Universe Infinite Canteen

Having acquired two more meteorite shards, Ma Lu hesitated about saving them for later use with new equipment, but ultimately decided to use them on the spot.

First, this would immediately enhance his strength, and second, since Dulce had just died, there was some risk in bringing the shards back to Holy Temple City.

If someone were to discover them, it could lead them to realize he had been to Circle Mirror Lake and subsequently link him to Dulce's death.

Using the two meteorite shards, Ma Lu inscribed new effects on both the Hellhound and the Bliss Bird.

One effect increased fire attribute attack damage by 15%, replacing the previously less useful effect of a 20% boost to the Hellhound's healing skills.

The other was an extra +1 to skill levels of buff abilities, substituting the useless accuracy enhancement for the Bliss Bird.

The two new effects were generally quite useful, making Ma Lu's risky dive into the lake worthwhile.

Although he encountered some unexpected difficulties while doing his side job, the result was quite successful.

After ten rounds of inscribing, the strength of his team had greatly increased. Now they could comfortably engage with 4-star ingredients, provided those ingredients weren't exceptionally powerful.

Afterward, Ma Lu flew his vehicle back to the mission area to resume his cleanup task.

Just as before, he first identified the areas with the highest concentration of Energized Plants, then took all the witches there and placed a rock in the central position.

Artificially creating a raised platform effect, they continued by scorching the Energized Plants to attract nearby enemies for repeated harvests.

An hour later, Ma Lu leveled up to Level 13, gaining a new Knight Technique—Invisibility Cloak.

True to its name, the Invisibility Cloak skill provided an invisibility effect to all allies within a single tile, lasting for 45 seconds, with a cooldown period of 2 hours.

Ma Lu immediately tested the effect, having the Hellhound and himself stand in the same tile, while Yun Que, Ouroboros Serpent, and Bliss Bird stood by as spectators.

After activating the Invisibility Cloak skill, Yun Que was the first to exclaim in surprise, shouting, "Sir Knight, A'Quan, where did you go?"

"We're right here," said the Hellhound.

"Where? I can't see you," Yun Que continued to look around in confusion.

Ma Lu continued the test by approaching a Bok Choy Scout with the Hellhound. As soon as they neared the scout's detection range, it immediately ran towards them.

The purple-haired girl quickly took it out with a single strike, and after that, Ma Lu separated from the Hellhound, each standing in different tiles.

Yun Que's voice sounded from behind, "Huh, A'Quan, when did you run over there, and where's Sir Knight?"

Just then, the effect of the Invisibility Cloak wore off, and Ma Lu reappeared.

From this test, he garnered quite a bit of useful intelligence. First, the Invisibility Cloak skill only made one visually disappear and did not conceal sounds, smells, or other additional information like heat signatures.

Therefore, the invisibility effect wasn't very effective against Energized Plants.

Secondly, once a teammate left the tile where Ma Lu was positioned, the invisibility effect would instantly vanish.

Despite its limitations, the skill was still incredibly useful.

Especially when one wanted to engage in mischief.

And besides this skill, Ma Lu also received a notification from the Traveler's Bracelet.

He had been tirelessly clearing Energized Plants for the past few weeks and had unlocked more than 400 species without realizing it, earning himself a new title—Ingredient Hunter.

Ingredient Hunter: Wearing this title allows one to expand the scanning range for ingredients by four times.

Ma Lu's current ingredient scanning function of the Traveler's Bracelet covered a circular area within a radius of twenty meters.

Expanded by four times, this meant he could now scan for ingredients within a radius of one hundred meters.

The improvement was quite evident, but on this trip to a Different Dimension, he already had the Chessboard Map, so the need for the ingredient scanning function wasn't as pressing.

Moreover, titles could not be stacked, and he was currently wearing the title of Ingredient Collector, which allowed him to upgrade one specific personal item by an additional Level 1, which was quite useful as well.

Ma Lu had no immediate intention to switch titles, but having more options was always a good thing. The new title would come in handy when he returned to the previous dimension or ventured into a new one.

Besides this unexpected gain, Ma Lu did not forget the original rewards for his mission. He took photos of the Energized Plants he had just killed and also dragged out the Sad Onion Head he had defeated earlier from his Collection Bag. He found a spot to set it up and took pictures as well.

It was the deceased Dulce who had reminded him to do this.

It would be such a waste not to make good use of defeating a 4-star Energized Plant. After all, the Church couldn't possibly pinpoint where each Energized Plant lived.

One Sad Onion Head would earn Ma Lu an additional 140,000 Holy Silver Coins and about 1,600 Atonement Points.

There was no reason not to shear this wool.

After the battle ended, Ma Lu gave everyone an hour's break to eat and rest on the spot.

Yun Que and the Hellhound finished their meal and started playing a game of Go, while the Bliss Bird took out a book and began reading on the grass nearby.

The Ouroboros Serpent, after finishing her biscuits and drinking a pot of water, stood up after a while and said to Ma Lu,

"I, I need to relieve myself."

"Go ahead," Ma Lu waved his hand.

So, the Ouroboros Serpent walked into the woods, squatted down in a patch of grass for about 5 minutes, and then walked back out, looking refreshed.

Then she simply sat down beside Ma Lu and said, "I understand what Yun Que meant. You really are different from other knights."Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Ma Lu was already lying on the grass, resting with closed eyes. At these words, he lazily replied, "Stop trying to pry words out of me."

"I'm not trying to pry anything," the Ouroboros Serpent said sincerely, "I really feel that way, you're different from other knights. It's just a shame… there are too few knights like you."

"If all knights were like me, Holy Temple City would have been doomed long ago."

"Uh... Anyhow, I should thank you."

"Thank me for what?"

"Thank you for not revealing my identity to the Church," the Ouroboros Serpent said with a wry smile. "I always thought I was careful enough, smart enough, but I didn't expect to still slip up, and not just once."

After a pause, she continued, "Actually, I should have died a while ago. The Church had already noticed my little schemes. The witch who was executed by fire two weeks ago was my best friend. When she saw I had no way out, it was she who willingly took on all the blame, allowing me to survive until now."