Chapter 505 Seventy-Two Changes! Let The Loans Fly Just For A While
The effect of the disguise was abnormally powerful, as it apparently modified one’s biological form completely.
Regardless of whether the creature lost its mark or died, the demon race creature still did not reveal its true form and remained in its dwarven form.
Even so, the corpse of Harl the dwarf was fairly simple to dispose of since the dwarf was dead and no longer a living being. As Su Mo focused mentally, ten Disaster Points were expended. The storage space flashed and opened, and the corpse was automatically sucked into an empty barrel.
After getting rid of the corpse, he saw Turner the dwarf, who was still very much occupied with the task of repairing the battery. Seeing this, Su Mo smiled and tiptoed over to the rear of the camp.
His gaze focused once again. The faint blue mark tainted with scraps of flesh appeared in his hand, as the properties panel once again popped out. (Mark of the Impostor (Blue)]
[Description: A low-end deception only deceives the eyes, but a high-end deception deceives the senses. This is a low-end Mark of the Impostor that has been imbued with a certain amount of ??? authority power, which was created using the Old Era Technology. The power contained within is sufficient to disguise the user of the Mark as living beings with a combat power that does not exceed 5. However, please be aware that the user of the Mark needs to load the corresponding template in order for the disguise to take effect. When disguised, if the user’s combat power exceeds 5, the disguise will instantly be dispelled, revealing the user’s true form.]
[Mark Load Limit: Up to a maximum of Level
3]
[Templates Contained: Swift Lizard (Level 1; Combat power: 0.26), Dwarven Craftsman (Level 3; Combat power: 1.29)] [Templates’ Talents]: Swiftness (When disguised as the Swift Lizard, this ability can be activated to provide a temporary speed bonus of 30%. Using this ability will result in a 70% weakened state over the following 24 hours) Chaotic Cloak Hammer (When disguised as the Dwarven Craftsman, this ability can be activated. There will be special effects when striking objects; different forms of objects will grant different effects.)
[Template Conversion Count: 5 times ]
[Template Duration: 4 Days 12 Hours 27 Minutes (Every 100 contribution points will extend this duration by three days. When the number of contribution points decreases to zero, if the user is situated outside their territory, the user will instantly die. If the user is within the territory, there will be a seven-day buffer period. If the user’s wealth level does not exceed 100 points by then, the user will by default be demoted to mercenary status)
(Mark Wealth Level: 560 Contribution Points (Loan: 48000 Contribution Points)] [Mark Fixed Assets: House (Mortgage), Level 5 Thorn Ent Template (68.12%; Mortgage), 18 Mercenaries (Mortgage)] (Template Information Pairing: Swift Lizard – 69.12%; Dwarven Craftsman – 91.79%] (User: Harl (Blue-grade Demon)]
[Comment: Based on the rumors, the all-time top-selling template is not that of the mighty legendary dragon. Instead, a template augmented by a certain succubus takes the unrivaled first place!]
The introduction to the mark was clear and easy to comprehend. Being a long-time gamer, Su Mo immediately understood the usage method of this item from a single glance. “This item can not only change my physical and biological form, but it can also help me acquire the talents and abilities of the enemy to become the perfect spy to steal information and wealth.”
“It can even be used as a bank card to spend and save my own fortune. I can even mess around with financial instruments like loans and mortgages.” “How miraculous indeed.” The blue glow of the mark was gradually fading as it had lost the user it was bound to.
At this rate, the mark would lose its source of power and fuse with the flesh it was on in less than half an hour. Without further ado, Su Mo’s eyes once again refocused, as an upgrade panel popped out. [First upgrade method: Decrypt the usage authority on the Mark of the Impostor and alter the binding to another host. Note: After this upgrade, there is a probability of the host being spied on by an enemy with a higher level mark. Extremely risky. 6900 survival points required.) [Second upgrade method : Disconnect the usage authority on the Mark of the Impostor. The new host of the mark can use it without changing the name and the identity of the previously-bound host. Note: After this upgrade, this mark will be unable to connect with the authority power of other marks. The assets and contribution points within this mark will be locked. Once this mark is connected to a mark adapter in the territory of the demon race, there is a high probability of the host being discovered. Moderately risky. 11200 survival points required.]
(Third upgrade method: Replace the usage authority. Change the bound host to the new host. Note: After this upgrade, the new host can reset ten of the usage authority options, and will be able to inherit the previous host’s identity. Zero risk. 21900 survival points are required.)
There were pros and cons to all three options.
Regarding the first option, Su Mo would spend the least and still acquire all the usage authority. Unfortunately, the trade-off was that he would have to bear a relatively high risk.
For the second option, he could still acquire the usage authority to a certain extent. The cost was moderate, and it seemed to be a cost-effective option on the surface.
As for the last option, Su Mo checked the balance of his survival points. Willingly, he immediately spent a whopping 21900 points and selected the third option. Su Mo intended to infiltrate the demon race to earn more profits and acquire more marks to equip the villagers. Therefore, it was necessary for him to choose the option that offered the most stability.
The dwarf, Harl, currently shouldered a debt of nearly fifty thousand contribution points.
If he chose either of the first two options to infiltrate the enemy, he would be in trouble if the debtors came looking for him.
Su Mo watched as his survival points balance plummeted to 2250 points. A green light shone forth and modified the mark. Then, he closed the system panel with his heart aching due to the meager amount of points he had left.
Thankfully, the green light upgraded and optimized the mark. The blue glow once again shone, and even appeared slightly brighter than before. This consoled Su Mo and made him feel slightly better.
After forty seconds, the upgrade was complete.
He followed the binding method that Harl had explained earlier and drew a dagger from the side of his thigh. On his skin, which was as tough as cowhide, Su Mo slit a wound that was a foot long.
As the blood started to gush out, he quickly took the mark with bits of flesh on it and quickly pressed it against the wound.
Wah!
A miraculous sight happened!
The instant the mark came in contact with the wound, smoke seemed gushed out from it —similar to the meat putty at the center of the camp.
A brilliant ray of light emerged. Like a swimming fish, the mark dug its way into Su Mo’s body. Next, after three or four seconds, the wound naturally recovered. On the surface of the skin where the wound was, a mark identical to one on Harl the dwarf began to slowly emerge.
Su Mo watched as the mark transformed until it was completely bound to him. Although he had experienced much of the world, Su Mo still felt as if the doors to a new world were now open.
There was a time when humankind dreamt of being the eagles that soared freely in the sky.
They had dreams of becoming fish, and swimming into the depths of the ocean. The shrimps and fishes of the ocean would play with them.
They had dreams of being a ferocious tiger, prowling through the jungles.
In a sense, the Mark of the Impostor could be upgraded continuously and more templates could be acquired.
This ability was overpowered and no weaker than the famous Huaxian legend of the ‘Seventy-Two Changes’!
Fundamentally speaking, in theory, if one could understand the working principle behind it and acquire all the authority power within, mass-replicate it for all humans, and load them with suitable templates… Without a doubt, all humans could transform into “Ultramans” or even “Gundams”. “Now that I think of it, in the training ground function that the system provided, there were indeed options to transform into Ultraman, the golden-horned beast, Yinglong, and Fire Unicorn. But the price back then was too expensive, so I ignored it after a single glance.” “Could it be that these things truly exist?” Su Mo pondered briefly over the time when he had glimpsed the variety of options in the system’s training ground function. He began to associate them with the ability of the Mark of the Impostor. In his heart, Su Mo had several faint doubts.
However, after considering that each of those options would easily cost over billions of survival points, Su Mo shook his head and smiled as he held back that frivolous thought. The next instant, the blue mark’s energy erupted as a formless body of light emerged and enveloped Su Mo.
Su Mo was wrapped in the light for ten seconds.
After ten seconds, emerging from the body of light, Su Mo, whose height had been well over 1.9 meters, shrunk rapidly to 80 centimeters in an instant.
Then, the defined angles of his face began to fade slowly as features of Harl the dwarf quickly replaced it. Without these two characteristics, the cold demeanor that lingered around Su Mo began to dissipate quickly.
Gradually, the body of light dispersed. Even without a mirror, Su Mo could deeply feel the immense changes within his body.
“Cough, cough. Hello. I am…”
Su Mo could not help but laugh even before he finished speaking. His voice had completely transformed into the slightly hoarse voice of Harl the dwarf.
His unrepressed laughter immediately shocked Turner, who had been working hard all this while.
“Harl, is the collector back to normal?” Now wearing a slightly wrinkled dwarf’s vest, Su Mo shook his head as he walked out from the rear of the camp to where Harl had previously stood. Loudly, he replied to Turner, “No. But we don’t need to collect any more information. This is enough!”
“Ah?”
The huge contrast between the former and the latter sentences stumped Turner, who was still inside the tent.
However, Su Mo did not give Turner a chance to reply. He stood next to the collector and, based on the information Harl had provided him previously, Su Mo ‘adeptly’ switched off the collector.
The information collection progress indicator paused and was stuck at the 82% mark. Moreover, the fog column in the sky instantaneously lost its source of energyand sustenance.
Like a dissipating mist, the fog dispersed and scattered into the skies when the wind blew past.
“Was it a success?”
The same question appeared in the minds of different people in two different places; Chen Shen and the few others who were collecting the fog in one location, and Turner the excited dwarf in the other location.
However, the similarity between the two was that their question was left unanswered.
The atmosphere was dead silent other than the drizzling rain that fell outside the territory. It was a fitting lonely atmosphere given the current situation. “There’s no need to gather anymore information. Even if we exhaust all our resources, we still won’t be able to collect more than 90%. It’s better if we stop now and save some of our capital.”
Unlike the previous arrogance of Harl the dwarf, the same words uttered by Su Mo did not harbor any shade of pretentious authority. In contrast, his words were filled with an endless sense of self-confidence.
It was as if the words he had uttered were the truth of the heavens! Turner, who had just stepped out of the tent, was stunned by this sudden change. The complaints he had when he saw the progress of the information collection were immediately swallowed back into his throat.
Absent-mindedly, he murmured, “82%, this amount of information is not valuable at all. A simulation degree of eighty percent is too low. Any flaws can easily be noticed by examining the details. Using it is too risky.”
“No one will bet their lives on such a simulation template. The risk is too high.”
“No, it’s enough!”
Once again, Su Mo interrupted Turner. Nimbly, he climbed onto the collector where the meat putty was contained. He grinned and laughed. “Turner, the value of our information is not decided by the percentage of our information collection. Even if the information collection progress reached 100%, the selling price would not be decided by that 100%.”
“You don’t do business like this. Just rest assured and watch as I sell this information for a sky-high price!”
Did he change? Or did he not?
As the dwarf ‘Su Mo’ unplugged the collector, Turner stared blankly before cautiously taking two steps backward.
Next, as Su Mo was buried in his work, Turner gently placed his finger on his mark and slowly rubbed it. The area around his throat began to contract and vibrate.
“Harl, Harl, is that you?”
As the marks connected, the blue mark on Su Mo’s neck throbbed. A formless connection had extended through the void and linked itself with Su Mo’s mark.
Su Mo lifted his head and saw the dread-filled face of Turner. He did not immediately reply. Instead, he mirrored Turner and pressed his finger onto his mark.
“What’s the matter?”
It was apparent that the nervousness on Turner’s face dissipated at Su Mo’s reply. “You nearly scared me to death. Why are you like this? I thought you were possessed by someone else.”
“Why? Don’t tell me you were worried about me?”
Turner shook his head with a smile. “Not at all. I was worried that if you were gone, I’d be the only one left to pay back the forty-eight thousand loan.” It was unspoken but, between the two brothers, given Harl’s previous attitude and his irritable temper, Turner’s heart had teemed with resentment and grumbling. He simply could not grasp why Harl would mortgage the only inheritance left to them by their parents in exchange for contribution points to purchase these useless dwarven craftsmen identity templates.
Even more so, he could not understand why Harl simply could not calm down and think whenever something bad happened. Harl was always like a cranky idiot-unleashing his temper onto everyone and everything around him.
However, now seeing “new Harl” that stood on top of the collector and the smile on his face, he could not bring up even a trace of his resentment, because this scene reminded him of…
The shared blood that flowed through their veins!
This was the brother that Turner knew. After their parents ‘left’, this was the brother that had confidently vowed to reach the apex of the demon race. “A mere forty-eight thousand is not worth mentioning. As long as we use these identities well, not only will we pay back our debts, we will even buy back the Thorn Ent template.”
“Perhaps, we could even…”
Nonchalantly, Su Mo took a glance in the direction of the territory. He sealed his lips, but there was happiness inside.
“Perhaps what? Don’t leave me hanging!”
While he was curious about his brother’s sudden change, Turner did not find it out of the ordinary.
This did not just stem from the unwavering trust the demon race had in their marks, but more so from the promise of future wealth and power!
The moment Turner heard that their debts could be repaid and they could even buy back the Thorn Ent template, no matter how much he suppressed his emotions, the excitement in his heart simply could not be contained. “Follow and work with me first. When we return to our territory and earn some money, I’ll let you know what our next step is.” “Our demon race’s method of earning money by selling these identity templates is too slow and outdated. If we want to get rich quick, and if we want to change our status, we need to use a few… tricks!”
He pointed to the territory, and a streak of horror emerged on Turner’s face. Seeing this, Su Mo shook his head and leapt off the collector.
Earlier, the mass of flesh had abruptly erupted into a frenzy. The principle behind this was simple. Su Mo had added a tiny amount of psychic energy water to the meat putty that was generating the fog column, which restored the energy and nutrients levels of the meat putty. Now, the energy from the psychic energy water had basically been fully absorbed. The meat putty had calmed down and stopped proliferating madly. Instead, it lazily adjusted its body and began to enter a dormant state.
“Harl, why don’t we go back and sell off the information collector’s parent vessel. I feel as if the orange color it has now is way better than when we bought it!” “Look at the quality of the meat. It’s so tender. There’s even a trace of a pink hue in its redness. This is a sign that it’s evolving to the third tier!”
“If we can get this thing to evolve to the third tier, we won’t have to worry about a hundred thousand loan, much less a forty-eight thousand loan!”
Astounded by the parent vessel in the collector, Turner’s face was flustered with excitement.
There was still a distance from the second-tier parent vessel evolving to the third tier. However, once there were signs of growth into the next tier, the five thousand selling price could easily be doubled to ten thousand.
Once it reached the third tier, it could even be sold for a whopping fifteen hundred thousand!
“No no no, Turner, you’re wrong.”
In the distance, the mercenaries had begun to return anxiously. At the sight of this, Su Mo shrugged his shoulders and placed his right hand on the collector.
“This thing here, can it be used to earn contribution points?”
Turner nodded his head. “Yes, but the risk is too high.” Hearing his response, Su Mo pointed with his left hand at the mercenaries. “Those people… can they earn contribution points?”
Turner continued to nod his head. “Yes, but they earn far too little.” “If we collude with the king of humans, Su Mo, to deceive and scam others, can we earn more that way?”
Su Mo slapped the surface of the collector, which frightened Turner. Seeing the dwarf tremble, Su Mo let out a loud laugh.
“Don’t worry, the loan belongs to Harl the dwarf. It has nothing to do with me, Harl the human.”
“So, why don’t we let the loans fly for just a little while”
