Bab 91: Ghost Tree
Point out any errors I made in the chapters, as I'm very lazy and sometimes can't be bothered to reread them. Also, give your opinions on something I should change or add.
Note: I'm not sure how this chapter will look or get posted since I wrote the entire thing on my phone, so there may be some problems with the text or it might look weird, and the amount of errors will probably be greater.
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Suddenly, as Feng pointed towards the group of lizardmen rushing towards him, thick, transparent branches erupted from the ground and penetrated the monsters.
In a moment, the bodies of all the lizardmen below Lord rank shriveled up and turned lifeless as if all of their life force had been absorbed, while the nine Lords and one High Lord seemed to have greatly weakened, their scaly faces turning grayer with each passing second.
Although the lizardmen attempted to slash and cut away at the branches penetrating through their chests, all of the attacks simply passed through the ghostly wood, and they were unable to do anything except futilely struggle in place.
This spectral entity was none other than the Ghost Tree Feng had summoned using the Wraithwood Sigil.
Within a few seconds, all of the lizardmen which had been impaled by the transparent branches turned into corpses. Only the Grand Lord ranked Guardian Boss now remained.
The Lizardman Chief stared ahead with a dumbstruck gaze, completely stumped upon witnessing his subordinates get slaughtered in a matter of moments; and by such an odd opponent no less.
Nonetheless, the Realm Lord lizard quickly recovered and pointed his staff at the giant tree, which was now extending its branches towards the Lizardman Chief after tossing aside the dead lizards still propped up on it like garbage.
Numerous flaming spears shot out towards the transparent tree at a quick speed.
With its massive frame, it wouldn't be possible for the tree to avoid multiple of the flame spears flying at it, but it didn't seem to have a need to.
Waving its thicker branches in front of it, the Ghost Tree blocked most of the flaming spears, while the rest harmlessly flew past it.
Observing from the side, Feng grew impressed by the giant tree's defensive capabilities.
Physical attacks seem to have little to no effect on the Ghost Tree, and even a spell reaching the Tier 4 standard fired out by a Grand Lord ranked Realm Lord like the Lizardman Chief did little damage to the tree's ghostly surface due to its characteristics and Magic Resistance, merely disrupting whatever the Ghost Tree's branches were made of for a moment and causing the parts where the flaming spears had struck it to become a bit more transparent while the Ghost Tree's HP decreased by a bit.
Other than that, the Ghost Tree was undeterred by the Lizardman Chief's offensive, spreading out its thick branches towards the Grand Lord in spite of the lizard outranking it.
An interesting fight then took place as the Lizardman Chief attempted to destroy the Ghost Tree, while Feng's summoned companion deflected most of its attacks and slapped the lizard with the powerful ghostly branches.
The Ghost Tree wasn't coming out unscathed from the exchanges, receiving a good deal of damage when the Lizardman Chief's stronger spells landed on it, but overall, it definitely had the advantage in this fight.
After facing the Ghost Tree's unrelenting barrage of attacks, the Lizardman Chief was beginning to get overwhelmed, and nothing it used seemed to be capable of pushing back its ghostly assailant.
Even when the Lizardman Chief attempted to cast Hell Pythons, the most powerful Spell in his arsenal, the Ghost Tree was able to counter with its own abilities, using its thick branches to render the nine massive fire pythons useless and minimizing the spell's damage.
Eventually, the Ghost Tree critically injured the Lizardman Chief and beat the Realm Lord to near death.
However, instead of finishing off the Grand Lord, the Ghost Tree left it with 1% of its HP.
Once it was on the verge of dying and unable to endure the Ghost Tree's attacks anymore, the Lizardman Chief got wrapped up by its many branches, several of the long transparent extensions piercing into the Grand Lord's body.
Then, the color of the Lizardman Chief's scales started to fade as its body shriveled up. Despite it madly struggling to escape from the Ghost Tree's clutches, the Realm Lord lizard wasn't able to do anything, and soon, its limbs fell lifelessly to the side.
Feng inspected the dried-up corpse of the Guardian Boss following the Ghost Tree dropping it to the ground after it suddenly stopped moving around and stood still peacefully.
The Lizardman Chief's former majestic appearance was no more, only the husk of a two-legged lizard now remaining once the Ghost Tree finished absorbing the Grand Lord's life force.
Meanwhile, after a few moments had passed, the Ghost Tree suddenly started rapidly growing larger. The area occupied by the Ghost Tree's massive frame practically tripled, with the transparent branches stretching out from its trunk growing much thicker and more numerous.
Checking the Ghost Tree's information on the system window which had appeared on his menu after activating the skill, Feng saw that it had evolved into a Grand Lord.
Even at only Great Lord rank, the Ghost Tree had been able to defeat a spellcasting Grand Lord ranked Realm Lord by itself without Feng giving the tree any instructions or commands, only losing around 50% of its HP in the process of overwhelming and absorbing the Lizardman Chief.
Although the Ghost Tree's level had been higher than the deceased Grand Lord's, it was still an impressive feat.
Now that it had become a Grand Lord as well, the Ghost Tree would most likely be able to decimate opponents like the 30th Divine Shrine's Guardian Boss.
"Though, I can't really bring you along with me, can I?" Feng mumbled to himself as he looked at the enormous Ghost Tree taking up most of the cavern's interior.
He had originally simply wished to try out the skill and see what the Ghost Tree was capable of.
But after witnessing it in action and the combat power displayed by the Ghost Tree, Feng wished to work on upgrading its strength so that he could call it out to help him in battles.
As long as he nurtured the Ghost Tree and it progressed through the tiers, Feng could gain a very useful addition to his strength.
A summoning skill like the one provided by the Wraithwood Sigil was especially valuable in places like the Divine Staircase which prohibited the participants from using summoning tools while inside of the Shrines.
Unlike the banned Summoning Scrolls and such methods of bringing in borrowed strength into the Divine Shrines, equipment's skills that summoned beings to help the wielder in fights weren't affected by the restrictions put into place for the Divine Staircase.
After all, a player's equipment and the skills provided were a part of the player's strength, so there was no contradiction in allowing summoning skills to function.
Only, it wasn't really intended for very powerful entities like the Ghost Tree to be partaking in the fights along with the players.
Despite its strength and potential for growth, though, Feng won't be able to completely utilize the Ghost Tree in his journey up the Divine Staircase.
The giant tree was simply too big to be teleported out of the Shrine using the Teleportation Array, not to mention that Feng wasn't sure if he would be able to take the Ghost Tree with him to the next Divine Shrine, and Feng didn't have any other ways to traverse the Shrines on the Divine Staircase.
Hence, although it was a shame considering the Divine Staircase is the perfect place for something like this due to having a system where the enemies grow stronger with each level, he had no choice but to give up on the plan, since he'll have to cancel the Ghost Tree's summoning skill, which had a 24-hour cooldown.
Just as Feng was about to send the Ghost Tree back into the Wraithwood Sigil, however, as if understanding the problem that was troubling him, the transparent tree suddenly motioned with one of its branches to stop Feng.
Following which, the ground beneath the Ghost Tree seemed to stir, as a root much thicker than any of the branches on top of the colossal tree came out and extended to right in front of Feng.
Guessing the tree's intentions, Feng curiously stretched his hand out to meet the thick root.
When his hand and the transparent bark made contact, the entire Ghost Tree shook for a moment, before it seemingly shrunk and got sucked into Feng's hand through the root.
"Did it just...?" Seeing the Ghost Tree's massive frame disappear from the cavern, while also feeling something inside of him, a faint blue glow appeared in Feng's eyes, and he looked inward.
Upon observing his soul, a peculiar scene that at first confused Feng greeted the Swordsman.
As he had expected, the Ghost Tree had entered the space of his soul, with its ghostly roots entering Feng's soul and keeping it in place while the upper part of the tree remained outside on top of his soul's surface.
But that wasn't what caught Feng by surprise.
Instead, it was the apparent standoff between a dark fog radiating of thick Power of Darkness and a chibi Creation Goddess.
The battle between the pitch-black fog that came about from Feng equipping the Moloch's Ring and the Chibi Sharlyn had never stopped during this time, and the two beings had merely paused their exchange of blows after seeing that neither could best the other.
Seeing this fierce impasse between the dark fog and his soul guardian, Feng was reminded of the matters around the Moloch's Ring along with the hidden benefit of receiving Sharlyn's Full Blessing; now not having to worry about his Immortal Soul getting attacked and damaged by an unseen force when Feng wasn't paying attention.
There was also a faint spectral barrier surrounding his soul, further weakening and limiting the pitch-black fog's power. This was one of the effects of the Wraithwood Sigil's Passive Skill Apparition's Blessing, providing Feng a basic defense for his soul.
Since the threat to his soul was handled by the Chibi Sharlyn, Feng didn't concern himself with it, focusing on the Ghost Tree.
Feng still had complete control over the summoned tree and could call it out from his soul whenever he wanted.
The Ghost Tree's abilities once again impressed Feng, not having expected a mere summoned creature could possess such a powerful characteristic, making it possible for the Ghost Tree to be stored within his soul.
Though, it still couldn't remain in existence any longer than the skill allowed it, so the Ghost Tree will get recalled into the Legendary Ornament once its duration ends.
Nonetheless, it was of great help to Feng, and he could now continue climbing up the Divine Staircase while bringing the Ghost Tree along with him.
Once he was assured of his and the Ghost Tree's safety while in this state, Feng left the 30th Divine Shrine and went back to ascending higher.
And indeed, as Feng had speculated, none of the Grand Lord ranked Guardian Bosses after the Lizardman Chief were capable of putting up much of a fight against the Ghost Tree, getting defeated and absorbed by the odd battle companion that Feng had summoned within a short amount of time.
Whenever Feng reached the Divine Shrines' Guardian Bosses, he'd bring out the Ghost Tree from inside his soul and let it deal with the Grand Lord ranked Realm Lords, along with any of the other monsters present, before recalling the apparition back into his soul and going to the next Divine Shrine.
Each time, the Ghost Tree would only beat down its opponents to 1% of their HPs before absorbing them, turning all of the creatures into shriveled-up corpses.
With each Divine Shrine, the Ghost Tree would grow a bit bigger and stronger, becoming more powerful at an obvious rate.
Even when faced with Grand Lord Archaic Species Guardian Bosses, the Ghost Tree still managed to defeat them after a minimal amount of struggle, absorbing all of the Realm Lords from the 30th Divine Shrine to the 39th.
Thanks to all the sacrifices, the Ghost Tree had grown greatly stronger in comparison to its original state when it first evolved into a Grand Lord.
Even the tree's latest opponent, the 39th Divine Shrine's Guardian Boss, which should have been exponentially more powerful than the 35th Shrine's Grand Lord ranked Archaic Species Realm Lord, had been effortlessly outclassed when faced with the Ghost Tree.
Its following food, however, would not be taken down as easily as any of the previous creatures the Ghost Tree had fought with, and the 40th Divine Shrine's Guardian Boss was a Mythic ranked monster.
At least, that's the situation Feng had expected to happen when he put up the Ghost Tree against the Bouncing Knight.
In reality, though, the battle was actually quite anticlimactic, and Feng didn't get to witness the show he had been expecting.
Even though the difference in strength between a Grand Lord ranked Archaic Species monster and a Mythic monster was many times greater than the difference between a Great Lord and a Grand Lord, the Ghost Tree didn't have nearly as much trouble defeating the Bouncing Knight as it did with the Lizardman Chief.
This was due to the lizard Guardian Boss being a magic caster while the Bouncing Knight was purely melee-orientated, relying on physical attacks to kill its enemies and having very few methods of utilizing Magic for combating its opponents.
The Mythic's lack of magical capabilities proved to be its downfall, since the Ghost Tree could not be damaged using physical attacks.
Thus, despite its strength surpassing the Ghost Tree's by a significant margin, there wasn't much the Bouncing Knight could do while getting pummeled by the ghostly attacker using its main way of fighting, while the skills that had the power and capability to damage the Ghost Tree were either blocked or neutralized.
In the end, the Bouncing Knight didn't manage to shave off even 10% of the Ghost Tree's total HP before losing.
Small tendrils extended from the Ghost Tree and entered through the gaps in the Guardian Boss's golden armor.
Ignoring the Bouncing Knight's loud protests, the Ghost Tree drained all the life force out of the Mythic monster, killing it and dropping the Guardian Boss to the floor as the massive tree began growing even larger once again.
After around ten or so seconds, the Ghost Tree's size had increased by over a dozen times and the number of its branches had already gotten too high to count, while the aura surrounding the Ghost Tree could cause chills to run down anyone's spine.
Upon fully absorbing the 40th Divine Shrine's Guardian Boss, the Ghost Tree has once again evolved, becoming a Mythic ranked creature.
With it reaching Tier 4, the Ghost Tree's strength had increased much more significantly than after it had absorbed any of the other Guardian Bosses.
Curious about how powerful his new pet had become, Feng commanded the Ghost Tree to enter his soul space again, before leaving the 40th Divine Shrine and heading higher up.
None of the Guardian Bosses afterwards could match up against the Ghost Tree. Even the ones that specialized in or had lots of spells didn't manage to put up much of a fight against the Ghost Tree as it traveled up the Divine Staircase along with Feng, turning all of the Mythic monsters into nutrients for itself.
Continuing to grow stronger with each kill it made, the Ghost Tree's power increased by another level once they arrived at the 50th Divine Shrine and defeated the Mythic ranked Archaic Species monster serving as the Guardian Boss there.
Seemingly unable to be stopped, Feng and the Ghost Tree climbed up to the 60th Divine Shrine without any issues, now finally coming across a challenge as the summoned ghostly being fought against a Superior Mythic ranked monster.
Faced with the Jungle Lord, the Ghost Tree wasn't at a disadvantage despite the difference in their ranks, fighting the five-headed tiger equally with their attributes matched.
Moreover, both were creatures that utilized plant attacks that are very versatile and attacked from multiple points at once using things like branches.
Vines spread out from the surrounding jungle and the ground to parry the branches used by the Ghost Tree to attack the Jungle Lord, making its normally overwhelming series of continuous attacks, with which it had defeated all of the previous enemies that attempted to stand in its way, ineffective for the first time.
The Ghost Tree's opponent being a Realm Lord made the fight even more difficult, countering all of the specter's attacks and still having the room to strike back.
Thankfully, the Jungle Lord mostly made use of physical attacks, so the damage it was doing wasn't much, but it still possessed many spells that could threaten the Ghost Tree.
Though, that didn't stop the giant tiger from attacking Feng as well while dealing with the Ghost Tree's onslaught.
Vines and roots struck at the intruder, but before they could reach him, transparent branches appeared in the way and blocked all of the attacks sent by the Jungle Lord.
Despite the Superior Mythic monster's multiple attempts to kill Feng, the Ghost Tree always managed to intercept them and protect its master.
Feng once again got to see the Ghost Tree's formidable capabilities and how great of a summoned creature it was.
Not only was the Ghost Tree good at both one-on-one combat as well as dealing with dozens of opponents at once, but it was also highly proficient when it came to defensive tasks.
As long as one wasn't capable of destroying all of the ghostly entity's branches at once, or fast enough to get past them before the Ghost Tree could set up some kind of defense, there was no way to land any attacks on Feng for as long as it was around.
That was becoming more and more evident as the ten-headed tiger, which was a high-ranking monster with one of its main strongest aspects being its speed, failed to land a single blow on Feng; who wasn't even able to completely keep track of the fight happening in front of him or react to the Jungle Lord's extremely fast attacks directed at him due to only possessing 20% of his attributes.
Moreover, the tree's combat power was also very outstanding, being able to evenly fight a Superior Mythic ranked Realm Lord in spite of being only a Mythic monster; and although the Ghost Tree was six levels higher than the Jungle Lord due to being summoned as a creature ten levels above Feng, with him being at Level 66, meaning that the Ghost Tree was currently Level 76, while the Guardian Boss they were fighting was Level 70, this was still a very remarkable feat since only six levels didn't provide that big of an advantage in a fight between such creatures.
Even when faced with such a powerful adversary that was somewhat of a bad matchup for it, the Ghost Tree managed to hold its ground and even do some damage to the Superior Mythic monster while remaining relatively unharmed itself.
As the fight progressed and the Ghost Tree was forced to rely on more than just its usual methods, the summoned monster started to learn, its moves less predictable and monotonous, growing much stronger and more proficient at fighting the Realm Lord; putting up a better fight against it over time.
However, Feng could see that it would have difficulty winning this battle regardless of how much the Ghost Tree progressed, as the Guardian Boss has yet to get serious and go all out.
Granted, Feng didn't know the limits of the Ghost Tree's capabilities either since none of its previous opponents could push the specter as far as the Jungle Lord had, let alone further, so Feng wasn't aware of everything the Ghost Tree could do when it came down to it.
But no matter what tricks the Ghost Tree still had up its branches, the fight would last for too long this way even if his summoned creature managed to win.
Hence, Feng decided to take some action and help out the Ghost Tree in ending this.
Apart from using skills like Flame Domain and Dragon Breath to deal damage to the Superior Mythic monster as well as hinder its efforts towards defending itself from the massive tree in front of it, along with casting Life Domain to heal the Ghost Tree, Feng decided to take control of the summoned creature's movements.
In a fight between beings with similar strength and capabilities like the Jungle Lord and the Ghost Tree, what became the decisive factor towards who would emerge victorious was the combatants' combat standards and intelligence.
Being a Superior Mythic monster, a Realm Lord, and a bit more intelligent than the Ghost Tree due to existing as a real, normal creature instead of a summoned helper, it was only natural that the Jungle Lord possessed an advantage in a head-on fight against the Ghost Tree.
It was actually quite amazing that the Ghost Tree had been doing this well so far.
However, the situation would be much different if someone with much greater combat standards and experience, like Feng, was to take control of the Ghost Tree's actions.
In front of even a regular Domain Realm expert, the Guardian Boss would find itself overwhelmed due to the expert's incredible control over all of their actions and usage of every factor available to them.
A mere monster at this stage of the game couldn't even hold a candle to such an opponent.
So one could only imagine what would happen if Feng were to use the Ghost Tree as a medium for combating the Jungle Lord, making proper use of its incredible strength and efficiently utilizing the tree's abilities.
Predictably, as a result of Feng joining in on the fight, it ended within the next two minutes.
The Superior Mythic monster lay helplessly on the ground with its battered body riddled with scars and wounds, the remaining smidget of its HP getting drained as the Ghost Tree's thick branches pierced into the Guardian Boss's body and absorbed its life force.
Turning into a dark mist as the last fraction of its HP bar emptied out, the Jungle Lord was no more, having been unfairly demolished in a two-on-one fight while far outclassed.
Meanwhile, the Ghost Tree grew several times larger once again after it finished absorbing the Realm Lord, evolving into a Superior Mythic ranked monster and having its strength exponentially increase.
After resting for a moment to recover his expended Concentration from controlling the Ghost Tree's colossal body and thousands of branches while picking up the Guardian Boss's drops, Feng proceeded through the Teleportation Array.
Having reached Superior Mythic rank, the Ghost Tree no longer had much difficulty defeating opponents of the following Divine Shrines.
Even without Feng's assistance in controlling its movements, the Ghost Tree could efficiently slay the Superior Mythic ranked Guardian Bosses within a short period of time, absorbing the Realm Lords and growing stronger with each kill.
When they reached the 70th Divine Shrine, though, things weren't as simple, since their enemy now was a Level 80 Superior Mythic ranked Realm Lord that possessed a special Bloodline.
The higher a creature's rank, the greater benefits it would receive from something like increased Life Rating and Bloodlines, so despite absorbing ten regular Superior Mythic monsters before arriving at the 70th Divine Shrine, the Ghost Tree wasn't much stronger than the Guardian Boss; especially with it being four levels lower than the monster.
Moreover, the Realm Lord they were currently facing in the Shrine was a spellcasting-type monster, so the Ghost Tree was at even more of a disadvantage against it.
Although Feng thought that the Ghost Tree might be able to eventually defeat the Guardian Boss, it would take too much time at this rate, so he chose to take control over it once again and quickly slaughter the Superior Mythic monster.
It got concluded in less than three minutes, and Feng moved on after waiting for the Ghost Tree to finish absorbing the Realm Lord and picking up the loot from said Superior Mythic ranked Guardian Boss.
There wasn't much trouble afterwards, the Ghost Tree becoming capable of killing all of the Guardian Bosses that stood in their way fairly quickly.
However, the situation was much different when they fought the monster serving as the Guardian Boss in the 80th Divine Shrine, a Superior Mythic ranked Archaic Species opponent halting their ascent up the Divine Staircase.
Unlike before, the Ghost Tree wasn't able to match the Rampaging Centaur due to the latter being Level 85.
A difficult fight then ensued as the Ghost Tree unsuccessfully attempted to beat the Realm Lord, while the Guardian Boss simply countered most of its attacks and focused primarily on striking at Feng; understanding that he was the actual intruder it needed to kill.
There were multiple instances where the Rampaging Centaur got past the Ghost Tree and its powerful defenses, almost landing an attack on Feng.
In his current Heavily Weakened state, if Feng were to actually receive a hit from a Superior Mythic ranked Archaic Species Realm Lord monster like the Rampaging Centaur, he would surely die without any suspense.
Thankfully, the Ghost Tree manages to come in and rescue Feng before it's too late, and he also had skills like Absolute Domain and Fortress to rely on in case his ghostly summoned companion wasn't fast enough.
Although things became a lot easier to handle once Feng took control of the Ghost Tree, the gap in strength couldn't be bridged so easily, especially considering the Rampaging Centaur's enormous HP, it being nine levels higher while passing important thresholds, and that Feng was using a body that was much different than most others he had controlled before, which he wasn't accustomed to.
Moreover, the Guardian Boss had even called for its subordinates to come over, causing the nearby patrolling squads to rush towards the center of the Divine Shrine and attack Feng.
With the Ghost Tree having its branches full due to having to keep the Rampaging Centaur at bay, it didn't have the option to block the approaching monsters and protect Feng from them.
Thus, Feng had the summoned creature active one of its skills that caused smaller trees at Grand Lord rank, with combat power very close to the Tier 4 standard, to grow from the ground, and directed the newly grown trees to block the incoming enemies.
But the attacking force was made up of many Grand Lords, with multiple Mythic ranked and a few Mythic ranked Archaic Species centaurs among them.
These miniature ghost trees would not be able to stop so many powerful monsters from getting past for long, and due to their low intelligence, Feng had to direct all of them, while already taking on the Rampaging Centaur with the Ghost Tree's main body, further straining his focus and Concentration.
If things continued like this, Feng was sure to lose.
Though, even without the additional pressure, this stalemate would not be kept up for much longer, and Feng would lose regardless.
After all, the Rampaging Centaur was a creature whose Strength and Agility continuously increased the more it fought as the battle dragged on, and the Ghost Tree had been exchanging blows with the Guardian Boss for some time now, meaning it would soon reach a level in strength and speed that Feng and his summoned creature would not be able to combat.
As expected, before the recently arrived centaurs could even completely break through the defense of small ghost trees, the Rampaging Centaur became too fast for the Ghost Tree to stop it even with Feng optimizing its fighting, reaching Feng in a moment and striking at him with one of its giant sabers.
'So it seems this is as far as I can make it by relying on just the Ghost Tree in its current state.' Sensing the fast-approaching saber and the immanent danger brought by it through his powerful senses, Feng concluded about the limit of the Ghost Tree's capabilities at the moment.
It wasn't possible for the summoning creature to save him from death in this situation anymore, and with his weakened attributes, dodging or surviving the strike wasn't plausible. In fact, without the Destroyed Yog-Sothoth that he was carrying on him, Feng might not have even had the time to notice the attack that was about to kill him.
Yet, despite such a threatening blow being only fractions of a second away from ending his life, Feng remained completely composed and unbothered in the face of the Rampaging Centaur; simply activating one of his new skills.
Confident in finally grabbing onto the chance to eliminate this bothersome intruder, the Guardian Boss felt pleased with itself, landing a clean cut on the human's head with one of its eight sabers.
However, when the saber struck Feng, it unexpectedly stopped in its tracks like it had hit an impenetrable wall, with all of the power from the weapon seemingly disappearing.
Bewildered by the failure of its attack and the intruder still standing there without showing any signs of being affected by the powerful slash from a Superior Mythic ranked Archaic Species monster, the Rampaging Centaur stared ahead at Feng, unsure of what had just happened.
Not dwelling on it for a moment longer, the Rampaging Centaur attacked once again, now slicing with two of the sabers held within its eight hands.
To the Guardian Boss's surprise, and delight, it didn't sense any of the annoying branches coming after it or trying to stop the attacks that were getting dished out at the human. Furthermore, the trees which had been blocking the way of the Rampaging Centaur's subordinates retreated as well, no longer intent on getting in their way.
Unobstructed, the Superior Mythic ranked Archaic Species monster commenced another assault on Feng.
A different result from its previous attack did not occur after the Rampaging Centaur landed another strike on Feng in an attempt to take his life.
Both sabers harmlessly stopped the moment they came in contact with the human, the immense force behind them not able to make him even stumble back.
Huffing hot air through its nostrils in rage, the Guardian Boss's eight arms turned into afterimages, the sabers it held continuously slashing forward at Feng, only to show no effect regardless of how much power the centaur put into the attacks.
The other centaurs which the Rampaging Centaur had called for followed their boss's lead and attempted to strike Feng as well, all to no avail.
None of the Rampaging Centaur's or its subordinates' attempts to slay the intruder, be it regular attacks or various skills of all kinds, seemed to work; nearly driving the Guardian Boss insane.
Feng's expression remained unchanged despite seeing the many powerful monsters doing their best to kill him, standing completely still and letting Gloomsong Glade neutralize all of the attacks.
Knowing that his previous way of fighting would not bring him victory this time around, Feng didn't bother attempting to face the Rampaging Centaur head-on anymore, but instead let it and the other centaurs do as they pleased; while he just stood there and took their onslaught like the attacks were nothing more than a breeze.
After around forty seconds, though, as the Guardian Boss was starting to lose hope in doing anything to the intruder and began rethinking its strategy, Feng disappeared.
With its senses as a Realm Lord, the Rampaging Centaur instantly noticed the human's presence above it.
Due to the suddenness of something unexpected like its opponent moving to its flank so quickly and out of nowhere, however, the Superior Mythic ranked Archaic Species monster was just a split second too late to react as the Demon Sword in Feng's hand struck its massive head.
Instant Strike!
Internal Shock!
Gloomsong Glade, release!
Releasing all of the accumulated power from the Rampaging Centaur and its underlings bashing on him for the past forty or so seconds after it all got neutralized and absorbed by Gloomsong Glade, Feng landed a devastating blow on the Guardian Boss's head, with Internal Shock doing a frightening amount of piercing damage directly into the monster's head.
The giant head which still had a confused expression plastered on it instantly exploded into a rain of blood and brains, unable to withstand the force of a Superior Mythic ranked Archaic Species monster's, along with several Mythic ranked monsters', best efforts to destroy something over a period of forty seconds, all combined in a single devastating attack; coupled with Internal Shock's effects.
Although its head had been destroyed, the Guardian Boss was still alive, and it had only lost a large amount of HP, along with the Rampaging Centaur's combat power falling by a bit due to missing a head.
This was plenty enough for Feng, though.
Even though it could still perfectly sense its surroundings since it was a Realm Lord, the Rampaging Centaur's Reaction Speed would undoubtedly decrease, and it won't be able to pull off the same moves at the standard it had been fighting until now, so the injury was sufficiently grievous that it created an opportunity for Feng to defeat the Superior Mythic monster.
Controlling the Ghost Tree to attack once again, the Rampaging Centaur's headless body, despite its unwavering effort to protect itself while using the eight sabers that it was holding, was quickly getting pushed back and unable to properly defend against the tree's relentless blows as it mercilessly struck the injured centaur.
As for the remaining centaurs, they had momentarily froze in shock after seeing their boss get its head exploded by the intruder without them even being able to react, and Feng used that window of opportunity to incapacitate most of them or deal significant damage to them.
Any of the monsters that still remained in the fight were either dealt with in passing when the Ghost Tree had the chance to do so, or ignored by both the summoned creature and Feng, with the latter using his Defensive Skills, Invincibility Skills, and his other Skills to escape from death.
Thanks to the Rampaging Centaur becoming somewhat handicapped after Feng annihilated its head, Feng and the Ghost Tree had quite the upper hand, managing to overwhelm the Guardian Boss and efficiently drain the HP bars above its torso.
After a little less than ten minutes had passed since Feng erased the Superior Mythic ranked Archaic Species monster's head with the release of Gloomsong Glade, the Rampaging Centaur was finally taken down; turning into a dark mist as a pile of loot appeared.
By this point, all of the other opponents had been taken care of in the meantime, leaving only Feng and the Ghost Tree as the only remaining creatures at the 80th Divine Shrine's center.
Feng immediately sat down to rest after the Guardian Boss had been killed, having expended a lot of Concentration and effort in order to slay the Rampaging Centaur; especially after it went Berserk near the end and nearly grew its head back.
Now, the fight was finally done.
However, very soon after the Realm Lord's fall, the Ghost Tree suddenly shriveled up and returned to the Wraithwood Sigil.
In the end, Feng had cut it incredibly close. Previously, the time it took to defeat the Guardian Bosses wasn't much, but as they climbed higher and the opponents grew stronger, each individual fight needed a lot more time to wrap up.
And with him summoning the Ghost Tree for the fight with the 30th Divine Shrine's Guardian Boss, most of the skill's duration had been used up by the time Feng arrived at the 80th Divine Shrine.
He barely managed to finish off the Rampaging Cenautur with less than five seconds remaining of the Ghost Tree summoning skill, achieving a victory by the skin of his teeth.
Had the Ghost Tree been retracted into the Legendary Ornament before Feng could defeat the headless Guardian Boss in time, there was a fairly high chance that he would have been the one to get killed today; and Feng would have had to at least run away using either an Invincibility Skill or some of his tools in order to escape the 80th Divine Shrine.
Thankfully, he managed to pull through in the last few moments of the Ghost Tree being present to fight for him.
Though, with it gone, Feng would no longer be able to progress up the Divine Staircase, since there was no way he could get past Superior Mythic ranked Archaic Species Realm Lords around twenty levels higher than him while possessing only 20% of his attributes.
But even if the Ghost Tree was still here, Feng would most likely call it a day at this Divine Shrine anyway. The battles were beginning to take too long, and the Ghost Tree couldn't defeat its opponents as easily as before due to their increase in strength and intelligence.
It wouldn't be worth it to go through all that trouble just for some Shrine Points that he won't even be able to spend on something useful.
Hence, Feng chose to teleport off the Divine Staircase after leaving the 80th Divine Shrine, heading over to the Divine Hall's exchange counter, where an exhausted Demon Receptionist lay with only a shirt covering her naked body.
After a brief talk with Mariabelle once she came back to her senses upon noticing Feng come over, Feng purchased more of the items that had no limit on the amount he could exchange for, spending all of the accumulated Shrine Ponts during his ascent up the Divine Staircase while trying out the Ghost Tree to see how capable it was.
Concluding that matter, Feng was finally done with all of his business on the World Summit, at least for now, so he took out a Return Scroll and began chanting the incantation required to teleport back to White River City.
After twenty seconds passed, Feng transformed into a streak of light and disappeared from the Divine Hall.
---
White River City Teleportation Hall:
Due to Zero Wing's evergrowing fame and the Candlelight Trading Firm's wide array of high-end products, many players were attracted to White River City. Currently, one could see plenty of players forming Dungeon-raiding parties in the wide and spacious Teleportation Hall,
The prosperity and liveliness here were far more intense than in Star-Moon City.
The moment Feng stepped out of the Teleportation Hall, he could feel the hustle and bustle that filled the city.
Other than a large number of independent players who filled the city streets, there were also plenty of Guild players. These Guild players' average levels were very high. Although they could not compare to the players in the Dark Den, most of these Guild players were still Level 27 or 28. That was still quite high in the current God's Domain. These Guild players also wore Fine-Gold and Secret-Silver equipment. They were the envy of ordinary players.
"That Guild is amazing! Its members' equipment looks so amazing! They should be catching up to the powerful Guilds in White River City."
"I've heard of that Guild before. It's called Heaven's Burial, and it's one of the newly-established White River City Guilds. Although it is a new Guild, it is very powerful. So far, Heaven's Burial has already raided many 20-man Hell Mode Team Dungeons and is in the midst of planning to raid 50-man Team Dungeons. I also heard that the Guild has a very powerful backer."
"A strong backer isn't the only thing Heaven's Burial has. A few hours ago, one of Heaven's Burial's experts managed to break into the fourth floor of the Divine Colosseum. It is the tenth Guild in White River City to set foot on the Divine Colosseum's fourth floor."
"I've been to the newly-launched Divine Colosseum as well and paid one Magic Crystal to challenge it. The challenges are insanely difficult. I only managed to reach the second floor after exhausting myself. And I died the moment I set foot on the second floor. In the end, I only got 1 Silver as a reward. It was a serious loss."
"Heaven's Burial is amazing. Even Zero Wing, the most powerful Guild in White River City, has only advanced to the Colosseum's fifth floor."
The Divine Colosseum, which had recently appeared in God's Domain, drew the interest and attention of many players, and every conversation was related to it in one way or another.
After God's Domain had undergone its third evolution, combat in the game had become more difficult for players. The Divine Colosseum was a very good place to train their combat techniques. Only, training there was too expensive. Moreover, the Colosseum only accepted Magic Crystals as currency. This had caused the price of Magic Crystals to skyrocket overnight. Since the third system upgrade, the price of Magic Crystals has increased tenfold.
Feng felt no particular emotion as he swept a glance over the members of Heaven's Burial.
Before the third evolution of God's Domain, international corporations had only prepared to invest in God's Domain. As for other smaller corporations, they had not paid much attention to this particular investment route. However, with the launch of the Divine Colosseum, God's Domain's popularity began to show signs of overtaking the fighting competitions in the real world. This situation drove corporations—both big and small—around the world towards the game. With a potential gold mine in sight, these corporations began to increase their investments in the game.
For a time, countless new Guilds emerged throughout God's Domain, all wishing to take a bite of the pie known as God's Domain.
Among these corporations, several major investors looked to the Star-Moon Kingdom. Some bought shares of long-standing Guilds, while others chose to establish their own Guilds. Among these newly-established Guilds, three stood out: Cloud Nine, Yin Yang Court, and Heaven's Burial.
In the first timeline, Heaven's Burial had started developing itself in Star-Moon City. The Guild was clearly ambitious. While Ouroboros and the Star Alliance had been busy fighting each other, Heaven's Burial had taken advantage of the situation and solidified its position in Star-Moon City in one fell swoop. In the end, it had even forced the two first-rate Guilds to suffer quite a few hardships.
After White River City began to show signs of becoming the number one city in the Star-Moon Kingdom during his previous life and this one, though, Heaven's Burial immediately turned to White River City to develop itself.
Moreover, of the newly-established Guilds Feng had seen so far, Heaven's Burial wasn't the only one of the top three newbies to establish itself in White River City. He also saw members of both Cloud Nine and Yin Yang Court.
Of course, he didn't take any of them seriously.
Unlike the various Super Powers who now understood how strong Zero Wing is after the guild's restored members displayed their might during the Heavenly Dragon Pavilion's raid on Zero Wing's Guild Residence, these corporations didn't truly grasp the guild's terror due to never paying much attention to virtual reality games and how the combat standards in them are classified.
Hence, although the corporations investing in God's Domain, including the ones who were setting themselves up in the Star-Moon kingdom, understood that the various superpowers and Zero Wing were strong, they didn't take them too seriously; especially the recently risen mysterious guild that nothing was known about.
They, having an arrogant mindset of elites as usual, didn't think much of some guilds in a virtual game, believing themselves to be more powerful and important than most of God's Domain's Super Guilds; and that it was only a matter of time once the world's top corporations like them start investing into the revolutionary game before they surpass those that didn't have a backing of some other powerful corporation.
Naturally, with this type of egotistical thinking, the corporations thought even less of Zero Wing, which had only recently appeared and suddenly became famous, taking it as just a slightly powerful upstart guild that had gotten lucky with starting off in God's Domain soon after the game's launch.
Their thought process was that if a random upstart Guild like Zero Wing could rise to power without any support from an international corporation, then it would be easy for them to do so as well.
Due to their ignorance and arrogance, most of the upper echelons of these corporations, with a few exceptions who had a half-working brain, completely disregarded Virtual Gaming Guilds, not understanding the immense power and influence they held, especially the capabilities of a guild like Zero Wing, that although still didn't have a huge number of players like the various superpowers nor presence in many countries, possessed a large number of top-tier experts.
As a result, Zero Wing was only considered an obstacle by these international corporations, not paying the upstart guild much heed as some of them like Heaven's Burial began settling in the Star-Moon Kingdom and White River City, trying their hand at competing for the popular territories of God's Domain.
Despite the corporations' blatant disregard and disrespect towards Zero Wing as they set up shop in White River City, though, Feng didn't mind them all that much, nor did he intend to quickly eliminate the ignorant nuisances by slaughtering their members or sending the restored members to deal with them.
In fact, he welcomed the challenge brought about by them to his guild members. The non-reincarnated ones, of course.
After all, even during the previous timeline, Heaven's Burial and the rest of these powers attempting to compete over the Star-Moon Kingdom with Zero Wing only served to cause some trouble for his guild and created opportunities for the members to grow stronger; with Zero Wing naturally demolishing them and becoming the overlord in the end.
Now, all things considered, these international corporations hardly even qualify as inconveniences for Zero Wing due to the insurmountable difference in strength; being much less of a potential threat to the guild than God's Domain's various superpowers, whose quantity and quality of experts were many times greater than powers that were just starting up in God's Domain.
Getting rid of all of them and officially becoming the Star-Moon Kingdom's overlord would be trivially easy for Feng and Zero Wing with their strength, but Feng planned to first make use of the competition these corporations brought to improve the current Zero Wing's overall quality of members.
During the previous timeline, Zero Wing had faced all kinds of trials and tribulations from the very start of its existence until the time Feng had reincarnated, with only a few times of it temporarily establishing itself enough to be safe for a short period ever happening.
This caused all of Zero Wing's members to be very loyal, since they had been the underdogs from the very beginning and stuck it out with their guild as it grew stronger and stronger, eventually becoming a force to be reckoned with even in the Universal God's Domain.
Any trash and leeches that hopped on for the ride while Zero Wing was doing great but bailed as soon as there were signs of it losing or the situation became dire were weeded out in the process of Zero Wing's rise to power throughout that entire time; forbidden from ever rejoining Zero Wing or enjoying any of its amazing perks again.
However, this was not the case for this timeline. The near exact opposite scenario had played out instead.
Apart from having a bit of trouble with Dark Star and Overwhelming Smile at the start, neither Zero Wing nor its members had suffered much of any challenges or difficulties thanks to Feng's and the core members' overpowering strength, along with the preparations and tactics employed by Feng to guarantee Zero Wing's success.
Not having gone through anything difficult or had to put much effort in, a large portion of Zero Wing's current regular and elite players simply take for granted the benefits provided by Zero Wing, all the while not being truly loyal or invested in the guild to the point they'd put their own lives and interest on the line for its betterment.
Expert players were always good to have, as they are the backbone of a guild, but Feng valued loyal members much more.
Having such members was incredibly important to any guild regardless of its rank, since loyal members will stay with the guild through thick and thin, sticking it out with it and putting their utmost effort into fighting for the guild's survival and interests.
There are several cases throughout players' history in God's Domain of guilds that possessed loyal members, who were like brothers and sisters to each other no matter where they came from, who they were, or even which race they belonged to, pulling off impossible feats and fighting back against powers many times stronger than themselves, forcing the enemy to either use overwhelming force in order to deal with them or judge that it wasn't worth the effort.
Zero Wing had many times brought about such an effect and created miracles thanks to not only Feng's own heaven-defying nature and the guild's top-tier experts, but also its other members who fought with all their might, disregarding the difference in strength between them and the enemies or the consequances brought about by death.
Eventually, once Zero Wing had grown a lot stronger, it got to a point where even Apex Powers judged that dealing with Zero Wing would not be worth the effort unless there was a very good reason due to various factors, one of the main ones being its members' insanity and ferocity.
Feng planned to make Zero Wing into such a force in this timeline as well by either turning its members more loyal through both suffering and rewards, or just getting rid of the extra baggage.
Hence, since the superpowers weren't willing to fight Zero Wing unless it was necessary due to being aware of the strength possessed by the core members, while First-rate Guilds were too weak by this point, Feng needed the arrogant corporations that had waltzed into the Star-Moon Kingdom thinking they could make his property their own to give Zero Wing's unrestored members a bit of a challenge.
In order to increase the regular and elite members' resolve to fight and die for Zero Wing, Feng didn't intend to have the core members help out, simply leaving the unrestored members to deal with the situation on their own.
Of course, Feng would still provide help to the members through Zero Wing's resources, and he won't unnecessarily sic the members onto opponents who were too powerful for them.
Ignoring the bustling activity of White River City, Feng headed towards the Candlelight Trading Firm.
Just as Feng arrived before the 21-story building, the sound of his system communicator rang in his ears, and the caller was none other than Everlasting War.
"Brother Ye Feng, you've finally come online. I've been trying to contact you for a while. How are preparations coming along?" Everlasting War asked, slightly worried.
Ye Feng was the expert he had recommended. If Feng did not pass the selection test, it would stain his reputation.
"There are no issues. I can participate in the selection at any time. Seeing as Brother Everlasting is contacting me, has something happened?" Feng asked indifferently, knowing the reason for Everlasting War calling him and that he won't be in that team for the Dark Arena fights.
The selection held in Beast City was tomorrow morning. There was still quite some time before the selection began, so something must have happened for Everlasting War to contact him.
But none of it mattered to Feng.
He had previously agreed to Everlasting War's proposal not because he needed the man's battle team to get into the Dark Arena and participate, but to set up a certain annoying and pretentious bitch up for failure, all the while increasing the Asura Battle Team's fame in the Dark Arena once she brings out a more powerful team.
Now, he no longer had any business with Everlasting War or his Battle Team, and was just going through the motions.
"It's nothing major. Only, the higher-ups have changed the requirements for the selection. Now, after you pass the selection, you are required to sign a contract and become a member of the company if you join the battle team. Of course, you will receive far more benefits as well. For example, you will be entitled to 5% of the wagers made on the matches you win," Everlasting War explained. "If Brother Ye Feng joins the battle team, with your strength, you will easily make more than a dozen times the Credits the Guild Leader of a first-rate Guild would normally earn. Once the battle team becomes famous, your status in the world will become even greater than any Leader of a first-rate Guild. What do you think, Brother Ye Feng?"
Everlasting War and his group did not particularly care about signing the new contract as they had originally been employees of the company. However, Ye Feng was different. He was affiliated with Zero Wing. Moreover, he was one of Zero Wing's core members. He had definitely signed a contract with the Guild. If he joined the battle team, unless the company allowed it, he would not be able to be part of any Guilds in the future.
To put it bluntly, the company was restricting the freedom of the team members instead of cooperating with them.
"Of course, if Brother Ye Feng is selected to become one of the members of the battle team, the company will take full responsibility of the breach of agreement with your Guild. Brother Ye Feng can rest assured on this." Everlasting War was very confident in Ye Feng's strength from what he had assessed, and he desperately hoped that Feng would join their battle team.
In his opinion, what did a Guild in a virtual reality game amount to?
How could it possibly hope to match up against an international corporation?
The benefits Everlasting War had mentioned were quite tempting.
The Dark Arena was a place where the various international corporations around the world could secretly compete.
The resources and funding involved were on an entirely different level than ordinary arenas. Even just 5% of the gambling rewards was sufficient to make someone a tycoon overnight.
Moreover, as one's battle record in the Dark Arena grew, the bets on their matches also increased. The income one could potentially earn through the Dark Arena could even tempt international fighters. To virtual reality gaming experts, that was an astronomical number.
However, that was only the tip of the iceberg.
Based on the information that was known, in the past, any players who signed a contract with a battle team held extraordinary positions in the corporation that owned the team. If it were a famous player such as Everlasting War, even the upper echelons of international corporations would treat them with respect.
The Guild Leader of a second-rate Guild did not even qualify to fawn over such players. They were from entirely different worlds.
However, there were drawbacks to signing a contract with one of these corporations, as an expert's freedom would be heavily restricted upon agreeing to the company's terms. Most powerful independent experts would never agree to such restrictions, especially those like Feng, who yearned for freedom more than anything else, with status and power being secondary.
This change in the corporations' recruitment method didn't come out of nowhere, though, nor was it of simply wanting to control their battle team's members more.
After the third evolution of God's Domain arrived, the importance of expert players had greatly increased, and these international corporations discovered this factor very quickly.
Thus, the decision to change the conditions of someone becoming a member of the Battle Team was made in order to tie them down to the company.
"Brother Everlasting, since the higher-ups have made this decision, you will have to forgive me for not participating in the selection." Feng directly refused.
Although he could no doubt earn a lot of money, fame, and status in the Dark Arena, in the era of God's Domain, a player could similarly obtain all of these things so long as they had the ability.
Even if he could not earn a large sum of Credits through the Dark Arena, Feng just had to make use of some of the other countless ways from the opportunities provided by God's Domain to obtain the necessary Credits for his plans.
As a reincarnator, the avenues Feng could acquire astronomical amounts of money from were everywhere, and he simply had to pick which one he'd utilize.
Everlasting War was slightly stunned by Feng's reply. He had not thought that Ye Feng would refuse his offer so decisively. However, when he thought about the Swordsman's skill, he hurriedly advised, "Brother Ye Feng, won't you reconsider? At the end of the day, a Gaming Guild is only a Gaming Guild. It is nothing compared to a major corporation that can affect the world's economy. With your skills, I guarantee that you'll at least become vice-leader of the battle team."
The team's strength did not rely on a single person. After all, each battle team could include up to ten members. Naturally, the more experts there were in a team, the higher the team's chances were of obtaining victory.
In Everlasting War's opinion, Ye Feng could most likely rank within the top three within their battle team.
If they lost a top three expert, it would wound the battle team's overall strength.
But people like Everlasting War, slaves to fame and too blind to see they were nothing more than pawns in these international corporations' hands who could be thrown away at any time, placing importance on things that didn't truly matter in life as long as one was willing to work towards their goals using their own strength instead of borrowing it from other entities, could never understand the thought process of individuals like Feng, who would never even consider signing a contract that placed so many limitations on them and their lives.
"Brother Everlasting, don't waste your time trying to persuade me. Moreover, I have many matters that I need to attend to. Not being able to join is a good thing. Anyways, I still have something to do, so I'll talk to you another time." Feng disconnected the call. He then entered the 4-star Candlelight Trading Firm.
---
Meanwhile, Everlasting War could not help but sigh as he said, "Truly disappointing."
"Disappointing? What's there to be disappointed about? Isn't he just a core member of a small Guild? How strong could he be? He must have realized how weak he actually is. Do you know how many experts of God's Domain and professional fighters are trying to join the Glorious Battle Team? Even if he shows up, he will never be selected." A luxuriously dressed middle-aged woman standing across from Everlasting War disdainfully dismissed his concern.
Four bodyguards in black stood next to this woman. All four radiated intimidating auras that were capable of making Everlasting War, someone who had once been a professional bodyguard, anxious. Particularly, the rugged-looking man among these bodyguards was very famous in the bodyguard industry. He was known as the Steel Guard, and even some international fighters were no match for him.
"Director Hua, Ye Feng is no ordinary expert. If you can restore the recruitment conditions to what they were before and allow him to join the Glorious Battle Team, our chances of beating our next opponent, the Midday Wolves, will be much higher. This will also greatly benefit the company," Everlasting War carefully suggested.
The changes in the battle team's recruitment conditions were all due to this woman, Hua Qiushui, standing before him. Although he did not understand why Hua Qiushui had suddenly changed the conditions, this last-minute adjustment troubled him, the leader of the battle team. However, despite his annoyance, Hua Qiushui's position was extraordinary. A single word from her could easily leave him jobless. Hence, he did not dare speak too boldly in front of her.
"Naturally, I have considered these changes carefully. You only need to focus on how you're going to defeat your next opponent. He is merely a nameless expert. Do you think that, just because we are missing one nameless expert, you're going to lose against your next opponent?" Hua Qiushui questioned, her voice low and dangerous. "He is just one less nameless expert participating in the selection. There are plenty of God's Domain experts coming to take the test. Among them, many are well-known in the industry. These people's standards are far beyond his. I think that Vice-Leader Journey Leave should administer the test this time around. You should take this time to think of a strategy to deal with the Midday Wolves."
Everlasting War's words had clearly dissatisfied Hua Qiushui. Without hesitation, she had stripped him of his duties for a few days. Helpless, Everlasting War could only agree with the lady director.
---
Feng went directly up to Black Flame's Forging Room.
Upon entering it, the amusing scene of a middle-aged man slumped over a forging table as if drunk greeted Feng.
Walking over to the Perfect Clone, Feng used their connection through the Ethereal Replicant Core to control the body and have it stand up.
After getting up from the table, the soulless, cold eyes of the clone known as Black Flame stared silently at Feng, not taking any action as it had no independent consciousness to control its actions like before, relying on Feng's instructions for all actions.
Not particularly caring about this, Feng walked over and handed a magic crystal bottle containing a whitish liquid to the other him, before having the Perfect Clone consume it.
As the Swordsman standing in front of Feng consumed the second Peak Bloodline that Feng had purchased, all of the Mana within the Divine Hall began to gather around his body.
Suddenly, four fourfold Magic Arrays appeared above and below him. It looked as if the Magic Arrays had formed a barrier, enveloping the clone. The surrounding Mana then poured into the fourfold arrays above him, and transparent, divine runes began to surround his body.
As more divine runes appeared around the Perfect Clone, his aura intensified.
However, as all the Mana within the Forging Room got absorbed by the Magic Arrays, a vacuum was formed, and Mana from everywhere in the surroundings, from both outside the Forging Room, along with quickly from outside the Candlelight Trading Firm, and the Void, began to rush in towards the Magic Arrays like a whirlpool had appeared.
When the divine runes covered the Perfect Clone entirely, a pillar of golden light emerged from his body and shot into the sky, being stopped by the ceiling.
A few seconds later, the light pillar began to dissipate, and calm returned to the Forging Room.
"Please let this work." Seeing that it was done, Feng ignored the changes brought about to the clone after consuming the Peak Bloodline and hurriedly brought up the Ethereal Replicant Core's System Panel, choosing to use Information Uptake while mumbling to himself.
With the skill's activation, a System Window asking Feng for a certain amount of Seven Luminaries Crystals in order for the update to be completed popped up.
Feng hesitated for only a moment upon seeing the huge number of Seven Luminaries Crystals required to complete the update, but quickly agreed to it. The moment he did, a wave of power washed over him, and Feng felt his strength increase by another level.
Quickly bringing up his System Panel and looking through the information on his Bloodline, Feng couldn't help but grin.
Feng was now the owner of two Bloodlines simultaneously.
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Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone