Unholy Player-Chapter 71: Spark detected

[Talent Recognition: "Tracking (Lv2)" confirmed.]

– Talent has been identified based on precise tracking, terrain awareness, and consistent movement without detection.

[Talent Recognition: "Throwing (Lv2)" confirmed.]

– Talent has been identified based on calculated targeting, rapid execution, and repeated successful elimination of distant targets.

- Proceed with registration to the Status Panel?

- Cost: 10 Energy per talent

- Reward: 10 Free Stat Points per talent

Adyr said yes and confirmed, allowing the system to register the talents. As the energy drained from him once more, he gained 20 free stat points.

He distributed them according to his current needs, then opened his stat panel to review the updated values.

[Name]: Adyr

[Race]: Dawn Human

[Path]: Primora

[Evolution Step]: 1

[Physique]: 20

[Will]: 9 → 15

[Resilience]: 6 → 14

[Sense]: 4 → 10

[Energy]: 20 / 139 → 0 / 159

[Registered Talents]: 9/10

[Observer] Lv2, [Tracking] Lv2, [Throwing] Lv2, [Stealth], [Cooking], [Linguistic], [Trapper], [Tactician], [Butchering]

[Sparks]: 0/5

[Sanctuary]: Dawn Land

[Free Stat Points]: 0

Adyr felt the astronomical shift in his body and savored every bit of it, reminding himself not to get carried away, not to fall into the trap of power hunger.

He had distributed his stat points based on the lessons learned from his last battle. First came [Resilience] and [Will], both crucial for survival and escaping danger. [Resilience], in particular, would help mitigate the debuffs Spark abilities tended to inflict on the body.

Alongside them, [Sense] was essential—especially in a situation like this.

With his enhanced perception, he turned his gaze back to the tree, now searching for the details he had missed before.

This time, he noticed something unusual. As sunlight touched the bark, subtle distortions shimmered across the surface—small fractures forming at the point of contact. The trunk, branches, and leaves all bore a faintly unnatural quality, as if rendered with low-resolution textures from a poorly optimized game.

Between the branches, something else caught his eye.

Relying on his increased stats, he stepped closer. The shape became clearer.

He still couldn’t make out its features. It was obscured by the same strange light distortions and graphical blur. But from its general outline, it resembled a monkey—or perhaps a sloth-like creature.

Just then, a system message appeared, confirming what he had discovered.

[Spark detected]

[Name] Hollow Mimic

[Path] Aether

[Rank] 2

[Ability] Reality Shear / False Nest

Description: Hollow Mimics are born between physical and spiritual reality, but they primarily reside within the spiritual realms they shape into their homes. Though typically lazy and motionless by nature, their feeding habits force them into periodic movement. Their nourishment comes from reality itself, consumed slowly as they erode fragments of the world around them. This gradual decay makes them exceptionally difficult to detect or capture. They are particularly drawn to vivid, scenic environments—fruit-bearing trees, flowing rivers, waterfalls, and small mountains are among their favorite meals.

Ability—Reality Shear/False Nest: Hollow Mimics are born with the innate ability known as Reality Shear, which allows them to consume fragments of existence itself. As they feed, this ability tears at the fabric of reality, fragmenting the environment around them. The resulting distortion affects not only the terrain but also nearby living creatures, disrupting their perception and causing varying degrees of reality disintegration depending on exposure.

As nomadic Sparks, Hollow Mimics carry their homes with them—dimensional spaces formed from the broken remnants of consumed reality. These shifting shelters exist between the physical and spiritual planes, serving as both habitat and defense mechanism. Any attempt to reach the Mimic must first pass through this unstable, semi-illusory domain.

As Adyr read the description, his brows furrowed in thought.

This is going to be a difficult problem.

He drew a throwing knife from his belt and hurled it at the Hollow Mimic’s translucent body. As expected, the blade cut through the air and passed straight through, embedding itself in the tree trunk behind, without causing the creature any harm.

Clearly, the Spark wasn’t currently anchored in the physical world. Damaging its body with conventional, physical objects was impossible.

As Adyr considered his options, he noticed something odd. The throwing knife he had tossed earlier was now gradually turning translucent. It looked as if the Mimic was consuming the knife’s reality, fragment by fragment.

That gave him an idea.

He reached for one of the flash bombs he had recently purchased. Pulling the pin, he silently counted backward in his head, timing it precisely before throwing it toward the Mimic. He shut his eyes just as the small explosion cracked through the air.

When he opened them again, the creature was gone.

"Where did it go?" Adyr muttered, taking a step back as he scanned his surroundings.

As long as a threat remained in sight, he could manage. But once it slipped out of view, the real danger began. Still, for now, there was nothing immediately hostile.

Looking beneath the tree, he noticed a strange disturbance in the grass. As he examined it more closely, he realized it was the Hollow Mimic’s body.

"You’re not the only one who gets in trouble because of gluttony," Adyr said with a quiet laugh, cautiously approaching.

He knew the Mimic fed by devouring reality itself, and the part about its preference for scenic environments had caught his attention. That detail had sparked a thought: what would happen if it tried to consume something chaotic and unstable?

Apparently, trying to swallow the sudden burst of light had overwhelmed it. The Spark now lay motionless, as if knocked out by a spiritual case of food poisoning.

As Adyr approached, the Hollow Mimic’s body began to take on a more visible and physical form. With its consciousness lost, it had started drifting out of the spiritual realm it called home. Eventually, it fully returned to the physical world.

It was surprisingly small—no larger than a human head—covered in vibrant, multicolored feathers. Aside from that, its body bore a striking resemblance to a monkey.

Once Adyr confirmed the Spark no longer posed a threat, he grabbed it by the neck and lifted it. But just as he did, a system message appeared, bringing a new problem to mind.

[You have captured a rank 2 Spark. Begin subduing process?]

– Cost: 100 Energy

"How am I supposed to contain this thing?"

He didn’t have sufficient energy or enough energy crystals at the moment. Still, he considered temporarily sealing the Spark’s ability by channeling his own energy, just as he had done with the Null Maggot. But before attempting it, he needed to be certain it would work.

He pulled a length of rope from his belt, tying its arms and legs before blindfolding it to restrict its vision. Then he waited, prepared for whatever would happen when it regained consciousness.