Nabolei Underground Tomb.
Seeing the familiar place name again, Mo Di felt an unusual sense of closeness.
Finally back in his own lair, he took a deep breath. It was the familiar faint smell of decay, with no scent of outsiders.
“Gan, Wen, Cui!”
Three Frostblood Abominations heard the summons and immediately rushed to his side, kneeling on one knee.
“How many days have passed since I left?”
The three Abominations looked at each other, then each held out their hands, gesturing.
Finally, they put seven fingers together.
“...Seven days? Alright, I understand.” Mo Di rubbed his forehead, quite helpless.
Frostblood Abominations were good in every way, except they were too unintelligent. It took all three of them just to count within ten.
He had reason to suspect that if the number exceeded ten, their barren brains simply couldn't comprehend it.
“I need to find a way to increase your intelligence, at least to the level of a Nine-Intelligence.”
The Abominations remained silent, unable to understand his meaning.
Dismissing the three Abominations, Mo Di walked into his makeshift laboratory.
Calling it a laboratory, it was actually just a converted tomb chamber—crude and dim, making him feel a bit uncomfortable after being accustomed to the Ling Corporation's laboratories.
“A golden nest or a silver nest, none compare to one’s own dog kennel. What’s so great about the Ling Corporation? It doesn't feel as good as my Underground Tomb.”
He comforted himself with a sentence, then set down the hiking backpack he was carrying and sequentially took out the Blue Star specialties he had brought back.
“Toilet paper, axe of living sacrifice...”
After neatly arranging the Blue Star specialties, he finally, with great solemnity, took out the biggest harvest from this trip.
Namely, the blood and tissue samples of the Frost噬 Giant Spider.
Before returning, he had specifically gone to the Frost噬 Giant Spider's remains to collect some potentially useful samples.
“The blood of an Eternal, and one with the 【Frost】 aspect. If it weren't for the shard of the light god, I wouldn't have known how to obtain a sample of an Eternal's blood so early on.”
Mentioning the shard of the light god, he thought of his first apprentice. “I wonder if that kid Long Yutian listened to my last words. I hope he did.”
The shard of the light god came too coincidentally, and the accident happened too coincidentally.
If possible, he also hoped that all of this was pure coincidence.
“Speaking of which, what exactly is the Seed of Mind for? Is it purely a manifestation of the mind?”
With his Soul Eye fixed on the Seed of Mind connected to it, Mo Di clearly felt the seed's connection to himself.
Whatever he thought, the Seed of Mind would give a corresponding response, and when certain emotions arose, it would also undergo corresponding changes.
Silently taking in a breath of curse, he actively suppressed the Soul Eye's digestion of the curse.
Various extreme negative emotions spread within his mind. At the same time, his Seed of Mind also became active.
A power, different from both magic and Cold Blood True Qi, burst forth from it, spreading through his soul to his physical body.
“This is... a curse? A wish? No, although it's very similar, it's neither.”
As a manifestation of his mind, the Seed of Mind could, to a certain extent, reflect his condition.
For instance, right now, when various chaotic extreme negative emotions were mixed in his mind, the Seed of Mind likewise became distorted, even acting upon his physical body in reality.
Mo Di looked up at an ice mirror, barely maintaining his sanity to observe his changes.
“The Seed of Mind can affect my physical body in reality, but this change is too chaotic. Is it because the extreme emotions aren't singular enough?”
In the mirror, a monster barely recognizable as human glared menacingly. Its head resembled a fusion of a Wendigo and a dragon, while its body simultaneously grew dragon scales, black fur, and ice shards.
A long tail, flowing like a river of blood, hung behind it. If he wished, this strange tail could pierce through enemies' bodies at any moment and drink their blood.
“...Appearance features formed by combining all my aspects? Or is this just the manifestation of my mind?”
The wave of negative emotions continued to wash over his consciousness, but his rationality remained as firm as a rock, unafraid of the onslaught.
“Next step, observe what changes a single extreme emotion will cause in me.”
With the help of magic and his self-regulation, all negative emotions in his mind were cleared, and his body gradually returned to its normal human appearance.
Mo Di cleared his mind and meditated for a while before proceeding with the next experiment.
Carefully controlling the curse and stripping away the negative emotions within it, this time the emotion he chose was “anger.”
A single negative emotion had a greater impact on him compared to chaotic negative emotions.
He expended more effort to barely control his anger.
Looking at the ice mirror again, his reflection in the mirror was no longer human, but a semi-humanoid evil dragon covered in blood-red dragon scales.
“Anger primarily corresponds to the 【Scale】 aspect, related to the dragon scales I used to activate the Ancient Blood.”
He opened his mouth, feeling only an itch in his throat. After two coughs, a wisp of blood flame spewed from his mouth.
Fortunately, he coughed into an empty space, causing no damage to the laboratory property.
He closed his mouth, silently adding, “Perhaps there’s also a small part of the 【Blood】 aspect.”
In his blood dragon state, all aspects of his physical quality were significantly enhanced, and the blood flames he spewed were also more powerful.
As the anger in his heart subsided, the blood dragon form receded from him, and he returned to being an ordinary human.
Two consecutive form changes caused the Seed of Mind to become somewhat withered, like an exhausted middle-aged man.
Mo Di, too, became listless as a result.
“Alright, the Seed of Mind's wilting also affects me. That's reasonable.”
Feeding some curse to the Soul Eye for digestion, Mo Di forced himself to cheer up and began tinkering with the other specialties he had brought back.
Three days of peaceful life passed in this manner until it was finally broken by an uninvited guest.
“You said there’s a human outside who wants to see me?” Mo Di nodded. “Indeed, the outer warning spell was just triggered.”
The Frostblood Abominations continued to gesture to him. Mo Di pondered for a moment, then smiled and nodded. “Is that so?”
In reality, he hadn't understood anything.
But to avoid dampening the Abominations' confidence, he still put on a “I understand everything” facade to brush them off.
Taking the three named Abominations with him, he arrived at the entrance of the Underground Tomb.
At the cave entrance, a gentle-looking man had been waiting for a long time.
Looking closely, one would notice his strange attire: shorts with black stockings on his lower body, but a wizard's robe on his upper body.
Combined with his appearance, an uninformed person might think he was a character from some gacha game.
A gentle smile hung on his face, seemingly casual, yet he was secretly observing the layout of the place.
‘Compared to my last visit, some changes seem to have occurred here. The outer ghouls have been replaced by Abominations, and the number of magic traps has increased...’
This couldn't help but make him feel a little curious.
‘It seems De Wei An's research has made progress, even figuring out how to modify Abominations.’
The corners of his mouth curved into an arc, revealing genuine joy.
‘Counting the time, it should be soon, right?’
Footsteps approached. He looked with anticipation at the newcomer, only to find that it was not the white-haired girl he longed for, but a tall man.
He froze for a second, then quickly put on a polite smile and said, “I remember you. You’re De Wei An’s apprentice, right?”
In the past, when he came here to communicate with De Wei An, he often saw this apprentice serving nearby.
Most apprentices didn't stay long here, but this one was an exception, which left a deep impression on him.
Coincidentally, Mo Di felt the same way about him.
“Yes, that's me.”
Observing this slightly effeminate, flashy-dressed man, his mind quickly sifted through all information about the other party.
The Frost Ember Territory's court mage, Farga, also known as the infamous simp mage.
The object of his adoration was none other than Mo Di's teacher, De Wei An.
It was said that the moment he first saw De Wei An, whether it was love at first sight or lust, he transformed into De Wei An's simp, frequently using the excuse of exchanging experiences to visit the Underground Tomb.
If it were just simple simping, that would be one thing. The crucial point was that to gain De Wei An's favor, he not only helped her conceal her evil deeds but also actively murdered ordinary people to provide her with experimental materials.
The laughable part was that even after going to such lengths, De Wei An merely treated him as a useful tool and an ATM, only seeking him out when she needed experimental materials.
And at the end of De Wei An's redemption arc, this simp mage even displayed astonishing wisdom, deliberately taking all of her accumulated crimes upon himself to help whitewash her.
Ultimately, he sacrificed himself, in exchange for De Wei An's perfunctory thanks.
In short, the moment he saw him, Mo Di began to ponder how to kill him.
Anyway, the dragon disaster was approaching, and the Frost Ember Territory Lord didn't have many days left to live, so even if Farga died, it wouldn't affect him.
“Where is your teacher? I need her help with something.” Farga asked.
“Teacher left to handle some matters. She'll probably be back in three days.” Mo Di lied without batting an eyelid.
Farga was stunned again. His constant spell, 【Detect Thoughts】, hadn't detected whether Mo Di was lying.
This was illogical. He remembered this apprentice was just an ordinary person; it was impossible for him to evade his 【Detect Thoughts】.
‘Unless... he has a magic item left by De Wei An. No, how could De Wei An be so good to an apprentice?’
He looked at Mo Di again, and that masculine, resolute face made Farga feel increasingly insecure.
Love-struck brain combined with astonishing wisdom kicked in, and he began to grow suspicious.
‘Could it be that De Wei An likes this type of man? No, no, how could that be... it doesn't seem impossible either. Otherwise, why would he be able to stay by De Wei An's side for so long?’
Farga imagined many non-existent things. A moment later, a murderous intent began to rise within him.
‘De Wei An isn't here, so I can just get rid of him. If my guess is true, then there's one less competitor. If it's false, then it doesn't matter; it's just the death of an apprentice.’
Coincidentally, Mo Di had a similar thought.
‘First, trick him into the Underground Tomb, then kill him.’
Both men, harboring ulterior motives, remained silent until one of them broke the quiet.
“I've come with the Lord's orders. Since you're De Wei An's apprentice, you should be able to help. Are you willing to help me with this favor?”
Farga still wore a polite smile, not revealing any of the ruthlessness in his heart.
Mo Di also smiled; he had never seen anyone so impatient.
“With pleasure.”