"Cough...cough...Dragon, cough...!"
As soon as he entered the dilapidated temple, a violent coughing sound was heard.
"What..."
"Hmph...it's Dragon's Cough."
The Buddha sculptor muttered to himself, "It will spread once the stagnant and turbid essence overflows..."
"A disease that will ultimately be fatal..."
Just as Wolf was about to inquire, the Buddha sculptor coldly snorted and interrupted him, "Hmph, you don't need to worry about me."
"It's a pity, I'm not an ordinary person."
"It's just... explaining it is too troublesome... it's too much." He seemed to have some unspeakable secret and didn't reveal his own story. Instead, he reached behind and pulled out a bell.
Then,
Pure Black returned to the God's Eye view. Wolf reached out to touch the bell. For some reason, a sentence appeared in Pure Black's mind: "The ancestral hand of an immortal is mischievous."
As expected,
The next moment, the Buddha sculptor's voice came, "Close your eyes and listen to the bell."
Wolf did as he was told, and the scene gradually plunged into darkness.
In a daze, a few dog barks could be heard.
"The bell will awaken..."
The Buddha sculptor's voice echoed in the ethereal world, "Your sleeping ancient memories—"
【Three Years Ago】
【Hirata Estate, beside the Dragonspring River】
A prompt appeared in the center of his vision. Pure Black's expression changed slightly.
From his previous conversation with the Prince, he learned that Wolf had lost a period of memory, even though he couldn't recall anything from that time.
However, as long as he touched his sword, he could still casually perform some basic sword skills.
Clearly, Wolf's swordsmanship was profound, but he had forgotten many powerful skills. Now, returning to the blank three years ago through the bell might bring some unexpected gains.
"Heh, this is quite a unique path to enhancement."
Now he finally understood why some skills felt so effortless when he embodied Wolf; they had almost become subconscious actions.
It was all because Wolf himself had already reached the pinnacle of mastery in these basic skills.
Now, he was likely going to search for Wolf's lost memories and also recover his lost powerful killing moves.
For the player, this was equivalent to unlocking more formidable skills. Pure Black could clearly feel that facing elite monsters was more challenging than before.
The bosses in the future would only become more monstrous. Players could continuously improve their proficiency in sword skills, but without powerful skills, the gap with the bosses would only widen.
The overall art style of the memory scenes was much darker than the present time. As soon as his consciousness returned to Wolf's body, Pure Black felt a chill permeate his body from his collar.
After casually igniting a Divine Buddha, Pure Black began to explore.
Using the grappling hook to climb and leap through the mountains, Pure Black quickly arrived at an arched bridge. On the other side of the bridge, there were crowds of people, and occasionally dog barks could be heard.
After reviving twice at the Divine Buddha, Pure Black, covered in wounds, crossed the bridge.
In his memory, the soldiers from three years ago were very powerful. However, this level was nothing for Pure Black, who had already defeated the "Red Guards."
The key was that these scoundrels liked to engage in group battles. Relying on stealth, he could only assassinate one person at a time, and then the rest would swarm him. During this time, several dogs would suddenly rush out.
Pure Black, caught off guard, lost his life. Fortunately, relying on his memorization of the map, he finally broke through.
After crossing the bridge, Pure Black encountered a masked stranger by a secluded path, clutching his chest as if he were seriously injured.
"You are... the Son of the Owl..."
Upon seeing Pure Black, the masked man said intermittently.
"May I ask what happened?" Seeing that the other party had no hostile intentions, Pure Black sheathed his sword and asked politely.
"Thieves... broke into Hirata Estate... The Prince... The Prince... hurry..."
The Prince?
Upon hearing this, Pure Black was stunned. As expected, had Wolf and the Prince had an encounter three years ago?
"What year is it now?"
The masked man slightly raised his head, a hint of confusion in his eyes, "What are you... saying..."
"Uh... uh...,"
Unable to catch his breath, the masked man's head drooped.
"Are my questions stupid?"
Pure Black spread his hands, "I just wanted to confirm if it was three years ago, and I've already died?"
"Dragon... Dragonspring Year Three..."
"I'm not dead!"
Pure Black was startled by the sudden voice, thinking it was a ghost.
At this point, he had completely sorted out his thoughts. He explained to his viewers in the stream: "In real-time, it's Dragonspring Year Six, which should be the founding year of Ashina. Then, Wolf traveled back three years, to Dragonspring Year Three, the time when he lost his memory, through the sound of the bell."
"It's likely also the time when he met the Prince."
"I don't know if you've noticed, but Wolf could revive from the beginning, which means he and the Prince had already established an immortal relationship before this. The path was likely drinking the Prince's blood or something... That's why Wolf is so loyal to the Prince... Yes, it should be like this..."
Upon hearing Pure Black's patient explanation, many confused viewers suddenly understood.
'So, immortality is the main storyline running through the entire game, and the Prince possesses the ability to turn ordinary people into immortals, making him a target. Wolf's mission is to repay the Prince who granted him immortality, which is the apparent main storyline.'
'Turning ordinary people into immortals is truly tempting. Think about Feng Baobao, who is coveted by many forces just for having possessed time for long enough, and this is without revealing her identity. If she were to reveal herself, Baobao's situation would likely be no worse than the Prince's.'
'Good heavens, what kind of fantasy crossover is this?'
'It shouldn't be time travel, but rather entering a dream-like scenario under some influence. Moreover, it won't be like in Titanfall where past actions affect the current reality. Even Wolf himself is like watching a slideshow, reliving his lost memories, only that because it's a game, interactive combat has been added.'
......
"That's indeed the case. I tried it. Returning to the past through the Divine Buddha had no butterfly effect."
The serious analysis from the viewers in the stream greatly boosted Pure Black's enthusiasm.
"The scene from three years ago should be part of the game map. Now I can continue the main storyline in reality, exploring deeper into Ashina Castle, or I can unlock new plot and memory content in the map from three years ago."
"I need to unlock more powerful combat techniques now, otherwise, the progress of the main storyline is too slow."
With that, Pure Black continued to explore the map from three years ago.
Several colorful koi swam by the nearby stream. Pure Black attacked them without hesitation.
Hmm, the drop rate was quite high.
As he continued to grind, Pure Black's little treasury became much fuller.
The monsters here were not very powerful. Stealth kill with one blow, if not, then two blows, no more.
Until...
The elite samurai of Mishimayama, "Enshin," wielding a seven-foot-long spear!
His appearance caused Pure Black, who had been progressing smoothly, to encounter a long-lost setback.
......