Chapter 318: Violators and the Pillars of the Divine Realm

According to Wu Chang's past experience, dungeon rewards should begin at an S-rank rating.

At this stage, he could designate one item from the dungeon world as a special reward, provided he had obtained ownership of the item within the dungeon.

But during this dungeon run, his physical body spent most of its time at Knox Elementary, centered around Amber; his true self fared slightly better, encountering some dungeon items, but all were tied to Sigve City's permissions.

Now that Sigve City had been fused by Amber, he could not re-enter it, and those items had lost their meaning.

This left him anxious while waiting for the settlement.

Could his reward have been swallowed?

When the list of selectable items finally appeared, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Whether due to the dungeon's special rules or Amber, as the world's will, granting him favor, every monster he had slain in the dungeon now appeared as a doll in the selectable area.

Among them were the Centipede Doll, Thousand Eyes, and other common dungeon monsters, as well as Mirror Killer and Luminous Colony, those mind-vulnerability monsters.

The function of these monster dolls was similar to the wooden carving of Wuqu Star Lord in his hand—using them would summon the original monster's form, and as items, their value could reach at least a B-rank consumable.

Based on the monsters' performance in the dungeon, the Faceless Shadow in the Old Teaching Building, the Anxious Orphanage, and the Giant Stitched Monster were all excellent choices.

Especially the Giant Stitched Monster—it was a fusion of multiple divine natures; summoning it was equivalent to summoning a low-tier deity. Though inferior to the Wuqu Star Lord carving, its usage count might not be limited to once, possibly even approaching the threshold of an A-rank consumable.

Yet despite the Giant Stitched Monster's appeal, Wu Chang's gaze was drawn to the reward at the very top of the attribute list.

That item not only ranked first, but was also outlined in light, with glowing effects pulsing behind it, as if whispering, "Choose me, choose me."

The item's name was "S-Rank Book of Inspiration."

He recalled what Hou Jingchuan had told him: every player who survived the Cursed Dungeon could receive a special benefit.

Those special benefits should originate from the Tai Chu Ling Shu, and its manifestation should be the Book of Inspiration.

After a moment's hesitation, he followed his inspiration and selected the Book of Inspiration.

"Item Name: S-Rank Book of Inspiration"

"Item Type: Special Consumable"

"Item Skill: Heaven's Blessed Cream"

"Skill Description: Randomly selects one of the user's current profession/talent/skill/art/title for enhancement. During enhancement, the ability may mutate or trigger a special event."

"Note: This item can only be used within the settlement space; it cannot be removed from the settlement space, traded, or transferred."

Since the Book of Inspiration could only be used within the settlement space, he used it immediately.

As the book in his hand turned into a stream of light, he entered a peculiar state of enlightenment, where everything that occurred in the Cursed Dungeon became a special perception, attempting to fuse with his inner abilities.

The first to respond was his talent, Transcendence; but before the enhancement glow could even flicker, the enlightenment passed on.

Transcendence's level was too high—the Book of Inspiration was insufficient to strengthen it.

Although the item description stated random enhancement, perhaps due to the S-Rank Book of Inspiration's favor, its enhancement was not truly random, but proceeded from top to bottom according to ability rarity.

After Transcendence came his series of colorful titles; the enhancement glow flickered once, but only once—the Book of Inspiration remained powerless.

Next came his profession: Knight of Discord.

It was clear the Book of Inspiration was trying its hardest—it was truly exerting itself, the enhancement glow flickering for half a minute, yet ultimately failed to strengthen.

Knight of Discord was tied to authority and was a unique hidden profession, beyond the Book of Inspiration's enhancement range.

Wu Chang and the Book of Inspiration both fell into a brief pause.

The Cursed Dungeon was the strongest reward dungeon in the Wasteland Realm; according to Hou Jingchuan, as long as sufficient completion was achieved, the enhancement potential had virtually no upper limit.

Even Jian Xing's transformation and early opening of the Rational Realm profession counted as normal—far from reaching the Cursed Dungeon's reward limits.

Yet today, Wu Chang had reached its limit.

After so many years as a player, failing to enhance seven times in a row—when had the Book of Inspiration ever suffered such humiliation?

Fortunately, Wu Chang possessed many abilities; after Knight of Discord, his next abilities finally fell within the Book of Inspiration's enhancement range.

The enlightenment responded: the two abilities immediately below Knight of Discord were Deepsea Alien Transformation and Misfortune.

He was not surprised by Deepsea Alien Transformation—after all, it had already been enhanced once, using a Demigod Remnant as material, its upper limit nearly matching Knight of Discord's.

What surprised him was that Misfortune stood on the same level as Deepsea Alien Transformation.

In recent dungeons, his attribute values had swollen further; he had not used Misfortune in a long time, nearly forgotten the talent.

Misfortune and the Cursed Dungeon both carried curse-like properties; perhaps they complemented each other exceptionally well.

The enlightenment chose between the two; ultimately, the enhancement light settled on Misfortune.

Memories of his experience in the Cursed Dungeon—transforming Amber's mind-vulnerabilities into monsters—replayed in his mind, merging with Misfortune's power, granting him deeper understanding of how to expand an opponent's mind-vulnerability.

After an indescribable transformation, the Misfortune talent mutated.

"Talent Name: Misfortune"

"Talent Effect: Misfortune"

"Clear: When activating the talent, inflict Misfortune upon targets within range; based on the sum of both parties' Inspiration and Will attributes, choose one or more of 'Plague,' 'Summon Misfortune,' or 'Inflict Curse.' Cooldown: 1 day."

"Talent Effect: Space of Misfortune"

"Clear: If the target's total Inspiration and Will is lower than the user's, the target is forcibly pulled into the Space of Misfortune and enters the Special State: Echo of Mind-Image. Effect cannot be immune. Cooldown: 7 days."

"Special State: Echo of Mind-Image"

"Probe the target's mind-vulnerability and manifest a Mind-Image Monster based on it. If the target is attacked by the Mind-Image Monster, it suffers direct soul damage to its origin. While the Mind-Image Monster exists, the target's all attributes decrease by 20%, willpower drops sharply, and skill failure probability increases by 30%."

The Misfortune talent, enlightened by the Cursed Dungeon, gained the new effect "Space of Misfortune," its description brimming with familiarity.

The Space of Misfortune was precisely the special inner world Amber was dragged into each time affected by a vulnerability; the Mind-Image Monster needed no explanation—it was precisely the monster manifested from Amber's inner demon; the all-attribute reduction corresponded to the Cursed Dungeon's attribute suppression.

They say the dragon slayer becomes the dragon; Wu Chang, who helped Amber defeat multiple inner demons, was now becoming someone else's inner demon.

And he was certain that in the role of inner demon, he would be far superior to Amber's own inner demons.

Yet more satisfying than all the abilities of Echo of Mind-Image was the fact that the Space of Misfortune could not be immune.

Long Kai had nearly destroyed his home thanks to his immunity to control—a fact that had long gnawed at him; now, if he ever encountered Long Kai again, he would deliver a crushing elbow to him inside the Space of Misfortune.

"Player dungeon rating reached Perfect Level; may select one rare item from the current dungeon dimension as a reward."

"Blessed Cross"

"Silver Leaf Amulet"

"Gift of the Miracle Walker"

The first two perfect rewards were precisely the cross Grace used in the old classroom building, and the amulet Mavila gave Wu Chang.

Mavila had once said that everything Wu Chang had done for Amber was enough to earn him a large amount of Primordial Spirit Pivot in settlement—apparently, Mavila's promise had come true in this stage.

Based on his prior experience, antiques infused with Primordial Spirit Pivot mattered only for the Primordial Spirit Pivot itself; the vessel's form had no effect, relieving him of any selection pressure.

Since that was the case, he chose the third item: "Gift of the Miracle Walker."

The next moment, a color-printed photo album appeared in his hands.

It contained nothing but mature photos of Grace: short hair, wheat-toned skin, athletic build, with distinct sunburn marks on her skin—perfectly matching Wu Chang's original requirements.

Wu Chang raised an eyebrow; he had to admit, the adult Grace suited this style perfectly. Compared to the cross and the amulet, this reward truly showed more sincerity.

The appearance of the photo album instantly agitated the Omniscient Crystal in his personal space, a strong signal of longing slamming into his mind.

Primordial Spirit Pivot was too high-tier an energy for Wu Chang to access at the moment, so he pulled out the Omniscient Crystal and fed it the photo album.

The Omniscient Crystal floated above the photo album, spinning merrily as faint energy seeped from the album and drilled into its core.

Mavila had not lied—the Primordial Spirit Pivot contained in the photo album was at least three times the amount in the Day Immortal Seal. Indeed, it was substantial.

As the Omniscient Crystal fully absorbed the Primordial Spirit Pivot, a prompt appeared before Wu Chang.

"The Omniscient Crystal has absorbed your exclusive Primordial Spirit Pivot and formed a one-way soul contract with you, becoming your absolute possession."

Wu Chang:...

Omniscient Crystal:...

Wu Chang and the Omniscient Crystal "stared" at each other; the scene sank into an eerie silence.

A fragment flashed through Wu Chang's mind: Mavila had said in a strange tone:

"Our Miracle Walker clan possesses the ability to see through desires and fulfill wishes. No one understands the human heart better than we do."

No way—you really do understand the human heart!

Clearly, Mavila and Grace had somehow detected the existence of the Omniscient Crystal and set up a trap for it, using Primordial Spirit Pivot to make it fully his possession.

Wu Chang silently apologized to the entire Miracle Walker clan—he shouldn't have judged the whole clan based on Grace's actions, doubting their power.

The existence of the Omniscient Crystal had always been a hazard to him.

To harness the Omniscient Crystal's power, he had to bind his soul to it—and that was unacceptable.

At first, he hadn't cared; the Omniscient Crystal wasn't essential to him. They'd just wait it out—he was certain the Crystal would break first.

But the arrival of Primordial Spirit Pivot shattered his calm.

The energy level of Primordial Spirit Pivot was too high—he could not use it directly, and could only sip a little through the Omniscient Crystal.

As the Omniscient Crystal absorbed Primordial Spirit Pivot, its condition improved continuously, and he could not predict what would happen once it fully recovered.

When a being suspected to be from the Abyss's fourth layer returns to normal, let alone commanding the Omniscient Crystal, even whether he had the leverage to cooperate with it remained unknown.

If he found no solution, before the Omniscient Crystal absorbed Primordial Spirit Pivot again, Wu Chang would have no choice but to accept its demands and sign the soul-binding protocol.

But the Miracle Walker's masterstroke had completely resolved his greatest problem.

With the Abyss Game System recognizing the subordinate relationship, even if the Omniscient Crystal recovered, it could not harm him.

Wu Chang looked at the Omniscient Crystal, an uncontrollable smile forming in his eyes.

Facing a deity of the same tier, the Omniscient Crystal seemed unable to remain omniscient—at least, it had not detected the Miracle Walker's setup.

In contrast to Wu Chang, the Omniscient Crystal was far from happy.

It spun rapidly, its surface glowing with a faint red light.

It was redlining.

The next moment, it landed on Grace's photo album, shredding the entire collection into fragments and swallowing them all, then flashed once—without Wu Chang's consent—and plunged back into his personal space.

To Wu Chang, the Omniscient Crystal's retaliation was merely the tantrum of a powerless being.

After all, the Omniscient Crystal was already his. A little moodiness could be tolerated—for now.

With his most pressing problem solved, he couldn't help humming softly as he entered the final stage of settlement: the title draw.

"The player achieved a perfect clearance in a dungeon world with a difficulty rating equal to or higher than their character level (dungeon contamination value > 85), and received one random title chest."

"The player will only draw titles that meet the prerequisite conditions."

Watching the spinning wheel, he felt no emotion.

They were all old acquaintances—he could just skip the draw and hand him a colored title outright.

The wheel slowed to a stop; the drawn chest emitted its familiar golden glow.

Again—another golden legendary.

"Title: Rulebreaker"

"Title Acquisition Requirement: The player has broken at least five rules in a specific rule-bound dungeon and modified at least one dungeon rule."

"Title Description: Rules are made to be broken. Those who cannot escape the rules are merely pawns."

"Title Effect: Wearing this title reduces the Abyss's constraints on you, allowing you to explore the true limits of the world; within dungeon worlds, the restrictions imposed by dungeon rules are reduced, with the reduction percentage increasing according to dungeon contamination value: (dungeon contamination value / 2)%."

"Note: Colored titles can stack with other titles."

As Wu Chang equipped the "Rulebreaker" title, he felt invisible restraints snap across his body, bringing an indescribable sense of lightness and freedom.

Beyond the sensory relief, the most direct change on his stats panel was the Wasteland Realm's attribute cap rising from 200 to 300.

The settlement space existed between the dungeon and reality; his stats panel still benefited from the Breakthrough Master bonus, increasing his Strength and Energy attributes. Any attribute value above 200 was no longer reduced by 50%.

Outside the conventional Wasteland Realm barrier, during his battle as the Warring Knight in the Saint Song Company dungeon, he had once touched the Wasteland Realm's attribute limit: no single attribute could exceed 500.

His intuition told him this limit had also been broken under the Rulebreaker's effect, allowing him to reach the Wasteland Realm's true maximum.

But the exact value of that true maximum would have to wait until his next Warring Knight transformation to discover.

Whether in a rule-suppressing instance like Misfortune Beset, or the upper limit gained from activating the War Knight transformation, the boosts brought by the Violator are extremely impressive.

But he always felt that the improvements brought by the Violator were not as simple as they appeared on the surface.

Especially the remark in the title's note — unable to break free of the rules, ultimately just a chess piece — this sentence seemed to point to something else, not merely a simple evaluation.

Violator — did this title want him to break free of the rules of the instance plane, or the rules of the Abyss, or some other higher-level rules?

Wu Chang was not clear on these things; he only knew that if he exposed this title, it would probably completely confirm the rumors that he was cheating.

But this was a Violator officially recognized by the Abyss Game — he was cheating by imperial decree, and reports wouldn't even work.

The instance settlement did not end here; after the title draw, it was time for his hidden side-quest reward settlement.

"Player has completed hidden side quest: Nurture Amber's Healthy Growth. At the end of the instance, Amber's approval value must not be lower than 60 points."

"Player has obtained hidden side quest reward: Leaf of the Tree of Miracles."

A verdant leaf appeared in Wu Chang's hand. The leaf contained powerful vitality, resonating with the False Divine Relic in his portable space; the two longed to merge into one.

He took out the False Divine Relic and placed the Leaf of the Tree of Miracles at its very top. Under the nourishment of the immense vitality, the False Divine Relic's body — which had been half-virtual, half-real like a projection — fully solidified.

Its leaves transformed into gemstone texture, golden threads flowed through the grain of its trunk, and on its branches condensed the Mythic Fruit that the Great Sage had once wanted Wu Chang to eat.

Under the influence of the Leaf of the Tree of Miracles, the False Divine Relic underwent a metamorphosis and became a true Tree of Divine Relics.

"Item Name: Tree of Divine Relics"

"Item Grade: A"

"Item Type: Exclusive Item (only usable by Player No. 4444444)"

"Item Description: The spiritual crystallization of a Miracle Walker, proof that a certain Miracle Walker's consciousness awakened and truly began to think like an intelligent being, and also proof that it did not escape the fate of dying upon awakening. Its death was not in vain; at this moment it has received a response from other awakened ones."

"Item Skill: Divine Relic"

"Skill Description: Consumes Wish Power to trigger a small-scale divine relic, fulfilling the user's wish. If Wish Power is insufficient to support the wish's realization, forcibly activating the wish will bring certain indeterminate negative effects. Cooldown: 15 days."

"Item Skill: Pillar of the Divine Kingdom"

"Skill Description: The Tree of Divine Relics can gather the Wish Power of believers to grow infinitely. Its roots will follow the believers' faith, linking together all the worship sites of its users into a large Divine Kingdom. The user may consume Wish Power to travel freely among the planes composing the Divine Kingdom."

(End of this chapter)