35. You have unlocked the "Heart of Elements" set.

Naphiel’s voice, light and arrogant, tugged at everyone’s heartstrings. "Toy," "amuse"—every word caused a surge of suppressed anger to swell in Jiang Heyi’s chest.

Under Naphiel’s remote control, the Slime King’s full-scene ritual magic transformed into a three-dimensional bullet-hell game. There were no flashy gimmicks; the Slime King’s barrage was purely a bombardment of elemental energy. The densely generated magical attacks consisted primarily of glowing orbs and rays in various colors, their intense glare capable of clouding the judgment of any intruder.

Orange Tea, who lacked gaming experience, only managed a few glances at the aurora-like light curtains before staring intensely at the projectiles heading straight for her. Within seconds, she was dizzy and disoriented.

It was as if she were toying with prey. Naphiel would deliberately set the safe zones within the observable range of the boundary between reality and illusion, then watch as the "toys" in her eyes scrambled desperately to survive, letting out bursts of malicious, extreme laughter.

Twenty seconds passed.
Forty seconds passed.
One minute passed...

Naphiel could no longer sustain her confident, self-assured laughter. Despite the high-intensity barrage under the ritual magic, not a single member of the Reality-Illusion Boundary had fallen. The members of the Boundary were a diverse group, and their gaming expertise was vast. Or rather, no one among them was limited to just one type of game.

Jiang Heyi and Zhong Zemo were experts at bullet-hell games. There was once an exaggerated compliment that a top-tier bullet-hell player could walk through rain without getting a single drop on them. In reality, that was impossible, but in this moment, their superior dynamic vision and ability to predict landing points allowed them to dodge lethal blow after lethal blow, as if walking a tightrope in this first-person bullet-hell game.

Like ants traversing a god’s chessboard, they escaped unscathed time and again, mocking the high-and-mighty "deity" who claimed she could crush the Reality-Illusion Boundary with a flick of her finger and constantly spoke of "toying" with them.

"Naphiel, stop playing. That strange feeling has returned."
"The spatial magic maintaining the portal is warping again. It’s bizarre; that woman must be doing something in the palace."
"It’s just a desperate struggle. Once the level 11 magic circle shatters, the 12th-floor Main Temple of the Clearer will become history."
"I want to turn her into a doll that still possesses independent thought... Beautiful things are meant to be desecrated with intensity!"
"The spatial distortion is intensifying... Our connection to the fifth level has been severed."
"Naphiel, are you incapable of listening to human speech? I told you to stop playing!"

The voices of the Eternal Night Church echoed one after another throughout the fourth level, clearly audible even over the Slime King’s frantic bombardment.

"Rosale, shut your mouth! Shut up!"

Watching as the Reality-Illusion Boundary persisted for a minute and thirty seconds under her ritual magic, Naphiel suddenly turned her head and roared irritably at the person speaking to her.

"Hmph, someone claimed they were in total control, yet it takes this long to crush a few bugs that broke into the temple?"
"I can crush them whenever I want! This is a game—it’s amusement!"
"Connection to the sixth level is cut off... Space is warping."
"What on earth is that woman doing on the 12th floor?"
"I’ll say it one last time: stop playing! Something is very wrong!"

Disturbed by her companions, Naphiel unleashed a series of angry roars, causing ripples to spread across the Reality-Illusion Boundary’s field of vision. Purple-gold vertical pupils reappeared, and she hovered above the Slime King’s head. The elemental power across the entire scene converged, and the countless projectiles vanished with a pop.

"Didn't you say you'd give us a hug if we survived? Where’s the hug?"

The long run had left Jailer Brother panting as he spoke. It was truly a wonder he was still thinking about Naphiel’s ethereal promise.

"A hug?" Naphiel chuckled. "Would you hug a group of dirty, ugly monkeys?"

Disdaining any further words, Naphiel’s purple-gold vertical pupils flashed with a terrifying light. She was about to end it all.

At that exact moment, an inconspicuous black scroll appeared in Jiang Heyi’s hand. He hadn't had the time to try it while running for his life, but now...

The scroll’s creator had thoughtfully considered that the user might not be a mage, placing a mana stone at the center of the scroll. Using the stone as a targeting sight, Jiang Heyi aimed at the point between the Slime King and those eyes.

Triggered!

The scroll instantly turned to ash, leaving only a single corner that drifted slowly to his feet. There was no phenomenon, no feedback; the only effect of the scroll seemed to be self-immolation. Did it even stir up a slight breeze?

The expectant members of the Reality-Illusion Boundary felt a lump of blood catch in their throats, nearly choking. Mint, this was the mysterious, "profound" treasure scroll you gave us!

***

"Naphiel, why are you spacing out? The statue’s guidance has been activated; the history of the Clearers is coming to an end."
"Naphiel?"

Naphiel, who not long ago was using an arrogant tone to mock the Reality-Illusion Boundary, remained silent for a long time before finally erupting into a heart-wrenching wail. Accompanying this were the "thud, thud" sounds of her head making intimate contact with heavy objects or the walls.

"Pain, so much pain... something is... inside my head!"
"Naphiel?"
"It hurts, my head is about to... split open... Who are you? Don't you dare pry into my memories—aaaaah!"
"Quick, call the other Whisperers!"
"Warning! Warning!" the members of the Eternal Night Church shouted. "Our spatial magic is being corrupted by a strange power... Something has locked onto the coordinates of the portal!"

From the moment the scroll was released to the chaos within the Eternal Night Church, the sheer volume of information in those ten-plus seconds was overwhelming. Naphiel screamed as she disconnected, and the Reality-Illusion Boundary stood stunned, staring at one another.

It sounded like the scroll’s mental magic had actually worked? That Whisperer of the Eternal Night Church, who could easily turn the fourth level upside down, was reduced to a splitting headache by a mere touch of the scroll... What kind of master-level mage’s masterpiece was this? Where did Mint get it?

While the others were still lost in imagination, Jiang Heyi barked a command, pulling their attention back to the Slime King. Without Naphiel’s possession, the Slime King remained a formidable, peerless monster.

The Slime King stood motionless. This standoff lasted for nearly a minute, the atmosphere so oppressive that everyone was drenched in sweat. Orange Tea whispered prayers, hoping the scroll had also incapacitated the Slime King so they could reap a massive reward.

The Slime King’s soft, fluorescent green body began to exude beads of sweat, much like a human. The beads seeped out thicker and faster, and like a melting wax statue, the creature began to collapse, losing its rounded form and spreading out in all directions as a puddle of gelatinous matter.

It happened so quickly that Orange Tea was still muttering her wishes even as the fluorescent green tide reached her feet. A single scroll to instantly kill two powerful enemies of the Eternal Night Church... Mint, you Great Witch, did you really obtain this through legitimate channels? You couldn't buy one even if you sold yourself!

"Woohoo, we are..." Jailer Brother was just about to pop the champagne when Jiang Heyi clamped a hand over his mouth.

The gelatinous mass on the ground began to slowly shrink and gather, rotating in place like a vortex. Original Flavor Fries felt a bit numb: "Third form?"

If you were here, you'd be numb too. The difficulty of the fourth level was enough to make even professional players shake their heads. Jiang Heyi doubted that at the current level cap of 20, players could clear it through normal means.

The rotation stopped, and the Slime King presented to them left everyone dumbfounded.

"Si... Sister Alna?"

The Slime King had transformed into the likeness of Sister Alna, floating in mid-air, wrapped in the sticky bubbles of her own discarded slime. One hand clutched her head, the other rested over her heart, looking pained. Hearing Jiang Heyi speak, her gaze immediately shifted.

"You... know Alna."

It sounded like a question, yet also like she had long been mentally prepared. And in this form, she was clearly capable of conversation.

Wait, could it be...

Jiang Heyi exchanged a glance with Original Flavor Fries and immediately took the lantern from his bag, displaying it to the Slime King. Guided by mana, the lantern floated into her hands. She stroked it carefully, her lips trembling, her face full of sorrow.

"Are you one of the..." Jiang Heyi hesitated to call her a "person," feeling it was odd, so he changed his phrasing, "...one of the Clearers?"

The Slime King pulled the lantern to her chest with a sigh. "It was Alna who brought me into the Clearers... back then, I was still very, very small."

Original Flavor Fries asked, "So, you were being controlled?"

A fierce look flashed in the Slime King’s eyes as she gritted her teeth: "The Eternal Night Church!"

The invasion of the Eternal Night Church had been ferocious. Without warning, the Slime King, who was responsible for tending the flowers and plants in the Clearer Temple, had faced the main force of the Church, which had remained almost unscathed through the first three levels. Multiple Whisperers had bewitched her mind, and after Naphiel arrived, she completely sealed the Slime King’s consciousness in a wasteland forever shrouded in fog.

It wasn't until a strange breeze tore through the fog with ease that her consciousness was freed from its shackles.

***

Jiang Heyi picked up the fragment of the scroll he had been stepping on, examining it in disbelief.

Jailer Brother probed, "Do you still have memories from when you were being controlled?"

Jiang Heyi shot him a sideways glance; he really knew how to pick the wrong things to ask.

"I... what did I do?"

Original Flavor Fries quickly helped cover for her: "Your elemental magic held us back for a long time."

The Slime King looked ashamed, slowly floating down in front of them: "That was not my intention... You were chosen by Alna. Given her personality, she would have told you to run, yet you appeared here."

"Pfft!"

Without warning, the Slime King thrust her hand into her own chest. Through the translucent skin, everyone could clearly see her fingers curling into a fist, tightly grasping something. A brilliant, multicolored irregular crystal core was pulled out of her body.

In that instant, her body, which had been faintly glowing with green light, dimmed.

"You are..."
"Take it... and then, leave this place."

She said the exact same words as Alna.

"Do not take any more risks. Ahead, there is only endless darkness, and hell."
"With your strength, to have made it this far—your future is limitless... Survive. Only by surviving will you have a chance to stop the Eternal Night from infecting this world."

The Slime King’s words were urgent, her hand clutching the crystal core thrusting toward Jiang Heyi’s chest.

"It can forge invincible weapons for you. Before you grow into heroes who can stand on your own, survive."

Seeing that no one from the Reality-Illusion Boundary reached out to take it, the Slime King’s expression turned ferocious.

"I said, take it!"

She forcefully shoved the crystal core into Jiang Heyi’s hand and clapped her hands together. The ground collapsed instantly. A statue that had been hidden beneath the earth rose from the churning soil.

Giving them no chance to speak, she waved her hand, and a powerful gust of wind element blew over, pinning them firmly against the statue as she triggered a teleportation. In front of the Slime King, they couldn't even offer resistance.

When they regained their senses, they had already appeared at the entrance of the underground temple. Looking at the crystal core in his hand, which pulsed and flickered like a heart, that strange feeling surged in Jiang Heyi’s chest once more. Everything that had just happened seemed to have genuinely occurred... except, it was in a world where the Reality-Illusion Boundary did not exist.

Just as he was about to check the description of the crystal core, Jailer Brother let out a "Wow!"

"I told you not to yell. We’ve cleared the fourth level now, act with some composure," Jiang Heyi grumbled. Although they had cheated their way through thanks to Mint’s scroll, wasn't finding Mint a skill in itself?

"No, my experience just exploded to level 7... and it’s still rising. Wow, wow, wow, level 8!"

Jiang Heyi checked and found that he, too, had reached level 8 without realizing it. Original Flavor Fries checked: "I’m... level 10."

Huh?

Zhong Zemo shouted excitedly as well; he had jumped to level 7. Orange Tea seemed to have benefited from quite a few [Endless Experience] bonuses, leaping to level 9, second only to Fries.

According to previous community discussions, the highest-level player in the game was currently [Shadow Coin], at level 8. That was the big spender who had been throwing money around in Windpod City for roleplay.

The experience from the fourth level was so generous that it blew the horns of charge for everyone’s previously stagnant experience bars. Now, the Reality-Illusion Boundary was far ahead of everyone else in the game.

With such rich experience, this crystal core, obtained only by overdrawing the Slime King, must be...

[Heart of Elements]
"A strange core nurtured by the Slime King; when touched, one can almost feel the traces of flowing elements."
"It is still beating, as if grieving for a departed friend."

A system prompt popped up.

"You have unlocked the Heart of Elements set."