23. It would be worth dying for.

[Avatar Fragment Selection] x5.

Jiang Heyi assigned these to Tangerine Tea. Not only did she and Zhong Zemo perform outstandingly in the monster-luring task, but they also survived until the end, providing crucial shelter for everyone caught in the explosion.

Furthermore, Tangerine Tea already possessed 20 avatar fragments; this would allow her to unlock this intriguing ability as quickly as possible and give everyone a demonstration.

[Universal Forging Fragment] x2.

These can replace equipment materials of the same or lower quality to complete a forging process.

As Garlic Sprout had previously mentioned, obtaining the corresponding crafting blueprints and bringing them to a blacksmith would unlock forging. Now, the materials were finally in place.

Upon making eye contact, Zhong Zemo immediately declined: "Don't give them to me, give them to someone else."

His reasoning was similar to what Jiang Heyi had said earlier: the priority should be to strengthen the team's damage output. Even if he forged a sturdy, durable shield to soak up a few more hits, if the others couldn't break the enemy's defenses, it would still be a dead end for everyone.

"Then Fries and Jailer, you two take one each."

Neither Jailer nor Original Flavor Fries moved.

"Are you saying you don't want anything again?"

"There are plenty of common drop materials. I'll save up for now. Once I find the forging recipe for the Clarifier set, I'll just craft a full set directly."

The Clarifier series sets currently seen generally possess resistance against Darkness and Undead, making them the optimal choice for challenging the Underground Temple at this stage. The [Adaptive] equipment produced here, which can scale with levels, is also considered end-game gear. Therefore, it was time to be frugal and continue waiting for the right moment.

Seeing that Jiang Heyi had made up his mind, the two accepted the allocation.

While the others couldn't help but marvel at Tangerine Tea's heaven-defying luck, Jailer stroked his chin, his eyes fixed intently on the torso of the Siren in the center of the blast crater, which had yet to dissipate.

"Do you guys think we can take that with us?"

Everyone looked over, only to see Jailer already walking up to the Siren's torso.

Zhong Zemo laughed: "It's just a scene prop. You can look at it, touch it, and pick it up, but you can't put it in your inventory, let alone use it."

Jailer bent down: "You're right, but that's for other games. In 'Proof of the Stars,' when you encounter something like this, you should... Hmph!"

It was very heavy. After exerting force, Jailer stumbled and almost fell over.

"Since the nun's clothes can be stolen and stripped, there's no reason this can't be taken. Since nobody wants it, I'll..."

Gritting his teeth and calling up his inventory, the heavy Siren torso in Jailer's hands turned into a beam of light and vanished.

The scene fell silent.

"Oh my god, that takes up so much space, my inventory is completely full!"

The fact that it could enter the inventory meant...

[Contaminated Siren Body]: The filth of the Eternal Night is dissipating; the necromantic aura has been severed, and it has returned to tranquility. Perhaps someone might be interested in it now that it is a lifeless object?

The last sentence in the description was profound.

This thing definitely had other uses!

Without any prompts or visual effects, it had been piled up with the rubble of the explosion; they had almost overlooked the Siren's torso entirely.

You really are something, Jailer.

The fall of the Frog-Headed Amalgamation meant that the first floor of the Underground Temple, the [Dust-Cleansing Layer], had been completely conquered. No more monsters would spawn here. The Reality Boundary guild proceeded smoothly, following the map to locate the teleportation statue in the Hall of Prayer.

The second floor of the Underground Temple was the [Garrison Layer], where the Clarifiers had deployed a large number of magic arrays, mechanisms, and puppets.

The entire floor was only permanently staffed by a few high-ranking Clarifier mages monitoring the operation of the arrays.

It wasn't just Jiang Heyi who didn't understand; the others were also confused. Why place the Dust-Cleansing Layer above the Garrison Layer? Shouldn't preventing intrusions be the top priority when a large organization establishes its headquarters?

Regardless of the ingenuity of the original founders, given that the Clarifiers had been punched through in one go by the Eternal Night Church, they probably wouldn't have a chance to regret it now.

After much hesitation, Jiang Heyi decided to pause the raid.

Meals must be eaten one bite at a time. Their goal for this round of teleportation had been the Frog-Headed Amalgamation. Since the original target was achieved, they should settle down for a while, convert their gains into tangible combat power, and then set out again.

***

Jiang Heyi returned to the entrance of the Underground Temple, wanting to see if Sister Alna would have any special dialogue after the first-floor guardian was defeated.

However, even though it was late at night, Alna did not appear.

"We were told she was guarding our only escape route, so where is she now?" Zhong Zemo was stunned. "What on earth was she guarding?"

Jiang Heyi was somewhat puzzled. Based on the current gameplay experience, "Proof of the Stars" wouldn't have NPCs disappear without explanation.

Could they have triggered some event they weren't aware of?

When everyone returned to the Reality Boundary guild, the Dragon Maiden and the Nun Blacksmith were still fast asleep on the ground; the high-intensity forging had clearly exhausted them.

"Garlic Sprout."

Garlic Sprout was extracting herbal essences with the Shaman Puppet in preparation for potion-making. Hearing her master's call, she immediately floated over.

"Can the guild... allow others to visit?" Jiang Heyi thought for a moment, then rephrased it. "Someone like you..."

"I understand what you mean. Of course," Garlic Sprout smiled. "You can gift a Guild Jade to the character you wish to invite. They can enter and leave the guild freely with it, and you will be able to know when they visit and when they leave through me."

"Can I have a character reside in the guild permanently?"

"If she is willing, yes. This will also bring benefits to the guild."

Jailer smirked: "What if she isn't willing?"

"That is one of the prohibited behaviors in the game, Master. I know what you are thinking. In order for you to continue enjoying the world of 'Proof of the Stars,' please proceed with caution."

"This puppet of yours is quite perceptive," Jailer said in amazement.

Garlic Sprout rubbed the air, conjuring a pink Guild Jade out of thin air.

The first Guild Jade was free; subsequent ones would require forging with materials.

Jiang Heyi realized that there were some things that, if you didn't ask, the puppet might not mention on its own.

The fact that NPCs could take up residence wasn't mentioned at all in the initial introduction; it was only answered because he had asked on a whim.

It seems that harassing Garlic Sprout is a necessity.

As for who to give the first Guild Jade to, the members of Reality Boundary had a unanimous answer.

***

It was still daytime when they were robbing—oh, shopping—but it was late at night when Jiang Heyi returned to Wind Pod City.

Leaving the main merchant road and entering the nearby dense forest, he was curious if the embarrassing witch, Mint, was still there at this hour.

His gaze locked onto the large tree they had agreed upon. He observed the surroundings, but did not see her figure.

"It's so late, she probably went home with her bags," Zhong Zemo guessed. "Or she didn't believe we'd pay and just slipped away."

"Ummm~~~"

Rustling sounds came from above.

Looking up, a dazed girl was clinging to the edge of the ancient tree's thick trunk, mumbling something incoherently.

"Do you still want those [Soul Shards]?"

Jailer released a floating light orb at the right moment. Mint, who had been disheveled from sleep and muttering curses while smoothing her hair, saw that it was Jiang Heyi and the others, and her eyes suddenly sparkled.

She didn't care about her image; she grabbed her witch's hat, slapped it onto her messy hair, and jumped straight down.

"You really came back. So fast, unbelievable."

Mint looked left and right, discovering that everyone was present and physically sound, and her lips curled up in pride.

"Looks like it went smoothly. My plan worked well, didn't it? Don't you want to say thank you?"

Original Flavor Fries said flatly: "You didn't intend for us to come back alive, did you?"

***

As if subjected to a great injustice, Mint's face flushed red.

Seeing Jiang Heyi staring at her hat, she quickly reached up to cover it.

"Don't tell me my plan didn't work at all? Impossible!"

"It worked, perhaps too well." Jiang Heyi recounted what had happened.

This was only possible in a game. In a realistic worldview, such a close-range explosion would have reduced a few fledgling adventurers to dust along with the Frog-Headed Amalgamation in an instant.

Even if all of Mint's [Unstable Combustion Potions] had been infused with "Ambition," it would have been difficult to create an explosion massive enough to cause the temple complex to collapse in a chain reaction.

Therefore, when they were discussing it in the guild, Jailer had always felt that Mint's plan had issues.

Upon hearing the scale of the explosion, Mint herself was dumbfounded.

She didn't believe every one of her potions was top-tier; if she had that level of skill, she wouldn't be running around being chased by others.

"Wait... you just said an elemental field was triggered in a corridor?" Mint swallowed. "How narrow was the corridor?"

Jiang Heyi recalled: "It seemed to be the width of two arm spans, probably the narrowest area."

Combining the descriptions from the others, Mint's eyes widened. She looked at everyone in Reality Boundary as if they were ghosts.

"You triggered an Elemental Mist, and with your strength, you actually survived? You're actually unscathed!"

She held her head and muttered in a daze: "No, no, no, how could my potions... but it is true, this is..."

"What is an Elemental Mist?" Jailer asked.

"You're a mage, and you don't even know what Elemental Mist is?"

Jailer replied matter-of-factly: "I don't. What's wrong with that?"

There were no tutorials when entering the game; how was he supposed to know the common knowledge of this world's worldview?

"What about Mana Combustion? You don't know that either?"

"I've heard of deflagration."

Mint was truly speechless. With a rare, serious tone, she began teaching them like a teacher.

"Elemental Mist is a special phenomenon that occurs when elemental power becomes too dense and reacts violently until it reaches a critical point. All elements return to the same elemental sea, intermingling like mist."

"Those who are caught in it will feel an intense burning sensation, and then, with just the slightest friction, the Elemental Mist can trigger a violent chain reaction."

A narrow space, abundant elemental power echoing and colliding—both conditions were met. But Jiang Heyi was confused: if that were the case, wouldn't Elemental Mist be easy to control?

"Easy?" Mint shrieked. "That is a great power that countless mages specializing in elemental control spend their entire lives trying to master. It is a mystery that only the highest-ranking mages have a hope of glimpsing. You call that simple?"

Zhong Zemo was curious: "We triggered it just by using your potions."

"That's because the Elemental Mist itself isn't difficult to trigger. What's truly difficult is controlling it to chain continuously, to react constantly, and finally to merge together."

"If you want to use a tiny bit of elemental power to pry open the mist, try flipping a coin 100 times and getting it to land heads up every single time first." Mint exhaled. "That’s a very imprecise analogy, as I don't specialize in elements, but you should realize how lucky you were now, right?"

He understood a little now... they seemed to have inadvertently created and witnessed one of the most miraculous magical phenomena in this world?

Original Flavor Fries said: "In other words, when we killed the Frog-Headed Amalgamation, we accidentally rolled a die and got the mist that was capable of killing both us and the amalgamation, but we also rolled the possibility of surviving it?"

"All the energy of the Elemental Mist was released onto the amalgamation... this luck is too terrifying," Mint was still marveling. "If even a little had leaked out, you wouldn't have come back."

Thinking back to when they said they would trade one breath of Tangerine Tea's good luck for a big firework...

It was indeed one of the most exciting fireworks in this world; one more second of watching it, and they would have been reduced to bones.

"Why are you... why are you looking at me? I almost got everyone killed, isn't that bad luck?" Tangerine Tea couldn't help but shrink her neck.

"To be able to see such a wonder, it was worth the price of admission, even if we died," Jailer applauded.