Chapter 15: Mythical Phrase - Ben Bo’Erba

Chapter 15: Chapter 15: Mythical Phrase - Ben Bo’Erba

Opening the stone wall and entering, they found a hidden sanctuary inside. A ring of towering trees surrounded a central lake. The lake was about two hundred meters in diameter. Its waters were crystal clear, yet the bottom held neither fish nor aquatic plants—only a layer of fine white sand. Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the canopy, casting shimmering shadows over the white sand.

The Merfolk Elder began his introduction. "This is the most important Holy Land in our Merfolk Race. Every adult member of our tribe must come to this lake to pray.

"Those with good luck can receive the teachings and inheritance of our ancestors. Some have learned Cultivation methods here, while others have learned ancient war songs. It is even said that some... have witnessed the birth of the world here."

"Oh? The birth of the world?" Leia’s interest peaked. She cast several detection Witchcraft spells into the lake, then crouched by the shore and submerged an instrument into the water.

The Merfolk Elder winced as if his Heart was bleeding, but he remained silent.

Chen Shang stood behind Leia, unable to help much. He tried to sense the surroundings using Energy Control and found that there was indeed a faint fluctuation in the lake water, like a slumbering behemoth.

Suddenly, the system in his mind prompted.

[Extractable Entry Detected: Spiritual Resonance (Green)]

Chen Shang froze. A green entry? He commanded in his mind, "Extract!"

[Extraction successful. Entry obtained: Spiritual Resonance (Green)]

[Spiritual Resonance (Green): Can resonate with surrounding Spirit fluctuations to perceive the emotions, memories, and thought fragments of others.]

Chen Shang closed his eyes, and in an instant, his Spirit spread outward.

He felt it. The white sand at the bottom of the lake possessed a special structure capable of sealing microscopic Spiritual Fragments. At some point in ancient times, the ancestors of the Merfolk Race prayed here, and their thoughts were coincidentally preserved by the white sand. When later generations mimicked their ancestors and prayed again, they inadvertently triggered the retained Spiritual Fragments, thereby obtaining certain "knowledge."

Ever since then, the Merfolk Race, viewing this as a miracle, gained a new Holy Land. Some prayed for a bountiful harvest here, while others prayed for safety. Some came here on their deathbeds to leave their final words, and some were brought here as newborns in their parents’ arms to receive blessings. Over tens of thousands of years, millions of grains of sand and millions of Spiritual Fragments resonated, superimposed, and merged in the lake’s water. Countless emotions—joy, sorrow, fear, hope, love, hatred... all intertwined and flowed slowly within the lake.

This was the history of the Merfolk Race!

"What’s wrong?" Leia’s voice pulled him back to reality.

Chen Shang opened his eyes. "Uh, it’s nothing. This lake is quite magical."

The Merfolk Elder whispered, "It is normal for those not of our race to be unable to feel the blessing. Would the Wizard Envoy care for something to eat? We have prepared the best..."

Leia shot him a glance, causing the Elder to swallow the rest of his words.

Over the following few days, Leia practically lived by the lake. She set up rows of instruments, collected samples of water, sand, and air, and continuously recorded data. Sometimes she would crouch by the shore and stare blankly at the water’s surface for ages, completely motionless.

One day, she suddenly spoke up. "Every single grain of sand at the bottom of this lake is hollow. There’s something sealed inside."

"What is sealed inside?" Chen Shang asked, feigning ignorance.

Leia frowned. "I’m not sure yet. It might be some kind of Spirit fluctuation. It requires further research."

Chen Shang remained silent. His entry had discovered the truth before his senior sister did, but there was no way he could explain it.

While Leia studied the lake, Chen Shang couldn’t offer much help; he could only move instruments around and hand her tools. Most of the time, he stayed outside, engraving basic Energy Arrays.

The Mermaids were both awed and curious about the Wizard Envoys. They didn’t dare approach Leia, as she exuded a peculiar aura. However, Chen Shang looked young and not very intimidating, so some of the bolder Mermaids began trying to strike up a conversation with him.

Chen Shang didn’t refuse. While entertaining these Mermaids, he secretly activated the system.

Entry obtained: [Water Element Affinity]

Entry obtained: [Night Vision]

Entry obtained: [Storm Chant]

...

At first, it was nothing extraordinary, merely granting Chen Shang a few more Skills of aquatic creatures. But when he obtained the [Stealing Skill] entry from one of the Mermaids, Mutations suddenly occurred!

[Mythical Resonance condition detected as fulfilled!]

[Gathered: Water Element Affinity + Adaptation to Moist Environment + Night Vision + Stealing Skill]

[Would you like to fuse them into the Mythical Entry: Ben Bo’Erba?]

Chen Shang was stunned. Ben Bo’Erba?

He tapped open the detailed description.

[Ben Bo’Erba (Green): Upon fusion, you will obtain Underwater Breathing, Dark Vision, Stealth Enhancement, and Scent Concealment.

Allows for free breathing underwater, seeing in dim environments as clearly as daylight, reduced detectability while moving in Stealth, and the active ability to conceal one’s scent until it nearly vanishes.]

Chen Shang took a deep breath. Four abilities in a single entry? Without hesitation, he commanded in his mind, "Fuse."

On the panel, the four entries lit up simultaneously, turning into four streams of light that converged and condensed in midair before flashing with a green light.

[Fusion successful. Mythical Entry obtained: Ben Bo’Erba]

At that moment, Chen Shang felt a subtle Transformation occur within his body. First, his Power doubled. Then, he felt the surrounding light grow much brighter; he could clearly see a bug in a distant tree hollow and a small fish hiding in the cracks of the rocks at the bottom of the water. He tried to slow his breathing and conceal his scent, causing his presence to drop drastically.

He thought, "Ben Bo’Erba is a catfish spirit from mythology. It’s not surprising that aquatic creatures triggered this, but why is the [Stealing Skill] required?"

"Hiss, my hands are so itchy! I really want to go steal the giant pearl atop the Merfolk council hall!"

Chen Shang joked to himself and turned to walk toward his small Room. He needed to properly test just how strong this new entry was.

After taking a few steps, he suddenly stopped and looked down at the surface of the Water.

A thought popped into his head. "I combined the entries to create Ben Bo’Erba, so does that mean I have to go get rid of the Tang Monk and his disciples? Pah, of course not that.

"Since I can combine abilities to create Ben Bo’Erba, what about other Mythical Characters? Brother Monkey? Erlang God?

"If I can also extract the Runes... can I create billions of combat units using Erlang God modules?

"Hiss, so this is how entries are supposed to be used!"

Chen Shang rushed back to his Room in a few strides and immediately tore up the Scale Armor Hardening blueprints.

To hell with Scale Armor Hardening! He was going to directly engrave the combined entry, Ben Bo’Erba!

All of his previous designs were scrapped and started from scratch, only the difficulty had increased significantly. Ben Bo’Erba wasn’t just one entry; it was the fusion of four abilities acting as a unified whole. But if he could write all four of Ben Bo’Erba’s abilities into Runes and engrave them onto a set of Mechanical Armor, then what he would get wouldn’t just be an armor piece that boosted Defense, but a complete set of combat Mechanical Armor.

He opened the Round Disc and created a new task file: "Ben Bo’Erba’s Rune Mechanical Armor."