Book 10: Chapter 69: Fire-Worship Totem

Gaze Technique Scroll Rank A- : Nine Hells. First Layer: Limbo. Second Layer: Lust. Third Layer: Gluttony. Fourth Layer: Greed. Fifth Layer: Anger. Sixth Layer: Heresy. Seventh Layer: Violence. Eighth Layer: Deception. Ninth Layer: Betrayal.

Compared to the shocking description on the skill scroll, the actual skill itself was not as terrifying as imagined. It was an illusionary gaze technique that could simulate the Nine Hells.

This gaze technique had relatively high requirements. It demanded that the caster’s Perception and Mental Will attributes, under equipment enhancement, must reach a combined total of two hundred points. Qin Lun fully satisfied this requirement. His Perception and Mental Will, boosted by equipment and his Iron Cross, had both surpassed one hundred points.

However, this was just the basic requirement. The skill’s effect also depended on the caster’s eyes and the target’s Perception and Mental Will. The stronger the caster’s eyes, the more potent the skill. The lower the target’s combined Perception and Mental Will total, the easier they were to victimize.

In other words, if Qin Lun tried to use this illusion on a spellcasting profession like Hill, who was similar in strength to him, it would be mostly unsuccessful. After all, Qin Lun was a Hunter profession. No matter how strong his Perception and Mental Will, he was unlikely to surpass a spellcaster of equivalent strength.

Of course, illusion skills like the Nine Hells were countless. The reason this skill caught Qin Lun’s eye was because it had unique qualities. Firstly, the skill’s rank was sufficiently high. Magical skills of higher rank possessed stronger combat judgments. Only skills with strong judgments could influence high-rank or even legendary professions.

Secondly, during the introduction, the Star Void had simulated some effect images. Those images, almost indistinguishable from reality, seemed to give Qin Lun a momentary glimpse of the true mirror image of hell. Especially the debauched second layer, the Hell of Lust, and the cruel, bloody seventh layer, the Hell of Violence—those vivid mirror images could absolutely cause someone to mistake them for reality.

Most of the Nine Hells in this illusion corresponded to some kind of desire or sin within intelligent beings, making it easy to evoke resonance in certain aspects. This was also the main reason Qin Lun thought highly of it.

“A starting bid of five hundred thousand Shattered Crystals!” Qin Lun took a deep breath looking at the auction list annotation. Five hundred thousand Shattered Crystals was enough to buy a piece of regular sub-legendary equipment, yet it was merely the starting bid for this skill scroll.

However, Qin Lun had to admit that only in the Three-Tailed Owl Club did he truly see an A-rank skill scroll for sale. In the auction houses and Demiplane Trading Floor of Devil’s Horn before, let alone an A-rank skill scroll, even B-rank skill scrolls were virtually nonexistent and almost never put up for sale.

After ticking off this skill scroll, Qin Lun rubbed the corner of his eyebrow. Prolonged thinking and searching had made him feel somewhat fatigued.

He stood up, released the auction flight board, and wandered around the front courtyard of the manor. It had been most of the day since he entered the club, and Kelly still hadn’t come back to find him. It seemed the Female Tyrannosaurus had either forgotten about him for the moment or was deep in private talks with someone else.

After eating a little at the self-service long table, Qin Lun quickly returned to the auction area and started looking through the auction list again.

Upon reviewing it, he suddenly discovered that two of his pre-approved orders had been completed, while his bids on other orders had been superseded by other Apostles. The auction flight board was prompting him whether he wished to continue bidding.

The two completed orders were one batch of bundled magic scrolls—specifically those unpopular scrolls Death Ray and Eye Tyrant’s Will—and another order for a group of five Gargoyle Statues. These two transactions spent three hundred and fifty thousand Shattered Crystals in total.

Qin Lun carefully reviewed everything, canceled some overpriced bids, then refreshed his remaining bids. After that, he started viewing the equipment and items section again.

Soon, his attention was drawn to that World Treasure on the auction list. It was a crimson translucent orb, approximately the size of a goose egg, its surface emitting a flame-like mist visible to the naked eye.

The introduction given for this thing was “Highly Concentrated Fire Elemental Core.” But below that was another annotation stating it was an unknown artifact whose purpose and laws even the Shattered Starry Sky could not fully understand.

The World Treasures brought into the Shattered Starry Sky by Apostles from various Quest Worlds were incredibly diverse and complex. Sometimes, things even the Shattered Starry Sky couldn’t make sense of did appear.

There were generally two reasons for this. Either the laws governing the thing were simple and clear but might be connected to a historical plot the Shattered Starry Sky hadn’t yet explored, so it could only label it an unknown artifact.

Or some of the laws governing the thing belonged to a fragment of the starry void that hadn’t been analyzed yet, and the Apostle who possessed it wasn’t willing to submit it to the Void. Therefore, the Void could only give the introduction based on the understood part, ignoring the unknown law fragments.

The known effect of this item was to enhance the power of fire-elemental spellcasting skills. It could also serve as a source of mana for fire-elemental magic. Every three natural days, it could gather enough fire-elemental energy to cast one A+ ranked skill.

Given Qin Lun’s current strength, casting one A+ ranked Tree World Descent himself required a lot of external assistance. Thus, one could imagine the immense value of this fire elemental core. Being able to cast A-rank magical skills without relying on externals was basically the exclusive domain of those High-Rank Apostles.

However, what truly captured Qin Lun’s attention wasn’t its listed effects, but the fact he had seen something like it before. To be precise, he had seen a different version of this thing.

Back in the Hunter World, Firecracker Rand had once completed a side plot to obtain a Transmutation Nen Ability related to stealing a Mafia auction item—the Ahura Mazda Bronze Statue.

Ahura Mazda was the chief god of an ancient fire-worshiping religion, Zoroastrianism. The Ahura Mazda Bronze Statue Qin Lun had seen back then held in its hands a crimson orb just like this one, emanating flame-like mist.

This item clearly wasn’t just a fire elemental core in terms of physical properties; it was also some kind of faith totem for Zoroastrianism. This explained why the Shattered Starry Sky labeled it an unknown artifact. Without understanding the meaning of the faith totem, the Void naturally couldn’t provide introductions beyond its known physical laws.

“This thing must be important to Rand,” Qin Lun thought, a faint smile appearing in his eyes. “Back then, that kid went deep into the Phantom Troupe’s lair to get the Ahura Mazda bronze statue. Afterward, he not only gave me a pair of Scarlet Eyes but also gifted me an Accompany Card upon his return!”

After returning from the Hunter World, Qin Lun happened to encounter Gan Luo and Black forcibly invading the villa to try and coerce him into joining the Chaos Alliance. To avoid trouble at the time, Qin Lun chose to head to the next quest world immediately – the subsequent Toril World.

Back then, the other Serial Killers had lent some aid. Rand, in particular, gave him a special treasure from the Hunter World, the “Accompany Card.” This card hadn’t let them down; it had saved Qin Lun’s life in the Toril World, enabling him to escape the Valley of the Undead while surrounded by undead and teleport directly into the Tower of Durlag.

Qin Lun was still cold and ruthless to outsiders. But after experiencing so many things in the Shattered Starry Sky and different worlds, his emotions had become richer. Towards companions he acknowledged, he was no longer purely exploiting them or using them as pawns.

He always remembered the favor owed to Firecracker Rand. Now that he had found something Rand needed, he naturally had to try and buy it. Besides, Rand was also one of the candidates chosen to enter the Toril World together.

The World Token Kelly gave him allowed three Apostles to enter the Toril World together. Qin Lun himself would occupy one spot. Shepherd Hill, due to having drawn the hatred of the Chaos Alliance, also needed to take this chance to lay low.

The final spot came down to Grant, Hansen, and Rand. Because of the unique nature of the Toril World, all three actually hoped to enter and see it. Considering he wanted to repay Rand’s debt, Qin Lun had cast his vote for Rand at the time.

The unknown artifact “Highly Concentrated Fire Elemental Core” had a starting bid of five hundred thousand Shattered Crystals. As an item purely for enhancing fire magic skills, it wouldn’t normally be worth that price.

However, the consignors at the club were all High-Rank Apostles. They had experienced countless eras and dimensions. Even if they didn’t know this thing was tied to the Zoroastrian faith totem, they could deduce some significance and wouldn’t let it be acquired cheaply.

After selecting this item, Qin Lun had less than six hundred thousand Shattered Crystals left. Although he could still purchase other things, the bidding on several important items was constantly refreshing, so he needed to keep some funds in reserve.

As time passed, Qin Lun’s bids on several consumables quickly concluded. Prices on Magic Scrolls always fluctuated within a limited range. High-Rank Apostles consigning items here mostly needed funds to buy other things themselves. They couldn’t simply wait for the full two-day auction period to end their consignments.

Qin Lun ultimately managed to grab the popular ninth-tier fire spell Meteor Fall, along with the matching seventh-tier spells Divine Light’s Healing and Earth Cage. Additionally, he bought a jar of Construct Beetles.

These two things cost him seven hundred and fifty thousand Shattered Crystals in total. Added to the earlier Death Ray and Eye Tyrant’s Will scrolls and the five Gargoyle Statues, he had already spent one million one hundred and ten thousand Shattered Crystals on consumables.

Qin Lun also managed to purchase the A-rank skill he desired most, Nine Hells. However, due to constant competition from rivals, the final price ended up frighteningly high. An A- rank skill he thought might close at six or seven hundred thousand forced him to exceed his initial budget significantly, costing a full one million Shattered Crystals.

A-rank skills were indeed rare, but skills costing over a million were exceedingly uncommon. This was equivalent to the price of two pieces of Sub-Legendary equipment or one high-rank Legendary piece. Qin Lun had intended to give up once the price exceeded seven hundred thousand. What ultimately persuaded him to secure it was a moment of curiosity where he consulted “Ghost Child” Casey.

According to Casey, this A- rank skill, Nine Hells, had potential for evolution—meaning a certain possibility of becoming an S-rank skill. Any S-rank skill was a forbidden ability. For illusions, their only forbidden ability was materialization.

To be able to buy an A-rank skill with a chance to evolve into S-rank for one million Shattered Crystals was considered very cheap. It was precisely because Nine Hells’s quality was currently a little lower (at A- rank), making its evolutionary probability slim, that the other competitors had given up.