In the middle of the night, under the dark starry sky, in the quiet snow.
Dean looked at the 80-centimeter-long arrow in his hand, carved with mysterious lines and shining with yellow and white light, and nodded with satisfaction.
Staring at the stars for many days and nights, he finally burned the first star rune completely.
"However, there is too little experience in carving runes, the technique is unfamiliar, many details are not perfect, and part of the material is wasted."
Because ordinary materials cannot carry runes, the entire arrow from arrowhead to arrow shaft is smelted from snake demon fangs. One arrow costs more than twenty fangs, and it is a disposable item. Dean reserves more than one hundred fangs. One fang is only enough to make five.
But their power is extraordinary. Last time, the arrows with incomplete runes killed two powerful superpowers with one arrow.
Now that the runes are completely burned, more starlight is stored, and the instantaneous burst is more powerful, even threatening Dean's own life.
However, the natural state has to absorb ten nights of starlight and moonlight to fully store it. The circuit of the complete rune is closed, and the starlight inside can only last for a month at most.
But star arrows have another huge advantage. Its powerful lethality comes from the starlight stored in the runes rather than the user. Therefore, not only superpowers like Dean can use it, but ordinary people who can shoot arrows can also shoot star arrows. Destroy the enemy.
Thinking of this, Dean secretly made a decision, "Except for retaining the ten demon-breaking arrows with human-faced rat fangs, the remaining arrows were all transformed into star arrows. This will become the second arrow after lightning reflex + life sublimation." Big ace.”
"Well, in the future, we will collect suitable supernatural materials and make them into star arrows. When the quantity is increased, maybe we can give some to trustworthy friends and companions."
"Master, is there stored starlight in this place?" At this moment, Qiandao popped out of the hood on the back of his head, stood on his shoulder and scanned the star arrows, his sixteen eyes shining with curiosity,
"Yes," Dean's heart suddenly moved, "Can you absorb the starlight condensation technique?"
"No!" Qiantan trembled, and the brass color on his body flickered. "I am only equivalent to a two-year-old child. My stomach is fragile and I can only absorb mild energy, such as your life energy and spiritual power. And Starlight It’s too overbearing. If I swallow even a little bit, I’ll suffer from indigestion, and even my spirituality will be wiped out by it.”
Dean looked at Yiantan with a cold gaze, "Are you saying that the quality of my life energy is not as good as starlight?"
Qian Tan quickly jumped to the ground, lay on his feet and sang, "Wise and powerful master, in my heart you are the greatest immortal existence in the world. The light of the stars and the moon will dim in front of your eyes, but you are eternal." of the sun.”
Dean exchanged a look with the shadow next to him, "Just kidding, don't be nervous. By the way, why do you always lie on people's insteps?"
"Originally, this is a way for the inferior to show respect to the superior."
"Then answer my question. You said you have a lot of knowledge in your mind." Dean looked up at the dark sky and expressed his doubts, "Why can I only see one type of arrow in Orion?" Arrow rune, the rest of the runes are all covered with mist and can’t be seen clearly?”
"Being able to observe a kind of rune proves that you have one billionth of the talent of a stargazer. As long as you insist on stargazing every night, sooner or later you will be able to see more. Or you can also discover more by improving your talent as a stargazer. The mystery of the many-starry sky.”
Dean nodded. If he wanted to quickly see the other precious star runes in Orion, he could only increase the level of mimicry to increase the level of the "Sea of Stars" in the body of the snake demon.
But this can't be rushed.
"Forget it, let's just observe the stars every night. Let's go back to sleep."
"I don't need to sleep." Qiantan hunched over and followed humbly and begged, "If you can please allow me to move freely at night, read movies and books, or find some emotions to breathe, the speed of condensing skills will become faster. quick."
Servants are not restricted to a two-kilometer radius around Dean like Shadow.
Dean asked, "How much has been condensed so far?"
"One in 20,000."
"I will lend you the "Supernatural Encyclopedia" that I compiled later. You can help me fill in the records of origins and techniques. Don't even think about going out tonight."
Qiantan turned around, exposed his bare back and whispered, "Abuse of child labor."
"What did you say?"
"The master is wise!"
…
The next morning.
The weather is calm and sunny.
Because of the agreement at yesterday's dinner, Dean got up early and called Dilena. Together they drove east for more than two hours and entered the suburban neighborhoods. Following the chirping of birds and animals in the forest, they arrived at an old house with red arched roofs. Little villa, knock on the door,
"You two, welcome, please come in quickly," Betsy, who had dark blond curly hair and wore an old striped shirt, said with a smile. "You must be hungry. Breakfast has just been cooked. I know you are coming and I have to cook more." Some."
"I haven't seen you for a while. You look a lot better." Dean looked at Betsy and said seriously. Her face no longer had the numbness and fatigue that had been oppressed by life.
"Thanks to the care of you and Director Hope, and of course Jane's credit. She helped me share a lot of pressure and brought a lot of joy to the family." The woman led the two of them through the living room and into the adjacent room. In the living room, next to the TV, a little girl wearing a blue down jacket was carefully feeding milk to a woman with gray hair and an old face lying on an old man's chair.
Dean asked, "Jane, why didn't you go to class with Mr. Owen today?"
The little girl smiled, put down the milk, came up to hold Dean's hand, "I have a day off today, I will stay with my mother at home." As she said this, she turned her eyes to Lena, who was slender and delicate-faced, and a flash of light flashed in her dark eyes. Faint doubt,
"Who is this aunt? Have I seen her somewhere?"
"I'm Terry's good friend. I met you a few times when you were a child and even hugged you. In a blink of an eye, you have grown so big." Lena touched Jane's little head with emotion, and then walked towards He looked at the woman on the old man's chair and their eyes intertwined.
Terry's originally calm eyes fluctuated, like ripples on the surface of a lake. Her fingers on the armrest trembled, and she spoke with difficulty,
"Le...Na..."
"It's me, old friend." Lena walked up to Terry and knelt down, looking at the swollen face with age spots, which had nothing to do with the youthful and beautiful image in her memory. "You have become haggard a lot in the past few years. I I should come back and see you soon."
"You... haven't changed at all..." Terry stammered slowly, with a strange look in her eyes and a sickly blush on her pale cheeks.
Lena quickly grabbed her hand and held it tightly in her palm, then looked at Betsy, "Can Terry's disease be cured? If there is any shortage of treatment fees, I will make up for it."
Betsy handed her a cup of hot coffee and said with gratitude and regret, "This is not a matter of money. Terry's brain nerves have been irreparably damaged. No matter how much treatment is given, there will not be much improvement..."
The three women were reminiscing.
"Shallow" seemed to smell the mixture of sorrow and joy, and quietly poked half of his head out of Dean's pocket, opening and closing his mouth to greedily absorb the emotions.
Dean raised his hand and pushed its head back, then looked at Jane and asked quietly, "Have you learned the meditation movements?"
Jane wrinkled her face and shook her head pitifully, "I practice every day, but I can't do it completely. The movement is too difficult. It feels like there are ants crawling on my body when I do it, and my bones are about to break."
"It's not that serious. Slowly and persistently you will master it sooner or later. This action will be good for you."
Jane nodded helplessly.
"How's your 'ignition' training going?"
Jane stretched out an index finger and circled it half a circle. The temperature suddenly increased, and a bright yellow flame about half the size of a fist appeared above the index finger.
Dean felt it for a moment. The flame could reach about five to six hundred degrees, which was a significant improvement compared to the previous few days.
"Very good, the ignition training is on track," Dean praised, "Now you can try making ice cubes."
"Ice?"
"The principle is simple. Fire is to gather heat at a certain point, while ice is to disperse and transfer the heat of water and other liquids..."
Jane took out a glass of water and suspended it in the air. While manipulating the liquid, Jane said instinctively, "Dean, during this time, I discovered something wrong while searching for Dustin and Will in the 'dark area of my mind'... "
Dean breathed a sigh of relief and asked, "What's the problem?"
Jane frowned, "I saw a terrible monster...it became clearer and clearer. Its slender limbs and human-shaped body seemed to have been skinned, and its cheek was a big mouth full of fangs."
Dean's face was stern, wondering if this was a monster caused by the Law of Convergence, "Can you feel where this monster is?"
Jane touched the air with her fingers, and then retracted as if she had been burned. "The exact location is not clear, but it seems to be very far away from me, so far that I can never reach it, and yet it seems so close that I can reach it with my hands."
So close yet so far, what does this mean?
Dean had no idea for the time being, "If you feel the specific location of this monster, please notify me or Hope immediately, understand? I will help you solve it."
"Yeah, actually, you taught me a lot of skills in using power. Most people are no longer my opponent." A look of determination appeared on Jian's young face, and she said loudly, "I'm not that afraid of it anymore. It dares to come." , if you dare to touch my family, I will tear it into pieces!"
"You've grown up, Jane. Be careful, the water falls on the floor!"
Next, Dean continued to teach Jane basic energy manipulation techniques.
And Lena was very sympathetic and guilty about what happened to her old friend Terry when she broke into Hawkins Laboratory alone in 1978, so she fell in love with her daughter Jane, a girl with super powers whose fate was uncertain, and simply stayed with Terry. , Betsy, and Dean accepted Jane as their goddaughter.
Jane got a godmother inexplicably. She was confused and her slightly curly hair was rubbed into a bird's nest. Lena looked at her lovingly and said, "If you encounter any difficulties in the future, feel free to contact your godmother. I am not an ordinary person like you." .”
Not an ordinary person?
Jian's mouth formed an O shape and she whispered, "A person with super powers?"
"right."
Jane's eyes suddenly looked at Lena with a hint of recognition.
The whole morning that followed, the simple wooden house was filled with laughter and laughter.
However, there were four people with super powers at the scene. Dean and Lena did not dare to stay too long. After lunch, they left Betsy five thousand dollars and invited their family of three to have Christmas dinner together before leaving in a hurry. .
In the car, Dean looked at Lena waving goodbye to the three people outside the window and said, "If you want to invite them to your home for Christmas, you have to convince Paquet and Kelly to keep it secret. Jane's identity must not be leaked."
"Yeah, don't worry, I will explain it to them carefully." Lena said hesitantly, "Dean, do you think that if I bite Terry and transform her into a snake demon, can she immediately regain her youth and health?"
"There is no doubt." Dean shook his head as he looked at Qian Tan, who was limp with satisfaction after absorbing a lot of emotions in his pocket, "But I don't recommend this. Not everyone who becomes a snake demon can stick to the principle of not killing indiscriminately like you, Tai. Rui has been paralyzed for so many years. Once he recovers, his temperament may change drastically, so you must be cautious."
"I understand." Lena sighed, giving up the idea for the time being.
…
The following days were peaceful and fulfilling.
Dean conducts life energy and telekinesis training in the suburbs every day during the day to become familiar with the skyrocketing attributes.
And under the guidance of the navigator Shoal, he activated his skills to roam. He roamed three times a day, consuming all his life energy and mental power.
Skill level 0 (0→3) can be improved by 1 point almost every three days.
Under this kind of high-intensity squeezing training, he gradually gained the experience of traveling through the void. He could control the moving distance after roaming within five kilometers without the guidance of the shoal, and relied on his "Omen Specialty" to rule out volcanoes, seabeds, etc. The dangerous landing place, but he couldn't even tell the general direction, and it was still far from roaming like a fixed-point teleportation.
In addition, he shortened the time to activate the unstable space node from one second to 0.5 seconds, which can barely be used to avoid and protect some long-range attacks. For example, if he has a premonition that a small town will be hit by an atomic bomb or a hydrogen bomb, Dean can Timely transfer via roaming.
Dean discovered after conducting many experiments using rabbits and other small animals that roaming can not only be done by one person, but also bring other "passengers" with him, but they must be carried tightly. If the passengers are one step behind and fail to enter and exit the node rift in time, then they will will be lost in the void.
The void is ever-changing, and there is basically no possibility for ordinary creatures to come back.
…
At night, Dean searched for the breath of light to confirm that he was safe and sound somewhere in the north.
Then maintain the weapons and equipment, build five star arrows, charge them with starlight and moonlight, and observe the runes of Orion during meditation.
Every time he gazes at the stars, he can gain new insights. The more he understands the spatial structure of the star runes, the more he feels that there are secrets hidden in these small runes that he has yet to discover. When the discovery is complete, observing the runes is like looking at palm prints. , he could probably see the next rune of Orion.
In the dead of night, Dean also likes to sit on the roof and listen to Qian Tan's childish voice, talking about the original place of his hometown.
"In Origin, it is always night, there is no sun in the sky, most of the area is occupied by the ocean, and the remaining area is dotted with countless islands."
"Origin is inhabited by some animals that exist in the ordinary world, such as whales, sharks, birds, dogs, rats, and humanoid intelligent creatures. They have horns, tails, wings, and their skin is black, white, yellow, but also blue and red..."
"Many unique, dangerous and powerful species still exist in the original... There is a squid-like sea beast called Zebrasius swimming in the sea. It is more than one kilometer long and can easily distort space."
Dean imagined a monster with a length of more than one kilometer in his mind, and felt his temples pounding. It was really a mysterious and dangerous world.
"Can you take me on a journey to the original source to open my eyes?"
"Of course, I can feel its exact position in the void and guide you to open the original space node." Qiantan thought for a moment and nodded his head, "But there is a problem. I don't know the node leading to the earth. , took you to the origin, and it will be difficult to return to Earth."
"Forget it." Dean has not been enough of an Earthling yet. "By the way, I once heard a friend say that the first human being to go to the origin was a man named Plato. He called the origin Atlantis. Teece.”
"Nonsense!" Qiantan said with determination and contempt, "According to the countless knowledge we have absorbed from the original underground, in the past few hundred years, some human beings in your ordinary world have been writing false history to put gold on their faces. , this kind of behavior that is made out of nothing is very shameful!”
Dean raised the corner of his mouth and asked again, "Then who was the first human being to enter the origin?"
"I don't know about this, but Plato has never been in there. By the way, great master, can you let me absorb a little of your happiness?"
Christmas has quietly arrived during regular training.
(End of chapter)
