"Vega's Highly Concentrated Psionic Crystal: Golden Legend, Skill Stone, Consumable. Usage: Touch to use or use from inventory. Psionic attribute 50 points (max value), requires one empty skill slot. A special product condensed from Vega's psionic shadow energy during his lifetime, it contains Vega's various experiences in psionic usage. However, due to the extremely dominant imprint of Vega's former self, it places very high demands on the user's spirit. Users who do not meet the requirements and use it rashly risk psionic erosion.
If the requirements are met and it is used, the A-rank skill 'Psionic Battle Arts: Shadow' Lv1 will be learned."
This was the first time Cheng Tian had seen a skill stone with such high requirements, but it didn't scare him at all.
Without any hesitation, Cheng Tian's large hand directly covered it. He had an empty skill slot anyway, and he urgently needed combat abilities befitting a psionic specialist. Clearly, nothing was more suitable for him than these Psionic Battle Arts.
The moment his hand touched the "crystal ball," the purple-black psionic energy inside it climbed directly up Cheng Tian's arm, like living venom.
In the blink of an eye, this shadow psionic energy began to spread throughout Cheng Tian's entire body. Simultaneously, purple flames, noticeably darker than Iori Yagami's azure flames, enveloped Cheng in the form of a fiery trench coat.
This was a manifestation of psionic energy transforming into a physical phenomenon, and it was also the "psionic flames" form that Vega habitually used during his lifetime.
But then, this purple-black psionic flame immediately activated Cheng Tian's "Holy Demonic Heart: Demonic Nightmare Form," causing Cheng Tian, and the world highly bound to Cheng Tian's power, to both enter a state of severe Demonic Nightmare erosion, covered by shadows.
"No!"
Cheng Tian's heart jolted. Looking at his rapidly decreasing "Holy Radiance Purification Gauge" and skyrocketing "Demonic Nightmare Erosion Gauge," combined with his current state, he suddenly realized that a major, unforeseen problem had arisen.
The source was Vega's Psionic Battle Arts, which contained extremely strong evil, shadow, and other negative-attributed psionic energy. This intense negative-attributed psionic energy caused the Holy Radiance and Demonic Nightmare opposing dual forms, which should have remained balanced within Cheng Tian's body, to experience a situation where Demonic Nightmare erosion overwhelmingly overshadowed Holy Radiance Purification.
If this continued, skill learning would not fail, and even the Demonic Nightmare Heart form would be strengthened to a certain extent. However, his Holy Radiance Heart form had a very high probability of being suppressed by the stronger Demonic Nightmare, leading to a significant decrease in ability, or even being completely unable to be released!
I might not use the Holy Radiance Heart form, but I absolutely cannot lose it!
This anomaly was truly something Cheng Tian had no defense against. Rather, the fact that a priest system from the Ys series could collide with the psionic battle arts from the Street Fighter series was already a small probability within a small probability!
Even with his soul taken and imprisoned, Vega still caused Cheng Tian a huge problem.
Cheng Tian even had a hallucination of Vega, imprisoned in the Cage of Ghosts and staring wide-eyed at Saúl de la Torre, revealing a healthy smile and gums.
What to do, what to do... Cheng Tian's mind raced, his psionic energy spreading out like ripples, trying to find a possible solution to his problem in his surroundings.
Soon, the entirely darkened Cheng Tian's body paused slightly, then he unhesitatingly charged towards a certain direction in the laboratory. Even the world began violently clearing a path, tearing down its own home.
"Don't follow! Help me manage those people in the cage!"
Cheng Tian's rapidly receding but powerful voice also made Bazett's steps, which were about to follow, stop. She turned to look at the Shadowloo Elite Guards, the Doll Agents, who had been imprisoned earlier.
The stimulating sensation brought by the removal of Vega's psionic erosion also roused the remaining personnel who were still unconscious. They were now clutching their heads, enduring the after-effects of their brainwashing being undone.
On the other side, Utan was somewhat clumsily remote-controlling the Metal Dino Guards, cooperating with the already openly rebellious Maxima to deal with the remaining NESTS members. It even dispatched the more agile Metal Pterodactyls to harass the remaining Shadowloo remnants.
Utan's operating method was, in essence, F2A. It was only responsible for guiding its subordinates to the correct locations; how they fought was entirely up to their built-in combat data to handle on their own.
Although not proficient, with Vega, Bison, and Krizalid having successively fallen, handling the aftermath was not a problem.
The door with the identity recognition device behind it opened. Utan knew without turning that only its boss, Cheng Tian, had this permission. Unexpectedly, the voice arrived before the person.
"Utan! Release the Feng Shui Engine's storage limit!"
Cheng Tian's voice sounded somewhat urgent. Although Utan was puzzled, it complied without question.
With a rapid clatter of keyboard strokes, the eyeball, stored in a nutrient solution and awaiting research, was extracted from the refrigeration machine.
But then, Cheng Tian's actions startled Utan.
Cheng, whose Demonic Nightmare erosion was almost solidified on his body, controlled the world to smash a fist directly, instantly shattering the reinforced glass. Cheng Tian himself, quick as a flash, caught the flowing eyeball, and then—
Cheng Tian actually drilled a finger directly into his own forehead, and after digging out a bloody, gaping hole, he decisively pressed the Feng Shui Engine eyeball directly onto the fresh wound!
In an instant, Cheng Tian's highly mutated and sun-god-gem-shard-devouring prefrontal lobe surprisingly formed a neural connection with the Feng Shui Engine eyeball violently embedded in his forehead.
What followed was a black and white intertwined ink swirl that began to emerge from the bloody eye on Cheng Tian's forehead.
At the same time, the Demonic Nightmare erosion on Cheng Tian's body, which had originally solidified, actually stopped!
No, it didn't just stop; the Demonic Nightmare erosion, with the slow rotation of the black and white ink swirl, flowed back into the Holy Radiance Purification, and the two achieved a harmonious balance.
Concurrently, the Holy Radiance Purification and Demonic Nightmare Erosion bars on the panel, which were originally distinct and displayed separate progress values, gradually transformed into a "Tai Chi diagram"!
And the third eye, which had originally been violently embedded in his forehead, also gained the lifelike agility of a real eyeball.
"You forcibly transplanted the 'Feng Shui Engine (Left Eye)' through violent means— "
"The 'Feng Shui Engine' resonated with your special organ 'Mutated Prefrontal Lobe' and professional skill 'Holy Demonic Heart,' creating a multi-linkage resonance— "
"You lost 'Feng Shui Engine (Left Eye)' and gained a brand new talent — B-rank talent 'Tai Chi True Eye' Lv-."
"You successfully learned a brand new skill — S-rank skill 'Psionic Battle Arts: Origin' Lv1."