Luminous Armor and the Mysterious Stone

Curiosity can kill. The moment Evan Yang touched the stone, all the blood in his body rushed into his fingertip. Even if he wanted to pull away, it was already too late.

Just like the first time, his blood surged wildly, but this time it was even scarier. Evan thought it would pass, but after fifteen minutes, it still hadn't stopped—his face had turned almost completely pale.

"Could it be that the bigger the stone, the more blood it needs?" Evan finally couldn't hold on and passed out.

The stone in his hand fused into Evan's body, and the bleeding stopped. Only then did the Heaven‑Cold Seed inside him slowly begin to heal his wounds.

When Evan woke up again, he felt sore all over, and his vision had widened. Looking around, he realized the stone had disappeared.

"If this keeps happening, I'm never touching one again." Evan nearly died here and wasn't even sure if he had succeeded just now.

Curious, he searched deep into his mind but found nothing.

"What? Don't tell me it's gone." Evan muttered in frustration. He hadn't expected that even the original small stone would disappear.

Although he had no idea what that strange stone was, he knew it was definitely something extraordinary. Unwilling to give up, he kept searching. In the end, he closed his eyes and focused on summoning the stone.

As soon as he tried to summon it, Evan suddenly felt his whole body tense up, and his spiritual power began draining rapidly.

Startled, Evan Yang opened his eyes and found himself wrapped in something. Shocked, he quickly used his divine sense to check what was enveloping him.

The moment he checked, he was terrified—all over, he was encased in that same strange stone from before, unable to move at all.

"This isn't fair!" Evan muttered in panic. With the sudden appearance of this thing, his spiritual power drained rapidly. In just a few breaths, he felt completely emptied. Only when his urgent breathing sounded did his spiritual power finally run out, and the stone layer disappeared.

Seeing the stone vanish, Evan gasped, "What—what is going on here?"

Thinking it over, he took out the Spirit‑Draining Box and absorbed the spiritual power he had stored inside, restoring his body to normal.

"Should I try again?" Evan really wanted to figure out what was going on, so he closed his eyes and tried to sense the connection to the stone just like before.

After summoning it, the stone appeared around Evan again, wrapping him up just like before. He was shocked until, after a few breaths, he replenished his spiritual power and muttered, "What is this, anyway?"

Unable to figure it out, Evan wanted to understand what the stone layer actually did. So he entered the Tower and found Winter.

He said to Winter, "Wait a moment. Watch me and see what happens to my body."

Winter looked at Evan in confusion, not knowing what he was up to. Even Sprig stared at Evan with curiosity.

When the stone appeared around Evan, Winter was terrified. "Where did you go?" she cried.

"I'm right in front of you," Evan replied, seeing Winter's expression and hearing her words. It was as if he had vanished.

"No, there's nothing here at all!" Winter could only hear his voice but couldn't see him, which startled her.

Even Sprig, watching from the side, had his fur stand on end, as if sensing something dangerous.

When Evan released the stone after a few breaths, he gasped, "You really didn't see me?"

Seeing Evan reappear, Winter nodded. "Yeah, it was like you suddenly disappeared. It scared me."

Evan looked at Winter and the still-confused Sprig, realizing that the stone layer gave him invisibility. Before absorbing these stones, everything was blurry, but now that they're fused, others can't see him at all.

This discovery thrilled him, but there was one flaw: it consumed spiritual power too quickly. While inside the stone, he couldn't move, absorb spiritual power, or use the Spirit‑Draining Box. Only after the layer disappeared could he use them again.

Other than that, the stone didn't really have any drawbacks.

Still, Evan wanted to test what other abilities it might have, so he said goodbye to Winter and went to find the mid‑stage Out‑of‑Body Strange Fiend.

"What trick did you come up with today?" Every time the Strange Fiend saw Evan Yang, it was as if Evan had something new going on, always leaving him shocked. Sometimes he was just jealous—why couldn't he have such luck?

Evan just smiled. "Just follow my instructions in a moment."

"What instructions?" the Strange Fiend asked, confused.

"Just listen." Evan smiled. Once he'd replenished his spiritual power, he activated the stone armor again. As expected, the Strange Fiend was startled, looking around in shock. "Where did you go?"

"I'm right where I was. Hurry up—try attacking the spot where I was just standing." Evan wanted to test the stone's defensive abilities, so he had the Strange Fiend try it out.

The Strange Fiend, confused by Evan, could only attack the empty space in front of him.

Suddenly, the Strange Fiend cried out. Blood appeared on his hand—he felt as if he'd struck something incredibly hard, like stone.

Evan reappeared, smiling at the Strange Fiend. "Are you alright?"

"What are you doing? What blocked me just now?" the Strange Fiend asked, baffled.

"Heh, just an experiment." Evan knew nobody could see him, so he explained, but they couldn't understand. He just smiled, replenished his spiritual power, and healed the Strange Fiend's hand before saying goodbye.