When evil gods hold a meeting in my head

Richard stared at the pile of old newspapers in the corner and suddenly noticed a charred bullet hole there! Although no bullet had been fired, it had still caused real damage! He fired another shot, and another bullet hole appeared where he had aimed.

The bullet holes he saw were not an illusion!

"It seems to have worked out."

He silently put away the pistol! The gun in his hand turned back into purple mist and flowed back into the ring.

Good! Now you finally have some ability to protect yourself.

Richard looked at the ring on his hand, recalling the stranger's dying eyes and Edmund's lightning-fast slash... This world was more dangerous than he had imagined.

But at least, he's not completely defenseless now!

Before he could even fully bask in his excitement, he suddenly remembered something—he should go back! What if that body was still lying in the gallery? Who knew what unspeakable things someone might do to his body!

Suddenly, he felt a chill of fear... Richard paused for a moment, then asked the entity within him, "Could you help me go back...?"

Try it yourself...

[One favor is enough! You are now a half-step first-ring puppeteer, you should learn to control your own entry and exit.]

What should I do myself...? Should I control the magic and let it flow through my body? Richard closed his eyes and tried to feel the ring, but the fog in his mind was thicker than before, completely obscuring the ring, and he couldn't see anything.

"No...it's all fog," Richard complained.

We'll clear the fog for you, and you can handle the rest yourself.

Hmm...that makes some sense, let's do it!

As soon as the voice inside him finished speaking, Richard felt a chilling magic surging from the depths of his mind!

The magic was surrounded by a faint, almost invisible green light. Where the green light passed, it emitted a chilling sensation. This green light was invisible and intangible, but it just happened to dispel the mist that was obscuring the ring!

After the fog dissipated, Richard finally saw the ring clearly... It was suspended in the middle of the darkness, its entire body silver-white and its edges engraved with fine patterns.

Around the ring... there were six evenly distributed gaps, all the same size and similar in shape, as if waiting for something to fill them! And in one of the gaps was a ball of jet-black "Dread Undead" potion! It was embedded in the gap perfectly!

[Did you see that? There are six gaps in the ring, each gap representing a ring. Each time you fill in a gap, you gain the power of one more ring. That black thing is the "Fearful Undead" you just ingested.]

Richard stared at the inky black mass and asked, "Could it be that the so-called Three-Ring Knights are the extraordinary beings who filled the three gaps?"

You guessed half right; what you said isn't entirely wrong, but it's not entirely correct either...

However, you don't need to worry about that... In short, each stage requires a corresponding potion, and each potion needs time to be digested. What I can tell you is... some people stay stuck at the second stage their entire lives, some lose control and fall into the abyss at the third stage, and some make it all the way to the sixth stage.

Richard smacked his lips...

He stared at the ring for a while, then suddenly felt a suction force coming from the center of the ring—not a real suction force, but a kind of…guidance. It was as if something was telling him how to get back.

He closed his eyes, following the suction.

When he opened his eyes again, he was already lying in Naansanho's lounge.

The ceiling was still the same ceiling, the sunlight was still the same sunlight, and the sofa was still the same sofa. He looked down at himself—he was wearing his own clothes, but his right hand was empty.

The ring is not there.

Just as he was about to speak, a snap of fingers rang in his mind.

Snapped.

With a slight dip in his right hand, the ring was slipped back onto his middle finger.

Richard twirled his ring and breathed a sigh of relief.

He sat up, leaned back on the sofa, and began to recall the appearance of the ring he had just seen. Six gaps, one of which was filled. He was now a first-ring puppeteer, able to freely enter and exit that body, able to use magical "projections" to spy on others, and able to modify the ring into a gun.

But there are still so many things I don't understand—what exactly is that body? Where did the medal go? Why was Alice there?

As he was thinking, the door was suddenly pushed open.

Nolan walked in, holding a rolled-up newspaper, his gaze sweeping around the room before finally settling on him.

"Where did you go just now?" she asked.

Richard was stunned for a moment: "What?"

"I've been looking for you for a while." Nolan walked over and put the newspaper on the table. "I've searched the entire gallery, and I asked Edmund, but they both said they haven't seen you."

Richard opened his mouth, unsure how to answer.

He was just in another body, in a rented room a few blocks away. But he couldn't say that.

"I..." he paused, "and took a nap here."

Nolan stared at him for a moment, a hint of suspicion in his eyes: "I was here ten minutes ago, and there was no one here."

Richard fell silent.

It turned out to be the case.

When he switched to that body, that body was in a state of...being unobservable? Nolan came here ten minutes ago and didn't see him, which means that this body wasn't here at the time, or it was here but couldn't be seen?

What if someone had touched him at that time? Could they have touched him? Or would they have just walked right through him?

He didn't know. Nor did he dare to try.

"I probably just got back when you went looking elsewhere," Richard said, trying to sound casual. "I was half asleep and didn't hear the knocking."

Nolan glanced at him again, but this time didn't press the matter. She walked to the worktable and began rummaging through something, muttering, "Naansanho asked me to get a scarf, but I don't know where I put it..."

Richard leaned back on the sofa, watching her back as he pondered the question from earlier.

When switching between two bodies, what is the state of the absent body? Does it disappear? Is it invisible? Or is it lying there like a vegetable, just invisible to others?

If it's the latter, what if someone runs into him...?

He dared not think any further.

"Found it." Nolan pulled a dark gray cashmere scarf from the closet, draped it over his arm, and turned to look at him. "By the way, Naansanho said he has something to tell you."

Richard sat up straight: "What is it?"

"I don't know." Nolan shrugged. "She just told me to tell you to go see her. You can ask her for details yourself."

Richard nodded and stood up.

Nolan walked to the door, then suddenly turned back: "By the way, how did your potion digest? Are you feeling any discomfort?"

"It's alright," Richard said, "just a little tired."

"It's normal." Nolan pushed open the door. "You'll be fine after a couple of days of rest. If you feel dizzy or nauseous, remember to come see me."

The door closed.

Richard stood in the lounge, staring at the door for a while. Then he looked down at the ring on his hand; a purple light slowly flowed across its surface, and the dark red at the edge was a little deeper than before.

What does Naansanho want with him?