An invisible wave swept across, and various creatures’ auras emerged in his mind.
Some were strong, some weak, but evil entities stood out distinctly from ordinary people, making them easy to identify.
After sitting quietly for a few seconds, Ali suddenly turned west: “Two kilometers away, the puppet controller is over there.”
The two of them and the spider quickly moved toward the target location, taking advantage of the enemy’s unawareness.
During this, Fang Bo kept recalling the previous scene. After hesitating, he asked his doubt: “The technique you used just now wasn’t a space skill, was it?”
“Of course not.” Ali shook his head decisively.
As one of the top students at Jujutsu High, he found simple, cursed energy sensing effortless. He had many such small techniques that were quite helpful during missions.
“I understand.”
Seeing the scene earlier, Fang Bo couldn’t help but think of a skill he knew: hypnosis.
Even though he hadn’t solidified it as an active skill, it still had sound effects, similar to the long-unused mental shock.
After leaving the One Piece world, Fang Bo didn’t continue to delve into these skills. Now, this craft shouldn’t be discarded.
Continuing to practice the hypnosis techniques taught by Zango could effectively strengthen his control over mental power.
It could develop into mind control, illusions, and other areas, which would suit a reincarnation with high mental and sensory attributes.
Even if it didn’t help in combat, it might be helpful in specific tasks, like controlling a person’s behavior through hypnosis.
On the other side, seeing that his teammate seemed very interested in his abilities, Ali momentarily said, “I came here and found many reincarnators overly reliant on space skills.”
“They spend all day researching how to enhance effects, how to combine their three skill slots, and never think about learning something on their own.”
To a former elite of Jujutsu High, the skill slots were to help reincarnators quickly adapt to combat. True strength came from breaking these constraints and finding the most suitable combat methods and techniques.
By leveraging his unique talent, he had created a low-consumption, mid-range killing move. The power of his two coins was comparable to a Barrett sniper rifle.
For other reincarnations, even with the same talent, they would only use it superficially and wouldn’t think of harnessing the explosive power of two energies in reverse.
“The strength of skills determines the present, but abilities not recorded by space determine the future.”
This was Ali’s perspective as a story character.
Fang Bo vowed to remember this well, promising to learn various other abilities and find ways to integrate everything he had learned.
Two kilometers passed in a flash, and soon, they saw a voluptuous woman sitting on a large rock, observing them, her fingers moving rhythmically like a pianist’s.
Surrounding her were seven or eight Demon Slayer members controlled by the Spider Mother, their twisted bodies wailing in agony, their misery worse than death.
The woman let out low, sinister laughs. Such a scene infuriated the sorcerer.
Two coins shot out like lasers, crossing tens of meters to blow off one of the Spider Mother’s arms.
“I’ll handle this!” Ali shouted, waving his kitchen knife as he charged.
With experience in dealing with puppets, rescuing these controlled swordsmen shouldn’t be difficult.
However, as one of the bosses of Natagumo Mountain, the Spider Mother had some hidden tricks.
The sound of air being torn apart reached Fang Bo’s ears. Until the enemy was close, he didn’t sense the danger.
“Another sensory suppression.” He instinctively turned and fired a shot.
The bullet hit the opponent, but the damage wasn’t enough to repel it since it was a headless puppet.
As the sharp blade arm was about to pierce his body, Jorogumo intervened, taking the brunt of the decisive attack.
Fang Bo might not sense the enemy, but Jorogumo was not so easily deceived.
Despite the cuts on her body, Jorogumo first marked the enemy with a spider imprint, then began gathering energy for her ultimate move.
As the enemy prepared another strike, the shikigami’s ultimate was ready.
The energy-formed tiny spiders collided with the headless puppet’s chest, gnawing away large chunks of flesh.
[Jorogumo’s skill, Soul Eater, hits the target, dealing 32 bite damage]
[Spider Imprint triggered, dealing four extra damage]
The attack hit perfectly but didn’t stun the puppet.
Being a puppet made it immune to most negative statuses, something Jorogumo didn’t understand, causing her to suffer.
As the second strike fell, the blade arm slashed her large spider head, reducing her health by more than half.
Another hit would send the poor shikigami back to the Onmyoji world for recovery.
“Retreat!” Fang Bo interposed himself, using the enemy’s distraction to touch the headless puppet’s chest.
[Deterioration: Sever Tendon!]
Movement speed was reduced by 80%, making it impossible for the puppet to catch Jorogumo quickly.
Roar!!!
Reduced movement speed didn’t mean slower attack speed. Fang Bo, lacking agility, couldn’t avoid being slashed across the chest.
He retreated quickly, shooting as he went, cursing under his breath: “Damn, why is this puppet so tough?”
Without a fatal weakness, they had to whittle down its health slowly, and it was a very durable enemy.
Even with the shikigami’s help, the fight was unusually arduous.
Fortunately, he wasn’t facing the boss alone. Ali had already reached the Spider Mother.
“Cleanse your filthy soul.” Ignoring the slashes from a few swordsmen, Ali faced the Spider Mother and unleashed his most vital custom skill.
Boom!
The Spider Mother, weak in combat, was decapitated by the sorcerer’s attack, causing the puppets to freeze.
Avoiding the falling body, Fang Bo caught his breath and approached the Spider Mother’s corpse, eyeing the story treasure chest on the ground.
Meanwhile, his excellent teammate was busy rescuing injured Demon Slayer members, ignoring the purple treasure chest entirely.
Putting other issues aside, Fang Bo admired this aspect of him. If it were him, he wouldn’t have been able to resist opening the chest by now.
“Quite capable.”
After waiting a few minutes for all the members to be freed, Ali finally noticed his teammate’s displeased expression.
“Sorry.” He apologized, touching the chest.
Since they both fought the boss, the rewards had to be shared to avoid a split in the team.
“No problem.” Fang Bo shook his head, focusing on the Spider Mother’s corpse.
He seemed to want to say something but then held back.
He had a bolder idea regarding his temporary teammate’s talent but didn’t voice it due to specific concerns.
“Better to wait.”
Soon, the story treasure chest was opened, and Ali shared the contents.
[You are opening a story treasure chest (purple)]
[You receive 100 plot points]
[You receive Puppet Control Technique LV2]
[You receive an undelivered letter]
Puppet Control Technique: Teaches you how to control a puppet.
Undelivered Letter: The Spider Mother intended to call for help but was killed before sending the letter.
A skill scroll for an essential skill and a quest-triggering item.
Before Fang Bo could assess their value, he saw Ali’s eyes blazing as he stared at the letter.
“She has other companions. I must kill them.”
Seeing this, Fang Bo decided not to dwell on it. The quest was a side mission, not worth a memorable trip.
The Puppet Control Technique, however, intrigued him more.
If he learned it, would he also be able to control puppets?
The key was the puppet control technique, an essential skill, not taking up an active skill slot.
In essence, it was like mastering basic shooting to use the Dragoon. Puppet control was a new “technique” for reincarnators.
Even if it didn’t meet expectations, he wouldn’t lose much and could ignore it later.
“I’ll take the plot points and skill scroll,” Fang Bo said.
Hearing this, Ali thought his teammate was generous and gratefully nodded while distributing the loot.
Regarding value, the items took a lot of work to compare.
On the surface, the letter seemed more valuable, but it had hidden costs, such as mission risks and time.
The Puppet Control Technique was the most uncertain, as its effect was unknown until learned, potentially making it a loss.
As Fang Bo chose to learn it, even Ali felt nervous.
Fortunately, the result didn’t disappoint.
[Puppet Control Technique LV2: Consume one mental point to create a mental thread linking to a puppet. Cannot control living beings.]
Since Fang Bo couldn’t produce threads, he needed to use mental power to create links.
Closing his eyes, he processed the newfound knowledge.
During this, Ali stood guard, watching Jorogumo devour the Spider Mother.
Ali followed the sorcerer’s precepts but wasn’t rigid. Even becoming a demon himself was acceptable as long as evil was defeated.
This was Ali’s unique sense of justice.
After a few minutes, Fang Bo opened his eyes.
He nodded to his companion and approached the headless puppet.
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