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M: TSIA Chapter 33: The Infinity Altar
🕑 Added 2024-12-25 12:47:47 +0000 UTCThankfully, although the lottery points had skyrocketed, the rewards had also improved. If not for that, Lance might have spiraled into depression and coughed up blood.
The "World Gate," capable of opening pathways to other worlds, was clearly invaluable. But without any clues, how could Lance possibly know what special item was needed to unlock it?
Ah, well.
As for the "Infinity Altar," which allowed sacrifices to acquire items from other worlds... What kinds of items would be considered worthless?
Master Xandra Xian Xu once said that even a single piece of paper had its own value. If Lance were to toss a piece of paper into the altar, what might he receive in return?
Uh... hopefully not just another scrap of used paper.
...
...
...
It turned out that the Infinity Altar wasn’t a trash can, and not everything could be thrown into it.
The Infinity Altar would only accept magical items.
Fortunately, Lance happened to have a few magical objects lying around.
Though the small trinkets Lance kept at his counter for sale held minimal power, they could still be classified as magical items.
Lance opened the box he had brought back, retrieved a talisman for repelling spirits, and placed it on the invisible altar.
The next moment, the altar glowed with a golden light, and an item materialized... a talisman?
Lance was taken aback, perplexed by the event, and quickly picked up the talisman.
Simultaneously, the system prompt appeared on the screen.
[Evil Suppression Talisman]
[From: Mr. Zombie]
[Description: A magical talisman crafted by Priest Hao, capable of suppressing undead energy, specifically effective against low-level zombies.]
“...” The corners of Lance’s mouth twitched.
He had just exchanged a spirit-repelling talisman for an evil-suppressing talisman.
This was... an equal-value trade!
However, there were no dark creatures like zombies in this world. Was the system expecting Lance to use the talisman on non-existent zombies?
It was an unfortunate start, and Lance felt this exchange was a loss.
After contemplating for a moment, Lance pulled out a small, ornate dagger from the box and placed it into the Infinity Altar.
Immediately, the altar produced a peachwood sword.
[Ordinary Peachwood Sword]
[From: The Exorcist]
[Description: A peachwood sword handcrafted by Master Lin Yuanying. Due to the ordinary quality of the wood, it has limited lethality against low-level spirits.]
The previous item was a magical dagger imbued with a faint holy light, which made it far more terrifying to dark creatures like vampires and werewolves than ordinary silver weapons.
Unfortunately, Lance had only received a flimsy peachwood sword in return.
A major loss!
“I don’t believe this!” Lance’s mood soured. Frustrated, he started pulling out various items from his box and throwing them into the Infinity Altar indiscriminately.
Then...
Sticky rice from Lin Yuanying.
Ink fountain from Priest Hao.
A compass from Priest Hao.
An evil-suppressing talisman from Priest Hao.
A wooden fish from Liu Yuanying.
All the exchanged items seemed to originate from the world of Mr. Zombie or were somehow related to The Exorcist. None of them appeared useful and could have easily been discarded by Lance.
Moreover, the altar had a peculiar rule: it wouldn’t accept duplicate items more than once.
Luckily, Lance had a wide variety of magical items. Unfortunately, his level might have been too low, as the only things he obtained were piles of junk.
After arranging the heap of exchanged items, Lance finally spotted something among the trash that made his eyes light up.
[Cat of Khartoum]
[From: Jackie Chan Adventures]
[Description: This is a cursed magical artifact. Those scratched by the claws of this cat statue will transform into cat-like humans, gaining feline powers and traits. However, they will gradually turn into full-fledged cats, eventually losing their humanity.]
“At last, something worthwhile!” Lance murmured, his fingers tracing the smooth, black stone statue of the cat. A faint smile appeared at the corner of his lips.
The Cat of Khartoum was a fascinating artifact. Anyone scratched by it would gain the ability to transform into a cat-human hybrid, akin to a weakened version of Spider-Man.
Moreover, this item allowed the user to create cat-humans, provided they were willing. In fact, with this power, the user could even form an entire army of cat-humans.
The only issue was that this transformation couldn't be undone.
After being scratched by the small cat statue, the user would quickly transform into a half-cat and then, almost instantaneously, into a full cat.
The only way to reverse the transformation was by destroying the statue.
Normally, this would be a one-time use item.
However, Lance didn't see it that way. His knowledge of magic was still limited, but as long as he kept studying diligently, he was confident he would eventually find a way to overcome the curse.
Once you mastered how to lift a curse, the Cat of Khartoum would be no worse than the artifacts collected by the Chamber of Taj.
Lance set the small cat statue aside and turned to look at his small box. Only a thin layer remained inside... Why had Lance even obtained the Cat of Khartoum in the first place?
Based on the dozens of sacrifices Lance had made, the quality of the offerings and exchange items was generally the same. If the small cat statue wasn't a one-time use item, it likely couldn't be exchanged again.
By the way, Lance wasn't sure if he could exchange the "junk" he'd received previously.
What if he got lucky again and ended up with something more useful, even if it was of lower level?
Lance was eager to try, so he took the peach wood sword belonging to Priest Hao and placed it into the Infinity Altar.
However, within moments, the item was spat out again.
Lance tried a few more items, and sure enough, the Infinity Altar wasn't bugged, and all the items from other worlds he tried to exchange were promptly rejected.
It was a real shame.
Since such bad luck was rare, Lance didn’t plan on continuing this game for now.
