I look off into the distance toward Sector 2, then speak up to Monk again.
"Let's get back safely and rest. After that, we can talk."
Everyone around us divides their loot and begins to chatter amongst themselves. I decide to wrap up my talk before I lose everyone's focus, so I float back up in the air and put on my Flame Emperor's disguise.
"Now let's go back to town and bring the good news."
I float upward with Ember next to me, and my ranked-up teammates follow close by.
We leave the enormous sea of hardened glass behind.
The mountain range is completely leveled and melted away.
The ravine is filled in, and the entire landscape is forever changed.
The sun continues to shine overhead as we return home.
—
A few minutes into the flight back, I decide to eliminate the body double that is with me now and replace it with a new double at my current level 2199. I create a second as well, to replace the one that was killed in battle.
I have them both fly much faster off ahead of the returning troops to go to the canyon of dungeons. One of them is given some gold to head to Vice City and Solara to get more food and water for the town while the other one heads off to start upgrading my skills.
As it vanishes off into the desert, I start sifting through my item storage to look at my own gear again, and I begin hearing dozens of notifications in my inner ear. Skills are being upgraded to Mythic Grade and elements are all rising to Extreme Grade one by one.
A grin comes across my face as I take the time in the air while traveling back to begin sifting through my storage and planning out what kind of new gear I'll craft with my new high-grade materials from defeating the Lich King.
The first thing I try to do is remove my greater demon's core from my inventory slot.
With all of the new high-ranking gear now, its 50% buff to all of my stats is becoming near obsolete. It is still a great boost, but I'm sure in the near future I'll have items that can fit that space better.
I attempt merging it with my Arch Demon's core using my crafting skill, but it doesn't show up in the interface. Neither do any of the 5 Arch Demon Cores that float in my storage. They can be equipped, but cannot be taken off my item list nor modified by any other outside items using crafts.
It makes sense that a Demon would never unequip or alter its core, but feels unreasonable for a human to be locked into the same mechanism if I'm not dependent on it to live. I continue to tinker around with it for a while, but come to the conclusion I'll need to do some tests with Soul Energy and some new Mythic grade skills another time. I'll find a way to remove it eventually. I really only need one core to properly use Demonic Energy.
Once I come to that conclusion, I come up with two other crafts that I'd like to try out. The first is a simple one, so I activate it while soaring through the air, taking the remains of the shredded Dark One's cloak, and imbue them into my [Cloak of Total Darkness].
Adding all of the remaining ripped fragments of The Lich King's Cloak [+604% Agility][+399% Speed][Hidden Ability][Dark Attribute] to my blood-bonded cloak does not create a new visual appearance, but it significantly upgrades the cloak's stats and adds a dark attribute to its abilities.
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Cloak of Total Darkness [+680% Mental Strength][+595% Agility][+498% Speed][+200% Perception][Blood Bonded][Hidden Passive Ability][Concealment Attribute][Dark Attribute]
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I feel a surge of power as it's upgraded while I'm wearing it. The cloak feels as if it can shift and change with more ease, and my magic power as well as natural perception and movement speed feel a noticeable change.
I do a few twists and spins in the air while continuing to lead everyone forward, so Ember comments on it.
"Already putting the Lich King's gear to good use huh? Anything else interesting?"
I nod, thinking about a few other items I'd like to wait until I'm back in the town to craft, but pull out the silver ring with the clear gem on it labeled: Ring of the Divine [Hidden Ability].
"I did get this, but no matter how many times I try to appraise it, nothing more than its name comes back. I'm not exactly sure what it is..."
This catches Ember's attention, so he floats closer to me and I hand him the ring to examine.
Ember lets it float in the air in front of him, using an invisible energy that I'm unable to sense to make the artifact float in front of his eyes.
The longer he looks at it, the more intense his stare gets.
Then, he finally looks up at me.
"Yes, this is definitely a Divine Key."
I raise an eyebrow, and respond.
"A what? Divine Key...? What does it do?"
Ember shrugs, pulling a silver ring with a red gem on it out from thin air, it appears on his finger, and I see the same exact appraisal reading on it too.
Ring of the Divine [Hidden Ability]
Now, I'm even more confused, its clear to see on my face, so Ember speaks up again. He hands the silver and clear stone ring back to me while making the silver and red ring disappear back to wherever it came from.
"Sometimes, the Divine Beasts are called upon, this is the ring that each one carries to answer that call. You shouldn't be able to hold the ring, nor should it even be manifested in this physical world in the hands of a mortal. The conditions in which you killed and sealed away the Lich King's Soul Energy inside you must have altered with the wish of the Divine."
Ember smiles and thinks to himself for a few more seconds.
"Put it on. It won't do anything for you now, but it may bring opportunity if the Divine ever care to call."
He thinks to himself again, then speaks up in a more nonchalant tone.
"It's been tens of lifetimes since anything like that has happened, so I really doubt you'll ever need it. However, there's always a chance.."
I hold the ring in my hand for a while longer as we soar back to the town.
As the construction projects and day-to-day lives of townspeople come into view, I decide to take Ember's advice and place the ring on.
We all float down to the nearest entrance of the new apartment building and my double has already returned with fresh supplies for everyone to go back to their rooms and decompress from the long, hard battle. It's agreed upon that everyone meets back up before the sunset to celebrate and talk with the town.
I plan on doing an official announcement, but feel it is more necessary for people to relax, and spread what happens by word of mouth for now if they wish.
After handing these out, my double gives additional supplies to the man, Dan Striker, that has set up a small mercenary guild bar right outside the apartment complex on the small street leading the center of town.
I give him cooking supplies, high-end drinks, and miscellaneous gear and supplies to throw a celebration for the Army volunteers once they've finished washing up and resting.
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Many of my teammates want to do exactly the same thing. Arie meets back up with Luna. Monk helps his master find a room with a comfortable bed and good food to rest. Lydia and Fisher decompress on their own and socialize with the army recruits, rehashing moments of battle together.
Then, Abby, Maria, Ember, and I all go back to the guildhall in the center of the city.
Instead of going inside, we all float up onto the roof and overlook the town as word of what happened today slowly spreads amongst the villagers by word of mouth.
None of us speak a word to each other, we just enjoy the view as people live their lives and the sun slowly moves over the horizon.
Soon, Arie and Luna meet us up on top of the roof as well.
Then, Monk, Lydia, and Fisher all make their way here too.
I share my craftsmanship skill with everyone, and we even sift through all of the B Grade Materials down in the bunker to find more gear to maximize their crafting possibilities. Everyone gets major upgrades.
Fisher and Lydia both make many concealment cloaks similar to mine by merging the Wraiths' cores and imbuing my conceal skill. They hand them out to everyone here on the roof. Ember and Monk are the only one's that prefer not to take the gift. The other's that do will now be able to alter their appearance to whatever they can imagine even when I'm not sharing my concealment skill with them.
Arie and Abby make pendants and rings out of the purple spider eyes.
Maria uses the core of the 5th Ranked Dark Guard to create a set of blood-bonded armor with over 350% Defense buffs and high magic resistance to all of the elements. Then, she merges all of the large fragments of the 1st ranked dark guard's sword to create a brand-new blood-bonded sword with over 500% Strength enhancements. She doesn't imbue the sword with any skills or weaker element stones, hoping that she'll get to fight a strong ice monster in the future for its element stone.
While they do this, I make my own new weapon in the same fashion that Maria did, but I have both the weapons base material, as well as the element I want to imbue.
The potential of the craft I'm attempting here excites me.
I take all of the broken pieces of the Lich King's Scythe and stack them on top of each other, using telekinesis to keep them floating in the air. The only reason this blade broke was because the Lich King sacrificed it to pull it from Ember's grasp. Before its base was shattered by its dark portals and structural integrity began to fall apart, this blade withstood attacks directly from my fully powered Soul Energy attacks.
Its fragments all read [Lich King's Scythe] [+519% Strength][+444% Mental Strength][Hidden Ability].
It still vibrates and longs to be imbued with Dark Magic again.
So much so, that when I take the Lich King's Dark Skull from my inventory, the Dark Element Stone that has merged itself inside this creature's remains still tries to seep its way back into the floating pile of shattered blade.
I activate my newest skill, Superior Dark summoning, and allow black tendrils of energy seep from my hands to meld with the energies that loom around, even imbuing Soul Energy into this magic to increase its strength and simulate the kind of magic I'd use during battle.
It creeps into the fragments of the blade, and mixes with the pure Dark Elemental energy coming out of the skull.
I cut open my wrist to allow far more blood than necessary to pour out, soaking the blades and regenerating my blood to create a foolproof secure bond. I remember Bri saying the more blood the crafter uses, the more control over the blood bonded craft the wielder will have.
Just 8 ounces has always been enough in the past, but from the sheer size of materials I'm using, and the power that seeps out from this Dark Element Skull-shaped stone, I get the feeling using far more is safer.
I activate my Mythic Grade craftsmanship skill, and the enormous pile of materials begins to glow bright white.
First, it expands and flashes, then, it begins to compact and fuse together while floating in the air.
It gets smaller and smaller, but the energy density inside of the craft reaches levels even more intense than I imagined.
Once the bright white light finally ceases, a long black sword is left in my right hand that is nearly as tall and wide as I am.
It immediately calls to be imbued with Dark Soul Energy Imbued magic, and I do exactly that because it feels so right.
The blade pulses with Dark Magic, and a jet black aura forms around it.
Right at the base of the blade, a black crystal skull channels the power from my hand into the impossibly dense metal.
Over 100m of Scythe has been compacted into a 2m long sword.
It the same weight as that scythe and is capable of wielding even more power... Yet, it is all compacted and focused on a very small concentrated point. This is a weapon incapable of holding back; I could never use it in a friendly sparring match. It is a tool built solely for war.
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The Dark Emperor's Blade [+729% Strength][+666% Mental Strength][+512% Speed][+478% Agility][+401% Defense][Blood Bonded][Dark Attribute][Hidden Ability]
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I stare at the rotating masterpiece as I channel more and more power into it, and it never hits its cap; it continues to charge further and further with no end in sight.
I hold it high above my head, then open a spatial magic portal behind me to let all of the remaining hundreds of silver swords that I managed to absorb from the fallen ghouls on the battlefield earlier fall out.
The silver blades of my slain enemies come together, and I use a small amount of fire-imbued soul energy to heat them up enough that they are moldable.
As I bring the massive black sword down to my side, and sit back, I mold all of these blades into the shape of a throne.
Using ice, water, and wind magic, the throne consolidates and shimmers silver from the sun's rays. I sit back against the cool metal made of the weapons of the enemy forces we just utterly destroyed, and rest the jet black sword beside me.
"We've won."
All of my teammates that fought in this war stand behind me and appreciate the view for a few minutes.
Lights begin to shine in the city below, and the party looks like it's starting all along the street leading from the mercenary pub to the apartments hosting villagers and Elite fighters.
I stand up from my throne and place my new sword back into my inventory, and point down to the crowd forming in the streets.
"Please, all of you celebrate your hearts out tonight; let me worry about tomorrow. Just be ready to leave by noon, we'll visit Sector 1 together and bring the Good News."
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Post Chapter Status Update
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[Status Open]
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Name: Jay Soju
Level: 2199
Hp: 11000/11000
Mp: 11000/11000
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Strength: 8594 [+10743] [+36181] [+10313] [+37728] [+62650] [+4297] [+8594] [+21485] [+21485] [+21485] [+34376] = 277,931 Total Strength
Speed: 7452 [+8272] [+11327] [+9315] [+19003] [+37111 ][+25784] [+38154] [+3726] [+7452] [+23250] [+18630] [+18630] [+29808] = 257,914 Total Speed
Agility: 7596 [+7596] [+8356] [+9495] [+19826] [+45196] [+26130] [+36309] [+3798] [+7596] [+20965] [+18990] [+30384] = 242,237 Total Agility
Defense: 6245 [+4621] [+8805] [+6870] [+14613] [+19484] [+10304] [+24918] [+25042] [+3123] [+6245] [+15613] [+24980] = 170,863 Total Defense
Mental Strength: 10406 [+15713] [+13008] [+13632] [+36421] [+70761] [+39023] [+69304] [+5203] [+10406] [+31114 ][+26015] [+26015] [+41624] = 408,645 Total Mental Strength
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Skills:
Absorption [Mythic Grade]
Swordsmanship [Mythic Grade]
Combat Magic [Extreme Fire Summoning]
Inspect [Special Grade]
Enemy Detection [Mythic Grade]
Body Hardening [Mythic Grade]
Self Regeneration [Mythic Grade]
Spatial Magic [Item Storage]
Plunderer [Mythic Grade]
Telekinesis
Appraisal [Special Grade]
Conceal [Special Grade]
Berserker [Mythic Grade]
Dungeon Walker [Legendary Grade]
Intimidation [Mythic Grade]
Dagger Mastery [Mythic Grade]
Stealth [Mythic Grade]
Bloodlust [Mythic Grade]
Equivalent Exchange
Combat Magic [Extreme Wind Summoning]
All-Seeing Eye
Extreme Strength [Mythic Grade]
Dual Wielding [Mythic Grade]
Telepathy [Legendary Grade]
Final Breath [Mythic Grade]
Combat Magic [Extreme Earth Summoning]
Combat Magic [Extreme Mana Manipulation]
Life Steal [Mythic Grade]
Hibernation [Special Grade]
Combat Magic [Advanced Demonic Energy Manipulation]
Combat Magic [Extreme Ice Summoning]
Body Double [Legendary Grade]
Lie Detector [Legendary Grade]
Hush [Legendary Grade]
Craftsmanship [Mythic Grade]
Extreme Speed [Mythic Grade]
Combat Magic [Extreme Water Summoning]
Screech [Mythic Grade]
Phantom Step [Mythic Grade]
Flare [Mythic Grade]
Confusion [Mythic Grade]
Blast [Mythic Grade]
Bind [Legendary Grade]
Bloodweaver [Legendary Grade]
Poison Mist [Legendary Grade]
Iron Fist [Mythic Grade]
Extreme Stamina [Mythic Grade]
Combat Magic [Extreme Lightning Summoning]
Combat Magic [Superior Dark Summoning]
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Items Equipped: [15 Slots Available Post 2nd Rank Up][Current Items Equipped]
Platinum Ring of Visual Manipulation [+151% Mental Strength][+111% Speed][+100% Agility][+99% Strength][+74% Defense][Illusion Attribute]
The Behemoth's Platinum Amulet [+141% Defense][+125% Strength][+125% Mental Strength]
Enchanted Boots of Extreme Speed [+152% Speed]
Enchanted Ice Serpent's Pendant [+110% Agility] [+75% Magic Resistance] [+95% Ice Magic Resistance]
Platinum Ring of The Blue Ogre King [+131% Mental Strength] [+125% Speed][+125% Agility][+110% Defense]
The Flame Emperor's Sword [Advanced Fire Aspect][+421% Strength][+350% Mental Strength][+234% Defense][+255% Speed][+261% Agility]
Berserker King's Armor Set [Blood Bonded] [+312% Defense]
Cloak of Total Darkness[+680% Mental Strength][+595% Agility][+498% Speed][+200% Perception][Blood Bonded][Hidden Passive Ability][Concealment Attribute][Dark Attribute]
Enchanted Lightweight Gauntlets[+165% Defense][+120% Strength][Hardening Attribute]
Infinite Essence of Regeneration[Blood Bonded][+439% Strength][+399% Defense][+375% Mental Strength][+346% Speed][+344% Agility][Hidden Ability]
The Dark Emperor's Blade [+729% Strength][+666% Mental Strength][+512% Speed][+478% Agility][+401% Defense][Blood Bonded][Dark Attribute][Hidden Ability]
Greater Demon's Core [+50% All Stats]
Arch Demon's Core [+100% All Stats]
Ring of the Divine [Hidden Ability]
Final Slot[15th]:[Interchangeable]
[Storm King's Dagger Set][Blood Bonded][+312% Speed][+299% Mental Strength][+276% Agility][+250% Strength][+250% Defense][Lightning Attribute][Wind Attribute]
Midnight Dagger
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Skill Buffs:
[Berserker] +250% Strength + Mental Strength
[BloodLust] +250% Speed + Agility + Mental Strength , +100% Perception
[Extreme Strength] +250% Strength
[Extreme Speed] +250% Speed
[Final Breath] ~ +400% All Stats (Exact % will vary, conditions & circumstances apply)
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Permanent Buffs:
Rising Emperor's Domain[Hidden Ability][Passive]
Rising Emperor's Greater Form[Hidden Ability][Active]
Red Hydra's Rage[Soul Bond Attribute][Active]
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