Forbidden Zone of Deception

Chapter 17 Resentment Shards and the Hunting Instinct
Jiang Jin knew that although he had received a 10% SAN reward, he was still in the Mysterious Layer! He could figure out the villager rules later when he got out!

He was about to pack up the paper and leave quickly when he saw the death knell suddenly leap past his ear, howling wildly!

"Death knell!"

Jiang Jin grabbed the fruit knife almost without hesitation, turned his head, aimed at the void that Deathstroke was biting, and slashed it hard!

Soon, he felt the fruit knife pierce into something solid!

The resentment moss ointment worked immediately!
Jiang Jin gritted his teeth, held the knife with both hands, and with all his might, plunged the knife deeper into the ground!

Almost the instant the piercing went deeper, Jiang Jin felt the solidity of the piercing in front of him vanish instantly, and then a large amount of blood appeared out of thin air in front of him, splashing all over his head and face!
Water mixed with blood splattered down his face. Jiang Jin looked at the fruit knife, which was also stained with a lot of blood.

The process may seem long to describe, but it only took 2.5 seconds. And in those 2.5 seconds, 15% of his SAN value was deducted!
This caused his SAN value to drop rapidly to 60%!

However, the next moment, a text prompt appeared in the left eye:

"Reincarnator Jiang Jin, the fruit knife you used, infused with resentful moss ointment, and your skeleton hound, Deathstroke, have both inflicted effective damage on the evil spirits of the Huang family's old mansion."

The resentment of the evil spirit in the Huang family's old house has been dispersed, and it cannot reappear until it gathers its resentment again.

The resentment of the evil spirits you scattered has merged into the resentment crystal components contained in the Resentment Moss Balm. According to the evaluation of the reincarnation system, there is a 3.5% probability of synthesizing a resentment crystal fragment.

In the process of synthesizing resentment shards...

The synthesis of resentment-sharded crystals failed.

You receive an 18% SAN bonus and three Resentment Crystals (already stored in the Reincarnator's Watch).

Jiang Jin was overjoyed!

This resentful moss ointment is terrifyingly powerful!
No wonder it's called the "Resentful Moss Cream" that deducts 6% SAN every second; its high price is definitely justified!

I only earned 3% in SAN value from the round trip, but I actually earned three more Resentment Crystals!
Then, Jiang Jin and Deathstroke pushed open the door and ran out.

When he reached the stairs, the warmth of the handrail vanished, replaced by a bone-chilling cold.

This put Jiang Jin at ease.

However, he could sense a hint of disappointment in Deathstroke's heart.

After all, the object it just bit... was very likely its former owner!
After running out of the old house, he dared not stop and ran all the way back into the alley.

He only slowed down when he saw the lights of Chen's Roast Meat, his chest heaving violently.

Jiang Jin quickly pushed open the wooden door of the roast meat shop. The oil lamps inside were still dim, and the owner was cutting up a roast goose. Hearing the sound, he looked up at Jiang Jin.

"You're back so quickly?" The boss's tone clearly betrayed some surprise.

"I found it! This is it!"

Jiang Jin placed the wine jug on the counter and pointed to the words "Chen Family Brew" on it.

The shopkeeper took the wine jug with a satisfied look on his face and said, "I didn't expect you to actually manage to bring it back."

He put away the wine jug, stood up, and picked up the boning knife.

“I keep my word, the knife is yours.” After taking the boning knife, words continued to appear in Jiang Jin's left eye:
"Reincarnated Jiang Jin completes the side quest: Find Boss Chen's wine jug."

Reward 1: Chen Ji Roast Meat Special Boning Knife (containing malevolent energy)

Effect: Contains strong malevolent energy; ghosts struck by it will retreat within 20-50 minutes. This item is dropped within the instance. Without applying the Resentful Moss Balm, reincarnators will not lose SAN points when using the Bonecrusher. This Bonecrusher can be used to attack reincarnators; the reincarnation system will actually assess the attacked reincarnator's strength and defense to determine their SAN loss.

Note: After applying the Resentful Moss Paste, there is a 15%-45% chance (depending on the instance level of the ghost) that the wounded ghost will be unable to gather resentment for one to three days, and there is a 2.5%-10% chance to generate a Resentment Shard. Because the Bonecrusher itself contains malevolent energy, even if you apply the Resentful Moss Paste to wound a spirit, you will only lose 2% of your SAN value per second. If you choose to attack a Reincarnator, because the Resentful Moss Paste does not come into contact with the spirit (unless in special circumstances, such as a Reincarnator with the medium class becoming ghost-like), you will not lose SAN value.

The amount of information was so vast that Jiang Jin needed some time to process it.

Currently, it appears that resentment fragments and resentment crystals are two completely different things.

The tools he uses, such as the Resentment Moss Paste, contain resentment crystals. When resentment crystals are processed into weapons to harm spirits, they combine with the spirits' resentment, and there is a certain probability that a resentment shard crystal will be generated.

Judging from the extremely low probability of the formation of Resentment Shards, Resentment Shards must be rarer than Resentment Crystals and are most likely more powerful treasures!

To be honest, this was completely unexpected for Jiang Jin. Judging from the name, he thought that the Resentment Crystal was synthesized from resentment fragments. But in reality, it was exactly the opposite?
He remembered Liang Qin's words. At that time, he told himself to remember to collect resentment shards in the dungeon.

This boning knife, if not coated with the Resentful Moss Ointment, requires no SAN deduction for use. However, this also eliminates the possibility of generating Resentful Crystal Shards. The probability, however, is low, only 2.5%-10%... even a 10% chance is unlikely. This forces the reincarnator to make a choice: either genuinely deduct SAN for the slim chance of generating Resentful Crystal Shards, or preserve more SAN to maximize their immediate combat effectiveness.

This is clearly a difficult decision to make.

Furthermore, the reincarnation system also mentioned two important things.

First, items dropped in dungeons, like the Death Knell, do not deduct SAN points when used!

Secondly, in battles between reincarnators, even if weapons containing resentment crystals, such as Resentment Moss Paste, are used, there is no need to deduct SAN as long as the opponent is not demonized like a medium.

Jiang Jin had already guessed that, in addition to PVE, there might also be a PVP mode when the reincarnators entered the dungeon. And in PVP, attacking the opponent doesn't deduct SAN points, but it can still reduce the opponent's SAN points!
Some items can only be used by members of the same class, while others can be used by members of any class. Furthermore, SAN points can be traded via the watch. Under these circumstances, it will be difficult to avoid infighting among reincarnators in the future. This is especially true once he returns to the real world.

Then, another prompt appeared before my eyes:

"Reward Two: Gain the opportunity to learn and unlock the Hunting Cursed Blade"

Then, the boss stared at Jiang Jin and said, "I knew I hadn't misjudged you. You really are not of this world."

Jiang Jin was not surprised by his words. As expected of an NPC, he could tell at a glance that I was not human... oops, not from this world.

"We are destined to meet, so I will teach you some real skills."

Jiang Jin was overjoyed! The most important thing was about to happen!

He can finally... learn to activate the Bloodstalker's "Hunter's Blade" ability!

What does it mean once you learn the Hunter LV1 Bloodstalker's Hunting Blade ability and combine it with this boning knife?
This means that he will no longer need any resentment moss ointment, and he can kill ghosts without losing any SAN value!
Choose the Hunter class...

This is the moment we've been waiting for!

More importantly, during that brief time in the elevator, when Jiang Jin reviewed the description of the Hunter's Blade ability on the Reincarnator's watch, what captivated him most was—

The Hunting Blade is the awakening of the hunter's own hunting instincts!
Once he learns it, even without activating Hunter Vision and without Deathstroke nearby, he can instantly awaken his hunting instincts and hunt prey when ghosts approach him!
this--

That's what makes someone a "hunter"!
(End of this chapter)