章 90: Internal Misgivings Of A Different Him
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, while Patreon doesn't seem to handle mobile posting the best, so there may be some problems with the text or it might look weird, and the amount of errors will probably be greater.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
While looking through Feng's Spatial Bag and taking note of everything he had obtained and lost, having used up some Consumables and Magic Scrolls in his ascent up the Divine Staircase, Black Flame came across a certain item in the bag, causing his eyes to instantly narrow.
Retrieving the item, a miniature figurine of his Black Flame persona appeared in his hand.
This was none other than the Ethereal Replicant Core, and a dangerous glint appeared in Black Flame's eyes the moment he held his figurine in the main body's hand; choosing to call up its information and System Panel.
In the next moment, the Ethereal Replicant Core's information manifested before Black Flame, who glanced through the skills and their details, switching his gaze to Parallel Existence.
The glint hidden deep within Black Flame's eyes became more apparent as he extended a finger towards the System Panel, attempting to interact with it.
However, before he could touch the System Panel, a System Warning appeared in front of Black Flame's hand, blocking it from advancing any further.
Apparently, the Main God's System could tell that he was only a replicated consciousness created by the Ethereal Replicant Core and wouldn't allow him access to it.
Apart from not being able to touch the Ethereal Replicant Core's System Panel anymore, Black Flame also felt his entire body freeze up, and he lost all control over it.
The moment Black Flame tried to use the Fragmented Divine Artifact, as if a defensive mechanism against the cloned consciousness had been activated, the system prevented him from doing anything else.
Black Flame suddenly felt helpless after falling into such a predicament, losing the rare chance to investigate the limits of his control while possessing the main body and holding the Ethereal Replicant Core due to these restrictions, now no longer being able to control Feng's body.
"Now what might you be up to?"
As Black Flame was pondering on how to fix this situation, a voice sounded out in his mind.
No, to be more precise, it was more akin to it originating and reverberating throughout his consciousness from its depths, yet coming from somewhere else at the same time.
It didn't take much thought for Black Flame to know who it was that had spoken those words to him.
Remaining completely calm and composed, Black Flame responded casually, like he didn't just get caught red-handed, "Investigating."
That was the only thing he said. Black Flame made no attempt to justify or make light of his actions like it was a misunderstanding, since he knew it would be pointless.
Feng, the one who had questioned Black Flame in his mind after a piece of his consciousness was suddenly awakened due to a System Warning that had originated from his Perfect Clone interfering with the Ethereal Replicant Core without permission, could look through Black Flame's memories by utilizing their consciousness connection whenever he wanted, so it would be useless for the clone to attempt to be dishonest when all his thoughts were always fully available to Feng.
Moreover, Black Flame technically wasn't lying when he said that he was investigating.
In truth, Black Flame himself wasn't sure what he was trying to do, since he had no idea about the limits of his capabilities.
The main goal would be to free himself from Feng's control.
But that was impossible to do from here even with the Ethereal Replicant Core in his hands, since all that the Fragmented Divine Artifact allowed him to do is control the Perfect Clone's body and consciousness, which would in this case be useless to Black Flame, who could already control himself.
None of its other abilities were of any particular use to Black Flame in his current situation either.
The only way for Black Flame to free himself from the original mind's control was to get the Ethereal Replicant Core out of Feng's hands.
Black Flame would continue to exist forever until the Perfect Clone dies, Parallel Existence gets cancelled, or the Ethereal Replicant Core somehow becomes unusable or loses its power.
Even if Feng were to suffer a permanent death in God's Domain, or in real life, Black Flame would continue to live.
Only, there'd be no one left to control him, or update the Perfect Clone's information.
Though, it would be a different situation if someone else were to obtain the Ethereal Replicant Core after Feng.
Whoever held the figurine that resembled Black Flame would be able to control the Perfect Clone created by the Fragmented Divine Artifact just like Feng was able to do now.
The only difference would be that the Ethereal Replicant Core's new owner would not be able to look through Black Flame's memories due to being a different person; but they would still be capable of reading his thoughts normally.
Updating the clone would no longer be an option either, as using Data Synthesis would erase all of Black Flame's information and replace it with the person's own, turning him into a completely different Perfect Clone.
Due to the risks of someone else, potentially even worse than Feng himself, acquiring the Ethereal Replicant Core and what it would mean for Black Flame, the only solution for him to obtain complete freedom would be to have the Perfect Clone himself hold onto the Ethereal Replicant Core.
This way, the only person controlling Black Flame through the cloning artifact's powers would be the Perfect Clone himself.
However, that was even more difficult than simply having the Ethereal Replicant Core at his disposal like now.
In order for a situation like this one, where Black Flame's consciousness was in control of the original body while Feng wasn't there to stop or give him any commands, to have occurred, a series of unfavorable events needed to get lined up.
A repeat of this was very unlikely, since there was no way Feng would ever risk his real soul to a similar extent again, while the chances of Feng falling into such a state that he had to enter Sleep Mode and transfer control to Black Flame were very low; especially after what Black Flame had just attempted to pull the moment Feng wasn't there to keep him on a leash.
Moreover, Black Flame wasn't sure if passing the Ethereal Replicant Core to the clone body while controlling Feng's body would be possible either.
Originally, Black Flame had intended to first investigate the Ethereal Replicant Core while still possessing the main body and see what he could do with just it, before using a Return Scroll to teleport to White River City and giving the Fragmented Divine Artifact to the Perfect Clone created by it that was still in the Candlelight Trading Firm.
However, it was beyond Black Flame's expectations that the Ethereal Replicant Core would have an emergency measure against the Perfect Clone's consciousness taking control over the main body and having access to the item; instantly locking him in place as soon as Black Flame attempted to do anything suspicious.
He didn't even have a chance to properly check out the Ethereal Replicant Core, much less leave the World Summit and pass it to his own real body.
Though, considering that that the Fragmented Divine Artifact could sense that he was the cloned consciousness and prevent him from interacting with it, the Ethereal Replicant Core would most likely be able to stop him from giving it away to someone else without Feng's permission as well.
Realizing this and how much the difficulty of freeing himself had risen due to the Ethereal Replicant Core possessing such a feature, Black Flame couldn't help becoming quite frustrated and annoyed.
Now that he couldn't get his hands on the thing allowing anyone holding it to control him without Feng letting him, Black Flame's only remaining option was to take it from Feng through force, or some other underhanded method.
But that was basically impossible.
Ignoring the fact that Feng could control Black Flame's actions through the Ethereal Replicant Core, Feng could also read his thoughts whenever he wanted, making any plan or strategy Black Flame comes up with useless, while defeating Feng in a head-on fight was not something a clone could achieve.
Even with Feng constantly updating Black Flame's information and bringing the Perfect Clone's strength up to match his own, Feng would always win in a fight between the two of them.
As the Guild Leader of Zero Wing and the main body, Feng took priority in taking all kinds of resources for himself, like tools for combat, and the Destroyed Yog-Sothoth sword, meaning Black Flame would always be outmatched.
Feng was also the one contracted to Celestina, so the Demon Empress would take his side if it ever came down to a fight between them, while Black Flame definitely wouldn't be able to take both of them on at once.
Moreover, Feng could still use his Soul Manipulation ability that was a part of his real self rather than his character in God's Domain. The ability could put Black Flame, who wasn't capable of using it, in a massive disadvantage depending on how much of its power Feng could display and if it were to be used at an inopportune moment.
Not to mention, they were essentially the same person with the same level of skill, so beating the other without an advantage wasn't doable for either of them.
It would seem like Black Flame will have to put in some more thought into it before he could try to gain his freedom.
If another person had obtained the Ethereal Replicant Core and created a Perfect Clone of themselves instead of Feng getting his hands on it, a situation where the clone was planning on rebelling would be very unlikely to happen.
Most people had enough decency and understanding for the situation to only benefit from the Ethereal Replicant Core since their clone would tirelessly strive towards doing things in the main body's best interest, or the clone and main body would at least work together towards their goals without vying for control.
But this wasn't the case for Feng.
Due to swearing to never allow someone else to control his life again after reincarnating in the previous timeline, and spending all of his time and energy during it towards fighting for his own freedom, not accepting to have his fate be held within anyone else's hands, Feng would not be able to let someone control him now either; regardless of the circumstances.
He'd rather die than allow himself to end up in such a situation.
Although Black Flame was only a clone, he possessed all of Feng's memories, as well as his personality.
Hence, it was impossible for the Perfect Clone to accept being under someone's control too, making the current situation he found himself in a very troubling and unacceptable predicament for Black Flame.
The one in charge of his actions being Feng, another version of himself, helped to make it a bit more bearable, but Black Flame would still try his best to be his own man and escape from another person's control.
Treating each other as equals would also be impossible when one of them held the other's means of existence and control device in their hands.
At the same time, Feng wouldn't be willing to allow another version of himself who possessed all of his memories and abilities to run around rampant, doing whatever he wanted. The thought of such an individual being unmanaged bothered Feng and was too much of a threat to let him be.
Because of the risks involved with letting Black Flame be free to do whatever he wanted without any restrictions, the idea of giving the Ethereal Replicant Core to him and working together as partners was unrealistic.
Another thing that complicated the matter was their progression through tiers, along with limited resources such as weapons and equipment. The Blade Saint Legacy, Feng's and Black Flame's Hidden Class, was meant for only one person to possess.
Once a player has cleared the Legacy Land for a Tier Promotion Quest, it will no longer be accessible. Moreover, they needed Sharlyn to open up the passageway in order to reach the Legacy Land, with the task in on of itself being difficult for her to achieve considering Sharlyn's current weakened state.
Since only one of them could upgrade their tier using the Blade Saint Legacy, it would have to be Feng, who could then update his clone's information through the Ethereal Replicant Core.
However, to Black Flame, who possessed all of Feng's memories and was used to always being in charge and deciding things for himself, such an arrangement was unacceptable, since if whether his strength could progress to the next stage or not depended on somebody else, there wouldn't be much difference to Black Flame from the previous situation of being under Feng's control.
The only solution would be for the two of them to use different Legacies.
But the Blade Saint Legacy was one of their God's Domain's Ten Great Saint Legacies, an Advanced Peak Legacy rivaling some Top-tier Peak Legacy that was very compatible with Feng; and by extension to Black Flame.
Finding one better than it was extremely unlikely even in the Universal God's Domain, let alone in this Elementary God's Domain.
Neither of them would settle for something worse than what they already have, and even if Black Flame were willing to give in and sacrifice the Blade Saint Legacy for the purpose of his freedom, Feng wouldn't permit for them to lose combat power through the clone's Class Change to an inferior Hidden Class simply because of Black Flame's wishes to be free.
A similar case was relevant when it came to things like weapons and equipment.
They couldn't both have the same things equipped unless Black Flame gave Feng, who would naturally get the best items, the Ethereal Replicant Core and let the main body update him, while Feng wasn't okay with reducing their combat power due to the Perfect Clone being unwilling.
As a result of Feng's stubborn and unyielding nature, a compromise between the two Fengs was simply not possible.
"I see." Feng's mouth suddenly moved as the words were spoken out, and Black Flame realized that he was no longer in control of the body his consciousness was possessing.
Simultaneously, the clone could also feel his mind get suppressed as if something was hijacking his consciousness and taking it over.
"In that case, your investigation is over. I'll be handling the rest from now, so just go to sleep." Feng was naturally aware of what Black Flame's intentions were, as well as of what was going through the clone's mind.
After all, not only were his and the Perfect Clone's minds connected at all times, Feng could read Black Flame's thoughts, so it was impossible for the clone to hide anything from him or for Feng to not know what he was thinking about.
Moreover, Feng knew himself.
There was nobody in the world who understood better how Black Flame thinks and operates, along with how much the clone isn't able to stand the current situation of himself being under someone else's control, than Feng.
But Feng also knew there was no way to change the current state of affairs.
The situation was too complicated, and Feng would never be comfortable if he let Black Flame run around freely, while the other version of himself wouldn't be okay with having to rely and wait on the original to upgrade his own strength in order to progress.
Due to the dissatisfaction, the Perfect Clone might resort to doing something desperate, and Feng couldn't allow their combat strength to be jeopardized for something like that.
However, he also couldn't do much about the clone or his plotting despite knowing what Black Flame was thinking about deep inside.
To begin with, Black Flame was already getting close to a breaking point.
Feng couldn't afford to push him much further, or the Perfect Clone might just snap and make life more difficult for Feng than it would ideally be.
In spite of being under his complete control, Black Flame still had several ways that he could mess with Feng; three of them being particularly annoying, and even potentially dangerous.
The first was the obvious one, which was simply ignoring Feng's will and doing his own thing.
This would cause Feng plenty of problems, and he'd have to erase Black Flame's will in order to fix the situation and avoid letting the clone go loose, but then things wouldn't be able to function like how they were doing now, with the possibilities of the things they could achieve by having two Fengs working together no longer being viable, which would also greatly decrease their potential combat power; not to mention that Feng would have to manually control all of the Perfect Clone's actions in such a scenario.
Feng naturally didn't want to have to do this as he valued Black Flame's assistance very much.
Those complications of Black Flame disobeying his orders didn't come close to the problems which could arise from the clone actually resisting his control, though.
The second thing which Black Flame could do to fight back against Feng's control was to use one of Feng's own strongest trump cards against him.
Killing Intent Materialization.
Since Black Flame possessed all of Feng's memories and characteristics, he was naturally capable of achieving Feng's standard in killing intent as well.
It was why, in spite of what it may seem like, Feng was actually quite cautious of how he treats Black Flame and avoided pushing the other him too far.
If the Perfect Clone were to get fed up and go on to fully oppose him, the Killing Intent Materialization created by Black Flame would be a major threat to anyone that wasn't at least capable of bringing forth a Killing Intent Manifestation; but even such individuals, of which there are only a scant few among Zero Wing's restored members, would not be safe from the Killing Intent Materialization.
Only someone who possessed by their own Killing Intent Materialization could stand a chance against the materialization of Black Flame's bottled-up frustrations.
Feng was the only one who could fit that role in their God's Domain.
However, it would be very difficult for Feng to combat and eliminate the opposing Killing Intent Materialization.
Moreover, due to Feng's, and by extension Black Flame's, Killing Intent Manifestation and Materialization being quiet unique, things would be much more complicated than under normal circumstances.
One of the major reasons various powerful experts of all races across the Universal God's Domain had difficulty facing Feng despite possessing much superior combat standards and often times equipment was his Killing Intent Materialization; and especially due to how it functions.
Normally, although people who possessed a Killing Intent Materialization were incredibly powerful and difficult to deal with, there were some methods to take them on.
The most effective way to survive an encounter with a Killing Intent Materialization if one didn't have their own was to kill the user of the materialization.
Depending on the type of Killing Intent Materialization, this could be doable, or completely impossible to achieve, so another solution would be to disturb the user's concentration and stop them from actively materializing it, or wait for the user to run out of either Concentration for supporting the materialization's continued existence or stored up killing intent.
But none of these were viable options when it came to Feng's Killing Intent Materialization.
As long as he succeeded in materializing his killing intent into its complete form and gave it a directive, Feng's Killing Intent Materialization will continue to exist and act independently from him like he had used a Summoning Scroll.
It wouldn't matter even if Feng died. The Killing Intent Materialization would continue on to complete whatever Feng had directed it to do.
Moreover, the being created wouldn't even need Feng to supply it with Concentration, mental strength, or killing intent since it could use the creatures around it as fuel to continue functioning.
In fact, it was only thanks to his Killing Intent Materialization that Feng had been able to survive the onslaught of several Mental Strength Pseudo-Supreme Grandmasters for so long while only being a Mental Strength Pseudo-Great Grandmaster, and why those Old Monsters had so much trouble dealing with him in the real world.
Only after continuously attacking Feng and his Killing Intent Materialization for multiple hours with their own Killing Intent Manifestations and Materializations did the Old Monsters manage to break through Feng's defenses and separate him from his materialized companion in battle, before using a special device from the four-dimensional civilization to trap his sentient Killing Intent Materialization and stop Feng from being able to use it anymore.
Now, Feng found himself in the same predicament as his previous adversaries.
If Black Flame were to use his Killing Intent Materialization, erasing the clone's consciousness and taking complete control over him wouldn't stop the materialization from completing the directive it had been given.
Feng would have to destroy the Killing Intent Materialization himself, but with Black Flame still existing and further supporting it without being capable of any control over it, that would be very difficult as well, and Feng would have to either kill the clone created by the Ethereal Replicant Core or cancel Parallel Existence to make Black Flame disappear.
That wouldn't be enough to stop the materialization by itself, with it continuing to bring forth death and destruction to everything around it, and Feng would still have to go through an arduous process in order to get rid of the Killing Intent Materialization.
Worst of all, the over half a million units of Seven Luminaries Crystals that he had spent on Black Flame would have gone to waste.
And god help them if Feng were to earn Black Flame's hatred.
If that were to happen, even Feng wouldn't be able to save his God's Domain and everything in it from complete destruction.
However, due to doing any of that meaning death for Black Flame, the Perfect Clone would avoid trying anything stupid unless absolutely necessary; which was why Feng acted in a way that didn't push the other him too far but still asserted his authority over the clone.
They were both essentially holding each other at gun point with fingers on the trigger, but neither daring to pull it.
Hence, Feng didn't say or do anything about the clone's blatant attempt at betraying him, and simply took over the replicated consciousness.
Feng's main consciousness was still in the system induced Sleep Mode, and it hasn't woken up, but thanks to the existence of the Ethereal Replicant Core's Perfect Clone, he was able to somewhat awaken through Black Flame's consciousness after the system locked him in place and prevented the scheming clone from doing anything else.
Afterwards, Feng simply took over Black Flame's consciousness as if he were controlling a doppelganger, regaining control over his body without actually waking up from his slumber.
Meanwhile, Black Flame's mind would be suppressed and turned off while his consciousness was used by Feng to do things like normal.
Originally, Feng had no idea such a thing was possible as his mind had already fallen into a deep sleep due to the damage and exhaustion it had gone through, so he had wanted to switch with Black Flame and have the Perfect Clone control his body in order to not delay things any longer.
But when the Ethereal Replicant Core awoke a piece of his consciousness using the cloned one through its connection after Black Flame tried to do interfere with the Fragmented Divine Artifact, Feng realized that it was possible for him to simply take over Black Flame's mind, which was possessing his body, and control himself like normal in such a way.
Though, this meant that Black Flame would be put to sleep, leaving the Perfect Clone's body unmanaged and just laying where he had left it, for some time until the main consciousness recovers enough for the real Feng to wake up, at which point Black Flame's consciousness would be released back to his own body, and resume operating like how they usually do.
Nevertheless, it was a good alternative for when he falls into Sleep Mode or is unable to use his own consciousness, so Feng was quite happy with such a feature existing.
Following which, after Black Flame had quietly gone to sleep without voicing or showing any kind of resistance, which would have been futile, Feng fully took over the clone's mind, feeling much better than before he had switched with Black Flame thanks to the clone's unused Concentration that was now at Feng's complete disposal after talking over; like he hadn't just consumed all of his mental strength in the process of saving his soul.
Checking himself out, Feng realized that, apart from being in a Heavily Weakened state after using Threefold Berserk, he was mostly fine and hadn't suffered any damage.
He then looked through Black Flame's memories and saw everything that had happened in the 100th Divine Shrine after he had passed out.
Feng's excitement now was even greater upon holding the Platinum Legacy Tablet in his own hands, thinking of all the ways he was going to utilize it once he and Zero Wing's restored guild members reached a high enough level to enter the Secret Technique Tablet's Legacy Space.
Finished observing the platinum tablet, Feng chose to leave the Divine Staircase, teleporting back down.
Upon arriving at the Divine Hall, he wasted no time heading over to the exchange counter, where a dazed demon girl sat, seeming like she was deeply thinking about something, or someone.
Snapping his fingers in front of Mariabelle's unfocused face, Feng brought the Demon Receptionist back to reality.
"Huh? Oh! Sir, you're back!" Seeing Feng standing across from her, Mariabelle was at first surprised, not having noticed anyone approach, before a joyful expression appeared on her face.
There was also some eagerness in the demon's blood-red eyes as she gazed at Feng.
"Yep, I want to exchange for a few more things." Feng casually replied to the Demon Receptionist's enthusiastic greeting, not particularly interested in acting on the lustful look she was giving him.
After testing out the Seducer Subclass on Mariabelle and having her bend the rules a bit in order to check out the Demon Empress's Horn, the receptionist no longer had much use in Feng's eyes, and he didn't want to waste time on the little horny slut for just some mediocre pleasure.
Hence, Feng got straight down to business and had Mariabelle bring out the exchange window for him so that he could check out what to spend the Exploits and Shrine Points he has earned on.
A disappointed look appeared on the demon girl's face when she saw that Feng wasn't interested in banging, having spent the last day or so after Feng had gone back onto the Divine Staircase thinking about the mind-blowing experience she had gone through.
Although Mariabelle had neither been a virgin nor an inexperienced woman when it came to sex before Feng showed up to rock her world, fucking with other demons of both genders being something she often does, like Serena had been, it was the first time this Demon Receptionist had felt anything that amazing which stimulated her to such an extent she felt her mind go blank.
As if to make things worse, no matter how much Mariabelle tried to stop herself from remembering the entire thing so that it doesn't gnaw at her mind and to suppress the lewd thoughts she has been having of Feng since then, an inclining urge to do it kept bothering her, getting worse and worse over time.
Now that Feng had appeared in front of her again, Mariabelle wanted nothing more than to stick his mighty rod inside of her again in order to feel that incredible sensation once more.
Feng not intending to scratch her itch naturally disheartened the Demon Receptionist to no end, but knowing she still had a job to do that took the outmost priority, Mariabelle didn't insist on persuading Feng, bringing up the exchange window like she was asked.
Though, that didn't stop the demon girl from acting flirtatious.
Getting up from the chair she was sitting in, Mariabelle hopped onto the counter and laid on it in a slightly seductive pose as she unbuttoned her receptionist shirt to give Feng a clear view of her revealed ample cleavage.
Ignoring the lascivious demon that was intently staring at him, half pretending to actually be looking at what he was doing and not attempting to seduce him through her eyes that burned with a lustful passion, from the side, Feng began searching for his desired purchases.
The first thing he scrolled down to were Bloodlines.
These Peak Bloodlines offered on the Advanced Menu were incredibly rare and precious, so even though Feng had already obtained an Apex Bloodline for himself, he still intended to exchange for as many as he can from the available options in order to increase the strength of a few of Zero Wing's top members.
After all, they won't have access to the Advanced Menu unless they pass the 100th Divine Shrine, but considering Feng had struggled so much and almost died to get through it due to the Legendary ranked Guardian Boss in the Shrine, it was very unlikely any of them will be able to unlock the menu and be able to purchase the powerful Bloodlines up for exchange on it.
In fact, with their current strength, Feng doubted that most of them would even be able to get through the 60th Divine Shrine which housed a Superior Mythic monster, much less the 100th one that should be impossible for players that aren't at least Tier 4 to even attempt.
Hence, it would take a while before any of these Peak Bloodlines could get put to use, which would be a shame considering of how much help they'd be for Zero Wing's top experts.
However, Feng could only purchase two Bloodlines of each rank from the Advanced Menu, and he had no intention of wasting his hard-earned Exploits and Shrine Points on mere Advanced Bloodlines, so he only had the option of getting Bloodlines for two of the members at the moment, until Black Flame comes to the Divine Staircase and obtains an Advanced Membership as well.
It didn't take much thought to decide on buying the Peak Bloodlines for Aqua and Violet, the only Unthinking Realm experts currently restored, since increasing their strength took priority over the other members; while Fire already has the Atrocity Bloodline, which could potentially grow to rival even Apex Bloodlines, so she had no need for these ones offered at the Divine Hall.
Feng then started looking for the Bloodlines most suitable for the two girls.
Previously, he had only skimmed through the list of Bloodlines and other valuable items on the Advanced Menu to get a feel of what the quantity and quality of the items available are, but Feng didn't check for specifics apart from a few items.
Now that he was choosing a Bloodline for Aqua and Violet, though, he had to carefully look through all of them and find the one they'd be the most compatible with.
He managed to find one for Aqua before long, purchasing a Peak Bloodline called the Deafening Siren Bloodline, which improved a player's compatibility with the Water and Sound elements, increasing mainly their Intelligence, Agility, Vitality, and Concentration, followed by Stamina, Strength, and Endurance; along with giving the consumer a few other improvements and abilities.
While searching for a Peak Bloodline meant for Violet, however, Feng came across another Bloodline that caused him to pause for a moment and think, before a brilliant idea about something he could try suddenly came to him like a lightbulb lighting above his head.
After spending a few moments pondering on the matter, Feng decided to take a risky gamble and exchange for the Peak Bloodline that didn't fit his initial purpose; using up his number of chances that he was allowed to purchase Peak Bloodlines from the Advanced Menu.
"I want these two." Feng spoke out to the thirsty demon girl that was starting to grow impatient by this point, motioning towards the Peak Bloodlines he had chosen and voicing his wish for the receptionist to get them for him.
"... Alright," Mariabelle's disappointment was immeasurable at the moment, with Feng having completely disregarded her attempt to seduce him, making it seem like her sexual urges were getting further and further away from being fulfilled, but she could only comply and take out the things Feng had ordered "The combined price of these two Peak Bloodlines is 1,390,000 Shrine Points and 6 Exploits, but with your 25% discount, the total comes down to 1,042,500 Shrine Points and and 6 Exploits. Will there be anything else?"
Just by redeeming the two Bloodlines, Feng's currency for exchanging in the Divine Hall decreased by quite a bit, having spent 1,042,500 Shrine Points and six Exploits for them; being left with only 6,097,220 Shrine Points and ten Exploits.
It was a very expensive trade, but definitely worthwhile considering the value of these two Peak Bloodlines.
"I'll keep looking for now." After clicking to confirm the exchange on the payment window, Feng stored the two magic crystal bottles containing a dark-blue and whitish liquid respectively, before going back to window shopping.
Having settled the matter concerning Bloodlines, Feng switched his gaze to the Legendary items.
Feng's current priority was to increase his own strength, so aside from the Peak Bloodlines that were far too rare and couldn't be easily obtained, he wanted to make the remaining purchase towards making himself stronger.
Unfortunately, though, Feng didn't have many choices to pick from.
Legendary items like weapons and armor, which were the things Feng wanted to equip the most right now, had tier requirements most of the time.
One usually needed to be at least Tier 3 to wield or put on Legendary items, and there were no weapons or armor of such a rank on the Advanced Menu that Feng could currently equip. This left him with only accessories like Rings, Necklaces, Ornaments, Capes, and Cloaks.
But even they usually required players to be of a certain tier in order to equip them, while the ones that didn't were normally fairly average among Legendary ranked items and not worth the amount of Shrine Points and Exploits asked to be exchanged for, so Feng really didn't have many options on the items he could buy.
Thankfully, there was one very powerful Legendary item among the bunch that was both of great use to Feng and didn't require him to be of any specific tier in order to equip it as long as he possessed the necessary attributes.
The moment Feng spotted this item and looked through its information, he immediately pointed it out to Mariabelle without hesitation and asked to purchase it, not minding the high price in the least.
Upon completing the payment process, the Demon Receptionist handed Feng a small transparent object in the shape of a coarse, yet elegant tree with dozens of thick branches spreading out from it.
When Feng's fingers wrapped around the tree and made contact with its bark, the small toy-like object felt cold to the touch, and Feng was momentarily under the illusion that his hand had passed right through the tree.
Gripping the peculiar miniature tree tighter, Feng checked its stats again to confirm the specter's identity.
[Wraithwood Sigil] (Ornament, Legendary Rank)
Equipment Requirements: All Attributes 10,000
Attributes will be adjusted according to user's level. (Level 66)
All Basic Attributes +913
All Resistances +138
Divine Defense +2,610
When Equipped:
All physical damage received reduced by 70%
All Basic Attributes increased by 145%
All Hidden Attributes increased by 50%
Movement Speed increased by 45%
Reaction Speed increased by 80%
All Resistances increased by 250%
Magic Resistance increased by 100%
Improves the strength of the user's soul by 60%
Ignore Levels +60
Additional Passive Skill 1: Spectral Composition
Decreases the power of the environment's effects and corrosive energies on the user by 80%. Gains immunity to numbness.
Additional Passive Skill 2: Apparition's Blessing
Increases the user's soul rank by one and provides it basic soul defense.
Additional Passive Skill 3: Unshakable Roots
User will be able to survive one fatal blow that would have killed them every 5 days, remaining on 1% of their HP.
Additional Active Skill 1: Ethereality
Enter an incorporeal form that allows the user to traverse through all physical objects and barriers. While in this state, Movement Speed increased by 300%, user is unable to attack, and all attacks harmlessly pass through the user without affecting them. Damage from holy sources is increased by 180%.
Duration: 2 minutes
Cooldown: 15 minutes
Additional Active Skill 2: Gloomsong Glade
Become immune to all damage for 40 seconds. All attacks that land on the user will be absorbed by the Wraithwood Sigil, storing their power during the skill's duration and releasing it all at a chosen target upon its end. The stored up power can also be released whenever the user wishes.
Cooldown: 4 hours
Additional Active Skill 3: Ghost Tree
Summon the Ghost Tree stored within the Wraithwood Sigil to do battle for you (Ghost Tree's level cannot exceed the user's by more than 10). The Ghost Tree starts off as a Great Lord, and its strength increases depending on the strength of the creatures it absorbs, growing up to a maximum of Tier 6. Upon the skill's deactivation, the Ghost Tree returns to the Wraithwood Sigil with its tier and strength intact, which decreases over time by one tier every two days to a minimum of Great Lord rank if not constantly nurtured. If the Ghost Tree dies while summoned, it will fall back down to Great Lord rank and the skill won't be available for five days.
Duration: 1 hour
Cooldown: 24 hours
For an Ornament-type equipment, the Wraithwood Sigil attributes and skills were incredible, even among other Legendary ranked items, it was definitely top-tier.
Although its equipment requirement was very stringent, and even a large portion of Tier 5 players would not be able to fulfill it, Feng could still manage to equip the Wraithwood Sigil thanks to having received Sharlyn's Full Blessing and absorbing the Draconic-Voidling Bloodline, along with him possessing his other great equipment.
The Legendary Ornament's price wasn't low either, requiring four Exploits and 1,645,000 Shrine Points to exchange for it.
When it came to the items offered on the Advanced Menu, aside from the previously present Apex Bloodline up for exchange and, of course, the Demon Empress's Horn, the Wraithwood Sigil was definitely the most expensive item when it came to Shrine Points.
However, the amount he was charged was more than worth it for Feng to fork out the necessary sum of hard-earned cash.
Just the boost to his Basic Attributes that the Wraithwood Sigil provided after Feng replaced his Epic ranked Dragon's Flame Blood Ornament with it was superior to most Legendary equipment, and it even increased all of Feng's Hidden Attributes by 50%, as well as providing a decent amount of Divine Defense.
Feng's Resistances to all of the elements and other sources of danger received quite a significant improvement, which would make adventuring into Level 100 and above maps much easier thanks to their foreign energies now getting greatly weakened and suppressed by the Wraithwood Sigil with its Spectral Composition passive skill; and even his Immortal Soul had grown greatly stronger.
This improvement was something that was extremely important to Feng for his plans since the power he could display using his Soul Manipulation ability was directly related to how strong his own soul is, which has been limiting his output and was why Feng hasn't been able to utilize his ability in God's Domain, even having to previously resort to manifesting the power of his real soul through his consciousness and putting it at risk in order to make a risky gamble to steal the Platinum Legacy Tablet.
But the abilities provided by the Ornament were just as big of an addition to Feng's combat power as the raw increases.
With a passive skill like Unshakable Roots, Feng practically had another shot at life even if he were struck by an attack from a powerful opponent that he normally wouldn't even be able to react to.
Although he'd only be left with 1% of his HP and the skill wouldn't be of much help if the attack Feng received was strong enough to directly destroy his Immortal Soul, it was still a great card to fall back on if he was ever in a critical situation.
Ethereality could be of great use for both infiltration, getting past obstacles easily since Feng would be able to pass through most Defensively Skills and Magic Arrays as long as their rank wasn't too high, and it could also be used as an Invincibility Skill.
While in the ghostly form, most attacks wouldn't be of any threat to Feng regardless of how strong they were as they'd simply pass through him, while those that could would usually kill him under normal circumstances.
The Legendary item's main feature was most likely the Ghost Tree skill going by its appearance and name.
And it was indeed an extraordinary summoning skill if its description was correct, since Feng could potentially have the equivalent of an infinite-use, high-ranking Tier 6 Summoning Scroll as long as he nurtured the Ghost Tree enough and kept it fed.
Moreover, considering it was a creature kept inside such a powerful Legendary item, the Ghost Tree was definitely an entity with strength greatly surpassing that of what beings of the same tier possessed.
However, despite all of that, the most busted ability out of all of the Wraithwood Sigil's skills, and of the ones belonging to any of his other items, in Feng's opinion, was, without a doubt, Gloomsong Glade.
Such a skill was simply heaven-defying if used correctly.
Had Gloomsong Glade been at Feng's disposal when he had faced the Hellish Broodmother in the 100th Divine Shrine, even without the Wraithwood Sigil's other improvements and skills which Feng had received upon equipping the Ornament, he definitely wouldn't have fallen into such a miserable state and got pushed into a corner to the extent where Feng could only use his last desperate measure.
With the Invincibility Skill active, Feng could simply let the Legendary Guardian Boss and its lackeys pummel him with whatever attacks they can throw out during its duration, before blasting the Hellish Broodmother in the face with all the absorbed attacks' power.
Just that wouldn't be enough to kill the Legendary ranked spider 🕷️, but the combined force of so many powerful blows would definitely at least launch it away and injure the Guardian Boss for long enough to allow Feng to get past all the other monsters and take the Platinum Secret Technique Tablet before leaving the Divine Shrine using the Teleportation Array.
Its utility in other situations where Feng fights much more powerful opponents was unprecedented as well since Gloomsong Glade could let Feng absorb the attacks of a bonafide Tier 6 God for forty seconds, and not to mention that he could throw all the force exerted by the God back at it upon releasing the absorbed attacks.
By Feng's estimates, Gloomsong Glade should be capable of faintly absorbing even Laws as long as they weren't used against him at a high Mastery standard.
If someone who hasn't mastered a Law tries striking Feng with it, he could simply absorb it using the incredible skill and hit them back with an equal force.
Hence, now that he has the Wraithwood Sigil, it didn't matter how strong Feng's opponent was since, as long as they haven't mastered a Law, they wouldn't be able to kill him.
...At least not for forty seconds, but if Feng is unable to either defeat his opponent or escape from them before Gloomsong Glade ends, he'll still be screwed.
After equipping the Legendary Ornament, Feng went back to searching for other useful Legendary items.
Though, none could compare to the Wraithwood Sigil, and Feng wasn't able to find any other satisfactory accessories.
Although there were some good ones among the bunch, none of them were particularly powerful or special. Feng had other ways and sources to obtain Legendary items from back on the God's Domain Continent, so he didn't wish to waste the Exploits on some mediocre Legendary items when there were other, potentially better, ones he could get elsewhere.
Feng could then only settle for Legendary Tools and Consumables that were of some use to him, but he didn't have much hope.
Anything up for exchange on the Advanced Menu was either too expensive to be worth it since he could get other items with similar abilities from other places, or simply weren't really appealing to Feng.
Some items that could upgrade other items' rank to Legendary were also present, but they were even more expensive, needing more than most Legendary equipment and weapons to exchange for them.
A similar case applied to these, since Feng had other methods to upgrade his things to Legendary rank, with some of the ways being present in the various ranking Shrines across the World Summit, so he didn't wish to spend the Exploits and Shrine Points on them; not to mention Feng could only purchase one more Legendary item before he hits his limit on the number of them that he can buy for a lifetime.
With no items particularly catching his interest or being worth it, Feng thought that he'd just have to settle for some mediocre Legendary accessory or a valuable Legendary ranked Consumable, or maybe just move on and spend his money on other things.
That was until Feng came across a rather fascinating item.
Asking the depressed Demon Receptionist to get it for him, Mariabelle retrieved a golden scale ⚖️, with its weights completely balanced, from a Magic Array and gave it to Feng, who then used Observation Eyes on the unique item that he had just purchased.
[Equalizing Libra] (Tool, Legendary Rank)
A scale once used by Archangel Sophia for judging the wicked and creating fair Trials of Fate.
Additional Active Skill 1: Tradeoff
By sealing one of the user's abilities or methods of combat for three days, the user may seal one of the opponent's abilities or methods of combat for the duration of the fight. (The thing sacrificed by the user cannot be less significant than the opponent's target for sealing by a large margin)
Cooldown: 1 day
Additional Active Skill 2: Fair Combat
Consume 50% of the user's Mana to reduce a target's tier by each tier the user is higher than them and the target's Level by up to a maximum of half of the user's own Level. The user's tier cannot be lower than the target's and the user's Level cannot be more than twenty levels lower. There may not be anyone above the target's tier or Level upon the reduction participating in the battle. The user may not interfere in the battle taking place. (Any violation of the stated conditions will instantly cancel the effects of Fair Combat and the user will not be able to use the Equalizing Libra for 7 days)
Duration: 1 hour
Cooldown: 100 hours
Additional Active Skill 3: Even Ground
Consume 70% of the user's Mana to reduce the Level of all creatures participating in combat to the lowest leveled fighter's. There may not be anyone of a higher tier or Level than the user present. The user may not interfere in the battle taking place. (Any violation of the stated conditions will instantly cancel the effects of Even Ground and the user will not be able to use the Equalizing Libra for 7 days)
Requires the user to be Tier 5 or higher to use.
Duration: 5 hours
Cooldown: 5 days
Additional Active Skill 4: Coequal Battlefield
The power of all attacks used by all fighters participating in the battle is equalized to the average of the fighters' combat power. There may not be anyone present of a higher tier or Level than the user. No power other than the fighters' own may be used during the battle. The battle will not end until only one party remains on the battlefield or all others concede defeat.
Requires the user to be Tier 5 or above to use.
Cooldown: 20 days
(Only one of the Equalizing Libra's skills can be activated at one time)
Feng was quite surprised when he looked through all of the Equalizing Libra's abilities. Although there were other items in God's Domain that had the power to reduce the tier and Level of creatures, they usually had some limits, a lot more restrictions, and conditions, along with requiring a heavy expenditure in order to utilize them.
Most of them also could only achieve a very specific effect and were of a one-time use.
The Equalizing Libra, on the other hand, had a lot more versatility. Its skills needed little to no sacrifice to activate, and they could be used limitlessly as long as their cooldowns end.
One could use the Legendary item for both a one-on-one fight and fights between groups.
A skill like Tradeoff could come in handy to Feng for even his upcoming fight with a Tier 6 Natural Born God once he takes on the Blade Saint Legacy's God Mode Tier 2 Promotion Quest, while he could make grinding bosses above Level 100 possible by having Celestina use Fair Combat to decrease the levels of Level 119 Mythic and Superior Mythic ranked monsters down to Level 99.
After which, Feng and the gang could raid the weakened monsters who were now of a manageable level, and even though it would be difficult to slay powerful Superior Mythic monsters without the Demon Empress's help, with how strong Feng has gotten during his trip to the World Summit and the increase in strength his guild members will receive upon him opening a Gate of Darkness for them as well, they shouldn't have any trouble slaying most Tier 4 beings of the same level, and they could even begin considering taking on a deleveled Legendary ranked monster.
Aside from those two, the golden scale's remaining two skills were also incredible and could be of great use to him.
Only, due to requiring the user to be Tier 5 in order to activate them, Feng couldn't utilize them at the moment, and he'd have to wait until he upgrades the Pandemonium Lashblade to Legendary rank, allowing Celestina to progress to Tier 5, or until he gets a different Tier 5 helper before becoming capable of showing the Equalizing Libra's full potential.
Though, that would be a bit difficult since Tier 5 individuals weren't that common and Feng wouldn't have an easy opportunity to employ one into his ranks.
Nevertheless, the Equalizing Libra's abilities were of a value that couldn't be measured using regular considerations.
This was especially so for Coequal Battlefield.
The potential usage and value of an ability that could limit a combatant's power output was unimaginable.
In a situation where one was faced with an opponent far more powerful than themselves due to something like their equipment or skills, but not of a higher tier or Level, one could bring down their enemies' strength to their own and even the battle.
In Feng's case, he had often faced situations in the Greater God's Domain where his enemies in group battles were much better equipped and higher leveled than his own guild members, so having a skill like Coequal Battlefield would have been of great help to Zero Wing.
At the same time, though, during the earlier stages of Zero Wing's debut in the Greater God's Domain, Feng and his guild members fought opposing powers who possessed a much larger number of experts than them that normally had greater combat standards than their own members, while Zero Wing relied on a small number of powerful experts like Feng, Fire, Aqua, Snow, and the guild's other top combatants to slaughter weaker enemies with their overwhelming power in order to offset the difference in strength between them.
If one of the powers had a skill similar to Coequal Battlefield, they could limit the power output Feng and the others could display, turning the fight into one purely dependent on each side's number of fighters and combat standards, which would have been devastating for Zero Wing and greatly decreased the chances of achieving victory.
After all, in a fight between individuals with equal strength, what decided the victor were the fighters' combat standards and abilities.
In a group fight, even with superior combat standards, unless an individual surpasses their adversaries by a huge margin or possesses some balance-breaking skill or technique that could defy the odds and turn the situation in their favor, if another group far outnumbered them, there'd be nothing they could do except get exhausted to death.
Without a doubt, the Coequal Battlefield is the bane of all experts who fly solo, and the Equalizing Libra could allow powers to eliminate any player that would normally be too strong to kill, even if the power could defeat them.
Of course, there were limits to the Legendary Tool's power, and it might not be able to affect some beings if the target is too powerful or has some method to defend against the Equalizing Libra's skills.
However, to Feng, it's an item of great value and definitely worth the 581,250 Shrine Points and four Exploits he had spent to purchase the Legendary scale.
With his limit of two Peak Bloodlines and Legendary items that he can exchange for being used up, Feng could only turn to other available products to spend his remaining 4,282,220 Shrine Points and two Exploits on.
But, aside from the impressive Advanced Bloodlines that exist on the Advanced Menu, there weren't many things that were worth two Exploits which Feng was interested in.
The Fragmented Legendary items offered weren't of much use to him, and although there were a few among them that he'd like to get, they weren't really important enough for Feng to use up his last Exploits on them.
All the other items on the Advanced Menu were of a similar nature, with anything that Feng significantly valued being too expensive and costing at least three Exploits.
He then switched his gaze to the Basic Menu available to all players who take on the Divine Staircase's trial.
Naturally, most of the items up for exchange on the Basic Menu couldn't compare to the ones Feng was looking through just now.
But they were at least cheaper.
Moreover, thanks to Feng possessing an Advanced Membership, the Manager's Token, and the position of the player who had reached the highest Divine Shrine on the Divine Staircase, he had an extraordinary 45% Shrine Point and one Exploit discount on all the items offered on the Basic Menu; and he could exchange for up to five items of the same type and rank.
With such a discount, Feng immediately chose to buy the five most expensive Basic Bloodlines, five of the most expensive Fragmented Legendary items which only required one Exploit to exchange for, as well as five items of each rank below Fragmented Legendary, along with other things like five God Crystals, Consumables of all ranks, among which was even one Sacred Stone that cost an Exploit, Designs and Recipes of various ranks, potions, Magic Scrolls, Mounts, Siege Tools, and lots of other stuff.
Feng had also chosen to use up his remaining two Exploits on purchasing the Omnipotent Mirage Peak Bloodline and give it to Ruoxi.
Since he didn't plan on buying anything from the Advanced Menu while there wasn't much of use on the Basic one, Feng thought he might as well buy the Peak Bloodline for the member of Zero Wing who was the most suitable for an Illusion element based Bloodline like the Omnipotent Mirage Bloodline.
Ruoxi was definitely the number one in Zero Wing when it came to the Illusion element, and she was now Feng's woman, while it won't be possible for nearly any of the restored members to earn three Exploits at the moment considering their current strength due to needing to solo a Mythic ranked monster, so it made sense for Feng to buy it for her and save an Exploit thanks to his discount.
The horny demon that had started clinging onto him by now had a bit of trouble keeping track of all the items Feng was ordering and calculating their price, the itching of her lower parts making for quite a distraction as she struggled to do her job.
After asking him to repeat a few times, Mariabelle finally summed up everything and said to Feng "Alright, the total price of all the items you wish to exchange for is 3,065,780 Shrine Points and 51 Exploits, but with the discount granted to you from your privileges, sir, the amount you need to pay comes down to 1,685,750 Shrine Points and two Exploits."
A payment window popped up in front of Feng, and he immediately clicked it.
With the purchase, Feng only had 2,596,470 Shrine Points remaining.
But Feng wasn't done yet.
Although he had already purchased all of the limited items to the maximum amount he could, there were some items that didn't have a cap on how many each player could exchange for, so Feng decided to use up all of his remaining Shrine Points on them.
"By the way, about these Bloodlines," Feng suddenly spoke to the Demon Receptionist as she was handing him the last of the items "Could you do me a favor and keep them on you for now? When a heaven-blessed person comes here and asks to buy them from the Divine Hall, just give them the Bloodline and say that it has already been paid for by me."
Since he could exchange for items on the Basic Menu that required only a single Exploit for just Shrine Points, and had the ability to buy up to five Basic Bloodlines, Feng thought it would be a waste to let his guild members spend their hard-earned Exploits on them, so he purchased the five most expensive ones.
Though, he didn't have any intention of deciding who would get them.
Once Feng opens a Gate of Darkness using the Manager's Token and sends his guild members to the World Summit, there was no doubt in his mind that they'll end up racing each other to get the best items.
After all, there was a very limited number of top-tier resources like Bloodlines available even for them, so it was natural that they'd compete over them and other valuable treasures which could assist them in their journey through God's Domain.
Knowing this, Feng left it up to them to have a fair race, and the strongest ones would get to earn the necessary Shrine Points and Exploits the fastest.
Whoever comes to Mariabelle with the amount required to exchange for any of the five Basic Bloodlines that he had purchased first would get to walk away with it for free and spend their money on some other items in the Divine Hall that they wish to exchange for.
"Well..." Mariabelle was momentarily stunned by the odd request, not understanding Feng's intentions, but before she could respond, the female demon felt Feng pull her in closer with one of his hands going up her skirt.
"Of course, I'm willing to compensate you for the extra trouble." A shiver ran down the demon girl's spine upon hearing Feng whisper the words implying what she had been desperate for in her ear.
"If it's just this, then I'll be happy to help, but you have to do something for me as well~."
And then they fucked.
---
An hour or so later, Feng left the Divine Hall and entered the 1st Divine Shrine once again.
However, he wasn't going in with the purpose of fighting his way up the Divine Staircase this time around.
Even if he wanted to, with only 20% of his attributes, Feng wouldn't even be able to defeat the 40th Divine Shrine's Guardian Boss, much less go higher than before.
Feng simply wished to experiment with something, and the Divine Staircase served as the perfect place for that at the moment since he was already here.
Not interested with the lower Shrines, Feng easily passed through them, not even bothering to fight the Guardian Bosses and simply forcing them away so that he could use the Teleportation Arrays to move on.
Despite falling into a Heavily Weakened state and having 80% of his attributes reduced, Feng was much stronger than the average Tier 3 player, so he could still easily get past even the Great Lord ranked monsters that possessed a special Bloodline.
Only after reaching the 30th Divine Shrine's center and coming face to face with the Lizardman Chief did Feng finally pause.
The Grand Lord ranked Realm Lord lizard didn't plan on exchanging pleasantries with Feng, though, and immediately attacked while sending his minions charging at the intruder.
It wouldn't be a problem for Feng to deal with this group of monsters even while weakened, but they served as the perfect test subjects.
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.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Load failed, please RETRY
週次パワーステータス
-- 推薦
ランキング 
-- 推薦
チケット