"Do I really just need to hold the Totem of Undying?"
Inside a specially-made firing range on the Herta Space Station, Silver Wolf's legs trembled. She clutched the Totem of Undying, inching her way toward the target area. Watching Herta up ahead, who was currently calibrating her staff, Silver Wolf couldn't help but swallow nervously.
Despite her earlier claims of having absolute faith in Elio's words, now that she was actually standing in the line of fire, facing an attack from an Emanator of Erudition, Silver Wolf couldn't help but gulp.
Fu Zhu stood beside Herta, arms crossed with a cheerful grin. He gave a nod to the trembling Silver Wolf in the target area.
"Don't worry. You just need to hold the totem. Either hand works."
On the other side, Screwllum, who was in charge of calibrating the detection equipment, finished his preparations and looked up at Herta with some concern.
"Herta, are you really going to use a living person for this experiment? Don't we have other options?"
Herta, still adjusting the staff in her hands, replied without even looking up.
"Screwllum, stop being such a mother hen. Haven't I already told you? We can't be sure if a non-living entity can trigger the totem's effect, and that includes Fu Zhu. Besides, didn't this little pipsqueak make a deal with Fu Zhu herself?"
Hearing this, Screwllum said no more. He simply finished calibrating the equipment and gave Herta a thumbs-up to signal he was ready.
Ruan Mei, who was in charge of the recording equipment, also gave Herta and Fu Zhu a similar signal.
With all preparations complete, Herta raised the staff in her hands and aimed it at Silver Wolf in the firing range. Seeing her still trembling, Herta clicked her tongue and offered a casual reassurance.
"Don't panic, pipsqueak. I'll control the power. Besides, the walls of this firing range are specially reinforced. They won't be breached, so you don't have to worry about being sucked into the vacuum of space after the wall is breached."
Silver Wolf clutched the Totem of Undying with a death grip. Hearing Herta's words, she couldn't stop her voice from squeaking in protest, "Am I worried about being sucked into space?!"
Compared to the vacuum of space, she was far more worried that Herta would misjudge the power and vaporize her on the spot!
Unlike Blade, she didn't possess immortality!
"Stop with the nonsense. Get ready. 3, 2..."
As Herta was counting down, Fu Zhu suddenly thought of something and called out to Silver Wolf, "By the way, Silver Wolf, are you afraid of pain?"
Silver Wolf froze, turning her stiff neck to look at Fu Zhu. "What are you talking about at a time like this..."
Fu Zhu explained with a serious expression, "The Totem of Undying can save you from death, but it might not be able to block the pain."
Silver Wolf nearly had a meltdown and screamed at Fu Zhu, "You made the thing! Haven't you ever used it?!"
Fu Zhu spread his hands with an innocent look. "I don't have a sense of pain, so that's why I'm asking you."
"Fu Zhu, you detestable bastard!!!"
In the next second, the tip of Herta's staff flared with a brilliant light. An instant later, a beam of terrifying power shot straight toward Silver Wolf's face.
BOOM!
A dazzling flame erupted within the firing range, and the entire space station under their feet trembled.
Screwllum immediately hit a switch, extinguishing the flames and vacuuming out the smoke and dust.
However, when the dust in the firing range settled, Silver Wolf was nowhere to be seen. Not even a single trace of her remained.
This sight stunned Herta. She had conducted this experiment because she had complete faith in the life-saving effect of the Totem of Undying that Fu Zhu had created. Moreover, Silver Wolf herself had said that even Elio, who was practically Fu Zhu's adversary, believed in his abilities.
So why did this happen?!
"Ruan Mei, where's the pipsqueak?!"
Ruan Mei, frowning, immediately began to play back the video she had just recorded, frame by frame. She saw that the moment Herta's beam struck Silver Wolf, the Totem of Undying in her hand automatically flew out, hovered in front of her, and then shattered.
But in the very next frame, Silver Wolf's figure simply vanished.
Noticing something was wrong, Ruan Mei immediately looked up towards Herta and shouted, "Something's not right! Herta, Fu Zhu... come quick... huh? Where are Herta and Fu Zhu?"
Ruan Mei looked left and right around Herta's position. Fu Zhu, who should have been standing to Herta's right, was now inexplicably gone.
Herta also snapped back to her senses, realizing that Fu Zhu, who had been right beside her, had also vanished without her noticing a thing!
Just as Herta was about to ask Screwllum if he had seen where Fu Zhu went, in the next second, the figures of Fu Zhu and Silver Wolf appeared simultaneously beside her.
Silver Wolf looked weak and somewhat dazed, but Fu Zhu wore a look of utter exhilaration.
Seeing them suddenly reappear, Herta immediately lunged forward and grabbed Fu Zhu's arm. "Where did you two go?!"
Herta's shout snapped Fu Zhu back to his senses. He pointed at Silver Wolf, who had collapsed onto the floor. "The moment the Totem of Undying activated, the two of us were summoned by [The Abundance]!"
---o---
"Yaoshi?"
Herta held onto Fu Zhu's arm, carefully sensing the Path energy within his body. It was just as Fu Zhu had said; the power of Abundance within him was much stronger than before. Although it hadn't yet reached the level of an Emanator, it was far beyond what an ordinary Pathstrider could compare to.
This also confirmed that Fu Zhu had indeed been summoned by Yaoshi just now.
Hearing this, Ruan Mei rushed over and grabbed Fu Zhu's other arm.
"What did It say to you?"
She was incredibly curious. Why did Yaoshi summon Fu Zhu? Was it because of the Totem of Undying?
Perhaps, this incident could advance her own experiments in studying the Aeons!
Fu Zhu recalled his brief meeting with Yaoshi and shook his head with some regret.
"Yaoshi didn't say much to me. It just glanced at me and Silver Wolf, then said 'Keep up the good work' before sending us back."
He had to admit, Yaoshi was the most straightforward of them all. Unlike that machine head who asked all sorts of questions, Yaoshi was even quite generous with its blessings.
[Power of Abundance: I → II]
[Power of Abundance II: Unlocks Survival Mode, Immunity to Dizziness, Levitation, Slowness, Mining Fatigue]
The upgraded Power of Abundance directly granted him immunity to the vast majority of non-damaging negative status effects. He could already imagine that once he upgraded the Power of Abundance to Level 3, he would probably be immune to all negative statuses.
At this very moment, if not for the fact that he and the Luofu were allies, he would have been tempted to shout praises to Yaoshi.