Universe Infinite Canteen

```

Ma Lu, with a last burst of effort, picked up the final meteorite shard by the lakeshore, but his streak of good luck did not continue.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

In the subsequent engraving, he only obtained an extra effect that increased healing skill by 20%, but the problem was that he still engraved it on the Heart of Steel.

And the Hellhound had absolutely no healing skill.

There was nothing to do but wait to replace it later.

With that, Ma Lu had found all four meteorite shards by the lakeshore, and he turned his gaze toward the Circle Mirror Lake in front of him.

According to the Chessboard Map, seven more meteorite shards were located in the lake.

Ma Lu, of course, did not want to let go of these meteorite shards either.

However, collecting them was not as convenient as on the shore, mainly because he lacked a method of transportation that could travel on the lake surface.

Fortunately, this problem was quickly resolved. Bliss Bird suggested suspending the warhorse above Circle Mirror Lake and then sending someone down to retrieve the shards.

And, unsurprisingly, this retrieval task fell to Ma Lu.

This was because his suit of armor had an underwater mode, which could be activated to make it waterproof and provide oxygen sufficient to breathe underwater for 30 minutes.

Ma Lu first steered his flying device above the grid marked with meteorite shards, then tied a rope around his waist and jumped into the water.

He turned on the searchlight on his arm to look for the meteorite shards at the bottom of the lake, and when he found them, he sent a message to the Hellhound. The purple-haired girl would then fish him out of the lake.

Using this method, Ma Lu obtained another four meteorite shards, and just like before, the engraving effects of these four shards were a mixed bag.

The most useful one was the magical silence engraved on the purple-haired girl's Mechanical Arm Universal Enhancement Part.

This added effect gave the Hellhound a 15% chance to inflict a 3-second magical silence on the target with each attack.

However, magical silence was ineffective against Energized Plants, whose skills were not sorcery-driven but more like an innate ability.

Therefore, the Hellhound's magical silence was actually aimed at witches like her, especially when facing magic-focused witch professions like Ouroboros Serpent and Bliss Bird, giving her a crushing advantage.

Another quite decent extra effect was a 20% increase in defensive power.

Unfortunately, this effect was engraved on Bliss Bird's [Energy Bracelet]. While defense was useful for everyone, it was not a critical need for a healer.

The next two effects were fairly average, one being an increase in accuracy, which was even less useful for a healer, and the other was a halving of damage taken from electric attribute attacks.

This latter effect was also engraved on the Hellhound's Mechanical Arm Enhancement Part.

With this, all of Ma Lu's purple equipment had been engraved once, with some extra effects being exceptionally good, and others not meshing well with the user.

To replace those mismatched extra effects, Ma Lu turned his attention back to the remaining three meteorite shards.

These three meteorite shards were also the most difficult to obtain of all the meteorite shards near Circle Mirror Lake, not only because they were at the bottom of the lake but also because there were quite a few Energized Plants nearby.

Yes, that's right—there are indeed Energized Plants in lakes, and their name is—Puppet Lotus Root.

Ma Lu quite liked eating lotus root, especially in the summer. He would stir-fry lotus root slices in water, add vinegar and sesame oil along with chili oil, and simply toss them for a delicious treat.

```

```

However, the lotus roots in this dimension are no easy pickings, although they are only 2-star ingredients, their sheer number is overwhelming.

Ma Lu glanced over the Chessboard Map and judged by the density of those red dots that the number of Puppet Lotus Roots in Circle Mirror Lake had already surpassed a thousand, and most of them were gathered together.

Moreover, the main point is that Circle Mirror Lake is their home turf, and as aquatic plants, they have always lived in the lake, which severely limits the strength of Yun Que and others when in the water.

Ma Lu was still pondering how to obtain the Meteorite Shards from the hands of these Puppet Lotus Roots.

Just then, the expression on Ouroboros Serpent suddenly tightened.

"What's wrong?" Ma Lu followed the girl's gaze and soon noticed a white dot in the distant sky.

"Is that... a pigeon? No, wrong, it looks like a flying machine, similar to ours, another steed."

Ma Lu then realized another Knight was approaching, and it was very possible that this person was the actual one assigned the Collection Task by the Church to gather Meteorite Shards.

Ma Lu opened the mission system and sure enough, the previous Collection Task had disappeared, which meant it had been accepted.

Unfortunately, the Knight on the opposite side was doomed to fail the task, as the Meteorite Shards in this area had already been picked clean by Ma Lu, leaving only three pieces. Even if the newcomer collected all three, they wouldn't meet the minimum requirement to complete the mission.

The guilt-ridden Ma Lu was already thinking about withdrawing, but then he received a communication request.

At the same time, Ma Lu noticed that the opposing steed adjusted its flying direction and sped up, heading their way.

Subsequently, three more communication requests were sent out in quick succession.

Ma Lu realized that running away was probably not an option. Although he had learned to operate the flying machine, he was still a novice and definitely not as good as the professionally trained Knight approaching.

Moreover, escaping now would be too suspicious, and the approaching Knight would likely report to the Church immediately. If that happened, Ma Lu guessed he would have to enter the Tribunal again, and this time it might not be so easy to get away.

After weighing the pros and cons, Ma Lu dismissed the thought of leaving and instead took the initiative to steer his flying machine away from Circle Mirror Lake, landing on the shore.

The opposing steed also landed about a hundred meters away from him.

A Knight clad in full armor, just like him, descended from the machine, accompanied by no fewer than seven Witches.

That Knight was very cautious, having two Witches clear the way in front of him and positioning himself at the rear. He only approached to within twenty meters of Ma Lu before he stopped and introduced himself.

"I am Knight Dulce, number 2729. May I ask who you are...?"

"Knight Xi Mu, number 2915," replied Ma Lu. "May the light of the Master of Order shine eternally upon you, Lord Dulce.

"And may the light of the Master of Order shine eternally upon you, Lord Xi Mu." The opposing Knight eased his tone upon hearing the familiar response, but still did not move any closer, and continued to inquire.

"I sent you a communication request earlier; why did you not accept it?"

"Because the communication device on my steed is broken," said Ma Lu, "We encountered an attack by Energized Plants on landing, including a Sad Onion Head. The battle was fierce, and my steed was affected in the process."

"I see." The opposing Knight looked somewhat more relaxed, taking two steps closer, just when Ma Lu thought he had bluffed his way through.

Dulce went on to ask, "May I inquire why you landed here? Lord Xi Mu, as far as I am aware, the Church did not issue a mission in this vicinity."

```