Apocalypse Forecast

When one raven begins the chant of the sacred hymn, the other ravens can’t help but join in excitedly, shouting along.

The immense noise made Huai Shi’s ears ache.

Alright, confirmed, still the same old parrot, just with two loudspeakers now.

Huai Shi reached out, picked one up, and examined it curiously, squeezing its neck, spreading its wings, pulling its claws for close study.

Couldn’t feel the heat from the firelight.

That was a projection formed by source burning, which wouldn’t really set anything alight.

Despite the flame, its weight increased by about seven or eight kilograms, and its size grew larger. However, it hadn’t sprouted any tentacles or indescribable appendages.

It seems… not much has changed, except that the art style increasingly leans towards Cybertron.

”What the heck? I don’t remember feeding you guys any of that weird spark stuff.”

While Huai Shi was puzzled, he heard a crisp sound coming from within the Buried Sacred Place.

It was as if an invisible eggshell shattered.

Suddenly, within Huai Shi’s body, the Buried Sacred Place inside the stigma opened wide. The rolling darkness coursed along the stigma’s veins throughout his body, ubiquitous…

In an instant, it covered him from the inside out.

In that darkness, the miracle belonging to the Soloist grew and spread vigorously, amazingly permeating everywhere until it completely merged with Huai Shi’s soul, making them an inseparable whole.

Huai Shi experienced an illusion.

Wherever the power of the stigma passed, his body melted and evaporated rapidly like ice and snow under the sun, disintegrating and dissolving.

Ultimately, Huai Shi’s physical body vanished from this world.

What remained was a pure and unblemished outline of darkness, a container imbued with serene vitality, a vessel for the stigma.

This was an illusion.

It’s the illusion that occurs when the flesh gradually merges with the soul and the stigma, becoming indistinguishable, part of the miracle.

Huai Shi was quickly etherizing.

In just a few moments, the progress surged to over ninety percent!

Once complete etherization is achieved, some sublimators can transform their entire body into source substance and then reshape it. Despite some limitations, they can mend critical damage.

You could say there are no weaknesses of ordinary people anymore.

And this frightening progress could only mean one thing,

”Have I become the owner of the group?”

Huai Shi was incredulous.

Suddenly, he had become the official leader of a great mob.

It’s the only reasonable explanation.

At the moment the Candle-Holding Crows broke their shells, the Celestial Inquiry Repository of the Soloist began to take shape— the ravens of the Dream Cage officially became a Hell swarm.

Under the control of the Soloist’s stigma, the undisputed leader of the swarm was Huai Shi himself,

Now, the burning iron crows before Huai Shi were the ’Naming Givers’ in this Hell swarm, the first to welcome metamorphosis.

Through Nibelungen, Huai Shi imparted to them the subordinate stigma derived from his own Heavenly Inquiry Route, essentially no different from the way the Element of Destructive grants the Hell creatures their designations.

Just from this point, calling the Heavenly Kingdom Genealogy an Abyss Genealogy isn’t without reason— its eerie nature is truly too eerie.

When the Candle-Holding Crows completed their metamorphosis and reached the baseline for an independent swarm, they officially gained the title of Yin Souls.

This comes from the blessing of the Ruler·Sun Caster; the disaster miracle fused with Yin Souls; and after re-casting, becoming the only indigenous species in today’s Town of Dusk, symbolizing the creation crystal of the Forgers’ existence.

All three characteristics of a swarm are completely present.

If they still couldn’t become an official swarm, that would be ridiculous. The current changes are just like the property bureau in Hell finally filing the paperwork, officially recognizing it.

But the problem is... it doesn’t seem like there’s any change.

After his excitement, Huai Shi stroked his chin, deep in thought.

These burning iron crows just keep parroting the sacred hymn, occasionally shouting out their hunger, wanting food... wanting to watch small adult films, without any change, seemingly having bigger appetites!

It was not until they finished eating that big snake leftover from the daytime that they barely filled their bellies.

Now, Huai Shi squatted in front of the ravens, with a kindly smile like a kindergarten teacher, ”Little friends, do you have many questions... Ahem ahem, do you have many talents to showcase? How about performing a show?”

Of course not.

The ravens simply didn’t understand what he was saying, nor what performing a show meant.

A bunch of small heads looked at each other, pondering for a while until two of them stepped forward, as if they intended to do something for Huai Shi!

Huai Shi’s eyes lit up, full of anticipation.

When the first raven raised its head and opened its mouth, it actually uttered sounds other than the sacred hymn!

Although sharp and awkward, it almost brought Huai Shi to tears of joy.

Then, right before Huai Shi, it suddenly shouted.

”...Name?”

???

Huai Shi blinked in confusion, and then another raven chimed in, following like a straight man in a comedic routine, ”Huai Shi!”

”Gender?” the raven asked skillfully again.

”Huai Shi!”

The intelligence of the second crow seemed not quite developed, only capable of repeating those two words.

Then, the first one asked again: ”And your age?”

”Eighteen!”

Oddly enough, this question was answered with great fluency!

Huai Shi turned green with anger. Why didn’t you answer the previous question seriously, damn it!

He waved his hand to stop their ’traditional abilities’ from relaxing further.

Huai Shi began to doubt life.

What kind of calamity did I raise here?

They even start persecuting me… Poor Mama’s heart is shattered!

He smoked numbly, starting to ponder a serious question: Maybe I should squeeze them all to death and remake them.

As if I never met these heartless bastards…

But in the midst of his contemplation, he saw that the flames on the crow before him began to change.

Like the colorful RGB light pollution sacred light from Lizard Man before, full of special effects, but somehow different.

It started as a hollow pale, then became the deep red of grudge, fiery red of anger, compassionate green, sorrowful black, sorrowful ash-gray… In the end, a sliver of golden sacred light emerged.

As the firelight changed, the source armament within Huai Shi’s body seemed to be responding faintly to them.

Huai Shi thought for a moment, drew the Sword of Virtue, and lightly poked it at the foremost crow.

There was no expected clash of steel.

The Sword of Virtue, like a phantom, penetrated the crow’s shell, and then the burning crows burst forth with sacred, magnificent light, as if to banish the long night, incomparably warm and pure.

In shock and amazement, Huai Shi finally discovered that their attributes and powers could change with the different source substances he infused, even fully blending and utilizing his source weapons’ strength.

That is to say, before him now are nine Axe of Anger, nine Spear of Compassion, nine Hammer of Sorrow... and can casually mix them according to Huai Shi’s commands, expanding their quantity as Huai Shi progresses.

They have already become extensions of Huai Shi’s power and soul, literally, a Hell Swarm that belongs only to Huai Shi!

Just thinking about this made Huai Shi feel like Mama’s heart was melting.

Is this what being a tool person is about? Love it, love it!

Just like this, he spent the night researching the crows’ changes. The next afternoon, he received a call from Amber.

Ah, she changed her number.

Probably the original phone card got crushed too?

”It’s arranged, tonight, the first round.”

Amber’s voice spoke flatly: ”Be careful, his Chef Demon is a registered bartender. It’s okay to lose, just don’t get drunk and streak across the field.”

The call ended.

Huai Shi stared at the number and smiled indulgently.

You Yingzhou people, always so tsundere, even reminders are awkward… Though she’s a pesky sister, being a bit awkward is also cute.

But, just a mere bartender, Amber, what are you so worried about?

He pulled out his phone, opened the Group of Thousands of Evils, and started posting.

[Question: What’s a bartender? Online waiting, quite urgent]

.

.

The first reply was calling the poster a fool.

The second reply was ”You ask me, who do I ask?”

The third reply was offensive, cursing the fishing party and wishing bad luck to Astronomical Society’s lackeys!

As expected, the Group of Thousands of Evils has zero decorum, Huai Shi thoroughly enjoys this place.

Without hesitation, Huai Shi began verbally jousting from the fourth floor, continuing until nearly breaking past the two-hundredth floor, finally someone posted a link to a news article.

E-grade news.

Detailed intelligence on bartenders.

Costing eight hundred, but contained only a few hundred words, finally giving Huai Shi a slight understanding of bartenders, though it didn’t stop him from continuing verbal battles with the third-floor friend past the four-hundredth floor…

Today’s Group of Thousands of Evils’ level of banter has increased too. Congratulations, congratulations.

Simply put, a bartender is a specialized type of Chef Demon verified by the Chef Demon Competition Committee. Just as some Chef Demons excel in desserts, some prefer pasta, others enjoy cooking soup, etc.

A bartender is a Chef Demon specializing in mixing drinks.

While sounding like a tautology, the key point is—any Chef Demon achieving this title is undoubtedly the most directly combat-capable among its peers.

Typically, defeating an enemy with cooking is a pipe dream.

In serious encounters, who gives you enough time leisurely to cook and stew for two hours and sip peacefully?

By then, you would’ve died hundreds of times.

Of course, many Chef Demons are incredibly tough, not needing culinary skills to tackle foes. Like that Russian muscle-tattoo guy Vladimir in this Chef Demon showdown.

With such strength, anything under one punch turns to mud, not to mention many Chef Demons excel in other combat techniques.

Like the Beheading King of Jinling...