchange."
"②The blessings and curses chosen by the magician will not cancel each other out. You can eat shit and poop, or you can eat and poop, but eating food and shit together does not cancel out the excretion."
"③ Random curses only last during the virtual world and will not affect reality; random blessings only last during reality and will not affect the virtual world."
"④After opening this book, you must purchase at least one blessing/curse, but there is no limit to the purchase. Don't miss it if you pass by."
"⑤ As a shopping tax, this book will extract the magician's life experience to generate new blessings/curses. There are only two things in life that are unavoidable: eating and paying taxes."
"Please be careful. Don't think that you can get around the curse by choosing all the powerful blessings. You might get cursed with 'Thinking will turn you to stone' as soon as you go out, and turn you into a statue right on the spot. If you choose the blessing of 'Immune to Stone', the curse might turn into 'Thinking will turn you to fat'. In short, I will kill the whole family of anyone who dares to take advantage of me."
"But don't be too afraid. 'Drama Poet'... isn't a big villain. This is a benefit for the younger generation. So for the magicians who are opening this book for the first time, if your curse points are ≤10, then your random curse will end in this virtual realm exploration; if your blessing points are ≤10, then your purchased curse will end in reality within 72 hours."
It's you again, big brother the nameless dramatic poet!
This is the only strange magician that Ash and his companions know so far, who can leave special mechanisms in the virtual world. The "Legendary Library" that Ash and Diya encountered last time was also his work. Unfortunately, Sonia wrote a note for leave that night and did not come.
Later, Ash asked whether there were many special mechanisms left by legendary magicians on the Continent of Time. The village girl shook her head very affirmatively and said that the dramatic poet was indeed the only magician who left a mechanism on the Continent of Time.
Although the Drama Poet was indeed very powerful, his real strength was that he could return to the Time Continent. After all, magicians who could influence the Void Realm were at least Legendary, or even Demigod Angels or Lord Gods, but it was extremely difficult for these powerful people to return to the Novice Village at the bottom of the Void Realm.
This is also the protection mechanism of the virtual realm. Otherwise, the appearance of a strong man who likes to cut young seedlings will be enough to annihilate all the new magicians in the world.
The fact that the Drama Poet was able to leave so many mechanisms on the Time Continent shows that he can freely enter and exit the second level of the Void Realm, at least at a very low cost. Therefore, the magicians are very curious about what sin the Drama Poet had committed to the point that even his name was completely erased.
However, the mechanisms he left behind are not all good. For example, the "Blessing and Curse: Chaotic Shopping Book" fully reflects his bad taste, which makes people sigh that letting the dramatic poet continue to live will only make the rice more expensive.
Ash and the others opened the shopping book and saw a wide variety of options:
Physical Fitness: "Sudden death at any time +30, weak and vulnerable +10, immune to all diseases -10, regeneration of broken limbs -30"
Wisdom: "Can't hide from the rain +30, mentally retarded +10, clever and witty -10, insight into the truth -30"
Luck: "Choking to death while drinking water +30, running out of toilet paper +10, wishing for it to come true -10, blessing from fate -30"
Charm: "Hated by Gods and Ghosts +30, Polluted Air +10, Loved by Everyone -10, Disaster for All Races -30"
These are the more common options for the magician's various attributes. There are more strange blessings/curses——
"Life is Beautiful - 10: Everyone is beautiful in your eyes, everything is good in your eyes, every scene is worth stopping at, and there is not a single day when you are unhappy."
"Cynical +10: You feel like the world is hopeless even if you see someone breathing."
"Listen to the inner voice - 10: You can vaguely hear the inner voice of others."
"Honesty +10: If everyone in a place is honest, is it heaven or hell?"
"Perspective Illusion-10: You can't really see through, but you can certainly see what you want to see."
"Deadly Sense-10: When you are in danger, you will feel that time slows down. The more dangerous it is, the greater the slowing down of time."
"Time Disorder +30: Your sense of time is completely messed up. Today is the 3rd, tomorrow is the 9th, and yesterday was the 21st, haha."
"Foreseeing Death-30: You can see how you die."
This is a blessing/Although the blessing is strange, it is understandable at least. However, there are many things that you don’t know how to classify——
"Childhood sweetheart - 10: Within three days, a childhood sweetheart will come to you. He is about the same strength as you, but your relationship is just friends."
"Lover-30: Within three days, a person who is very compatible with your sexual preferences will appear. His strength is similar to yours, but he only loves you in this life."
"Enemies +10: Within three days, an enemy who hates you will appear. He is as powerful as you and will unite all the people who hate you to deal with you."
"Chat Channel-30: You will join the chat channel created by the Drama Poet and chat with people in it anytime and anywhere."
"Fish-Slaying Dragon - 10: Every time you enter the virtual realm, there will be a fish-slaying dragon next to you that obeys you completely. You can command it at will."
"Random Race +10: You will be transformed into another random race."
"Beauty can't poop - 10: All your excrement is transferred to another person to deal with."
"What the hell is going on here..." Ash's head hurts. "Since they're moving the excrement, why aren't they moving it to the sewer, but instead putting it into another person's large intestine!?"
Diya said: "Maybe excretion is a respect for feces, and why do you care about this, do you want to choose?"
"It is said that people spend half an hour every day on excretion... If we can save this time..." Ash pondered, "But what do childhood sweethearts and lovers mean? If I choose lover, will someone who likes me appear out of nowhere?"
"It is also possible that the Sword Princess has descended upon you." Diya murmured in a very low voice.
"What?"
"I was wondering why Sword Princess didn't say anything." Diya looked at Sonia, who was staring at the shopping book blankly, like a village girl blinded by jewelry. "Sword Princess, have you found anything?"
"Sincerity." Sonia murmured softly.
"What?"
"Sincerity!" Sonia looked up at Ash: "Blessings and curses are just superficial, they are essentially the same as sincerity rituals!"
Ash was startled for a moment, then realized something and looked at the shopping book carefully. Only Diya had a confused look on her face - what kind of encrypted communication are you two dogs doing?
The village girl also realized that she had subconsciously exposed her overly intimate attitude. She could not get too close to the spectator in public, so she stuck close to the witch and explained the sincerity ceremony to her.
The Sincerity Ceremony was the summoning ceremony that Ash forced Sword Princess to perform in order to obtain the Sincerity Spirit. During that time, Sword Princess could only tell the truth until the Sincerity Spirit was summoned. If you think about it carefully, isn't this exactly the same as the "honesty" curse in the shopping book?
According to this logic, we can find that most of the blessings/curses that appear in shopping books are actually about the summoning rituals of magic spirits!
"Wait." Diya reacted immediately: "Then foreseeing death, time confusion and listening to the voice of the heart-"
"They are the summoning rituals for the prophecy faction, time faction, and mind faction." Ash said, "Life is Beautiful and Cynicism should also be related to the mind faction. Perspective Fantasy will most likely summon a reconnaissance spirit... I see, the real use of the shopping book is to allow you to quickly master a magic faction!"
"But what do childhood sweethearts, lovers, and enemies mean?"
"I can probably guess who your enemies are." Sonia pondered, "Your enemies will connect all the people who hate you... In other words, as long as you keep a close eye on your enemies, you will know who is dissatisfied with you."
"Random races are very useful." Diya said suddenly.
"Why?" Ash was a little confused: "I feel quite happy to be born as a human being."
"If it's permanent, then of course not. But if it only lasts for 72 hours, then it's like a rare experience." Sonia explained, "Except for humans, other intelligent races basically have their own schools of magic that they are good at. Some special schools are inaccessible to non-designated races. For example, the Gluttony School that is exclusive to ogres may be accessible within 72 hours."
"But the most important ones are the three factions of prophecy, destiny, and truth." Diya said seriously: "It is almost impossible to enter these three factions by yourself. You must rely on various adventures to be lucky enough to be appreciated by the virtual world... and now, the adventure is right in front of us: insight into the truth, the grace of destiny, and foreseeing death."
As long as you choose these blessings, you will be 100% able to master the most mysterious and powerful magic factions.
"But their points are all 30 points." Ash spread his hands: "If we choose this, we won't be able to trigger the benefits of the dramatic poet."
Purchasing a blessing will increase the curse points by '-', and purchasing a curse will increase the blessing points by '+'. If it is the first purchase and the points are within 10 points, the dramatic poet will compress the duration of the curse to a virtual realm exploration or within 72 hours, so the magicians will make a lot of money.
But if it exceeds 10 points, the dramatic poet will not help, and the curse bestowed by the shopping book will become permanent. The price is too high, just like choosing the wrong major and not being able to change it and having to fight for the rest of your life.
If it was a curse like 'weak and fragile', it would be fine. If it was a permanent 'random race'... it would be okay to be randomly assigned to a Veela, but if it was randomly assigned to an Ogre, then you could really start your life over again. And Ash was a man, so he would definitely not be randomly assigned to a Veela, at most an Elf.
"Wait, why does the chat channel also require 30 curse points?" Diya asked curiously: "Is this some kind of rare magic spirit summoning ritual?"
"The chat channel itself is actually worthless. What's valuable is the people inside it." Ash said, "Maybe there are gods, angels, and legendary magicians who hold gatherings there every week to exchange information and items?"