In the jungle that had suddenly sprung up from the ground, a huge greenish-black cane about three to four meters in length was stabbed obliquely into the earth.
Centering around this section of the cane, the newly grown dense jungle continuously withered and withered away. Their vitality was drawn away by the wooden staff and then returned to the soil, nourishing the earth to grow new plants, in a continuous cycle.
"Desolate Matriarch..."
With just a single glance, Leyton completely analyzed the information of this section of the cane.
It was evolved from a portion of the "Desolate Matriarch" characteristic, belonging to the "Earth Mother." Its most glorious battle record was when Lilith used it to launch a sneak attack on the "God of Combat," drawing away the vast majority of that "God of Combat's" vitality and laying the foundation for His fall.
...An additional investment from Lilith. It seems She has consistently paid attention to Bugs Bunny; no wonder this rabbit is so reckless.
As his thoughts floated, he looked toward the Key of Light and inquired:
"How much luck did you give it?"
The Key of Light withdrew his gaze from that wooden cane, speaking with a flat tone:
"Just normal favor. This clearly belongs to the result of multi-party influences, an exchange request proposed to you. Luck is merely a catalyst."
Leyton nodded gently, raising his hand to draw that wooden staff into his hand. Streams of light that were unbrilliant, un-clear, and devoid of any color flowed out along the wooden staff.
The originally greenish-black wooden staff continuously collapsed and deformed, reorganizing in its most basic particulate structure.
As the light restrained, the originally three-to-four-meter wooden cane turned into the size of a baby toy. Inscribed upon the cane like entwined vines were densely packed, mutually outlined mysterious symbols, and a pitch-black gem was inlaid at the position of the cane's head.
This cane originating from Lilith was remade by him for a spell, turning into a relatively safe mystical item.
Holding it in his hand to size it up briefly, after nodding with satisfaction, he casually threw it to Bugs Bunny in the embrace of the "Key of Light," saying:
"It suits you well. If there comes a day when you want to give birth to little rabbits, I will help you shatter it; after absorbing the characteristic inside, you will be able to directly change gender."
Leyton's words successfully caused the paw extended by Bugs Bunny to freeze on the spot. The cane tailored specifically for it dropped onto the ground in stride, letting out a giant sound.
Bang! The commotion of the cane hitting the ground was like a small mountain being smashed down by someone, and the ground of the entire manor shook uncontrollably.
The "Key of Light's" gaze lingered slightly upon the pitch-black gem inlaid on that section of the cane, and then he looked toward Leyton, asking with some uncertainty:
"Embryo of a black hole?"
Leyton nodded gently, explaining: "I utilized it to reach a balance with the characteristic of the 'Desolate Matriarch,' creating a layer of interlocking special seals. This cane is currently just a relatively hard and heavy Grade 1 Sealed Artifact."
"Its negative effect wouldn't be making me turn into a doe, right?"
While speaking, Bugs Bunny shrank a bit into the embrace of the "Key of Light," with every single strand of fur over its entire body writing out refusal.
The Key of Light said while petting Bugs Bunny's head:
"You can make a wish to me. As a blessed one of destiny, you can take the reward first, and then pay the price later."
Before Bugs Bunny could speak, a star-brilliant, illusory door of concealment took shape beneath it. Bugs Bunny fell straight into it, after which it was spat out from the ground, happening to land right onto that section of the cane.
It scrambled up from the ground groggily, with one paw happening to press upon the pitch-black gem at the cane's head. The information of this section of the cane poured into its head stream by stream:
"The Mother's Cane: Extremely hard and heavy, difficult to be destroyed by any form of attack; wounds caused by being attacked by the cane are difficult to heal; can strengthen all Beyonder abilities of the earth domain of the wielder; can manipulate the power of the earth to make a region become heavy, being completely sucked down and unable to move, or float up weightlessly."
The negative effect is that for every period of time it is used, a vibrant area the size of a small city needs to be returned to the earth to appease the cane. If it cannot obtain satisfaction, it will directly erupt, burying all life of the user and the surrounding area.
At the same time, every use of this cane will also randomly create various positive or negative effects in the surroundings, which could be a bizarre illusion, a strong magnet-like effect, or the summoning of thorns...
Aside from these, it also has a giant killer characteristic. As long as one holds it, any form of attack will cause multiplied damage to creatures with a body size larger than oneself. The larger the disparity in body size, the stronger the effect, but it cannot be fatal.
Correspondingly, when the wielder receives an attack from a creature with a body size smaller than oneself, they will also receive multiplied, non-fatal damage.
This characteristic seemingly evolved after Lilith used it to launch a sneak attack on the "God of Combat," burying the majestic life and spirit of a true god.
Having digested the extra information inside its head, Bugs Bunny reached out its paw to pat its chest, letting out a long breath as it said:
"So it won't change gender, then. Scared the rabbit to death..."
Subsequently, it picked up the cane from the ground with some difficulty. Even with the strength of a Druid, this cane was a bit too heavy, not suitable to be carried along on one's body.
Holding the cane to wave it around haphazardly for a while, Bugs Bunny then sat on the ground panting with its tongue out:
"This is also way too heavy."
"That... that...."
It suddenly thought of something, raising its head to look at that silver-haired, silver-eyed small boy who was holding it just now. It hemmed and hawed for two sentences, finding that it fundamentally didn't know what the other party was named, and could only skip the name to ask directly:
"Can I make a wish to make it a bit lighter?"
The small boy who was the incarnation of the Key of Light spoke with a smile:
"You can call me Aranbell. This is a name I thought of very early on; now it can finally be used."
"Your wish can indeed be realized, but the gifts of destiny all have a price. This kind of wishing behavior is best if it can let oneself achieve the goal with the lowest price."
"For example, you can make a wish to obtain the opportunity to digest the potion. Becoming a 'Classical Alchemist,' you will obtain a qualitative change; when that time comes, using this cane won't be too big of a problem."
Leyton raised his eyebrows and glanced at the Key of Light who called himself Aranbell, growing more and more suspicious that this fellow wanted to abduct his rabbit.
.....
In the Forsaken Land of the Gods enveloped by the night, a giant bird with a rotting body, carrying countless pale fires, rose from the ground. It was like a "sun" rising from the depths of hell, broadcasting death to the earth below.
Under the soaking and dyeing of the "River of Eternal Darkness" aura, the entire Forsaken Land of the Gods was slowly moving toward death, moving toward the endpoint.
The Underworld hidden deep within the Spirit World seemed to receive a certain summoning, projecting over from the depths of the Spirit World.
The cold wind whistled, as individual skeletal white bone arms, bizarre vines growing individual infant faces, and slick tentacles covered in eyes—countless oddly shaped undead creatures crawled out from beneath the ground, letting out streams of shrill roars resembling the low whispers of the dead, looking as though they wanted to drag all living creatures into the Underworld.
Silently and soundlessly, an expanse of deep, dead silent darkness engulfed the Forsaken Land of the Gods occupied by the cold wind and undead creatures.
Specks of numerous stars emerged in the deep, dark sky. Accompanied by streams of chanting voices from a choir, the surroundings gradually became quiet and peaceful. Whether existing as the living or already dead, they all fell into a deep slumber, unable to extricate themselves.
A female figure clad in a black classical long dress quietly emerged within the serene darkness. Her body was relatively virtual, with signs of rippling outward. Her face looked as though it were covered by layers of thin gauze, being extremely hazy. What attracted attention the most was the extra six arms growing out from both sides of her waist and abdomen.
Eight arms wearing thin gauze gloves respectively held a giant longsword whose surface was covered with orange-red light, a bird-shaped golden ornament, and an exaggerated, pitch-black giant scythe.
Beneath Her feet, the darkness surged like a tide, continuously expanding toward the surroundings. All undead creatures touched by the darkness dissolved, turning into a part of the tide, with nowhere to evade and nowhere to hide.
After all undead creatures were cleared out, Gehrman Sparrow's figure quietly appeared within the darkness. He nodded gently toward the "Evernight Goddess" who had descended in Her true body.
Subsequently, his figure distorted, catching brilliant starlight and becoming extremely illusory, looking as though he transformed into a star door, becoming a collective entity of symbols such as "Wandering," "Astral World Passage," "Key," and "Door," becoming a type of conceptual creature.
In this state, he clearly saw the connection between the Underworld, reality, and the "River of Eternal Darkness," seeing the "doors" existing between them.
Following his thoughts, individual "doors" were closed. Exerting influence through the Spirit World, the projected Underworld vanished instantly like losing its support.
Heavy gray fog dropped from the place above the Spirit World like a tide, wrapping and isolating the Underworld.
Above the sky of the Forsaken Land of the Gods, that pale "sun" dimmed in an instant, revealing the true body of the Phoenix.
Its body surface was covered with feathers woven from pale fire and mysterious patterns, with quite a few having fallen off, revealing the rotting body and light-yellow pus underneath.
That pair of eyes of the giant bird, looking as though cast from bronze, burst out with clear light. Layers upon layers of illusory doors floated, opened, and then closed within the bronze eyeballs.
Under the condition of grasping the Uniqueness and further having the support of Sefirah Castle, Klein's control over the "Door" pathway was absolute. In this state, he could almost be equivalent to a true god of the "Door" pathway.
The illusory figure containing countless layers upon layers of doors flashed for a moment, appearing directly in front of that rotting giant bird, Gregrace. Individual doors emerged, and then closed.
The surrounding space was segmented, turning into an expanse of a prison difficult to break through, sealing Gregrace, to the point where even returning to the "River of Eternal Darkness" via the method of a death imprint was difficult to accomplish.
Aside from the "River of Eternal Darkness" itself, those controlled death imprints were precisely the greatest obstacle for the "Evernight Goddess" attempting to take control of the "River of Eternal Darkness."
The help Klein could provide was precisely to rely on the sealing ability of the "Door" pathway to intercept and seal these death imprints, reducing obstacles for the struggle between the "Evernight Goddess" and the "River of Eternal Darkness."