As a player, can you be normal?

Chapter 756 The Divine Blood Gem and the Arrival of the Dream
The city's trading market was built in the city center.

On a crowded dirt road, a loader wearing a hat bumped into a kid while passing by. After exchanging a few curses, he turned around, felt his pockets, and found his wallet had been stolen.

That was his daily wage. He looked back and searched, even stood there cursing, but no one cared. There were too many thieves in the city.

The thief hid around the corner, grinning as he pulled a wallet from his pocket. Li Nuo came over, snatched the wallet, and threw it at the owner's face from a distance. Then he turned around, took out a "mercury bullet," and handed it to the thief.

Mercury bullets, used specifically for exorcism, can fetch a good price if you have the right connections.

The thief grabbed the bullets and ran away.

Malger stepped out from beside Li Nuo and picked up the wooden sign: "What the hell are you doing?"

Li Nuo pointed to his face: "Mask detection. The thief and the victim are both pitiful people. I'll help them."

With his own corridor and the ability to farm Demon God cards, Li Nuo upgraded all his main equipment to the highest level during this period.

[Emil's Mask +29]

[Quality: Epic]

[Effect 1: Read all life information, including weaknesses and the most crucial memory fragments]

[Effect 2: Increases head defense by 200%, effective against all attacks, including true damage]

[Effect 3: The mask contains a "spiritual space" that can absorb anything within a 200-meter radius (except for extremely large objects), and can store four types of items.]

[Effect 4: Possesses an "illusionary effect" within the mental space that completely renders the target unable to control their will, unless the target has extremely strong mental power.]

[Note: Do not use the mask's "mental space" carelessly. If the target's mental strength is too powerful, the mask will shatter from the inside.]

[Hole: One (Unused)]

[Brief description: The prop originally came from a "black market merchant," but after being reorganized, it has been freed from that merchant's control.]

The effects of the mask were reshuffled using the [World Core Fragment].

To reach the highest level, you need to obtain special materials, such as upgrade scrolls previously awarded by the king, or top-tier material stones that can be found in the Border Prison scenario.

Back to the present.

The owner's name is "Eric".

In his youth, his parents contracted a deadly disease and joined the "Healing Church." After the treatment, they were transformed into beasts, but they remained conscious and did not harm others. Hunters from "Byerkinworth" killed his parents, who had become beasts, so he hated those two churches. But hatred was meaningless; he needed to find a home. Here, he found a woman willing to spend her life with him. Now, he has let go of his hatred and is working hard for his family. Although they are poor, at least there is still hope in life.

As for the thief, the boy named "Kress".

[A child abandoned by his family, he distrusts adults and organizes a gang in the city that only recruits orphans and abandoned children. He steals to support these children. At first, he only steals from unscrupulous merchants, but as the "Cathedral City" in the center of the Sumerian continent increases taxes on merchants, nearby cities become increasingly poor, and he is forced to reach into the pockets of people like himself.]

Li Nuo leaned against the corner of the wall, his teeth grinding together.

“I’m a good person now… so I can’t just leave them alone…”

We can't double-cross him and make him suffer terribly.

"You did very well."

As the sound rang out, Li Nuo's gaze shifted, and he found himself back in the courtroom on January 2, 1888.

The person who interrupted him was Sister Hei.

"Can you please not make me lose my rhythm!"

Li Nuo was already very unhappy.

As a cartoonist, he hates it when people interfere with his work.

Lenny smoothed things over: "Sorry, we really can't think of a way to have the best of both worlds. Um, I was referring to how you handled the situation with the thief and the victim."

Li Nuo: "Don't interrupt."

Everyone nodded.

The cold wind from the Cold Rift Valley rushed into the house.

Xiao Wu stood up and closed the window.

"It's finally warmer."

Pedestrians on the roadside took down their awnings, muttering complaints about the recent rainy weather.

Lino returned to November 18, 1887.

He and Marje were going to look for a shop to sell things, and in the process, they contacted Soren.

After wandering around for a while, Sauron finally replied through his headset.

"The city you are in is called 'Ranger,' and it used to be a major religious city, founded in..."

Can you get to the point?

Li Nuo urged him on, as he only wanted to hear the essentials.

About a minute later, he learned about the useful areas of the city, such as which shops sold good items and where there were side quests. These were all within the capabilities of the Explorer.

The bad news is: there are no side quests that can be upgraded.

The good news is: there's an awesome shop.

While searching for goods, Soren began to explain the worldview, and Li Nuo listened to it all as a story.

He knew the story of Bloodborne by heart, so he didn't need to remember anything. But like The Witcher, things changed with the passage of time and the invasion of another world.

On the continent of Sumeru where they lived, almost all the key organizations were religious.

Religious beliefs are not important; all that matters is knowing who has a grudge against whom.

The most orthodox organization is the "Bayer Kinworth Academy," which explores the secrets of this world's existence and maintains a group of "hunters" to hunt down the ancient gods.

The most malevolent organization is the "Healing Church," a religion that studies blood therapy.

The one associated with the "Church of Healing" is "Cain Hearst".

Cain is an organization of vampires, and the Healing Church researches blood therapy. Who knows what they're up to when they're combined?

Therefore, in terms of allegiances, Cain is associated with the Healing Church, while Bayer Kinworth does not cooperate with either of them, but there is no life-or-death hatred between them.

They're all big companies; fighting would be bad for us. As long as there's no conflict of interest, it's better to turn a blind eye.

There are certainly more than just these three factions in the Bloodborne universe, but with the passage of time, the great changes and the invasion of the Borderlands have left only these three.

Another reason why people try to avoid fighting each other is that the world is too dangerous.

If a fight breaks out, if anyone loses their mind or acts impulsively, the whispers of the ancient gods might appear, which is tantamount to walking into the line of fire.

As for where the ancient gods are?
Here we'll use the panel from Sauron's exploration to represent it.

The world is divided into three regions.

[The World of Eternal Life: The Regions Inhabited by Humans]

【Dreamland: When a large number of mutated monsters gather, a Dreamland is formed, which is usually a "mirror world" of a city or region】

[The Great Labyrinth: Existing in a region between worlds, the most dangerous place in the world, where ancient gods truly reside, but it is no longer possible to enter; it has been sealed away.]

The ancient gods exist only in the great labyrinth between the world's gaps.

Since Bulma arrived with her advanced technology, the ancient gods have had to take refuge.

This shows just how ridiculously valuable the other side of the World Tree is.

"So, Soren, what about Bulma's trading company?"

The main quest hints that among the five organizations related to the "world in the painting," the most unique is the Bulma Trading Company.

"That's a company Bulma left behind here. The head office isn't on the Sumeru continent, so it's no use for you to know."

What are you holding back?

"Don't worry."

When Li Nuo thought about how Soren deliberately avoided seeing them and didn't want them to get close to the Bulma Merchant Guild, he guessed a possibility.

"Soren, you're not doing some kind of story writing or something, are you?"

Soren abruptly hung up the call.

This basically confirms that Four-Eyes was the mastermind behind everything.

Many people, including Chen Shou, believed that Li Nuo + Sauron was the correct version.

In reality, the two cannot coexist at all.

If you get the two of them to work together, it's a good thing they don't fight each other. So the best model is for one to openly attract hatred, and the other to use underhanded tricks behind the scenes.

Like now.

Li Nuo, exposed in the city like a naked girl, attracted the attention of the guys in the various corridors.

He and Marger found the best shop in the area.

"It really is the best shop."

Li Nuo sighed as he looked at the wooden sign on the dilapidated little house.

At least this shop is inside a building.

Before entering the house, he unloaded the box, took out some materials, and pinched two gold ingots on the spot. He deliberately lingered there for a while, hoping that some greedy guy would come and rob him so that he could exercise his "good guy" rights to steal from him. However, the passersby did not look at him. The way everyone regarded money as dirt made Li Nuo feel helpless.

"Let's go."

Marger hit him on the head with a wooden sign that had words written on it.

Li Nuo gently pushed open the door. With a bang, a bullet flew out from inside, which Li Nuo dodged by tilting his head. The bullet shattered the window behind him.

The shopkeeper, holding a hunting rifle, heard the sound of a window breaking and immediately shouted, "Close the door! Hurry up!"

The boss's name doesn't matter, just call him Boss.

He didn't fire intentionally; the hunting rifle in his hand had a mind of its own and would accidentally fire when it was in a bad mood.

"This broken gun doesn't like to be oiled. Every time I clean it, it has to fire two shots."

The boss stuffed the shotgun back into the drawer.

Each "Border Prison Scenario" world has a unique combat power setting.

The indigenous people here are naturally resistant to "firearms," ​​but even with bulletproof shields, they can still be thrown off balance by bullets; this is called "gun parrying."

The shopkeeper's counter was piled high with weapons and ammunition, as well as alchemical materials, but these were not Li Nuo's targets.

The first thing is to find a head for Marger.

The boss found a bottle of potion in the warehouse, an alchemical potion specially prepared for people who have no head but need to eat. It was not expensive. Li Nuo only needed to get one bottle to deduce the constituent materials.

He turned his palm over, revealing a gold ingot the size of a fingernail.

"A Blood Gem." According to the information provided by Sauron, the only valuable item in this city is a [Cursed Blood Gem].

The boss stood with his hands on his hips.

"Two."

Li Nuo understood.

"It's expensive but there's no market for it."

"Guessed it right."

The boss didn't hide anything; he went into the warehouse and took out a small box.

"The cursed gems all come from the depths of the Great Labyrinth. Anyone who doesn't use them properly will go mad just by looking at them. I would be more than happy to have you buy them. I would even give them to you if you wanted to steal them."

He was, after all, a businessman. He could have thrown it away, but he risked keeping the blood gem for the sake of a potential buyer.

This thing is of great significance to Li Nuo.

Like beads, gems can be inlaid into any equipment as long as there are slots.

After completing the Great Maze scenario, they already had a large number of gems and beads that could enhance buffs, but what Li Nuo wanted more were gems with "curses".

他击败科斯的孤儿时，获取的【神血无暇的血宝石】，作用分别是：1、将承受伤害的12%转移至攻击者身上；2、对利刃类武器的抗性提升一倍（包括刺和砍）；3、“古神”生物的伤害缩减80%。

Extremely luxurious.

The only side effect is a 10% reduction in medical value.

Li Nuo placed the two gold ingots on the table, and the moment he opened the box, the boss was so frightened that he ran into the warehouse like a shot.

An ominous red light emanated from the box, and a blood-red gem covered in spikes came into view.

The Blood Gem of Compassionate Curse

[Quality: Epic]

[Effect: Restores 1% of stamina per second]

[Negative: Permanent poisoning]

The negative consequences are negligible for Li Nuo, as the Witcher is immune to toxins.

The important part is coming up.

[Curse Saving: Curse resistance ≥ 80% can overcome negative curses from gems. Those who overcome gem curses can obtain true effects.]

【真实效果：1、每秒恢复2%的体能；2、看清“空间幻境”；3、“古神”生物的伤害缩减50%】

This thing comes from the depths of the great labyrinth.

It is important to understand the "spatial illusion." Some illusions are not curses, and Li Nuo has often been tricked by them before.

Another factor is the "Ancient God" resistance. Combined with the [Flawless Blood Gem of Divine Blood] he has already inserted into his staff, the damage from the Ancient God has been reduced by 130%.

Both of these are very important in this world.

Since the Blood Gem only exists in the Great Labyrinth, the Great Labyrinth has become a priority for Li Nuo. Before settling accounts with Schwarz, he needs to maximize his strength by utilizing the worlds he has experienced.

Li Nuo stuffed the box containing the gems into the case.

"Boss, can I ask you something else?"

The boss, who was hiding in the warehouse, peeked out.

"Say it."

Do you know the world inside the painting?

The world depicted in the painting represents the Second Age, Dark Souls. That painting was created by some idle people in the early days who insisted on recreating the dregs of the past. The result was that the Gates of Hell were opened, making this world even more terrifying and even attracting Bulma from the other side of the World Tree.

Later, these paintings lost their "divine power," meaning they lost power or became useless. Most of them were destroyed, while a small number were collected or placed in museums. To this day, only five paintings remain on the continent of Sumeru.

As time passed, these five paintings disappeared without a trace, and now all that remains are unofficial histories and legends.

This is clearly an official attempt to suppress information.

The boss walked out of the warehouse, opened the window, and pointed outside.

"Rumor has it that the Triss Church found it and sealed it in the chapel. But that's a rumor from decades ago, probably just hearsay." The shopkeeper added, "After all, the Triss Church moved to the north a long time ago."

Li Nuo realized that Cha Bai was near that church.

"The Church of Triss...what kind of church is it?"

……

1888 1 Month 2 Day.

The courtroom.

When Li Nuo asked that question, everyone initially thought he was telling a story, but after several seconds they realized he was asking a question.

“You should know, aren’t you from the ‘Healing Church’?” Blackie asked.

“Because I’m not sure.” Li Nuo looked at Lennie, whose eyes lit up with the same fervor as Cha Bai’s when she heard “Triss.”

“The great Pope,” Lennie said, “Miss Triss was transported back to our world during the ‘Celestial Conjunction’ a hundred years ago. She established the ‘Cult of Triss’ here with her own pope. She later died in a war, but her ideals are very important to us. She taught us to believe in the goodness of the world, to be optimistic about everything around us, and most importantly, she taught us women to be chaste.”

At this moment, Xiao Wu said, "Nowadays, brothels have to worship the Lord Triss every day."

Xiao Wu is now a prostitute. There is a portrait of Triss at the entrance of her workplace. Even if you are in a filthy place, you must keep yourself clean. It is a very abstract theory, but it can be considered as a psychological comfort to low-level freelance women.

But what no one knew was that Triss's teachings wouldn't spread so widely; other mystical things were influencing the mind of this world from afar.

For example, a nature goddess who worshipped Triss had her magical energy create nightmares that spread to other worlds related to Triss, leading to the expansion of the Triss faith.

Ah yes, it's tea white.

She is the true leader of the Trissian cult here.

But nobody knows the truth.

No matter how grounded players are in their own world, once their perspective broadens, they can have unimaginable impacts on other worlds.

The thing that transmits influence is the "magic factor," or "energy."

The universe contains numerous subspace portals, and these factors tend to burrow towards places associated with the transmitter.

"So, Triss is a good church?"

Li Nuo is trying to verify something.

"of course."

Lennie answered without hesitation.

"Triss is one of the few... upright churches in this world."

……

1887 11 Month 18 Day.

Li Nuo's consciousness returned to this place.

"Old Ma, you're collecting the remaining information and news, so don't show your face around for now."

Cha Bai went there after seeing a flyer for the Triss Church.

The church no longer exists in this city, so who distributed the flyers?

Li Nuo used the [Teleportation Rune] to disappear on the spot, emerging from Cha Bai's underwear, where the ground was covered with blood and internal organs.

Cha Bai squatted on the ground, his eyes glazed over. In the grass was a used [Barorolase] injection. The function of [Barorolase] is to suppress the outbreak of cyber psychosis.

This indicates that she has just experienced a cyberbullying episode.

When Cha Bai saw Li Nuo emerge from under her skirt, a glimmer of light returned to her lifeless eyes.

"Li Nuo... I just saw something I shouldn't have seen, and by the time I came to my senses, it had already turned into this..."

The chapel has been reduced to ruins.

The ground was littered with severed limbs and blood.

The grass was stained black, and smoke rose from it.

These corpses are not human, but monsters, or rather, beasts influenced by the Old Gods in Bloodborne.

"What did you see?"

Li Nuo asked her.

But Cha Bai shook his head helplessly.

"Don't ask... I can't say, if I do, I'm finished... It's the feeling of having my faith destroyed..."

She couldn't say that she saw a group of "Triss" dressed in nurses' skirts bowing to Malger in the church.

Even though it was a hallucination, saying it aloud would ruin everything. Triss kneeling before Malger, and wearing a nurse's skirt at that, was far worse than seeing Triss riding a unicorn with a group of men. Faith may have its own emotions and desires, but faith cannot kneel before Malger.

She suffered a cyberbullying episode and, unable to control herself, swung the hammer at the church. When she came to her senses, all that remained were the monster's corpse and the church reduced to ruins.

"You didn't see Triss and Malger playing games, did you?"

Who is Li Nuo? He has a lot of abstract ideas in his head, so of course he can guess the general idea.

Cha Bai took a deep breath and nodded.

Li Nuo looked at the ruins of the small church.

"It's a hallucination, and a premeditated one at that. Generally speaking, those with this ability are the 'Death Corridor.' But we can't rule out the possibility that it was done by the indigenous people."

[Emil's Mask] has been revealed.

He took out the [Blood Gem of the Merciful Curse] that he had just bought and slapped it into the mask.

The only opening on "Emil's Mask" now holds the "Blood Gem of the Curse of Mercy."

[See through the "spatial illusion"]

At that moment, the world darkened.

Centered on the church ruins, a dreamscape radiates outwards, enveloping the entire city.

Li Nuo sensed a great danger.

He pressed down on Cha Bai's shoulder, picked up his cane, and a smile played on his lips.

"Don't do it, I'll do it."

Having not done anything for a long time, it's time for him to warm up.

(End of this chapter)