The Prophet Clone followed his intuition for a distance until a grayish-white card appeared in his line of sight.
The Prophet's intuition allowed him to immediately confirm that this was what had just touched his spirituality.
Gently rubbing his fingers twice, he summoned an invisible hand to pick up the card from the ground. Only after the card was in his hand did he notice that it was covered in fine cracks, as if it were about to shatter.
"Did the sudden change just now damage the seal on it?"
Murmuring softly, the Prophet Clone extended his left hand, and his index and middle fingers gently rubbed the card twice. The touch was cold and rough, like stroking a stone.
As spirituality continuously infused it, the grayish-white layer on the card fragmented and disappeared, revealing its original appearance:
The front of the card depicted a beautiful woman seated on a magnificent throne, holding a scepter, with a forest, river, and fruits behind her.
The woman on the card was incredibly beautiful, a beauty that even transcended gender. Her facial features, from any angle, seemed to possess points of attraction. Especially her blue eyes, noble and sacred, also carried a sense of familiarity.
In the upper left corner of this card, a line of small text was written in Ancient Feysac language: Sequence 0: Chaos Demoness!
"Seeing this makes me want to force a Witch potion down Huang Tao's throat, but it's a pity that guy is already in the shape of a Black Emperor—oh no, now he's in the shape of the Primordial Moon."
The Prophet Clone sighed, put away the Demoness card, and turned to return the way he came.
Soon after, he exited the Mirror World. He looked around and saw that Sia and Phoenix didn't seem to have moved from their positions. He casually remarked:
"Aren't you going to scavenge? After all, it's a Pirate Admiral's flagship. There won't be a shortage of money or Mystical Items. This ship will sink in less than half an hour, so there won't be another chance."
As he spoke, he turned his head to look at the distant sea. Beneath the surface, a huge shadow was rapidly moving away. This Pirate Admiral's subordinates weren't very reliable; they didn't even investigate, directly piloting the stealth ship away.
"It's a tempting offer, but the battle just now damaged the ship's interior too thoroughly. It would take a while to find anything, and besides—"
She looked up at the dark clouds overhead, which showed no signs of dispersing, and left the rest of her sentence unsaid.
The Prophet Clone also looked up at the gloomy sky and said calmly:
"After the effect of Concealment disappeared, I didn't use the power of the Sun and Shadow domains. The Storm Church won't discover the anomaly this quickly."
"Unless the Lord of Storms has been constantly watching the sea, but that's clearly impossible, after all, I haven't been struck by lightning yet."
While they were speaking, the neatly severed, python-like black tentacles on the deck finally stopped wriggling. Specks of dark purple, mixed with a little light blue and crimson fluorescence, exuded from the tentacles, spontaneously gathering on the mirror that the Prophet Clone had thrown aside earlier.
What's going on? Isn't this mirror an Apprentice Pathway item? The Prophet Clone noticed this immediately and murmured to himself in confusion.
His eyes quickly became silver-white, deep, and unfocused.
This situation lasted for more than ten seconds. His eyes regained clarity, and he sighed speechlessly, looking at the mirror that had already begun to integrate some of Elena's characteristics.
"What's going on?" Sia walked up to the mirror curiously and asked.
"The connection Elena established with this mirror hasn't been cleared, which caused these characteristics, originating from her, to spontaneously gather. Hmm... this also includes some characteristics left by the pirates on this ship."
"However, the characteristics here are incomplete. Most of them were thrown into the Underworld. If it hasn't transformed into an undead creature, perhaps someone could help retrieve them, but I don't think that probability is high."
The Prophet Clone pondered and explained, his gaze curiously examining the mirror, wondering what kind of Mystical Item such a mixture of characteristics would form.
After waiting for a while longer, all the characteristics contained within the black tentacles finally exuded. The black tentacles visibly turned grayish-white, losing their vitality, like a strip of air-dried cured meat.
Specks of fluorescence around the golden mirror on the deck continuously swirled and gathered, like a brilliant galaxy.
After the black tentacles lost their vitality, the speed at which these fluorescences gathered suddenly accelerated, as if an invisible suction force was pulling them.
In just over ten seconds, all the fluorescence had merged into the mirror on the deck.
Enveloped in light, the mirror's volume continuously expanded until its long axis reached nearly two meters before it stopped expanding.
The light gradually receded, revealing a dark-colored frame. The frame was inlaid with a circle of various colored gems, predominantly light purple, each about the size of a fingernail. Around these, light blue, crimson, and golden interwoven gems were sparsely distributed.
The mirror surface was very dark, calm like a pool of stagnant water, seemingly reflecting nothing.
Phoenix, who had finished his meditation, also walked over. He asked curiously:
"What are its effects and negative impacts?"
"I don't know, but I feel like it's going to be very outrageous."
The Prophet Clone said casually, then half-squatted, touching the edge of the mirror frame with his left hand. His eyes suddenly became deep and unfocused, turning a blank white.
After a period of time, his eyes regained clarity. He quickly retracted his left hand, stood up, and moved a step away from the mirror, saying rather speechlessly:
"It's even more outrageous than I thought, both its positive and negative effects."
"What is it?" Sia's curiosity was piqued by his actions, and she pressed for an answer.
The Prophet Clone sighed, organizing his words, and said:
"If you stay in front of this mirror for more than three seconds, it will record a blurry image of you. As the time spent looking in the mirror increases, the image inside the mirror will gradually become clearer.
However, the person looking in the mirror cannot see these. They will only see a figure that is not entirely identical to themselves, one that is more perfect, more beautiful, and more charming than the person looking in the mirror.
This is like a tempting bait. When people see a more perfect version of themselves, regardless of gender, they will hope that is their True self, and they won't be able to resist lingering in front of the mirror or using it.
Anyone can cast curses or blessings on the images it records through this mirror."
"What are its negative effects when used?" Phoenix asked curiously.
The Prophet Clone shook his head and said calmly:
"That is its negative effect."
"When you try to use it, it has already recorded your image. Blessings and curses are not fundamentally different; they are just a means for it to accelerate the recording of images."
"It won't directly cause people to lose control or suffer corruption, but as the usage time increases, the greater the influence of this mirror. The person whose image is recorded by it will gradually change their personality, preferences, and habits, even changing their gender and orientation."
"At this stage, they will either suffer greatly from conflicting self-cognition or completely identify with their changed self, becoming its puppet and a part of this mirror."
"What a malicious mirror. It truly lives up to being formed from her characteristics." Sia commented with a stiff expression.
Phoenix nodded in agreement, sighing, "People driven by desire will find it very difficult to refuse this mirror."
"Indeed. Let's just call it the Mirror of Desire, a mirror that arouses and exploits desire."
The Prophet Clone spoke as if he had a sudden realization.
Crack! Crack! Bang!
The sounds of the ship's hull and deck breaking continuously rang out. The Newins' hull directly broke in the middle, instantly tilting and sinking into the sea at a visible speed.
A whirlwind whistled up, carrying the figures of the few people into the air. The Prophet Clone summoned an invisible hand and directly grabbed the mirror that had slid off as the ship tilted.
He turned the mirror face down and created a layer of white frost to cover it, preventing it from reflecting any living creature.
In less than a minute, all that remained of the broken Newins were its mast and the upturned bow, stubbornly protruding from the sea.
The Prophet Clone looked at the sinking Newins beneath his feet and sighed softly:
"Let's return to the Island first. As for this mirror, we'll discuss how to deal with it when we get back."
"It's just a useless mirror. You can keep it yourself or hand it over to the Church. Besides, isn't chasing her your task? I don't think we just coincidentally met."
Sia chuckled, her tone completely devoid of emotion.
The Prophet Clone nodded gently. Then, holding the frost-covered mirror in one hand and placing the other on Phoenix's shoulder, whose hand was lightly on Sia's shoulder, the three figures quickly became transparent and disappeared.
Only the ripples on the sea, not yet completely vanished, and that huge shadow remained, indicating that it had not been peaceful here earlier.
West Balam, Paz River Valley.
Leyton had already returned to the inn in Inpace with Bugs Bunny. He was sitting at a small round table by the window, writing a letter to Lawrence Nord Abraham.
Good evening, Mr. Lawrence Nord Abraham:
Among the two materials you needed, I found the Bizarro Bane's accessory eye. It was part of a South Continent merchant's collection.
He quoted a price of 4500 pounds. Since materials from this Pathway are relatively rare, there's some premium. You can consider it as appropriate.
I haven't received any effective news regarding the Spirit World Plunderer's tentacles. If you want to advance quickly, my suggestion is to hunt it in the Spirit World. Beyonders of the Apprentice Pathway are too rare, which also leads to a scarcity of corresponding materials.
If you have other ideas, you can reply directly to me. If you choose to trade, you can directly summon a Knowledge Rabbit. It will bring the item to you.
The summoning incantation for the Knowledge Rabbit is: Spirit wandering in the void, friendly creature that can communicate, rabbit-shaped spirit favored by knowledge.
When summoning them for a transaction, you need to add "collaborator in the transaction" at the end to specify certain Knowledge Rabbits, and at the same time, place this letter in the center of the summoning ritual to let the Knowledge Rabbit identify which transaction it is.
The specific ritual process is as follows:
Your friend, Al Tines.
After writing the letter, Leyton leaned back against the chair, stretched his neck, then casually wrapped the pale yellow letter in starlight and threw it into the Spirit World, entrusting it to a Book Messenger for delivery.
"Boss, boss, I've cleaned that iron ring! Can you recognize anything?"
Bugs Bunny hopped over at this moment, holding a metal ring woven with grayish-blue and dark gold, about the size of his chubby little waist.
Leyton looked at Bugs Bunny with some surprise, not expecting him to actually clean the rusty ring bit by bit.