“Another sealed item, 【The Substitute Puppet of Tanatos】…”

Su’en held the eerie black puppet, looking at the information about the puppet that had been identified, and a hint of contemplation appeared in his eyes.

It looked somewhat like a downgraded version of the death transfer technique that the old nun had used before…

Could it exempt from transferring a fatal injury once?

Thinking about it, he dripped some blood on it.

It seemed like the wooden material absorbed the blood, and then emitted a faint dark light.

The identification showed that the contract was successful.

Su’en felt as if he had signed a contract with some kind of existence in the depths of the netherworld.

Although the curse backlash after resurrection, which had a high probability of causing mental disorder, seemed quite severe, compared to losing his life, he could accept this level of backlash.

And Su’en always felt that “mental disorder” might not be such a big deal for him.

“Mr. Black’s friends all seem very easy to get along with…”

Su’en muttered to himself as he looked at the puppet.

Naturally, he knew that this thing could be considered a freebie.

If you really thought about it, the materials produced by the headless nun were actually spoils of the cloaked figure.

Without that person entering, Su’en would never have dared to provoke the ultimate boss in this curse space, which was currently considered a “T-level” difficulty. At most, he would have just wandered around the first and second floors.

This was the gift left by Him.

But Su’en didn’t think he had gained much advantage.

Without any surprises, this incident in the curse space would probably be attributed to him, “S-class wanted criminal Su’en.”

But that was just as well.

Su’en felt that this kind of fair trade relationship was the most reasonable.

…….

The sealed item couldn’t be placed in the storage ring, so Su’en could only hang the puppet on himself.

He looked at the loathsome living corpse’s injuries.

It had taken a punch to the chest, creating a bloody hole and breaking a few bones…

But it didn’t die, and it was rapidly recovering.

He was increasingly looking forward to advancing to the second stage and comprehending true spatial abilities.

By then, he wouldn’t need to keep the scythe, living corpse, or puppet by his side at all times.

He was also very much looking forward to the magical spatial techniques that “Magician” Edward had displayed before…

This time, coming to this 【1911 Hotel】, everything was just right. Not only did he find advanced materials, but the dark spiritual power was also overflowing.

He didn’t know where the “curse source” came from, but Su’en had been absorbing the ghostly mist without showing any signs of distortion.

And in just a few hours, his dark spiritual power had increased by several hundred points, and it was almost impossible to increase it any further.

This time, he could advance at any moment.

…….

The “curse source” was sealed, and this space gradually began to collapse.

Without the appearance of a light gate, the scene of the luxurious hotel from a thousand years ago gradually dissipated before his eyes…

There were probably some valuable spoils of war, but there was no time to search for them. They would turn into energy and return to nature.

At the same time,

In the temporary camp outside the curse space, the hunters from the five major families were still busy.

Several leaders of the hunting teams from the five major families had already made a decision to increase the “casualty rate” recently in order to break the seal ahead of time.

The next group of people entering the space were lining up to register, and the independent hunters who were unaware of the situation were listening to the temporary team leader explain the precautions for the ruins.

There was a time difference between the curse space and the outside world. It hadn’t been long since the last group of people entered, so normally, it would be some time before the light gate appeared at the exit.

But just then, an anomaly occurred.

Not far from the camp, on the site of the 1911 hotel ruins, a mirage-like flickering shadow suddenly appeared. It looked like a bustling hotel interior, but it was filled with corpses, creating a scene of carnage.

Naturally, this anomaly attracted the attention of everyone in the camp.

“Quick, look over there, what is that?!”

“Huh… isn’t that the interior scene of the curse space?”

“Why are there so many bodies? What happened? Those are the members of the Scorpion Squad who went in before. I know some of them.”

“No, this is a sign that the curse space is about to collapse!”

“…”

The hunters were shocked and looked at the dissipation of the hotel shadow, understanding what was happening.

Hearing the commotion in the camp, several hunting team leaders quickly emerged from their tents.

Looking at the anomaly before them, they were all speechless.

“How could the curse space suddenly collapse?!”

“Could it be that someone has obtained the ‘curse source’? That’s impossible… the curse source of this space should be on the third floor, and the difficulty of just the second floor that was already explored is already A+. The strength of that small team just now couldn’t compare. And besides, didn’t we already arrange for someone to release the eerie thing in room 1021? They should have been wiped out…”

“…”

At this moment, someone remembered the abnormal number of people who entered the space before.

A hundred people had entered, but only sixty-something had come out.”Bad news, a high-level professional has infiltrated the hunting team! Someone is going after that thing!”

“We must stop him, otherwise if the ‘Curse Source’ is lost, the Black Tower will blame us, and we’re done for!”

“…”

At this, several major team leaders immediately woke up, all of them looking pale.

…….

The collapse of the cursed space came quickly.

When the outside world turned into an illusion, in less than a minute, the “Mirage” suddenly burst into specks of light and disappeared before everyone’s eyes.

At this time, several second-tier hunting team leaders were holding weapons, waiting in formation, ready to pounce on anyone who came out alive.

Even without the reminder from the cloaked figure, Su’en naturally guessed that he would be ambushed when he came out.

The collapse of the space, there were only one or two reasons, which could not be explained. Either fight or flee…

He secretly rejoiced that he had already observed the evacuation route when he entered the ruins earlier.

For Su’en, the collapse of the cursed space was like the end of a movie. The light and shadow dissipated, and then he saw a group of fierce-looking men in front of him, and the gunfire began…

However, their target was not Su’en, but a group of cloaked figures scattered in various directions.

Crackling, the sound of gunfire rang out, and various control spells were cast on this group of cloaked figures.

But soon, they realized that something was wrong.

Those cloaked figures exploded under the concentrated fire, but instead of flesh and blood, it was flying wood chips.

Taking a closer look, under the tattered cloaks were all wooden puppets.

“No good, these are all puppets!”

“Be careful, get out of the way, the giant is holding the ‘Night Scythe of Xiu Puno’!”

“That person is the ‘S-class wanted criminal Su’en’! Damn it, we must catch him!”

“He also has the ‘Shroud of Oz the Ice Man’, watch out for invisible targets!”

“…”

The camp was in an uproar.

Meanwhile, the real Su’en had quietly climbed over the camp’s wall when the first round of gunfire rang out.

Wrapped in the shroud, with puppets attracting the firepower, he easily escaped.

As for the loathsome undead, it took some gunfire, but as long as it wasn’t turned into minced meat, it was no problem.

With the black scythe in its hand, a single swing would force several second-tier professionals to avoid its edge, and no one dared to confront it head-on.

More than ten puppets diverted the enemy’s firepower into more than ten parts. When they realized what was happening, Su’en, with his eight-armed spider spear, went into a frenzy. The threads were long enough, and with a strong pull, the undead and the scythe also fled the camp like a wisp of smoke.

Even with the puppets, Su’en’s speed far exceeded that of the vast majority of first-tier professionals.

The several second-tier team leaders chased after him with great momentum, but the scythe killed one, and the others immediately became obedient.

Orders were important, but life was more important.

None of these old birds dared to stick their necks out, and they all chased after him in the crowd.

In this way, Su’en sneaked into the ruins and easily shook off the group of professionals.

…….

Su’en did not return to the camp at Stormwind Manor.

With advanced materials just in hand, he was in the perfect state to advance to the second tier.

He planned to find a secluded place on the outskirts of the ruins to advance directly to the second tier in order to avoid being besieged and disturbed. He ran around the outer city of the ruins for a small circle, took some anti-tracking measures, and finally found a fortress that looked exactly the same as the one he had stayed in before.

After resting for a moment, Su’en sealed off the entrance to the fortress and cleared a space.

He began to draw a hexagram formation.

The auxiliary materials needed to set up the second-tier formation had long been prepared, and the process of drawing the double-ring hexagram formation was already proficient.

Red copper powder mixed with mithril as a base, outlining a perfect outer circle; the inner hexagram pattern was drawn with a mixture of refined borax and sunflower oil ground in proportion, with two drops of wind wolf tears, gathering the four basic elements of earth, wind, water, and fire; the formation was placed with red crystals inscribed with runes, which was already a very advanced material; of course, there was no shortage of alchemical core mercury and the curse crystal as the energy source…

With everything in place, Su’en took out the ‘Magician’s Top Hat’.

He stood in the center of the hexagram formation and began to chant the universal alchemy spell: “Following the law of equivalent exchange of all things, praising the glory of the original Creator, using alchemy to witness the miracle of creation…”

For the second-tier professional advancement, Su’en felt no excitement or ripples in his heart.

As the light of the alchemy formation gradually brightened, the top hat gradually merged into the formation. In the golden hexagram formation, there was also a black light representing the “space attribute”.

After the hat melted, a mysterious power began to merge into Su’en’s body.The fusion of spatial power was a magical experience, making Su’en feel as if he was soaring through the stars, beholding the endless expanse of the void world…

It made him feel as though he had previously been nothing more than a doodle on the “canvas” of space.

But at this moment, he felt as if he had detached from the “canvas,” touching the world beyond the painting.

That world was still blurry, and he couldn’t see it clearly yet.

But he truly felt it.

…….

Half an hour later, the dazzling light of the hexagram gradually faded.

The preliminary fusion of the materials was complete.

Su’en sat cross-legged, beginning to meditate and absorb the special power that had merged into his body.

Advancing to the second tier was different from the first; the greater the energy fused, the more time it took to digest the materials.

【The Magician’s Top Hat】 was an extremely potent golden material.

Even if Su’en succeeded in the fusion, completing the digestion process would take a long time.

It was like food in the stomach; you must digest it to convert it into nutrients that nourish the body, otherwise, it would be a waste.

Time flew by, and half a month passed.

Su’en had been meditating and digesting the nutrients from the advanced materials, hardly ever leaving the bunker.

Fortunately, without the disturbance of aberrant monsters and hunting parties, the digestion went smoothly.

One day, when he finally felt that the forcibly infused energy and the murmurs by his ear had completely vanished, Su’en realized he had successfully stepped into the realm of a second-tier professional.

The data on the panel was the most direct indicator; the explosive growth he had been experiencing every day had settled down, and the increase had become gradual and almost imperceptible.

“Phew… No wonder there’s such a big gap between first-tier professionals and second-tier ones. Not to mention the awakened abilities, just the data alone shows a multiple-fold increase. The physical strength is simply not on the same level…”

Su’en opened his eyes from meditation, exhaling a long breath of turbid air. His eyes sparkled with excitement, “But on the other hand, the boost from rare golden advancement materials is indeed exaggerated.”

Looking at his data panel again, it had undergone earth-shattering changes.

There was an increase in almost all attributes.

Strength and resilience, the melee attributes, had a slight increase,

But attributes like “Agility,” “Skill,” and “Perception” for the sorcerer class had seen a tremendous increase.

“Perception” went from 13 to 24;

“Agility” from 36 to 95;

“Skill” had the most exaggerated increase, from the initial 51 points, it shot up to a three-digit number of 145.

The changes in the data were intuitive but also quite stark.

Yet the feeling was truly profound.

Agility was not just about running fast; it was also about changes in nerve response and muscle reaction.

At this moment, Su’en could finally understand what kind of physical quality was needed to “slice a bullet” in action. Now, he felt that his nerve reaction speed and the precision and control of his body had reached that level.

What once seemed like a “miraculous skill” to a rookie, he now truly possessed that ability.

As soon as a bullet was fired, his nerves and muscles could completely predict the bullet’s trajectory and easily avoid it.

Within a certain distance, the speed of a bullet leaving the gun was no match for his perception and reaction!

And the nearly threefold increase in skill was even more exaggerated.

Su’en made a grasping motion with his fingers in the air, manipulating a runic puppet single-handedly.

Previously, his control was limited to simple actions like running, slashing, and straightforward punches and kicks…

Thus, in regular combat, he relied more on the puppet’s runic abilities rather than their physical capabilities.

The reason for this was insufficient skill.

With the desire but not the power, he couldn’t achieve that “intricate level” of control.

But now, under Su’en’s finger manipulation, the puppet performed a series of complex movements, jumping, rolling, scratching, holding a gun, pulling the trigger, throwing darts…

It could even execute a whole set of vigorous grappling and boxing moves with precise control…

It looked almost indistinguishable from a real person.

Moreover, with increased skill, Su’en finally understood why he had seen Mr. Black and the “Magician” Edward cast spells so effortlessly in combat.

Before advancing, it took him about a second to unravel the eight sorcerer seals of the Spider Lance Armor.

Now, snapping those first-tier seals was almost instantaneous.

It wasn’t that he didn’t form seals; it was eight seals in a flash.

The ultra-high skill allowed him to control his body to a terrifying degree.

Of course…

What was most anticipated was that mysterious “spatial ability.”