booktalesy Chapter 4218 Instinct
Chapter 4218 Instinct
Chapter 4218 Instinct
When the "sigh" message appeared in the text bar, both Angell and Gabriel were stunned.
They were affected by the sighs even though they didn't enter the maze.
However, this isn't particularly important. Since they're outside and there are no enemies around, any buffs or debuffs are meaningless.
Even some effects specific to the maze will not take effect.
For example, the text for the Sighing effect clearly states: "You have not officially stepped into the Wall of Sighs of Normefens, so this effect has no effect on you."
However, looking at the effect of this sigh, Angel couldn't help but frown.
"Sigh effect: Increases health by 100%"
This effect appears to be a buff, giving challengers a higher chance of survival in the maze.
However, if you think about it carefully, something feels off.
They start with five drops of health, which doubles to ten drops. It seems like the margin for error has increased, but you should know that for every drop of health lost, they have to stand outside for half an hour. If Gray Porcelain is unlucky, he might lose nine drops of health during the buff's duration, ending up with only one drop left to complete the level.
Doesn't that mean they'll be forced to stand outside for four and a half hours as punishment?
In other words, doubling your health seems like a benefit, but it's actually a hidden pitfall.
I just hope Gray Porcelain works its magic and doesn't cause me to lose health during its effect duration...
Time passed by minute by minute.
Two minutes later.
Nomephens finally let out a second sigh, which also marked the end of the doubled health and the beginning of a new effect.
And this time the effect is... a debuff.
"Sigh effect: Loss of hearing."
Unlike the previous doubling of health, this time the loss of hearing takes effect even if they are outside the game.
At this point, Angell could no longer hear any sounds from the outside world, including Gabriel's babbling.
However, this did not have much impact on them.
after all--
Gabriel: I can't hear anything outside! This sigh is effective everywhere!
"Rabbit Hole Commander: What happened now?"
Gabriel: Reporting to the commander…
Gabriel started chatting with the rabbit girl, and Angel glanced at the chat before closing it.
Although we have lost our hearing, there are always ways to communicate, such as... team chat.
Moreover, in their current location, hearing is unnecessary; but for Gray Porcelain, hearing is essential, whether it's listening to the sounds of patrolling guards or detecting the sounds of mechanisms.
It can be said that this reduction effect is entirely an obstacle to gray porcelain.
Fortunately, the effect of this sigh did not last long.
Just one minute later, Normeffens sighed again.
"Sigh effect: Transforms into a random creature."
The moment the words fell, Angel and Gabriel exchanged a glance, and then their bodies began to stretch and deform continuously. The whole process took only two seconds, and they became different beings.
Angell remained largely unchanged, but now had pure white feathers behind his ears, gold-rimmed eye sockets, and a pair of white wings with gold trim hanging down behind him.
This is... the Golden Feathered Man.
Common winged tribes can be found on the Pamiji Plateau.
This sudden transformation left Ingres somewhat bewildered, but he didn't reject seeing his new image from God's perspective.
Anyway, it's not ugly.
Angell glanced at Gabriel, then silently looked away.
Its general shape has not changed, except that the huge mouth on its face has become a single eye with a horizontal pupil, and a pair of black wings have been added to its back.
Almost identical to Benber Barlow, except he has fewer wings on his back.
Gabriel: Have I gone from a chaotic, wicked mouth to an evil one-eyed monster?
"Angol: ...If Benber heard you say that, it would probably be written into his script, making him the ultimate evil villain..."
"Rabbit Hole Commander: What happened again? Wait, did I say 'again' too many times?"
time flies.
They then experienced two more Sighing Buffs: Blindness and Stiffness.
One is equivalent to losing sight, and the other is directly trapped on the ground and unable to move; both are detrimental effects.
Or rather, so far, there doesn't seem to be any positive effect.
Even the so-called "double health" buff has hidden pitfalls.
Sure enough, this Normefens is the perfect puzzle to lure people in and kill them... I thought it would be a buff, but it turned out to be all debuffs.
Soon, the sixth sigh arrived.
Perhaps the negative effects of the previous five times were too overwhelming, but with the help of luck, this sigh has the best effect so far.
"Sigh effect: You can instantly teleport to any place that your eyes can see."
The effect lasts for 5 seconds.
This is the only one that directly displays the duration in the text field, and the duration is extremely short.
Having read this far, Angell probably understands the mechanism of Nomefens.
It does indeed have a perfect boost effect, but the probability of it occurring is extremely low, and the duration of this perfect boost is extremely short, and it will be marked.
Just like this time.
However, although the buff is remarkable, five seconds is not long, especially in an extremely complex maze. Five seconds of teleportation can probably only help you jump over a few traps and bypass a few patrolling guards.
At this moment, the text bar began displaying a countdown.
"5", "4", "3"...
Just when there was only one second left in the countdown, the text bar suddenly stopped counting.
It was as if time had been stopped at that moment.
Normefens on the wall slightly raised his bowed head, a barely perceptible hint of surprise flashing in his golden vertical pupils.
Then, as if relieved, it let out a sigh that was even deeper than before.
“Click! Click!”
As the sigh fell, the thick wall seemed to be dismantled and reassembled by an invisible hand, with clear sounds of stones colliding coming from inside, and the ground trembling slightly.
In the blink of an eye, a doorway covered with stone chips split open from the middle of the wall, slowly expanding to a width that allowed people to pass through.
Normeffens' voice came from above the porch, carrying a sense of relief:
"You have passed my test."
"Final remaining health: 5 drops"
As the words were spoken, the porch doors swung open with a roar, revealing a long, dark tunnel behind them...
Gabriel: "Ah, five drops of blood... Is this a full-health clear?"
Angell looked at the long corridor leading into the desolate depths and raised an eyebrow slightly.
The gray porcelain was moving even faster than he had imagined.
Most importantly, I cleared the game without losing a single drop of blood!
Even Angor himself wasn't entirely confident he could perfectly clear the maze, but Gray Porcelain did.
It must be said that those with special talents do have a unique approach.
"Gray Porcelain: Looks like you do have some sense, you put the prefix on the name in advance."
Gray Porcelain started speaking in the team chat.
Clearly, Gray Porcelain had seen the previous chat and noticed that Gabriel had changed his name when it entered the maze.
"Rabbit Hole Chief: You've changed your name too."
"Gray Porcelain: Although I also removed the prefix, I removed it later, so I win."
Gabriel: I'll let you win this time, but considering the current level progression, my score is still higher than yours. Unless…
"Gray porcelain: Unless what?"
Gabriel: Unless you pass a test by the Book Demon.
Gray Porcelain: ...You're so boring. Forget it, let's not talk about this anymore. I'll wait for you on this side of the wall. Hurry up and come over.
As soon as the Book Demon Trial was mentioned, Gray Porcelain immediately ended the team chat.
Gabriel said quietly, "I thought it had changed, but now it seems to be the same gray porcelain I know."
Angel chuckled softly, "No need to rush it. Trust me, when the crucial moment comes, it will definitely challenge the Book Demon; that's just its nature."
Cowardice is its nature, but a sense of responsibility will help it break through all obstacles.
“Let’s go, let’s go see our great hero.” Angell stepped into the corridor first.
Gabriel followed, huffing and puffing.
A moment later, at the other end of the porch, they saw the gray porcelain.
Despite their long-standing rivalry, Gabriel didn't hold back his praise for Gray Porcelain. Before Angor could even speak, Gabriel had already rushed to Gray Porcelain's side, inquiring about its secrets to clearing the level while loudly praising it.
Watching the two of them chattering away, Angell saved himself the trouble of talking.
But I still gave the gray porcelain a thumbs up from afar.
Upon seeing this, Gray Porcelain revealed a reserved yet somewhat proud and shy smile.
……
The gray porcelain briefly describes its experience in the maze.
It's basically like, just keep walking and walking.
Deaf, blind, turned into a flying squirrel... no amount of sighing can stop it from moving forward.
—Of course, besides "rigidity".
The reason it can ignore these negative effects is entirely because gray porcelain simply doesn't focus its attention on these "distractions".
It focuses all its consciousness on "danger sensing".
In fact, it navigates blindly from beginning to end, relying entirely on its sense of danger for guidance.
"No traps? No patrols or guards?" Gabriel asked, puzzled.
“No, at least I didn’t encounter any.” Gray Porcelain: “But I did hear footsteps, though I didn’t pay attention. I left everything to my danger sense, and it carried me as I charged forward…”
"Then, finally, I got a teleportation effect. With my eyes closed, I teleported forward continuously under the guidance of my talent."
"Maybe it teleported dozens of times? Or even hundreds of times? I didn't notice."
"When I opened my eyes again, I was already out..."
After listening to Gray Porcelain's explanation, Angell and Gabriel fell silent. They certainly knew that the talent "Danger Sense" would play an important role in clearing the game, but they hadn't expected its role to be so crucial.
Angell: "Was it like this when you navigated the Maze of All Things?"
Gray Porcelain nodded: "That's right."
Angel sighed deeply. He now understood why Gray Porcelain was the first to reclaim his talent by passing the Trial Wonderland.
I also understand why Gray Porcelain could completely disregard the danger of hitting walls during teleportation and teleport hundreds of times in just five seconds... no, even less than five seconds, only four seconds.
Because gray porcelain and its inherent qualities have become one.
Danger perception has become its instinct.
Controlling its body by instinct, everything seems to be done under the influence of the subconscious. Even when Gray Porcelain develops its own consciousness, it may not be able to recall what it did.
Instinct carried it, allowing it to escape all disasters and dangers and reach its destination.
The power of instinct is incredibly strong.
The sea of the subconscious is an incredibly profound blue ocean, and its driving force can even allow Gray Porcelain to reach a level of computing power that defies the heavens in a short period of time.
In this state, its computing power is comparable to that of a god.
This is also why it can transmit countless times in a short period of time without making any mistakes.
Previously, Gray Porcelain thought that his computing power was not as good as Gabriel's, but now it seems that if it really comes down to a comparison, Gabriel might not necessarily be able to beat Gray Porcelain.
"Oh, by the way," Gray Porcelain suddenly said, "I just got some information, it's a reward from Nomefens!"
"A reward?" Angell and Gabriel looked over at the same time, their eyes full of doubt.
They had all thought that the tests in the corridor were only for "saving time," but they didn't expect there would be rewards.
Under the watchful eyes of Angell and Gabriel, Gray Porcelain recounted, "Just now, as I was leaving the labyrinth, I suddenly heard Normefens whisper in my ear—"
"Congratulations on passing through the Wall of Sighs of Normefens."
"As a reward for completing the game, you can ask me any question, and I will provide a reasonable answer."
At this point, Gray Porcelain's expression suddenly turned somewhat shy: "I want to apologize to you all. I should have waited until you all arrived together to discuss it before asking the questions."
"But I just left the maze, and I'm still in a state between being awake and confused..."
In other words, it's still within the realm of innate instinct.
"I didn't wake up in time. When I heard the voice in my ear, I subconsciously asked a question."
"So, I've already asked that question, and that's my fault."
Angel didn't seem to care much and waved his hand lightly: "You're the one who passed this test, so the right to ask questions should have been yours. There's no need to apologize."
Moreover, Angel had never imagined that the trials in the corridor of mechanisms would actually yield rewards.
Therefore, being told there's a reward, or even just asking a random question, is a pleasant surprise.
There's absolutely no need to blame yourself.
Gabriel nodded in agreement: "Yes, and the questions you ask instinctively might be better than the ones we carefully select."
Gray Porcelain: "I don't know if it's better or worse... What I'm asking about is the identity of the one who sealed it?"
Angell: "If it were me, I would probably ask that question too. How did they answer it?"
Gray Porcelain's expression was filled with guilt: "It didn't give an answer, it only said that we'll know once we've copied all the hidden information..."
Even without asking Normeffens, they were already putting this answer into practice.
So when Grey Porcelain heard this answer, he felt somewhat ashamed.
Perhaps a different question would be better.
Angel gently patted Gray Porcelain's shoulder: "It's alright, at least it puts our minds at ease. Before, we were just guessing, but it gave us a clear answer, which is already very important information."