LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 31: Strengthening (1)
Chapter 31: Strengthening (1)
Inside the cave.
In front of the gray-black symbol pattern.
Yu Hong’s palm gently pressed against the cold, dry stone wall.
At the same time, he silently recited in his heart.
“Strengthen the Great Luminous Stone symbol, direction: Enhance the effect of dispelling the Ghostly Shadows.”
Hiss.
In an instant, a black mark on the back of his hand shot out a thin black line, which drilled into the stone wall.
One second later.
A feedback sound echoed.
“Do you wish to strengthen the Great Luminous Stone symbol pattern?” A cold, mechanical voice rang out.
Yu Hong was momentarily stunned, then a slow smile spread across his face.
“It worked! As expected, it can be done!” he thought with joy.
This confirmed his speculation that this combination could indeed dispel the ghostly Shadow. Now, after polishing a Great Luminous Stone, it could be attached to any surface, anywhere, to carve this symbol pattern.
With the black mark’s supplement, these large symbol patterns were no longer one-time-use items; they could perfectly protect any surrounding area!
At this moment, a black number appeared at the center of the symbol stone carving on the wall.
“1 hour and 12 minutes.”
“Could it be that the reduced quantity of the strengthening material means it doesn’t need more time?” Yu Hong speculated.
After all, it took only a third of the time to finish the symbol stone carving after grinding a piece of Great Luminous Stone to make the ink. Strengthening this small amount of material wouldn’t take much time either.
“As long as it takes just over an hour to strengthen, let’s test it and see the effect,” he thought with some anticipation, then silently responded affirmatively.
Instantly, the countdown on the symbol stone carving began to tick.
While waiting, he found a stool, sat to one side, and idly fiddled with another unloaded handgun.
He aimed, fired, the sound of an empty shot rang out, then lowered the gun.
He practiced repeatedly, drawing and firing from different angles.
Since there were no bullets, it was safe to practice.
Twice, the Allied Forces came to capture him, attempting to use him as forced labor, which left Yu Hong feeling unsafe.
Although the Allied Forces had probably left with the people from the town.
It was hard to know when they might return.
Then there were the two people who had attacked him last time. He had gone to check on the place where they had been knocked unconscious while gathering firewood. Now, only two sets of tattered undergarments remained.
Clearly, the night’s blood tide black insects had consumed everything—flesh and bone.
This deepened Yu Hong’s understanding of the dangers of the night.
“Wait, if I can practice shooting by myself, refine my shooting technique, then summarize my shooting experiences, and strengthen them with the black mark, could that work? Would I get a better training manual for shooting techniques?” he pondered.
After a moment, Yu Hong quickly came up with a new and unique strengthening idea.
“Also, I need to prepare reconnaissance methods. If I have traps or bells around, perhaps they could serve as an effective warning.”
He rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
The cave safe house he had painstakingly built must not be compromised, so he had to ensure its basic safety.
As the creator of the Great Luminous Stone, the appearance of ghostly Shadows would undoubtedly increase the importance of the Great Luminous Stone significantly. In the future, someone might come after him, so he needed to be prepared.
*
*
*
Post Office Gathering Spot.
Several earth caves were clustered together, forming a small gathering point.
The largest and most sturdy one was undoubtedly the stone basement beneath the post office.
Rather than a basement, it was more accurate to call it an emergency shelter that had been built in the past to prepare for war.
It was large, about the size of the entire Baiqiu Village, located over ten meters underground.
Since the Black Disaster outbreak, such war shelters had become bases for people to seek refuge.
When people were unable to survive the extreme Black Disaster attacks, they would take shelter here for temporary protection.
At this moment, in the dark emergency shelter, narrow and dim corridors stretched ahead.
On either side of the corridors were small, cramped rest rooms.
The green atomic lights above cast a dull green light along the hallway.
A damp, chilly wind swirled and swished through the ventilation shafts in the corridor.
Old Yu, his belly protruding, nervously looked around and carefully walked up to a room door.
The edges of the gray-black iron door were covered in rust. He reached out and gently grasped the door handle.
Creak.
He twisted the handle downward.
The door was slowly pushed inward.
Just as Old Yu was about to enter and close the door behind him, he suddenly felt a tingling sensation on the left side of his body—from his left cheek to his left leg, the skin along that side broke out in goosebumps.
A strange yet familiar sense of dread flooded into his heart in an instant.
“…”
His throat tightened as he sensed something on the left side.
His peripheral vision caught sight of something in the darkness of the left corridor—there seemed to be a person standing there.
Gulp.
He swallowed nervously and slowly turned his head to look.
His body trembled, and his trembling right hand slid down his sleeve, exposing rough, yellow-black skin.
On that skin was a small black handprint, clear and distinct.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, he turned his head quickly and glanced toward the left side.
But the darkness revealed nothing. The corridor was empty, save for his own breathing.
At this moment, he was the only one left in the underground shelter. The others wouldn’t be moving their things in until tomorrow.
Originally, he thought he could last just one more day—just a short day.
But now…
Sweat dripped from his forehead to his nose and fell.
Old Yu stared anxiously at the left corridor, repeatedly confirming that he saw no one. Only then did he turn back, gently push the door open, and step into his bedroom.
He quickly grabbed a bag of Great Luminous Stone from the corner, hugged it to his chest, and sat on the bed.
A candle’s faint glow illuminated the area, offering some reassurance.
He sat on the bed, trembling all over, burying his head in the blanket as he silently cried.
The truth was, he hadn’t escaped on his own. He was forced out because he had been found with the black handprint.
It wasn’t that his supplies were being confiscated, but simply because he had been infected with the black handprint.
“Why… why did they do this to me?” Old Yu stared at the candle in front of him, hands pressed to his face, tears flowing down continuously, soaking his palms.
“I was just a little greedy… I returned everything… I really did return it all!!”
His tear-filled eyes blurred as he curled up on the dark bed, too frightened to move.
Creak.
Suddenly.
The handle of the bedroom door turned from the outside.
The sharp sound echoed loudly in the silence.
Old Yu shuddered, his eyes wide as he stared at the door.
But that door… he had locked it!!
How could it possibly open!?
But the fact was, the bedroom door that had been locked and secured with a metal chain was now ajar.
Creeeak.
The door slowly opened.
Revealing only a pitch-black darkness.
Old Yu fixed his gaze on the darkness, staring at the crack, not daring to blink.
The large basement door was still locked, with bags of Great Luminous Stone hanging on it. The hallway below was also filled with hanging Great Luminous Stones.
He had exchanged everything he had accumulated for bags of Great Luminous Stones, scattered everywhere, some even etched with large Great Luminous Stone symbols.
No one could get in.
No ghostly Shadows could enter.
But now…
Bloodshot veins appeared in Old Yu’s eyes from staring too long without blinking. Tears streamed down his face as his fear and sense of danger grew stronger, making him unable to move, his eyes glued to the door crack.
Fortunately, the door remained still.
It seemed as though it had only been pushed open by the wind.
This gave Old Yu a slight sense of doubt.
“Maybe I was just too scared earlier and forgot to lock the door when I entered,” he thought.
With that small hint of doubt, he glanced at the bag of Great Luminous Stone—everything inside was fine, none had been consumed.
This calmed his fear somewhat.
Raising his head, he took the candle, using its light to stand up, intending to go back and lock the door again.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, the candle was blown out in one gust.
Without warning, someone had come up behind him and blown out the candle!
Old Yu stood frozen in fear.
In that instant when the flame went out, he thought he saw a hazy figure with long hair beside him.
The darkness swallowed everything completely.
*
*
*
Inside the Cave.
Yu Hong stared eagerly at the large symbol pattern on the stone wall, counting down.
If this test succeeded, it meant he could quickly create anti-ghostly Shadow symbol formations anywhere, anytime.
Yes, he had named this large symbol pattern the symbol formation.
“If I repeatedly layer this type of symbol formation, crisscross them, or even directly arrange them with Great Luminous Stones… the power would far exceed that of ordinary Great Luminous Stones!” Yu Hong thought.
Of course, such a combined symbol formation would require a significantly long strengthening time.
For now, he was mainly focused on how this large symbol formation would strengthen.
Soon, the countdown entered its final 30 seconds.
He silently watched the symbol formation on the wall, awaiting the outcome.
5
4
3
2
1
Whoosh!
In an instant, the symbol formation blurred for a moment, then became clear again.
The rough lines of the symbol formation were now smoother and more refined.
The ink used in the formation had also deepened in color, its concentration seeming to have increased.
Most importantly, the entire symbol formation now seemed to have a faint jade-like texture, clearly having turned into Great Luminous Stone material.
“It’s done!!” Yu Hong exclaimed in delight.
It had only taken a little over an hour.
This meant he could drastically shorten the production cycle of the Great Luminous Stone.
Provided the symbol formation’s effect was not worse than the Great Luminous Stone.
“Even if the symbol formation is slightly weaker than the Great Luminous Stone, as long as it’s stronger than regular Luminous Stones, it’s still a win!” Yu Hong thought, calculating his next steps.
Looking at the symbol formation, he wondered where he could find a ghostly Shadow to test it out.
With that thought, he quickly crouched down again, searching for a spot on the back of the large door to draw the symbol formation.
In just ten minutes, Yu Hong, now proficient, quickly drew a symbol formation the size of a basin on the back of the door.
He pressed his hand on it, ready to strengthen it.
“Wait a minute,” he suddenly thought.
“If I can guide the strengthening direction, why not just strengthen more, making its effect stronger? Maybe I should test the upper limit of black mark strengthening.”
With that thought, Yu Hong was intrigued.
Black mark strengthening surely had its own strength limit.
Otherwise, why would a Great Luminous Stone only become a Great Luminous Stone and not a Giant Luminous Stone?
Could this default strengthening limit be adjusted, and if so, by what means?
(End of Chapter)