Chapter 1253: Pandora’s Box

[ You are awarded an additional 50 achievement points, and each member of your party will be awarded 25 achievement points. This reward is not affected by this world’s restriction on achievement point rewards. ]

[ Your loot is being randomly selected. The loot will be randomly selected from the equipment owned by the contestant you killed, and will be randomly assigned to someone in your party. ]

[ There are no other party members within 300 meters, so the loot will be assigned directly to you. ]

[ Restoring the victim’s data. This process may take some time. Please wait patiently. ]

[ Warning! Warning! An anomaly has occurred in the data! The reason for the anomaly is because among the victim’s data, there are four soul-bound equipment that are still functional!! ]

[ The data is being sorted out… Please wait patiently. ]

***

At this very moment, within the turbulence of time and space somewhere far away, a colossal Nightmare Realm floated in space. Its blood-red pipelines extended like tentacles tens of kilometers long. It was dignified, gigantic and awe-inspiring!

In a military privilege room within this Realm, there was an extremely high-end cultivation capsule.

Sheyan’s ‘Unmodeled Amniotank’ was already a crystallisation of the peak of science and technology, but compared to this capsule, it was a difference between heaven and earth. The former was akin to the scribbles of naughty children, while the latter was like a complicated machine produced by the combined efforts of hundreds of development teams. There were even some flesh-like parts around the capsule which appeared to be organic. It was very strange and sophisticated.

Intense flashes of electricity suddenly appeared around the capsule. Such strong electricity should carry a fierce sense of killing and destruction, but this electricity mysteriously had a feeling of vitality!

Technically speaking, this was actually an easily explainable phenomenon. It is well known that the forming of carbon-based life-forms is inseparable from the organic matters that are amino acids. The Earth is said to have originated from the Big Bang and was only a large sphere of flowing magma in the beginning. There were certainly no organic matter on Earth back then.

So where did the first organic matter come from? This is, in a way, a study into the origin of life. In 1953, a graduate student in the United States named Miller conducted the now famous Miller’s experiment, a chemical experiment that simulated the production of organic matter (especially amino acids) by electric sparks (lightning) in what was thought at the time to be the simulated reducing atmosphere of early Earth. It was an experiment which tested the chemical origin of life.

This experiment proved that lightning can synthesise more complex organic compounds from simpler inorganic precursors. So, although lightning has its destructive side, it can actually breed life too.

The electricity which appeared around the capsule now was taking the “life-breeding” side of lightning to the very limit!

Suddenly, a mechanical, synthesised voice sounded.

“Warning! Dimensional turbulence is frequently occurring around the target world, so the probability of successful implementation of Plan A is no higher than 30%! Switching to Plan B as per the owner’s pre-programmed setting.”

“Warning! Warning! The implementation of Plan B will cause this cultivation capsule to go into overload. Energy leakage, explosions, electric current lashing and other problems will occur. This device will completely lose its function afterwards. Please stay at least 20 meters away from the device. Commencing countdown. Ten, nine, eight…”

“Initiating Plan B: Human Cloning. Opening the soul vortex wormhole!”

The red light on the cultivation capsule blinked at an alarming speed under the fierce flow of electricity. Then, unbelievably thick trails of white electric current started to beat about violently as if they had gone berserk!

After a series of loud explosions, the violent overflow of energy finally disappeared. The cultivation capsule now emitted dense black smoke.

“AAARRGGHHH! NOOOO! IMPOSSIBLE! THERE’S NO WAY! HOW YOU CAN POSSESS THE POWER OF….’Extinction’?”

The man inside the capsule sat up in a hurry, breaking through the cover of the capsule. He closed his eyes and screamed wildly while his facial muscles twitched. His chest fluctuated so hard that it seemed like a bellows. But he soon calmed down and slowly opened his eyes.

“….It appears that I really have been killed by Seaman. That guy’s a real monster.”

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“Unfortunately, the dimensional turbulence around the 2012 world is too strong, so only my soul could be sent back. My ‘Coffin of the Queen of Blades’ had to go into overload and is now completely destroyed as a result. Damn it, damn it! Even the soul of the Lance of Longinus has been destroyed! I’m going to kill that bastard!!!!”

Rocky got to his feet and laid his hand on top of the cultivation capsule. A row of text popped up.

[ Coffin of the Queen of Blades (damaged) ]

[ Grade: Legendary Item ]

[ Description: This cultivation cabin was once used by the Queen of Blades, Sarah Kerrigan. It contains great powers, but unfortunately, these powers are leaking away and only Her Majesty can recharge them. ]

[ Note: It can save you once or twice, but there is no way it can save you three, four or five times, so please leave this damn Realm as soon as possible. Cherish your life and stop fighting. ]

[ Note: Even a damaged ‘Coffin of the Queen of Blades’ coffin is still very valuable. It can be traded for a large number of utility points like a common war trophy, or can be gifted to the Realm in exchange for a large amount of potential points. You can also let the Realm keep it permanently in exchange for an astonishing amount of achievement points as compensation. ]

“Hmph, that Seaman dude must be coveting my Gungnir. Ha-ha, unfortunately for him, my soul survived, so all the equipment bound to my soul should essentially be bound still and definitely wouldn’t be randomly selected as loot. Hmmm, let me think…. I don’t think I have anything too valuable on me except for those four soul-bound equipment. Oh, wait! There’s that thing that Steel File asked me to keep in the party storage! I haven’t had time to store it yet! Don’t tell me it’s gone now!”

＊＊＊

[ Warning! Warning! An anomaly has occurred in the data! The reason for the anomaly is because among the victim’s data, there are four soul-bound equipment that are still functional!! ]

[ The data is being sorted out… Please wait patiently. ]

[ Data organisation complete. Awakener No. 1018, the soul of the Temperer you killed has survived, so the soul effect on the equipment still remains. The soul-binding will take effect. Your loot selection will continue, but the four soul-bound equipment will not be among the selection. ]

[ As compensation, the scope of the loot selection will be extended to the item slots, and the quality of the items entering the selection will be no lower than S-grade or legendary grade. ]

[ Selection in progress…. ]

[ Awakener 1018, you have randomly selected the rare legendary item: ‘Pandora’s Box’. Please use it carefully. ]

[ ‘Pandora’s Box’: A rare item that is mysterious and weird to the extreme. Legend has it that this treasure box can satisfy any desire, but may also bring endless disaster. ]

[ Before opening ‘Pandora’s Box’, you can choose to offer sacrifices to it first. The sacrifices you offer may affect the result when you open the box. ]

***

Sheyan was not that surprised with the notifications he just received.

He had already anticipated that Rocky would not be that easy to kill. He could not have promoted to the rank of a Major General if he was. A monster like him would definitely have his own unique life-saving measures.

Since Sheyan was able to destroy him in this world, forcing him to escape with only his soul, then his new body was likely a clone which he had long kept safe in his Realm. His strength would thus be reduced to what it was a couple of worlds before. It was equivalent to causing a sharp regression in the enemy’s strength.

Meanwhile, Sheyan himself was making great strides forward. With a negative growth on one side and a positive growth on the other, the strength disparity between the two sides would be pulled closer. The next time they met, Sheyan should be able to confront him head-on.

The newly-obtained ‘Pandora’s Box’ was a rhombus-shaped box about 50 centimeters high. As if it could ignore the force of gravity, only its sharp bottom tip was in contact with the ground while the box itself hung in the air. The box was mainly bronze in colour, looking as if it had seen a lot of history. On each tip was a transparent oval gemstone about the size of a fist. The gemstones consisted of lapis, rutile, phantom and trigonal crystals, all of which were extremely powerful in boosting mana.

There were some curvy scripts on the surface of the box, filled with a majestic feeling, but mortals could not recognise their significance because they were the divine text told in the legends. Figures of flowers, lightning, priestesses in white robes, Ivory marbles and other illusions would occasionally appear around ‘Pandora’s Box’, delicate and lifelike.

The offering of sacrifices could be done through a little black hole which would appear from time to time on top of the box. According to the description on the ‘Pandora’s Box’, the owner can open the box at any time to try their luck. For some reason, when Sheyan obtained the ‘Pandora’s Box’, he had a feeling that the activities within the box were moving faster than before. The gems around the box were even heating up, so active that they emitted a soft glow. When the glow from all the gemstones combined together, they were so bright that they could even compete with the sunlight.

The worn-out Sheyan did not dare to stay in the water outlet for too long, lest Steel File and the rest of Rocky’s team come to him. Sheyan had used up all his tricks and was already half dead, so he had no energy left to fight with them right now. When the water level dropped, he returned to the underground tunnels and hid inside, waiting for his companions to come find him.