In Teyvat, it all begins with rescuing the grass god.

As for Rhodes's physique, which is suspected to be immune to the corruption of the Dead Zone.

She felt it was better to remain skeptical about this, since there was never any record of such a constitution in Sumeru.

"If he shows any unusual behavior this time, we should stop him later."

Farusian secretly made up her mind.

Rhodes, already in the dead zone, naturally had no idea what she was thinking.

What he now knows is that as he goes deeper, the attacks of the Death Domain's power become increasingly ferocious.

The monsters that roamed the dead zone swarmed over as soon as they saw Rhode appear.

Furthermore, the Dead Zone Branches, which far outnumbered those in the game, also began spewing out dark red energy balls that hurtled towards Rhodes the moment he entered.

These dead zone branches are the reason why large dead zones are difficult to clear.

If there are only a few, it's fine, but if there are many, these things are like machine guns, which are extremely annoying.

Rhodes first conjured a grass elemental shield that consumed relatively little energy to block the attacks from these dead domain branches, and then took out his Persuasion Technique to prepare to smash these monsters.

at this time.

Nasita's voice came again: "Stay a little longer. I need to collect samples to see if the conversion efficiency of the Dead Zone power fluctuates when your physical strength fluctuates. Also, I need to see if you can consume elemental power while using the Dead Zone power to restore your elemental power."

"okay."

Upon hearing this, Rhodes, who was about to quickly eliminate these monsters, responded and put away his "Persuasion with Reason" technique, replacing it with a scimitar he had seized from the Tanit tribe.

This is an evil weapon.

It contains a cursed spirit of ice element. If released, it can transform an ordinary person into a powerful user of ice elemental power through a demonic state.

However, Rhode did not intend to use the Evil Spirit. He simply used the sharpness of the weapon to move and hover among these raging monsters of the Dead Domain, blocking the attacks of the Dead Domain branches while allowing the Dead Domain power wandering in the Dead Domain to freely erode into his body.

I'm not very comfortable using this scimitar.

Too light.

After obtaining the Eye of the Grass Element, Rhodes' physical abilities were greatly enhanced. Now, even carrying the sword "Persuade with Reason" doesn't feel as comfortable as before, let alone this light and flimsy scimitar.

Using this unsuitable weapon, he could only unleash about 40% or 50% of his full potential.

This did fulfill Naxidati's requirement to deal with the demons.

This less-than-satisfying battle continued until Rhodes began to feel dizzy.

"Alright, you can go now."

A faint green light enveloped Rhodes, preventing the further erosion of the Death Domain's power. Taking advantage of Narcida's protection, Rhodes swung his sword, cleaving the two small floating mushroom monsters that were crashing into him in two. With a leap, he flew directly over the heads of these monsters.

"call--"

As soon as he entered the dead zone, Rhodes's dizziness lessened considerably.

Looking at the lush green mountains and clear waters before me, so different from the misty scene inside the Dead Zone, my suppressed mood eased considerably.

Same as before.

After no new Dead Zone forces continued to erode him, the symptoms of erosion on Rhode's body began to dissipate once again.

only.

This time, the dissipation is much slower than before.

"Before you reach your limit, the power of the Dead Zone cannot harm you. It will only accumulate in your body and undergo or wait to be transformed. After you reach your limit, the erosion damage from the Dead Zone will not be as severe as it is for others. There will be a buffer period in between. The exact length of this buffer period still needs to be tested."

"The limit you can withstand is consistent with the amount of elemental power stored in your God's Eye. Therefore, it is theoretically feasible to increase the upper limit of elemental power after expanding the capacity of your God's Eye, but further verification is still needed."

"It has been confirmed that the elemental power lost during combat can be replenished by the converted elemental power."

"The conversion rate between the power of the Dead Zone and the elemental power is about one in a thousand. It's impossible to calculate the exact value, but it's roughly within this range. The power of the Dead Zone absorbed into your body is not converted immediately. It has to be purified first before it can be converted and absorbed. There will be a huge loss in this process, which I can't calculate."

"It is also for these reasons that your speed of converting the power of the Dead Zone cannot keep up with the speed of the Dead Zone's erosion."

"Especially after reaching the limit, the conversion efficiency is only one-fifth of what it used to be. So the closer you get to the limit of your body's endurance, the less your conversion efficiency can keep up with the rate of erosion, and the more serious the signs of erosion will become."

"However, as long as you escape the corruption of the Dead Zone, your symptoms of Dead Zone corruption can gradually heal on their own. As long as you don't stay in the Dead Zone for a long time after reaching your limit, you will be fine. However, for your safety, I do not recommend conducting in-depth testing on this point. In the future, when you encounter the Dead Zone, just leave as soon as possible before reaching your limit."

"In addition, your conversion efficiency is not affected by slight stamina consumption during combat. At present, this is the case. We still need to continue testing the conversion efficiency under moderate stamina consumption and stamina exhaustion."

Nasita gradually summarized all these characteristics.

There is some good news here.

That means her theory of becoming stronger through nested dolls seems to hold true so far.

Nasita's conclusion, drawn from the collected sample data, greatly motivated Rhodes, who was recovering from the symptoms of the Dead Zone's erosion.

There really are shortcuts to becoming stronger.

Now let’s see.

As long as he clears enough dead zones, his elemental power and physical attributes will expand rapidly at an alarming rate.

As for the fact that Rhodes has not been able to systematically learn one or more martial arts skills to this day...

Faced with absolute power, numerical monsters can crush skill-based monsters. No matter how fancy your moves are, I can just drown you with a massive amount of elemental power or smash you to death with a single blow.

Of course.

If this numerical monster could still be manipulated, then it would be even more unimaginable.

Farusan couldn't hear Rhodes and Narcida's conversation.

All she could see was Rhodes, who was clearly showing signs of being corrupted by the power of the Dead Zone, and had been sitting there grinning like an idiot ever since he came out.

Could this child have lost his mind due to the power of the Dead Zone?

It's all my fault, I should have stopped him earlier!

With such frustration, Farusan stepped forward with a worried expression. Without saying a word, she immediately unleashed her wind elemental power to help Rhodes expel the power of the dead zone from his body.

"Senior, I'm fine. I just need to rest for a bit. Don't worry about me."

When Rhodes saw that Farusan was going to help him with the operation, he quickly waved his hand, showed her his arm that was recovering, and chuckled, "After I recover and go in a few more times, I should be able to solve this dead zone."

"Going again?"

"Your health..."

Farusan glanced at Rhodes, whose skin color was returning to normal, hesitated for a moment, then dissipated the elemental power in her hands. She also took back what she was about to say and replaced it with a concerned admonition: "Do what you can, and don't push yourself too hard."

"Yes, thank you for your concern, senior."

Rhodes nodded heavily, then closed his eyes and patiently felt the changes in his body.

When he opened his eyes again.

Tina, who had been unconscious for quite some time, also woke up.

"Rhodes? What are you doing here?"

Tina sat up, clutching her head. She looked at the dead zone in front of her, then at the bandages wrapped around her body, and immediately understood what had happened. She thanked Rhodes, "Thank you. And, this... this person?"

Tinari didn't recognize Farusan, so he turned his gaze to Rhodes.

Rhodes understood his meaning and took the initiative to introduce, "This is Senior Farusan, a senior of the Epistemology School. I met her in the desert on this trip. She was preparing to return to the Church, so we just happened to travel together."

"Thank you, Senior Farusan."

Clearly, Tinari was unaware of the significance of the name Farusan.

Farusian didn't show any surprise at this.

After all, a hundred years have passed, a long enough time for a family to go through several generations. It's normal that not many people recognize them.

After a brief greeting.

Tina tried to stand up, but this time his injury was serious, and he staggered and fell down every time he tried to get up.

"You rest here for now, I'll take care of this dead zone."

Rhodes patted Tinari on the shoulder, telling him to rest here and not to move around anymore.

"You go?"

Tina looked at Rhodes with a hint of suspicion.

"Hey, have you forgotten that I also have the Eye of God?"

Rhodes raised his hand and grasped a ball of ice elemental power compressed to its limit: "I am a perfect scorer in the Sulun Sect's assessment, a disciple of the Sulun Sect's sage."

Say it.

He flexed his muscles and laughed, "I'm pretty strong too, and I just went in there. See, I'm perfectly fine."

Listen to what he said.

Tina turned to look at Farusan.

"He did just go in and stayed for almost an hour before coming out."

With Farusan's confirmation of Rhodes's strength.

After thinking it over, Tinari stopped objecting.

After all, he knew that Rhodes's ability to manipulate elemental forces had been recognized by Nafis and Gülesh back in Sumeru City.

With such excellent operational skills, Rhodes certainly cannot be regarded as an ordinary holder of the Eye of God.

Moreover, since he can now stay in the Dead Zone unharmed for an hour, with his skill and ability to manipulate elemental power, even if he can't clear out the Dead Zone, ensuring his own safety shouldn't be a problem.

Like Fiona.

While Tinaari didn't object, he still had to offer the necessary advice: "Be careful in everything, and don't push yourself too hard."

"Well, I see."

Rhodes's answer was the same as before: he waved his hand and stepped into the dead zone once again.

This time.

He reverted to his method of reasoning and once again engaged in fierce combat with the monsters of the Dead Zone.

Following Nasita's instructions, he not only failed to clear away the dead zone's intricacies, but also squandered his power, indulging in whatever way he could to waste his strength and elemental energy.

Fortunately, these monsters from the Dead Zone were tough and thick-skinned; the larger ones could even withstand several blows from Rhode.