Fang Zheng once again arrived at the Ritual Site within the dream. In front of him, the Fire Keeper still stood quietly by the fire, gazing at the burning flas. Seeing Fang Zheng appear, she turned her head and slightly lowered it towards him.
"You have co, Lord of Ash."
"Yes, I have co."
As Fang Zheng spoke, he walked over to the Fire Keeper and extended his right hand. The Fire Keeper also reached out both hands, gently grasping his. Soon, Fang Zheng again felt the power being drained from his body, forming a small fla in the Fire Keeper’s hands.
Imdiately afterwards, the Fire Keeper raised her hands, and Fang Zheng saw the fla seemingly drawn by sothing, swiftly flying towards the side. It landed not far in front at a small altar and then, with a "boom," turned into burning flas, illuminating the previously pitch-black space far away.
As the flas shone brightly, Fang Zheng saw the black, mud-like substances entwined around the altar instantly consud by the fire like so flammable material, burning up and disappearing in the blink of an eye. The nearby black mud seed to feel the power of the flas, emitting cries and sobs like those of countless people, instinctively moving away from the burning flas.
At the sa ti, Fang Zheng also felt a "crack" sound from his body, as if sothing had broken through a barrier. Soon, a power quite familiar to Fang Zheng once again flowed throughout his body.
Power of Existence.
"Have I finally recovered a bit?"
Fang Zheng raised his hand, and the flas ford by the Power of Existence surfaced in his hand. He could faintly sense his connection with Zero Hour Resurgence, which gave Fang Zheng a bit more confidence. Because Zero Hour Resurgence as a Noble Phantasm was placed in his inventory, previously Fang Zheng could not feel their presence at all. But now, he was able to faintly sense the presence of Zero Hour Resurgence, although this connection was extrely weak... its throughput was rely at the level of a 2G network.
Fang Zheng opened the system panel, only to see it still displaying [System Offline Repairing — Progress 10%].
At least the progress bar had moved forward a bit.
"The power contained in these flas is not complete, Lord of Ash,"
spoke the Fire Keeper, who had been standing quietly by the side.
"This is just a part of the flas..."
"Even so, it’s better than nothing."
Fang Zheng was indifferent to this; being able to recover was the best news, and he wasn’t greedy enough to expect a full recovery all at once. Honestly, Fang Zheng was quite surprised at first when his system was knocked offline, as he still hadn’t figured out how the ga system in reality ended up on him, nor understood the rules and powers it operated by.
However, as the system had always functioned well before, Fang Zheng had not thought much about it. On the contrary, this sudden system offline gave Fang Zheng a chance. Since he had no way to disassemble and analyze the entire system, through this system repair, Fang Zheng might be able to find the operational patterns and principles of the Dinsional Codex, thereby making so targeted improvents.
"But speaking of which, my luck really isn’t good this ti..."
Fang Zheng sat down on the steps of the Ritual Site, then started complaining to the Fire Keeper.
"That Archbishop, couldn’t she hold on a bit longer? Just as I arrived and was about to ask questions, she went berserk and transford. I an, couldn’t she have lasted another ten minutes? It might be that she did it deliberately because she dislikes ..."
Facing Fang Zheng’s complaints, the Fire Keeper just stood by, smiling and remaining silent. Fang Zheng was used to this by now; back when he was in the Black Soul World, every ti he was sent back to the Ritual Site, he would chat with the Fire Keeper and vent his frustrations, as dying so many tis would frustrate anyone!
"But still, that transford Archbishop looked much cuter than her original form, though that Monster was way too big, it was like..."
At this point, Fang Zheng suddenly paused, lifting his head to gaze at the flas before him.
In that mont, he seed to be back in Lothric, an era filled with Ash, inheriting the embers, where darkness and the Abyss danced together.
"... it’s like... infected by the Abyss..."
The more Fang Zheng spoke, the more furrowed his brows beca. He had felt that the transformation of the Archbishop into a monster looked eerily familiar, and the aura the Archbishop exuded was also strangely recognizable to Fang Zheng. Now he recalled, the scent diffused by the Archbishop post-infection was indeed similar to those monsters infected by the Abyss, only the intensity of the aura was different. If the Abyss-infected creatures he had encountered in Lothric emitted an aroma of "rotten strawberries," then the Archbishop’s scent was more like that of "unripe strawberries," which might be faintly detectable but absolutely imperceptible without close attention.
That’s why Fang Zheng initially felt only a vague familiarity with the Archbishop’s transformation into a monster, but now thinking about it... What the hell is the difference from those transford by the Abyss?
The only differences seem to be the lack of black water and red eyes!
In Lothric, Fang Zheng learned that the human nature precipitated in that world would transform into the Abyss, and every human heart harbors darkness, for souls exist because of the Dark Soul. Precisely because the soul is dark, humans yearn for light. Once the light is no more, darkness will corrode everything.
Fang Zheng could understand this: humanity has a civilized side, and an instinctual side. Noble, compassionate, full of sacrifice and sympathy, these are praiseworthy qualities of humans.
But beyond that, for survival, humans also possess a cruel dark side.
For survival, they need to plunder resources, gather food, and commit killings.
And to ensure the continuation of their species, they must mate and produce offspring to maintain family heritage. Many value romantic love greatly and believe that a spiritual romance does not need to be cented by procreation. However, cruelly, it has nothing to do with the so-called "higher" spiritual romance; mating and reproducing are the instinctive ans for every creature to pass on their genes and ensure the continuation of their species. Whether this mating stems from love, bestiality, or re desire, as long as it produces offspring, it may be painful for the progenitors, but for the race, it is a success.
Similarly, greedy desires are the essential foundation of human survival; without desires, humans would lack objectives and future. These desires from the soul, spirit, and body interweave together to shape modern humanity.
Humans, for survival, perpetuation and strengthening of their race, retained the instincts of killing and mating, and built the high tower of civilization on this foundation, a mix of humanity and bestiality, darkness and light, indispensable to each other.
So in this world, what exactly is ’Beastification’...?
"... Fire Girl."
With this thought, Fang Zheng lifted his head and looked towards the Fire Keeper beside him.
"You being here can’t be a coincidence, can it?"
"... Just as the Lord of Ash has said,"
With Fang Zheng’s inquiry, the Fire Keeper gently nodded her head.
"It’s because of this world that I was able to et you, Lord of Ash..."
So that’s how it is...
Upon hearing the Fire Keeper’s response, Fang Zheng nodded, then closed his eyes.
When Fang Zheng opened his eyes once more, he had returned to the small chapel. Fang Zheng stood up, looked around him, and then walked into one of the rooms of the chapel, where Dr. Yushefka was quietly sitting on a chair, reading a book. Noticing Fang Zheng’s entrance, she quickly stood up and bowed to him.
"Hello, stranger, how may I help you?"
"I want to know one thing,"
Fang Zheng stared at the woman in front of him, then asked.
"... what exactly is this ’Beastification’."
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