This Text Adventure Game is definitely poisonous
Chapter 278 - 216: The Fortune Teller’s Rule_1

Chapter 278: Chapter 216: The Fortune Teller’s Rule_1

"Are there other dark forces?" Mu You was surprised.

"Anyone who covets the Forest Spirit could be a possibility."

Vivian said, "The Forest Spirit has the ability to absorb the contamination of black magic. If one can obtain the power of the Forest Spirit, they would essentially have control over the methods to avoid a loss of control over black magic, thus they can use black magic without limitation..."

"So that’s how it is..."

Mu You nodded.

So it means that the villain behind the scenes is not after Vivian or other treasures, but the Forest Spirit...

With this thought, under Vivian’s guidance, Mu You charged out of the outermost forest.

A rustling sound came from the bush ahead as several shadowy figures charged out rapidly. They were all humans who had been tainted by black magic, their bodies transformed into strange and grotesque shapes.

"Humans?"

Mu You was initially startled by the number. But soon he realized these were all ordinary people of level one or two who had fallen out of control due to an infusion of large amounts of black magic. Their bodies turned into various monsters, their strength and speed greatly increased. However, as they were of low rank to begin with, even after being tainted, they merely reached a level seven or eight.

Mu You raised his magic wand and quickly launched several spells, effortlessly taking down a few of them.

At the same time, he immediately felt the difference between this place and the forest’s periphery just now: the air here was filled with thick black magical power which was mixed with ordinary magic power. While his body absorbed ordinary magical power, the black magical power also uncontrollably seeped into his body.

Mu You finally understood why all the creatures here were out of control: the concentration of black magical power was too high; this infusion was completely uncontrolled. Any creature in this environment would be forced to absorb black magical power.

Not to mention other creatures, even his own body started to show symptoms of losing control. His arms’ skin began to show octopus-like patterns that grew rapidly.

Upon realizing the environment he was in, Mu You immediately returned his summoned beasts and held his arm, trying to suppress the chaotic energy inside his body.

"Guide the black magic power into the secret technique crystal and sort it out with the crystal," Vivian suddenly spoke.

Following her advice, Mu You channeled in all the mixed up magic power that was seeping into his body, into the crystal.

As expected, under the guidance of the crystal’s circuit, the mixed black magical power was gradually sorted out and purified into natural magic, stored in the crystal.

The crystal that was initially about to run out of energy, quickly replenished its reserve under this supply.

His external mutations gradually calmed down as his physical and magical power restored balance. The squishy strips of skin that resembled octopus suckers slowly sank back into his body, restoring his skin to its normal state.

Mu You took a deep breath, continued to maintain the conversion of the black magic power within his body, then finally had the chance to approach those who had just died.

These people, like the brown bear before, quickly decayed and disintegrated upon death, leaving only bones. Next to each set of bones, lay a black crystal similar to the ones before, albeit much smaller.

Mu You picked up several crystals and looked at the rows of skeletons with a frown, "These people... they’re not resurrecting after death..."

"Of course, all creatures that lose control due to the influence of black magic will lose the ability to resurrect as their physical bodies decay due to the backlash of the black magic," Vivian said.

"This is one of the prices for recklessly using black magic: uncontrollable natural energy enters the body, granting powerful energy while simultaneously burning up one’s life force."

"But how could these ordinary people appear in the Black Forest?" Mu You frowned.

The surroundings of the Black Forest were wilderness, and there were no human inhabitants for dozens of miles. The sudden presence of so many ordinary people was clearly abnormal.

"This is probably the work of whoever dispelled the illusion..."

Vivian shook her head, "They lure a large number of ordinary people to practice black magic, then throw them into Black Forest after they lose control. The Forest Spirit senses creatures tainted by black magic and automatically absorbs the black magic from them. But the core of the Forest Spirit has already absorbed nearly saturated sources of contamination and cannot handle too much. Under this directed guidance, the core of the Forest Spirit naturally loses control, like a burst balloon. Unable to cleanse these people, it instead becomes an out-of-control infection source, leaking black magic aggressively."

"Is all this planned in advance..."

Mu You frowned.

Obviously, if things continue to develop in this way, the power of the Forest Spirit will be exhausted very soon, the entire defense system of the Black Forest will rapidly collapse. By then, the villain behind the scenes can appear openly and easily subdue the Forest Spirit, turning it into their own power.

Fortunately, they arrived not too late. It didn’t seem too long since the Forest Spirit started losing control, the Black Forest’s defense system had not fully collapsed yet, and the villain didn’t have the chance to act.

"However, to be able to lure so many people willingly into practicing black magic, whoever is behind this must be powerful..." thought Mu You.

Next, he followed Vivian’s guidance and headed deep into the forest. Along the way, the majority they encountered were ordinary residents of the Star Spirit World who had lost control due to black magic, with very few actual creatures of the Black Forest.

Mu You cleared the infected creatures along the way while collecting black crystals.

This substance was actually a crystal formed by the condensation of excessively dense black magical power. In the hands of ordinary people, it was like a time bomb that could harm others and oneself.

For a Sorcerer, however, they can take advantage of these secret technique crystals, converting the black magical power within them into pure natural magic power, and thus quickly replenishing the consumed crystals at any time.

After gathering over thirty large and small black crystals along the way, Mu You, guided by Vivian, came to an altar hidden deep within the forest.

The altar was enveloped in a transparent spherical barrier, much like an overturned bowl, isolating the altar from the black mist outside.

In the center of the altar, there was a stone platform with a brazier in the middle, flickering with a dim, blue flame.

Amidst the woods that were wrapped in the black mist, presenting a darker tone, this transparent barrier which was free of the black fog, stood out conspicuously.

Mu You quickly moved closer for a look.

Next to the altar, a woman had collapsed in the mud. She was dressed as a fortune-teller, clad in a magic robe and conical wizard hat, with eyes wide open laying on the ground - she had been dead for quite a while.

There was a crystal ball placed on the ground in front of the woman, and in it was the scene of her current death - as if a photograph had been etched into the crystal ball.

At the signal of Vivian, Mu You quickly moved into the boundary of the barrier. As soon as he stepped within its range, he found that the black mist surrounding him was cut off, no longer seeping into his body.

"She couldn’t make it, huh..."

At this moment, Vivian looked at the fallen female fortune teller on the ground and sighed a little.

"Where is this?"

Mu You looked around at the scene inside the barrier, his gaze eventually focusing on the fallen woman.

This fortune teller should be the one he met during his trial in Aries; he had secured The Fool’s card from her.

Much to his surprise, the body of the woman had not corroded into bones after her death. Her body was intact, indicating that she hadn’t lost control to the black magical power while she was alive.

"This is a defense barrier I purposely established before. It’s a backup plan in case the Forest Spirits lose control. As long as a valuable item is sacrificed into this brazier, it’ll raise a barrier that can filter black magical power, allowing one to stay inside and prevent being infected by black magic," Vivian explained.

"So how did she die?" Mu You asked.

Vivian glanced at the fortune teller, her gaze settling on the crystal ball, "As a fortune teller, she forgot one of the most fundamental rules - a fortune teller must never divine anything directly related to herself, or else the divination will backfire. The stronger the relationship, the more serious the backlash ..."

"I see ..."

Mu You understood, looking at the woman on the ground with a sense of pity.

Clearly, the woman had been desperate. Knowing that the brazier’s energy couldn’t support her for long, she had to resort to divination to find a way to escape, but what she divined was the scene of her own death.

In the end, the divination was indeed fulfilled. The woman died as depicted, falling in the middle of the barrier.

"What a waste ..."

Judging by the still burning brazier, the woman had not been dead for a long time. If she could have held on a little longer, maybe she could have waited out till their arrival.

Shaking his head, Mu You moved forward to search the woman’s body. However, before he could find anything, a prompt appeared in his mind.

[Found Fortune teller’s skin. Merge?]

Mu You stared in surprise and turned to look at Vivian, "Can I learn divination?"

"Divination... depends on whether you have the talent for it or not..." Vivian replied.

Mu You was delighted. When he first met Vivian, she had removed the option for divination altogether, clearly not intending to teach him. But now, perhaps considering his good progress in magic potion studies, she seemed to have relaxed her stance quite a bit.

Mu You immediately chose to merge.

[The number of skins you have has reached the limit. To merge this skin, you need to discard one of your current skins.]

"Limit?"

Mu You was taken aback. He just found out there was a limit to the number of skins.

He currently had six skins in total: the Watchman, the Medicinal Plant Gatherer, the Vampire - these three were the most frequently used ones, and due to the life mission, he definitely couldn’t discard them.

The remaining Fisherman and Mysterious Man also possessed special skills. So if he had to choose one to give up, it undoubtedly would be the Grave Digger – the least useful one.

[You have given up the Grave Digger skin and merged the Fortune Teller skin.]

[Fortune Teller: An apprentice fortune teller, possessing commendable talents for divination. Divination success rate increases by 20%, but multiple divination attempts within a day will reduce the success rate by 10% per attempt. During the first seven successful divinations of each week, one year of life can be acquired. It only works within the boundaries of the Star Spirit World.]