The battle was over.
The result? The city had successfully defended against Alyur's attack.
Countless soldiers embraced each other as they had managed to survive. Such an overwhelmingly oppressive battle had let them win in the end. As it turned out, casualties were on the lower end due to some people taking the majority of the creatures head-on letting the weaker ones pass by to be dealt with the others.
Sammuel was one of the people who had managed to brave the wave first. As such, he had managed to accumulate a lot of Contribution Points. Yet despite managing to achieve victory, there was a sour taste left in Sammuel’s mouth.
All that for nothing?
[Condition Cleared: Defeat a creature with a Card Quality of Silver or higher | Reward: Increased Card Drop Rate]
It was a welcome addition yet it was far from what Sammuel desired. He had just defeated such a powerful creature. If he could’ve gotten its [Ego] then he would’ve been set for the remainder of the battle.
[Assimilation Requirements:
Condition: Defeat 10 creatures with 300 Combat Power or higher (2/10) | Reward: Increased Card Drop Rate
Condition: Gain 50 Bronze Ego (38/50) | Reward: First Kill requirement reduced to 80% damage contribution
Condition: Gain an Ego with an inherent skill | Reward: Ego Fusion Efficiency Increase
Condition: Refine Mana | Reward: Unequipped Ego will passively heal]
Sammuel looked at his new tasks. It had turned out to be even more difficult than before. Taking a deeper look, Sammuel tried to see what his current inherent stats were.
[Current Stats:
Base EXP Gain: Colorless (Ego: Runic Bear) | 2.35x
Card Drop Rate: 10.5%
Increased EXP Gain: 12.3%
Affinity Level Efficiency: 1.85%
Affinity Level to Goblins: 15.32%
Affinity Level to Rock Dwellers: 9.34%
…]
Most of these numbers didn’t hold any inherent meaning to Sammuel except for one singular stat, Card Drop Rate. This showed that roughly for every ten Sammuel killed, he would gain its respective [Ego]. It was obvious just how insane this was.
“It’s great but…” Sammuel knew the crux issue. No matter what, those he killed were always weaker than his current [Ego]. Furthermore, Ego Fusion only lets [Ego] of the same Card fuse together. Which means that Sammuel couldn’t forcefully use [Ego: Mineral-Clawed Ferron] on [Ego: Runic Bear] to power it up. He needed another [Ego: Runic Bear] to do so.
Ian ran up to Sammuel with multiple clean cuts on his body. If he hadn’t dodged most of these attacks then he would’ve had his guts consumed. “I didn’t think you could actually do it. I expected both of us to die here.” Ian reached his hand out.
Contrary to Ian’s messy and bloody appearance, Sammuel was much tidier. He wasn’t as severely exhausted as he was.
Taking his hand, Sammuel was brought up to stand. “Did…”
“She died.” Ian shook his head. “At the very least she died nobly.”
“What was her name?”
“Penny.”
“Any relatives?”
“All dead.”
“I see.” Sammuel felt guilt building up within him. The others might’ve died due to an unexpected result but Penny’s death was explicitly caused by the both of them.
Ian grabbed Sammuel’s shoulder. “If it makes you feel any better, her lover died from one of its attacks. Hearing about it made her go all out and die on the same battlefield as he did. In the end, she thanked us for giving her the opportunity to avenge him.”
That’s a lie. A complete and utter lie... but maybe living in a lie is what I need to get past this. Sammuel noticed Ian’s micro-expressions betraying his words.
“I didn’t expect you to suddenly use something so explosive. You look like it didn’t even strain you.” Ian closed one of his eyes as a symbol started to form on the other.
[???]
Ian sighed, as he had expected, he was unable to see past through it. Sammuel felt that his privacy was getting interrupted but knowing that he was doing the same, he wouldn’t hypocritically call him out on it.
“I’ll be seeing you next week.” Ian waved and left.
“Likewise.”
Sammuel didn’t head back to the medical ward to get healed because there wasn’t anything to heal with. The very first place where he went to was Fian and Marie’s little shop. Ever since the start of the battle, their store had been closed down.
After knocking, Fian peeked through the blinds and quickly let him in. Marie started tearing up as she wondered about the possibility that Sammuel would be forever lost. Bringing along supplies, Sammuel briefed them on the situation on the front lines through rose-tinted glasses.
He intentionally hid the fact that numerous people died from Marie but Fian could see through the lines. After Marie’s little heart was soothed, he was about to leave when Fian asked for him to stay for the time being.
Agreeing to the condition, Sammuel took this opportunity. Taking a guest room, Sammuel entered it and started reorganizing his thoughts.
“Ego Delegation was completely useless before because I didn’t have enough [Ego] to make this worth it. But now…”
Sammuel briefly looked over the numerous [Ego] he had access to. There were numerous duplicates of weaker [Ego] but they were extremely varied. As it turned out, there were some extremely valuable [Ego] that he could use to his advantage.
[Affinity Level to Hardened Fist: 26.75%
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
Increased EXP Gain: 398.9%
Card Quality: Bronze (Ego: Six-Handed Monkey) | 10x]
[Affinity Level to Art of Killing: 0.04%
Increased EXP Gain: 8.42%
Card Quality: Bronze (Ego: Anarch Fiend) | 2.91x]
[Affinity Level to Flowing Swordsmanship: 18.73%
Increased EXP Gain: 66.64%
Card Quality: Bronze (Ego: Knived Porcupine) | 6.52x]
Now, Sammuel no longer needed to change his [Ego] if he ever wanted to practice his techniques. He only needed to practice it with anything and it would give out the same results as if he equipped it. This was a nice quality change of life.
This also gave an unexpected boon. Sammuel had realized one key point here, Colorless Cards only had a multiplier of 1-2x meanwhile Bronze Cards had a multiplier of 2-10x. With the plethora of [Ego] he had at his disposal, Sammuel decided to finally use Ego Fusion.
“Let’s see… [Ego: Goblin], the first [Ego] I have gotten in this world. I have gained countless copies. I wonder to what limit I could reach now. Let’s see…”
[Ego Fusion
Ego: Goblin | 2 (14/50) | 1 (7/10) | 1 (2/10) | 1 (3/10) | …
Raise EXP | Raise Affinity Level | Superimpose]
He could see all the copies of [Ego: Goblin] at his disposal. It ranged from his strongest Star Quality of 2, level 10/50, all the way down to Star Quality of 1, level 2/10. Sammuel chose the Superimpose option this time around.
He chose two weaker [Ego: Goblin] to experiment with. These two blended together and reduced his total copies by one. They merged whilst having an interesting effect. Sammuel had merged the following [Ego: Goblin].
[Name: Sammuel Arthus
Ego: Goblin
Card Quality: Colorless
Star Quality: 1 | 1/10 | EXP: 51.74/100%
Affinity Level: 0.23%
Combat Power: 0.44]
[Name: Sammuel Arthus
Ego: Goblin
Card Quality: Colorless
Star Quality: 1 | 3/10 | EXP: 8.2/100%
Affinity Level: 2.22%
Combat Power: 1.01]
These were completely weak Cards that Sammuel wouldn’t miss at all. The following results made him notice something.
[Name: Sammuel Arthus
Ego: Goblin
Card Quality: Colorless
Star Quality: 1 | 3/10 | EXP: 0/100%
Affinity Level: 2.22%
Combat Power: 1.32]
The base Combat Power of the Card had increased from 0.33 to 0.44. It had also increased the Affinity Level of the Card to whatever was the highest. This was similarly applied to the level. The only downside here was that the EXP bar had been reduced to nothing.
Sammuel had a feeling that this was going to be a very game-breaking function. But for the time being, he wanted to see how high he could make [Ego: Goblin] using Star Quality of 2 level 14/50.
~~~
Within the Salvo Empire was a certain hero trying to speak with the council.
“Just teleport us in. I don’t see the problem with that.” Elias placed his foot down. He had been trying to make sense of what was going on. There had been an army placed for him to lead but the current heads of the Salvo Empire refused to do anything.
“Teleportation is a very hard and difficult skill. I’m afraid only a few could-”
[Teleport | Lose Combat Power: -6.23 | Elias: 667.97]
“I can do it myself. Just give me a mana reservoir to use. You can’t keep weaseling yourself out of this.” Elias grew irritated at how adamant the Salvo Empire was to lead a land-based assault. Compared to taking a very long march, they could just teleport in a highly skilled elite unit to take care of the problem.
Gaben could do it, so why couldn’t Elias?
Another high priest finally said out loud, “Lord Elias, leading an army to save Aganth will be a very good way to show off your strength. When all hope is lost, Lord Elias will come and offer them salvation!”
Elias only had one opinion of them. Lunatics.
They were willing to actively use Aganth as a chess piece to show off their strength. This would undoubtedly lead to Alyur’s demise but the cost was far too much for Aganth to bear.
“I thought the Salvo Empire was supposed to be a humanitarian Empire? Focused on the welfare of all humans?” Elias had his hands behind his back, clenching both of them tightly.
“Not for those Aganth scum. They’ve willingly placed themselves on the same pedestal as those non-humans. They don’t share the same beliefs as us.” A head priest shook his head, speaking for the rest of the council.
“Then what about me wanting to save them? Doesn’t that betray your beliefs as well?” Elias hated this hypocritical way of thinking. While people were dying left and right, they were up here taking things nonchalantly.
“That’s where you are wrong Lord Elias. Your beliefs are purer than ours. To even have the heart to protect all living beings, we truly admire you. Besides, in the end, you still prioritized human-”
“Shut it.” Elias narrowed his eyes. This was a mistake that he would never make again. “I’m leaving for Aganth.”
“Safe travels, Lord Elias. We hope you manage to show off your strength in combat. We pray for your definite success.”
Elias opened the door to the hall where a bright-eyed elf man smiled upon seeing him. “Savior, we’re willing to join you in your battle. Just say the word and we’ll gear up.”
“There’s no need for your help. Just… keep your head down. Don’t agitate the Pantheon any further. I still don’t have the power to change the world I wish.” Elias rubbed his temples, the political burden on him was increasing by the day.
“As you wish.” The elf man didn’t try to persuade Elias as he left on his own. He raised his hand and waved at Sammuel.
[Teleport | Lose Combat Power: ??? | Raphael: ???]
Elias sighed. “At least they still haven’t lied to me once, only ungodly geniuses can use [Teleport]. Even I only barely managed to grasp it. This world’s more complicated than back on Earth.”
~~~
On the outskirts of a random mountain, a large army was traversing the lands at rapid speeds. Sadin was comfortably lying inside his carriage with all his spoils. He lazily relaxed as everything before them was quickly demolished.
“General Sadin, there’s a blockade in front! They say they’re… a Dragon!” One of Sadin’s men roared out from outside the carriage.
Sadin raised his hand gesturing one of the women to speak to him.
A young lady nodded and relayed the information to him. “Master Sadin says to not interrupt him.”
“But-”
The lady wore a vibrant red dress. It sparkled extremely brightly as if it was interlaid with rubies. Her definite trait was her molten black and red eyes. She wasn’t human but instead, a humanoid. She sighed and looked at Sadin who merely flicked his head.
“I apologize but rules are rules.” The lady snapped her fingers and the soldier was rendered to cinders. No one else within the army complained for this completely went against Sadin’s rules.
Sadin raised his hands and let a few girls pull them, letting them stretch his body for him. If someone was so willing to die then he might as well see what was going on.
Getting out, Sadin was faced with an old man. Wrinkles filled his face and his head was bald. He wore a simple white robe that showed nothing interesting on it as it was completely blank. Yet Sadin’s lazy expression turned vicious.
[Combat Power: ???]
It was a creature that was beyond Sadin’s current state. He took this meeting seriously.
“What do you want, Great Dragon?” Sadin had no fear. He had a trump card that could easily let him survive this encounter if the Dragon before him ever decided to become hostile.
“You’ve got a good head on your shoulders. Let’s keep it that way.” The old man had his eyes closed the entire time. “I’m here to offer you a blessing, a very powerful one. It has no downsides at all except on my end. I just need you to do one singular thing.”
“Depends, what kind of blessing is it?” Sadin had grown more knowledgeable about the world. He wasn’t as clueless as he used to be.
“[Blessing of Seduction].”
“Pass.” After hearing the Great Dragon hype it up, Sadin felt disappointed at such a boring blessing. “Give me something that kicks a little harder than that. I'd rather have something that'll let me rule over everything my eyes can gaze upon.”
“How about my personal blessing, [Blessing of Domination]?” The old man smirked. A sudden surge of inherently demonic power spewed out from within his body. The aura of that sickly power made Sadin feel an iota of wariness, something that he had long forgotten ever since he rose to power.
Sadin grew wary of the old man. “Dragons don’t have blessings of anything inherently cruel, they have blessings of the natural world. What are you?”
The old man finally opened his eyes. Countless men looked through them and fell unconscious. Sadin closed the curtain to his carriage, preventing his women from experiencing instantaneous death. He might look down on many but as any tyrant, he obsessed with what was his.
Unholy cackling came from the old man as his head unnaturally turned around and around, twisting his neck into an unsightly mess. A disturbingly eerie hand reached out from within. The world turned grim as an unholy abomination escaped its mortal shell.
“Devil.” Sadin kept his stance low. He didn’t do anything rash, such a creature leaving the Plains of Divinity must have its own reasons.
“Ah… Sadin…” An unholy entity spoke. Sadin couldn’t even bear to look it into its eyes. His mind would’ve already been long gone if he had done that. “What I desire is very simple, kill the Hatchling in Aganth. It’ll be… very fun! You like that, don't you? To have fun!”