Returning from the abyss

Secret art is an advanced discipline in magic, and when Lu Ning understood the secret art, she knew that she would never be able to learn it now.

The essence of the difference between magic and technology lies in the role of continuous improvement. The future of science and technology must start from industrialization, apply science on a large scale, rely on standardization and order to explosively advance scientific research results, and seek to reach the scope of the overall civilization. extension. Magic is just the opposite. When it is refined to a deep level, it will become secretive and personal. It will become a unique attribute that relies more on secrets, perception and intuition with the personal understanding of the magic user. It completely becomes a personal characteristic, assisting individuals in their own sublimation and transcendence.

This is exactly what the secret technique is, it is full of distortions and hints of concepts and essences that Lu Ning cannot understand, and uses this to create effects that are in line with the "ritual".

"Generally speaking, the maximum number of secret arts that a person can master is two to three. Because the study of secret arts itself also makes implicit adjustments to self-perception and even spirit and personality. If the study direction is too many, it will be a mistake at least. Schizophrenia." Eliza said, "You should be able to imagine that the more serious situation is the one that tourists desperately avoid-soul pollution."

"Sounds like just studying is something very dangerous."

"So I'm just telling you about it, rather than actually letting you get started. To be honest, the recruitment announcements for the Secret Staff Sanctuary have been posted on the bulletin board in the information center hall, but our number just exceeded 100 a few days ago." Eli Sha said with regret, "Many people would rather spend more time exercising than take the risk. It's understandable that we don't let everyone come. But those who are qualified are not willing to give it a try. It’s really sad.”

"But if I can't use the secret technique, how can I fight against the user of the secret technique?" Lu Ning asked.

"The main way for people who are not occultists to deal with occultists is to destroy the ritual. Of course, if you have a way to kill the occultist directly, you can skip this. I can give you an example."

Eliza took out a candle from the drawer and inserted it into the candlestick.

"A very basic secret technique, 'ignite the flame'." Eliza looked at Lu Ning with a smile, "In basic magic, there are many ways to achieve it, and it doesn't even require fire magic."

"Yes." Lu Ning nodded.

"But on the other hand, if I want to use these magics to light a fire, you can stop it now, which is also very easy." Eliza pinched a small fireball and shook it on the candle, and Lu Ning instantly threw a The spell will disrupt and destroy the fireball.

Very easy.

"Then, now I'm going to use the secret technique." Eliza pressed her finger lightly, and Lu Ning saw a thread shining in the air.

She tried to use the spell to affect the thread, but it had no effect. Eliza didn't move closer to the candle. She pointed her finger on the table and closed her eyes.

"Secret Ritual, Bright Lantern House."

The candles burst into flames, and the whole room became very bright. The lights were on in the room just now, but now it looks brighter than before, almost like being outside during the day.

Lu Ningruo had some realization.

"Although you told me to light a flame, the effect of this secret technique is not to simply light the candle." She organized her thoughts and expressed her feelings to Eliza, "What you just said was 'Light House'" ’, so this is only part of the effect of the ceremony. The term "ritual" sounds like it needs to be arranged and prepared in advance. Are you taking out only part of the effect of the entire ceremony to show it? "

"The understanding is okay, but I didn't say it right." Eliza smiled, "First of all, I have to remind you that once the ritual is completed, it is not like ordinary magic that can find ways to destroy or offset it. Completion means that it has taken effect, and all external displays can only be regarded as special effects. Then there are some errors in what you just said. For occultists, the ritual does not require advance preparation. It’s something that once you really master it, it can be activated instantly.”

"Then how to interrupt? You just said that once the ritual is successfully launched, it cannot be destroyed."

"Yes, so, forcing yourself to take the first ritual is almost the price you non-occultists have to bear." Eliza nodded, "And how many tricks you will get after that depends on you finding out how to destroy the ritual. How fast the method is.”

"How to do?"

"You made the first attempt to cut off the energy. But there was a deviation in your thinking. Although the energy filled in the ritual did come from the spiritual network, it was not extracted directly from it. Remember what I said? Appearance - a Ritual often sets up many misleading appearances, which is the habit of mystics to avoid destroying their own rituals."

Then Eliza held out two more fingers.

"In addition to that, there are two important components that you can attack, which are the destruction symbol and the deflection element."

"Sounds similar."

"The symbol is the core, and the elements determine the effect." Eliza briefly explained, "You should notice that we will name the ritual. This is the habit of most mystics. It has two functions. One is to strengthen self-awareness, and the other is to mislead opponents. The names we name are often things that are related to the essence of the ritual but are definitely not the core."

"For example, the lighting of the candle just now is actually a symbol of the ceremony?"

"Yes, you are already on the right track." Eliza nodded approvingly, "The symbol of the ceremony just now is ignition, and the elements are - light, combustibles, and illuminated space. You see, if you know these , you actually know where you can use your hands and feet."

"You can destroy the act of ignition itself... There is no idea in this. But you can affect the combustibles, that is, the candle itself, and the space."

"Yes, for example, if you could prevent the fire from lighting up the house, maybe you could interrupt the ceremony?"

"When you say that, I think there's something wrong with your thinking." Lu Ning frowned.

"This is something that is difficult to determine." Eliza said. "I just gave an example, and it was also the most simple secret technique. I teach you this because there are this kind of people among our enemies. If He launches targeted attacks on those of you who don’t understand, and it’s hard for us to be right next to him every time.”

"I understand...but the secret technique is not invincible."

"Yes, as I said, if you can bypass those things and kill the Mystic user directly, then these complicated cracking methods can be ignored. The problem is that the Mystic user's attacks are never affected by time and distance. I have been tracking Mocha Mo before, and he is already relatively far away from here."

"understood."

"You can think about it again. The secret art cannot be taught explicitly. It contains too many personal feelings. It doesn't matter if you can't feel it. After all, there are very few people who really want to learn the secret art."

Eliza stood up to say goodbye, and Lu Ning sent her out the door.

Before leaving, Eliza handed her a scroll.

"I planned to give it to you tomorrow, but I just have the opportunity now." "What is this?"

"About twenty kilometers west of the Hermit Valley, there is a high-concentration divine pollution reaction. We basically can't spare it here, and we don't have the professional pollution countermeasures devices you have. Since you are here, why not give it a try? Did you discover anything?"

"Okay, let's go over and take a look." Lu Ning took the scroll, "The destroyed buildings here..."

"It's not a big deal. The house of the Phantom Clan can grow." Eliza waved her hand, indicating that it was no big deal.

After sending the people away, Lu Ning returned to the house.

Her old house had been blown up by Yan Rong's memory, and now this one is new. However, the Eidolon tribe did not reject her because of this. This race is really peace-loving. This may be because Eliza has stripped a lot of negative emotions from her mental network.

That scroll is the Eidolon Tribe's preliminary investigation into the pollution.

They do not have the ability to get close to such heavily polluted areas, so they can only detect them through various detection methods. This area is in a place called Duomi Corridor, which is a winding mountain cliff area. It was originally the trade road between this mountainous area where the Hermit Valley is located and the green elves in the south.

But now, severe crystallization has occurred in a large area of ​​​​that area, and this is still the periphery. The divine pollution seeping out from the inside is very strong, and it has a tendency to slowly expand to the outside. This shows that the pollution source is still active and needs to be removed.

In the last month of measurements, the pollution spread outward by about ten meters, which is not very fast.

However, Eliza is probably still worried that once the pollution source inside is completely restored, the speed of pollution spread will increase rapidly. Even if the pollution is divine, which means it has something to do with the gods, people nowadays don't have much trust in gods anymore.

After Lu Ning read the scroll, she put it away and fell asleep again. But this time, there was no such thing as flames in the dream to disturb her.

The next day, she called Garuda and others, and after recounting the cause of last night's incident, she issued a new mission.

"This time Garuda just needs to bring two people with me. There is no need to dispatch all the people. The remaining people have to collect information here in the Hermit Valley. We have a cooperative relationship with the Phantom Tribe, but we also need to Pay attention to the status of the southern continent." Lu Ning nodded to Ruidi, "You will be responsible for this matter, Ruidi."

"No problem! But when will you come back, captain?"

"This time there is severe divine pollution. The pollution level is higher than what we have encountered before. I need to assess the situation on site. We will leave the vehicle and make adequate anti-pollution preparations. You can wait for five days."

Twenty kilometers is not a long distance, but it is a mountain road so the actual distance is more difficult to walk. Fortunately, the vehicle is adaptable to various environments, and there is no problem even when driving in the mountains.

The multi-meter long corridor is a winding gorge path between mountains.

The pollution in this place is so intense that you can tell there is something wrong just by looking at it from a distance. Whether it is rocks or vegetation, they have been turned into crystals. They still retain their original color, but their materials have completely changed.

Lu Ning looked at the reading on the meter and was silent for a long time, not daring to download the tool directly.

"Garuda, you are a demi-human hero, you should be able to tell something," she said.

Garuda nodded: "Although you introduced it to me... this situation is actually very strange. No wonder the Phantom Tribe entrusted us to handle it."

"Tell me about it." Lu Ning leaned back in her seat.

"The gods are different from the demons. The demons don't care about the impact of spreading pollution on us. But for most of the gods, except for having no choice in war, most of the time they will not let the divine pollution spread. Even if we I don’t have much favorable impressions of the Gods, and I have to admit that the Gods still put some effort into protecting us during the war.”

"Ah."

"So, now that the war is over, such large-scale pollution by the Protoss is very wrong. According to the records of the Phantom Clan, this source of pollution is active, but if it is a living Protoss, it should not allow its own pollution to spread. After all, The pollution to us is actually their power, and it will be more beneficial to the Gods themselves if these powers are taken back into themselves."

"What if it loses consciousness?"

"I don't know if the Protoss has such a situation, I have never seen it." Garuda hesitated slightly, "But Captain, this is a bit weird in my common sense judgment. After all, using divine power should be Something as instinctive as breathing, right? Even if it's to heal yourself, you'll take them back."

"So, what if it's another situation?" Lu Ning stared at the area where the crystal was speaking, "In the instinctive reaction you mentioned, there are things that have higher priority than treating yourself, such as guarding against foreign enemies."

"foreign enemy?"

"Don't forget that we have already encountered demons that can completely restrain their own pollution characteristics. If it's not just the few in the Smoker's Forest, but more...this still active god has turned the surroundings like this in order to defend themselves. It’s also possible.”

"So we can't detect demon pollution?" Garuda suddenly realized.

"I haven't made a conclusion yet. Next, I'm going to drive in and drive to the pollution tolerance limit of the vehicle. If you are afraid, get off the vehicle here and retreat to a safe area."

"If you dare to go, then so do we." Garuda said together with the other two.

"Very good. I think that a living god may be the biggest discovery of our operation... But just in case, prepare the storage box." Lu Ning grabbed the joystick, "Let's go, Everyone, this may be the first time that we, the native races on this earth, have come into contact with the gods.”

The vehicle entered the canyon.

Since Lu Ning had placed the two storage items in the car that might cause problems in the Hermit Valley in advance, there was no violent reaction when he drove in. As expected, the gods have no special reaction to humans.

However, the readings on the car have been rising all the way. If represented graphically, it would be a very steep slope climbing rapidly.

Crystallization...Which god of the pantheon is this?