In Faloro during the night, there was a stretch of abandoned fortress ruins. This area had been uninhabited for years, long since desolate and empty, yet at this moment, some unusual movements began to appear here.
Under the moonlight, a muffled tremor suddenly echoed from beneath the abandoned fortress. Amidst this sound, the originally flat ground of the ruins began to unnaturally bulge and swell slightly. After the swelling subsided, it quickly receded, and a part of it even collapsed. The already unstable abandoned fortress partially crumbled further during this tremor.
It was clear that a powerful explosion had just occurred beneath the abandoned fortress, directly destroying the vast underground space and causing the ground to sink and collapse.
Not long after the tremor occurred, the ground of the abandoned fortress fell silent once more. This quiet lasted for nearly half a minute, before unusual movements reappeared on the scene, and three figures slowly rose from the ground.
These three figures were all three Stone Gargoyles of the Dark Gold Society: Angri, Roque, and Kleven. At this moment, the three of them were using their abilities to pass through the earth and Stone, returning to the surface. Their bodies were still covered in tough, greyish-black skin, though there were a few more subtle cracks compared to their initial state.
After the three returned to the surface, they first surveyed the collapsed depression on the ground. Then, Roque and Kleven turned their gaze to Angri, and Roque asked directly.
"It seems everything down there has collapsed... So, did you get the item?"
"Of course I found it, don't doubt my ability." Angri said this, then reached into his clothes and took out an item, placing it in his hand. Upon closer inspection, it was an irregularly shaped Golden block, none other than the Golden Base they had been searching for.
"You found it... Looking at it, it's completely undamaged, even such a powerful explosion didn't harm it." Kleven murmured as he looked at the Golden Base in Angri's hand, while Roque also nodded and spoke.
"Yes, this is consistent with the previous research results on the crystal. Although items in this series don't have Extraordinary reactions, their durability is exceptionally high, surpassing many Extraordinary items. The level of explosion we created cannot damage it." Roque said this, then turned his head to look at the large area of collapse on the fortress ground before speaking again.
"This item is fine, but that thief won't be... As an Extraordinary who isn't'Stone', no one could survive an explosion of this magnitude. Even if they could barely escape, they would be buried by the subsequent collapse. Fighting us in that kind of underground environment, you can only say he had bad luck."
Roque said this. During the brief battle in the underground space, after the three of them realized they couldn't immediately subdue Thief K, they immediately adopted an extreme tactic to deal with him. That was to scatter explosive flame talismans everywhere, and then use the elemental power of fire stored within themselves to create fireballs and detonate them. Three fireballs combined with a large pile of explosive flame talismans were enough to completely destroy the entire underground space.
During this process, the intense flames and shockwaves generated by the powerful explosion would affect the entire underground space without blind spots. The Stone Gargoyle trio could withstand it with their powerful third-order'Stone' skin. When the support structure of the underground space was destroyed, it would collapse, burying everything within. Except for the Stone Gargoyles who could emerge by phasing through walls, other Extraordinary and people would be buried alive. This kind of tactic could be said to be usable only by Stone Gargoyles.
"I phased through the ground for quite a while down there before I found this thing. Besides this item, I only found some scraps of clothing from that thief. The explosion we created was enough to leave no trace of an Extraordinary who isn't 'Cup' or'Stone'. According to Mr. Frederico's intention, we originally wanted to capture him alive, but unfortunately..."
Looking at the collapsed pit ahead, Angri continued to speak. According to their original plan, they had intended to capture Thief K alive, attempting to interrogate him for important information, but given the current situation, he definitely couldn't be captured.
"This thief's ability is very strange, simply unheard of. It's too difficult to catch him. Although he's gone now, at least our main objective has been achieved. It's time to go back and report."
Roque said this. After hearing his words, the remaining Angri and Kleven couldn't help but nod. Then, the three of them once again extended their sturdy Stone Wings, driving the elemental power stored within their bodies, and flew into the sky, carrying the "Golden Base" they had obtained, flying rapidly towards the distance.
After the three Stone Gargoyles left, the scene at the ruined fortress couldn't help but fall into quiet silence once more. And in the forest at the edge of the ruined fortress, within the Shadow beneath a certain tree, another figure slowly walked out, coming into the moonlight.
A wide cloak with a black base and red lining, a tall black top hat, a masquerade-style men's evening suit, white gloves, and a carved half-mask. The figure appearing under the moonlight at this moment was none other than the mysterious guest, Thief K, who had previously stolen the "Maria's Light" in broad daylight, fought with the three members of the Dark Gold Society, and was ultimately "blown up" and buried. At this moment, he was not blown to pieces and buried underground, but instead walked out completely unharmed to where the Stone Gargoyles had just stood, raising his head to gaze into the night sky, looking in the direction the Stone Gargoyle trio had disappeared.
"They're finally gone..." Looking into the distance in the dark night, the mysterious guest under the moonlight murmured, then reached out his hand and removed his half-mask. After the mask was removed, what appeared was an exquisite and handsome face, but one whose gender was difficult to distinguish.
After this, the mysterious guest's body began to change. Under some mysterious power, his chest gradually swelled, his waist slightly slimmed down, his facial features gradually became softer and more feminine, and his originally fair skin began to gradually darken. Not long after, the mysterious guest transformed into a full-figured, dark-skinned beauty, which was Naifnis.
"Phew... It's truly amazing, I never expected... there would be such a type of spirits to attach to, the feeling is completely different from before..." Looking at her hand, Neff said with a tone of emotion while examining her body, and at this moment, Miss Dorothy's voice also sounded in her mind.
"Because what you possessed was not an ordinary spirits, but an anecdotal body I created. Although I added the characteristics of a spirits to it, it's still very different from a normal spirit body."
"Is that so... Anecdotal body, Miss Dorothy, your new ability after becoming Scarlet. I never thought it could be used like this, it's very magical." Relishing the previous experience, Neff continued to say with emotion, and Dorothy also replied.
"Of course the experience will be magical, because this is the appearance Thief K should have in the eyes of the world. How is it? Do you have any different feelings about becoming your legendary self?" Dorothy said with a smile, and after hearing her words, Neff couldn't help but scratch her head and reply.
"Feelings... Uh... I feel so strong. If I were to fight my legendary self, I think I might not be able to win..."
"Heh... You can't say that either. Although Thief K's anecdotal body is strong, under the current circumstances, it couldn't reach the level of toying with three Chalks just now. It's also thanks to you as the vessel that it could have that effect."
"After all, this is not just an anecdotal body, but anecdotal spirit-possession."
Dorothy replied like this. The mysterious guest who appeared just now was not a typical anecdotal body created by Dorothy, but rather a result of Dorothy's development of her bizarre writer ability over the past few months. Dorothy called it anecdotal spirit-possession.
When Dorothy created her anecdotal body, in addition to paying the basic 'enlightenment' and'Shadow' Spirituality, she also had to consume other different Spirituality based on the abilities the created anecdotal body possessed. And besides the basic Spirituality and ability Spirituality, Dorothy also had to pay a little 'Cup' and an almost negligible amount of'Stone'. This was to create the physical body and skeleton for the anecdotal body, creating a body capable of carrying abilities.
No matter how powerful, no matter how irrelevant the ability of the Anecdote Entity is to the """Cup""", Dorothy needs a small amount of """Cup""" and a trace of """Stone""", because the Extraordinary ability created by the anecdote cannot exist in a vacuum; it must have a carrier. The carrier usually acts as material, thus requiring """Cup""" and """Stone""", the two Spiritualities most associated with material.
However, Dorothy once thought about whether she could make her Anecdote Entity exist without relying on material. Because she had experimented, when creating the Anecdote Entity, she replaced the """Cup""" and """Stone""" used to create the carrier with other Spiritualities, or adjusted the dosage ratio, to see what effect would occur.
The results of the experiments were mostly the direct collapse of the Anecdote Entity. For example, using """Lamp""" would create a strong explosive flash before the Anecdote Entity directly collapsed, while """Shadow""" would manifest the Anecdote Entity's shadow on the ground before twisting and disappearing, and """enlightenment""" had no effect at all, failing to create anything directly. Purely using """Stone""" would create a statue of the Anecdote Entity which would then shatter, while purely using """Cup""" would result in a pile of decaying flesh which would then die.
The only stable result was using """Silent""". In Dorothy's experiments, using """Silent""" when creating the carrier for the anecdote would create the undead of the Anecdote Entity... or more accurately, it would create the Anecdote Entity in a Spiritual body form. Compared to other Spirituality experiments, the Anecdote Entity in Spiritual body form could actually maintain stability like regular """Cup""" and """Stone""" Anecdote Entities, appearing as a translucent Spiritual body state, capable of passing through material like other ordinary Spiritual bodies, and attaching to living people.
However, although Dorothy could create the Anecdote Entity in a Spiritual body form, this type of Anecdote Entity could not use the abilities that should belong to it, unless the anecdote involved in the Anecdote Entity was itself an anecdote about ghosts, and the Anecdote Entity should inherently appear in the form of a ghost.
The Anecdote Entity in a Spiritual body state cannot use its abilities; it is just a created soul. Its own abilities cannot be guided without material reliance. However, this did not stump Dorothy. She promptly thought that there was another branch of Extraordinary individuals who possessed the ability to guide the power of souls into reality, which was the Path of Possession, and Neff was precisely an Extraordinary from the Path of Possession.
Therefore, Dorothy had Neff participate in the experiment, letting her attempt to possess the Anecdote Spiritual body. The result was that Neff, who possessed the Anecdote soul body, was indeed able to guide the abilities of the Anecdote Entity, releasing the Anecdote Entity's power using her own body.
However, the strength of the abilities displayed by Neff after possession did not show a significant difference from a regular Anecdote Entity. The strength of the Anecdote Entity mainly comes from the depth and breadth of the anecdote, as well as the invested Spirituality and locality. Although Soul Contracter possession can slightly enhance low-circulation anecdote abilities, the increase for inherently powerful anecdotes is not large. In fact, looking at it, Neff, who possessed the Anecdote Spiritual body, was not much stronger than the Anecdote Entity directly created by Dorothy.
However, there was one exception, and that was Thief K's Anecdote Spiritual body.
Perhaps because she herself was the prototype and source of the Thief K anecdote, when she possessed Thief K's Anecdote Spiritual body, a wonderful reaction occurred between the two. The strength of the Thief K Anecdote Entity on Neff rose dramatically, reaching an extremely high level.
For example, the Nightmare Anecdote Entity created by Dorothy, when summoned locally in Tivian where the Nightmare anecdote is extremely widely spread and deeply rooted, its strength barely approached Scarlet with the addition of fear psychology. Although the Thief K anecdote is also quite widespread, no place has a circulation level comparable to Tivian's for the Nightmare. Coupled with the lack of fear psychology bonus, the strength of the Thief K Anecdote Entity created by Dorothy is significantly lower than the Nightmare in Tivian. Without adding extra Spirituality, it is only close to the Chalk level.
But the situation was different after Neff's possession. After Neff possessed the Thief K Spiritual body, the Thief K she transformed into, combining legend and prototype, possessed a strength that to some extent surpassed the Tivian Nightmare, far exceeding the usual Chalk. With a bit more Spirituality, it could be very close to the usual Scarlet!
Possessing Thief K, she had speed and agility only slightly inferior to the Tivian Nightmare, and besides speed approaching that of a Fourth Order """Shadow""", she also possessed many peculiar abilities. These abilities were thanks to Dorothy's promotion of the Thief K anecdote.
In the past few months, Dorothy mainly acted as a writer spreading anecdotes. Among other things, she participated in fan creations about Thief K within literary circles in many places, intentionally or unintentionally guiding the image of Thief K towards the image of a phantom thief from a certain Detective manga she had read in her previous life. Afterwards, in several prior theft operations in Faloro, she also had Neff try her best to embody this image. This phantom thief persona was inherently popular, so after these actions, more people quickly accepted it. This widespread acceptance brought various abilities to Thief K's Anecdote Entity.
One of the abilities is the ability to change into a thousand faces. Thief K possesses transformation abilities similar to the Shadow Masked Man, able to change into people of different ages and genders anytime and anywhere. It goes even further than the Shadow Masked Man; not only can the physique, voice, and face change, but even the clothes worn can change, allowing her to switch from one person's appearance to another almost instantly.
Furthermore, Thief K also possesses many abilities similar to a stage magician. Due to the phantom thief magician persona, Thief K can use abilities like performing magic tricks, recreating the brilliant performances of a magician on stage.
One of these is transformation. Thief K can, like a magician, transform various dangerous items, such as flames and blades, into things like flowers and doves, thereby neutralizing attacks.
There is also escape. This ability comes from the combination of classic magician escape acts and the impression that Thief K can escape police pursuit no matter what. The manifestation of this ability is that when Thief K is trapped or about to encounter fatal danger, she can immediately escape and disappear from the spot, then reappear somewhere outside the line of sight of all other observers at the scene. Essentially, it is a slightly passive teleportation ability, usable up to three times per hour, with a maximum teleportation distance of fifty meters. Just now, Neff relied on this ability to escape the basement explosion, escaping and teleporting to the surface above.
The abilities mentioned above are only a part of Thief K's abilities. The combination of prototype and anecdote has given Neff, who possessed Thief K, numerous Anecdote abilities, surpassing many regular Anecdote Entities.
However, when fighting the Dark Gold Society trio earlier, Neff did not unleash more abilities, because her goal was not to defeat the three of them. Instead, she needed to offer a certain degree of resistance, make the three believe she was defeated, and then, after dispelling their concerns, let them smugly take back what they considered their "trophy".
To safely lure the snake out of its hole, the Dark Gold Society created a fake maria's light for Thief K to steal, and then used this to locate Thief K's lair, planning to take back the Golden Pedestal after raiding it. This was the Dark Gold Society's plan, and Dorothy's plan was actually quite similar to theirs.
The Dark Gold Society wanted to lure the snake out of its hole, and so did Dorothy. The Dark Gold Society knew that Thief K wouldn't carry the Golden Pedestal with her to steal something. Dorothy also knew that if the Dark Gold Society was setting a trap for Thief K, it was impossible for them to actually display the maria's light; they would most likely create a high-quality replica and set up a Beacon.
If the Dark Gold Society could create a high-quality replica of the maria's light, Dorothy naturally could also create one for the Golden Pedestal. Dorothy could directly contact the Craftsmen's Guild, and the high-quality replica she commissioned Beverly to create was no worse than what the Dark Gold Society produced, and perhaps even slightly better, as they specialize in making things.
Therefore, what the Dark Gold Society trio took back just now was a super high-quality replica of the Golden Pedestal produced by Beverly. Like the replica maria's light they prepared for Thief K, it also had a very hidden Beacon built into it. It will guide Dorothy to the Dark Gold stronghold and the location of the real maria's light.