Chapter 388: The Luck Raider

The Lake Light Badge is a silver-textured badge in the shape of a sword and shield.

A sapphire is embedded in the center of the badge; the gem is a pale blue like lake water and contains a reassuring energy.

Where the blade of the Lake Light Holy Sword meets the guard, there is a diamond-shaped groove, the size of which matches the sapphire on the badge.

Wu Chang pried the gem off the badge and embedded it into the Lake Light Holy Sword, accompanied by a burst of lake light from the blade.

As the lake light dissipated, a brand-new holy sword appeared before him.

"Item Name: Lake of Eternity"

"Item Grade: A (Growable)"

"Item Description: A holy sword incarnated from the lake water of the Stilan Holy Land. The sapphire embedded in the blade reflects the holder's virtues; both good and evil thoughts will be mirrored upon the edge."

"Item Skill: Sword of Perfection."

"Skill Description: A holy sword blessed by the Lady of the Lake who guards Stilan. As long as the guardian's faith does not waver, the holy sword's blade will not break, and the sword body is immune to abnormal status effects."

"Item Skill: Sword of Honor and Order"

"Skill Description: A person of high moral character holding the Lake of Eternity will trigger a special status: Lake Light. When the target of an attack is harming the order of the plane, it will, depending on the strength of the Lake Light, slay the destroyer of order while repairing a portion of the damaged order."

"Lake Light: The extended lake light will transform into the blade of the holy sword. The more noble the user's morality and the stronger their sense of honor, the higher the additional damage caused by the Lake Light."

"Item Skill: Guardian's Oath"

"Skill Description: The Lake of Eternity will generate a corresponding oath based on the user's faith. When the user of the Lake of Eternity fights for the oath, the guardian will be immune to abnormal status effects, and the Lake Light will gain the power of protection."

"Item Skill: ???"

"Skill Status: Inactive"

"Skill Description: ???"

Wu Chang toyed with the Lake of Eternity in his hand, feeling the power within the blade.

The Lake Light Holy Sword evolved from an A-grade item to an A-grade growable item; while the grade appeared unchanged on the surface, the actual transformation was earth-shattering.

A growable item does not mean it can grow into an S-grade item, but rather that it possesses infinite growth potential.

Although the conditions for upgrading a growable item are harsh—making it nearly as difficult to reach S-grade as obtaining an S-grade item—every growable item has at least the foundation of an S-grade item.

In the Abyss Game, the value of one A-grade growable item can be exchanged for at least five ordinary A-grade items, and even at that ratio, it is a seller's market.

Being able to obtain an A-grade growable item from an S-grade clearance settlement is a reward level that can be called overpowered, even for an S-grade instance.

His acquisition of the Lake of Eternity was likely a matter of serendipity.

When he stayed in the Steam Phantom plane, he had not obtained the Lake Light Badge, yet it appeared on the reward list during settlement.

The reason for this was related to his over-completion of Main Mission Two and the hidden side mission, as well as his identity as the leader of the Secret Magic Knights, which allowed him to obtain the Lake Light Holy Sword in advance.

If any other player had come, even if they had achieved the same instance rating as him, they would not have been able to obtain the Lake of Eternity.

Compared to the original Lake Light Holy Sword, the skill set of the Lake of Eternity has been comprehensively upgraded.

First, the skill "Sword of Perfection" changed from the original "the blade will not break as long as the source is intact" to "the blade will not break as long as the user's faith does not waver."

For ordinary players, this change is a nerf, as their will is far less firm than the source.

But for users with high Will attributes and firm faith who can adapt to the Lake of Eternity, it is definitely a significant buff.

An ordinary A-grade item does not contain much source power; let alone facing an instance boss, it could even break when facing top-ranked players.

But by supporting the blade with faith, it will not break even when facing gods.

The original second skill of the Lake Light Holy Sword, "Blessing of the Lake," was deleted and replaced with the brand-new skill "Guardian's Oath."

The "Blessing of the Lake" skill allowed the user to greatly enhance their survival ability and slightly increase their damage ability as long as they were near water.

For ordinary players, "Blessing of the Lake" could be called the core skill of the Lake Light Holy Sword.

But for Wu Chang, the improvement from "Blessing of the Lake" was dispensable, as the boost was not significant.

As a Deep Sea Primordial Seed, the blessing of a small lake was truly a bit petty for him.

He did not care about the health attributes and 20% damage boost from "Blessing of the Lake"; he valued the immunity to mental abnormal status effects in the skill more.

And in "Guardian's Oath," this effect is not only comprehensively strengthened to immunity to all abnormal status effects, but after activating the Guardian's Oath, the Lake Light, which originally only had attack effects, can also possess defensive capabilities.

As long as the faith is firm enough, the Lake Light will be both the sharpest spear and the hardest shield.

The third skill of the Lake Light Holy Sword, "Sword of Honor," has been merged with "Sword of Order," which could only be unlocked with the King's Badge.

Although the newly merged skill does not have the heaven-defying effect of the Sword of Order, which could forcibly pull a target into a fair duel.

But the abstract description of "repairing order" in the skill description indicates that as long as it is used at the right time, the ceiling of this skill will never be low.

Excluding the three fully upgraded skills, the Lake of Eternity also has the standard un-unlocked skills of high-level growable items, meaning its current effect is far from reaching its limit.

Wu Chang was very satisfied with the Lake of Eternity; the only problem was...

He gripped the Lake of Eternity and activated the lake light within the sword.

After a brief pause, a faint light lit up on the blade, enough to illuminate half a meter around it.

The only problem was that although he considered himself a good person, his bottom line was too flexible and was not recognized by the rigid Lake of Eternity.

He had saved Stilan, and even saved the entire Steam Phantom plane, but the lake light he could trigger was still only half a meter.

What was even worse was that although his Will attribute was powerful, his powerful will only fought for himself.

Other than himself, he had no faith that he absolutely had to uphold; he would fight because he disliked certain people, but he would not take risks for it, let alone sacrifice himself for it.

This made it impossible for the "Guardian's Oath" to form a corresponding oath through his heart.

He clicked his tongue; it seemed that this Lake of Eternity would still need Yu Ailin to be of any use.

But then again, the skill set of the Lake of Eternity was practically tailored for Yu Ailin; it just so happened that as the instance difficulty increased, the Light of Firmness used by Yu Ailin could no longer keep up with the intensity and needed to be phased out for something new.

The persona of a saintess, especially combined with Yu Ailin's experiences, really felt more appropriate when using a sword.

Putting away the Lake of Eternity, Wu Chang continued with the instance settlement.

"Player instance rating reached Perfect grade; you may select one rare item from the current instance plane as a reward."

"Sword of Kings"

"Prototype of the Mechanical World"

"Zhu Li's Research Notes on Spatial Magic"

Wu Chang had seen the first reward of the Perfect grade rating before; it was Olivia's sword, the symbol of the royal family, and the first holy sword of Stilan, which was even more famous than the Lake Light Holy Sword.

The Sword of Kings in the reward was inserted into a lion-shaped mechanical beast lying on the ground, but compared to the mechanical beasts manufactured by Olivia, the mechanical beast in the reward was only half the height and length of the ones in the instance.

The three options given for the Perfect grade reward would not have too great a gap between them; combined with the other two rewards, the Sword of Kings selected here should not be an A-grade growable item like the Lake of Eternity.

At most, it was an ordinary A-grade item plus a miniature lion-shaped mechanical beast.

The lion-shaped mechanical beast in the instance was a product of the difference engine as the core, fused with dozens of extraordinary steam engine cores; even without suppressing opponents with steam rules, the mechanical beast was very capable in a fight.

Purely in terms of displayed strength, not counting unused trump-card items, Leng Shan might not necessarily be a match for the mechanical beast. The mechanical beast in the reward should be a comprehensively weakened version, but as long as it could retain the simplest functions and a bit of steam rules, it was also an extremely powerful summon.

At the very least, players outside the top 1,000 on the combat power ranking might not be able to defeat the weakened version of the mechanical beast.

If it were before he obtained the Peacemaker, he might have been interested in the lion-shaped mechanical beast, but with the Peacemaker, he had even beaten the original version of the lion-shaped mechanical beast, so how could he look at this weakened version?

He only paused briefly on the first option before looking at the second.

The second option in the reward, "Prototype of the Mechanical World," could be seen to be related to Olivia's plan just from the name.

Using collective consciousness to partially replace individual consciousness to reduce strife between people, thereby creating a perfect world.

Being able to become a reward and appear alongside the Sword of Kings showed that this plan indeed had some merit.

With the level of the difference engine, it was a bit difficult to complete this world, but he had the Omniscient Crystal in his hand, and combined with the Primordial Pivot, he might really be able to pull off the Mechanical World.

If the Mechanical World were cast into Yu Ailin's Divine Kingdom, it would become a rule associated with the Divine Kingdom.

Then, every time they spread their faith to a plane, that plane would fall into absolute order; humans in the plane would no longer have disputes, and everyone would condense into a collective, striving for how to provide more divine power.

It sounded promising, but this method was too eerie; even if he found the point of balance between the individual and the group, people transformed by this method would definitely become less like humans due to the lack of self-consciousness.

There is a theory in psychology called the Uncanny Valley effect, which is that when something is close enough to a human but differs only slightly, it makes people feel particularly disgusted and repulsed.

If he really pushed the Mechanical World plan, I fear the planes he passed through would all turn into horror movie planes.

He did not like this method, and with Yu Ailin's charisma, it was not needed.

Excluding the first two, the only reward left for Wu Chang to choose was the last one.

He had a deep understanding of Zhu Li's aptitude for spatial magic; in a situation where spatial magic did not exist in the Steam Phantom plane, she was able to play with spatial magic just by exploring it herself.

He hoped her research notes would give him enough surprises.

"Item Name: Zhu Li's Research Notes on Spatial Magic"

"Item Type: Consumable"

"Item Grade: A"

"Item Description: This item can be activated when the player's energy attribute exceeds 150 points, inspiration exceeds 50 points, and they have mastered Grandmaster-level spatial magic."

"Item Effect: Spend 300,000 Rotten Silver Coins to upgrade spatial magic to Lord-level."

"Note: In the eyes of the mediocre, these notes are full of unrealistic fantasies and ravings that will lead to misfortune or even madness, but in the eyes of a spatial magic grandmaster, it is an admission ticket to step into the spatial domain."

The item effect of "Zhu Li's Research Notes on Spatial Magic" was simple and crude, but it was precisely because of its simplicity and crudeness that its powerful effect was highlighted.

In the Steam Phantom instance, when Zhu Li settled his hidden side mission, she had already given him a big gift; he did not expect that after leaving the instance, she was still exerting influence.

In the Abyss Game, at least in the Desolate Realm, S-grade not only represented the highest grade but also represented scarcity.

Various cultivation techniques in the Desolate Realm that could reach B-grade were already extremely high-end; techniques with an A-grade ceiling were no less rare than hidden professions.

Upgrading spatial magic from Grandmaster-level to Lord-level meant raising the ceiling of the technique to S.

For an S-grade technique, the effect might not be as good as an S-grade item, but the difference would not be too far off.

It could only be said that when he settled the basic instance rewards before, he thought this was a big haul, but he did not expect the big one was still to come.

Shifting his attention away from the research notes, Wu Chang began the final part of the instance reward settlement, his favorite title-drawing segment.

"Player achieved a Perfect clearance in an out-of-control instance (instance pollution value > 85) that is greater than or equal to the character level, obtaining a random title chest."

"Players will only draw titles that meet the prerequisites."

Wu Chang quickly skipped the prompts and fast-forwarded straight to the title roulette.

His degree of completion for the Steam Phantom plane far exceeded the upper limit set by the dungeon, which destined this title draw to flash with golden light just like the previous dungeon title draws.

"Title: Fate Plunderer"

"Title Acquisition Requirement: Defeat more than one Son of the Plane in a single dungeon, causing the Son of the Plane's fate to shift."

"Title Description: Everyone is born with a destiny they carry, as well as a fate that matches that destiny. By plundering the fate of others, one can steal their destiny. One does not necessarily have to be a Plane Selectee to become a Son of the Plane."

"Title Effect: By equipping this title, the player will gain a hidden attribute: Fate. Every time the player makes a move that changes the general trend of the dungeon, or defeats an important character in the dungeon who carries a destiny, they can obtain a portion of fate from it. When defeating a Son of Fate, one can take their place and act as the Son of Fate for that plane.

Each time you enter a dungeon, you must start plundering fate from 0. Upon dungeon settlement, 10% of the fate obtained within the dungeon will be converted into permanent fate."

"Fate: Fate, that is, life force and fortune. The higher the fate, the higher the luck value. It is easier to explore the secrets of the plane, and when encountering danger, there is a certain probability of receiving plane protection and turning bad luck into good. Current permanent fate: 5."

"Note: Colored titles can be stacked with other titles."

Unlike other colored talents, judging from the title description, Fate Plunderer is a growth-type title.

Carrying the growth-type label in the Abyss Game often represents being a cut above the rest; regardless of the actual effect of using fate, this title has a promising future.

Moreover, the title description mentioned one point: as long as he can defeat a Son of Fate, he can plunder the identity of the Son of Fate.

The hallmark of a Son of Fate is the ability to use one's own source power to influence the rules of the plane.

Recalling how Xavier and Olivia channeled the Steam Source and caused other players' abilities to be restricted, if he could master this kind of ability, it would be more useful than Authority when facing a large number of low-level enemies.

Looking back at the video wall in the settlement space, it replayed everything he had done in the Steam Phantom dungeon.

He was very satisfied with the process and gains of clearing the dungeon; the only fly in the ointment was that by following Zhu Li's decision to stop Olivia's mechanical world plan, he did not complete Schultz's lingering obsession.

[Without relying on any gods or high-dimensional beings, use human will to decide the future of humanity once.]

He had thought that letting Zhu Li's will decide the future of the Steam Phantom plane would satisfy the conditions of Schultz's bloody last words, but judging from the results, the criteria for completing it were far more stringent than the literal meaning.

He did not know if it was because he used divine power in the process of stopping Olivia, or if stopping the mechanical world plan could not be counted as deciding the future of humanity.

He took out the Omniscient Crystal and tried to get it to give him an answer, but the Omniscient Crystal, which had accumulated full Primal Pivot energy and entered a recovery state, could not understand his Transcendence talent and thus could not provide an answer.

Sometimes, having an ability level that is too high is not necessarily a good thing.

Since even the Omniscient Crystal could not answer, he could only put aside Schultz's lingering obsession and wait for a better opportunity to try again.

The moment Wu Chang left the settlement space and returned to the Crimson Courtyard, a line of prompts appeared before his eyes.

"Player number 4444444, successfully completed the qualification dungeon. The dungeon completion rate for the player qualification dungeon is in the top 10,000 of all players who completed the qualification dungeon. Obtained special item: Dungeon Pass."

As the prompt appeared, a white invitation letter appeared in Wu Chang's hand.

On the cover of the invitation letter was written his player number and his ranking for this qualification dungeon's completion rate.

The ranking on the invitation letter in his hand clearly read 1.

Opening the invitation letter, it read:

"Respected Don't Eat Beef, you are ranked first in the qualification dungeon completion leaderboard, and you have been invited to participate in a World Dungeon."

"This invitation qualification is soul-bound, non-tradable, non-transferable, and non-forfeitable."

"Please ensure you are in the Crimson Courtyard when the countdown in the invitation letter ends."

"Because of your excellent performance in the qualification dungeon, you will receive Advanced Exploration Authority to enter the dungeon plane in advance. The advance time is 36 hours of dungeon plane time. During the advance exploration time, you will receive a Blessed status; you will not take damage unless you actively launch an attack."

"Note: The World Dungeon is highly difficult; please make sufficient preparations before entering to explore."

(End of this chapter)