Chapter 269 – Fragments of the Law

From various signs, it could be inferred that the key to determining the “activity” of the Eerie Eyeball likely lay in those energy-based negative emotions. Moreover, these negative emotions had to be sufficiently dense and “evil,” ideally saturated with despair and resentment, just like the Harpy priestess before her death.

Although Punk was currently in a desolate wilderness with no intelligent beings around, obtaining negative emotions of sufficient intensity was hardly a challenge for a level sixteen spellcaster.

Of course, Punk would never hypnotize himself to generate negative emotions to “feed” this eyeball. Ever since he sensed that faint, almost “law”-level “evil,” Punk had resolved—no matter what—to avoid any connection, whether spiritual or mental, with this thing. His current Master-Level soul was far from allowing him such recklessness.

Thus, Punk decided to sacrifice some small animals to extract negative emotions. After all, joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness weren’t exclusive to intelligent beings; even those dim-witted animals possessed quite rich emotions.

With a single instant-cast “Mage Hand,” Punk effortlessly plucked a shivering gray rabbit from the grass (rabbits, as usual, taking the fall).

Next came the simple “production steps” for negative emotions.

Making a rabbit generate negative emotions was extremely straightforward.

First, infuse it with a large amount of vitality. Then, while burning it with fire, maintain the vitality infusion to ensure the rabbit could quickly recover from its injuries. Ideally, char it to a crisp outside and tender inside, then use vitality to pull it back from the brink of death.

After repeating these steps for about ten minutes, Punk obtained a “corrupted rabbit” whose mind, even its subconscious, was filled with hatred and despair.

At this point, Punk only needed to use a spell to materialize and energize the negative emotions from the rabbit’s soul.

Master-Level Alchemy Magic—Emotion Energization: Energizes a specific emotion of a creature and “extracts” it into reality.

Note: Creatures subjected to large-scale emotion extraction will suffer unavoidable soul damage!

Punk’s “gray rabbit negative emotion generator” was a one-time use, so he paid no heed to the fate of the rabbit’s soul, directly extracting all the negative emotions from the gray rabbit’s soul in one go.

As wisps of dark threads tinged with grayish-red continuously drew out from the gray rabbit’s head, its body began to convulse violently. When the last thread left its head, the rabbit’s cracked soul instantly shattered into pieces.

Punk casually discarded the now well-done gray rabbit and carefully picked up the small cluster of energy-based negative emotions, slowly bringing it close to the pupil of the Eerie Eyeball.

After all, the gray rabbit’s soul level was too low. The negative emotions it provided, both in quantity and quality, were far inferior to the Harpy priestess’s immense, almost tangible hatred. However, this situation suited Punk’s requirements, as he estimated that investigation teams from nearby cities might already be on their way. Punk didn’t want this peculiar eyeball to cause any more trouble.The mindless Eerie Eyeball naturally remained unresistant to the “delicacy” delivered right to its mouth. Its vertical pupil shimmered faintly before devouring nearly half of the negative emotional energy held in Punk’s hand.

Simultaneously, the aura enveloping the eerie eyeball fluctuated violently, and even the spot its pupil fixated on began to emanate subtle, elusive ripples.

“As expected, it seems negative emotions can provide it with energy!”

Puck quickly and delightfully fed the remaining negative emotions into the eyeball’s pupil.

After consuming the negative emotions, the massive eyeball seemed to stir with renewed restlessness. Certain “presences” within it gained a hint of vitality, as faint energy fluctuations tentatively probed outward. Some traces of aura even clung tenaciously to Punk’s “alchemical gloves,” as if attempting to breach their barrier.

However, the energy absorbed by the eerie eyeball was ultimately too meager. Its “activity” lasted no more than three seconds before silence reclaimed it.

Yet, in that brief window, Punk had uncovered something unbelievable—or rather, something that sparked ecstatic revelation.

“A law fragment—there’s actually a fragment of law inside this!”

Puck cradled the eyeball, whispering excitedly. During the eyeball’s outward probing, Punk had successfully extended his perception into its depths. There, he clearly “saw” a black energy crystal, no larger than a few millimeters, entwined with murky brownish aura. Despite its size, the terrifying pressure it emitted forced Punk’s perception to recoil.

This tiny crystal was hidden with such cunning subtlety. Had the eerie energy encasing it not fluctuated, had Punk’s soul perception not rivaled that of a Master-Level Caster specialized in Divination Spells, had Punk not possessed the memories of a Grand Arcanist making him intimately familiar with such “law fragments”… any other mage would have been left bewildered by the fleeting ripple of law.

“This is what luck truly means—a law fragment! If I can comprehend even a sliver of ‘law’ before advancing to Legendary, my success rate would increase by at least thirty percent!”

Puck carefully admired the enormous eyeball as if it were a breathtaking work of art. Rarely did such profound emotional turbulence stir within him—an emotion named “astonishing joy.”

After all, though Punk had inherited a portion of the Netherese Civilization’s legacy, what he received was knowledge alone. The crux of advancing to Legendary lay in genuinely understanding the power of law—an enlightenment that demanded far more than mere knowledge.

While Grand Arcanist Vedrasha possessed a complete comprehension of law, his system was purely aligned with the “Good” law of the Lawful Good camp. Punk could only use it for reference, not directly for his Legendary ascension. Camp-aligned laws were notoriously restrictive and couldn’t be wielded by just any practitioner regardless of alignment.

Thus, by Punk’s estimation, without external aid, even with the memories and experience of a Grand Arcanist, his chances of successfully breaking through to Legendary would be less than ten percent!However, as the saying goes, heaven never seals off all exits. Now that he possessed a fragment of laws clearly not belonging to the “alignment-type laws,” if he could comprehend even a sliver of “laws” before advancing to Legendary, his success rate would reach at least thirty percent.

Thirty percent might not sound like much, but one must understand that the vast majority of Master-Level peak professionals (such as Punk’s cheap parents) had less than a one percent chance of successfully advancing to Legendary.

Often, rare treasures that could slightly boost the advancement success rate were enough to drive groups of Master-Level experts into a frenzy. Now, Punk had obtained a fragment of laws… This was already an opportunity comparable to a golden finger!

However… Punk was not one to be blinded by opportunities.

He quickly suppressed the joy in his heart and began carefully observing the seemingly minuscule fragment of laws. This world was full of pitfalls, and the “lucky ones” who died due to carelessness in the face of so-called “opportunities” served as vivid lessons.

Sure enough, after carefully sensing it for over an hour, Punk’s brows slowly furrowed! Because he discovered… this fragment of laws seemed… somewhat unusual:

“That gray aura on it doesn’t seem to be part of the fragment of laws at all. It’s more like… a contaminant, similar to the filth aura left by the Bird of Filth!”

Votes, please~~ I really want votes~~

(End of Chapter)