BXBX NOVEL Chapter 194: Condensed White Mist, Forced Stat Allocation!
Unlike the post-apocalyptic films Sterl had seen before his transmigration, there were no tattered signs, abandoned cars, or similar artifacts here.
After such a long time, any signs would have completely vanished, and vehicles had left nothing but some skeletal steel frameworks, which were also mostly corroded.
Everything indicated one thing:
The former civilization of Earth had been destroyed for countless years.
Rather than calling this a city's remnants, it was more like the skeletal remains of a city that had decayed to its last bones.
"Perhaps in a few more years, even these steel frames will disappear," Sterl sighed, feeling a bit melancholic, as his hometown before transmigration probably looked much like these cities a thousand years ago.
However, Sterl soon noticed that because human traces had long vanished, many animals were living here.
From afar, Sterl saw a small sika deer, nibbling on the grass while curiously looking at him.
In the distance, a pack of wolves made their home in the ruins of a building, surveying their surroundings.
"All that talk about radiation is nonsense."
"These animals are living completely normal lives."
Sterl pondered, but the silence of the post-apocalyptic wasteland was soon broken.
"Roar!"
…
Terrifying roars, sounding both human and beastly, echoed around Sterl.
He then noticed that with his arrival, numerous monsters, previously hidden, emerged. Each one had a bloodthirsty and eager look in their eyes.
Why were these monsters so hostile toward humans?
Could it be that they were so deeply infected by the Forbidden Poison that they sought to devour human flesh to dilute the toxins within them?
Sterl pondered.
However, he knew time was pressing.
Over at [Transcendence], who knew when the Devourer of All Things would finish hunting other players and come to his area?
Seeing the monsters appearing, Sterl wasted no time in unleashing his skills!
Golden Quality — Celestial Stars, Stardust Bonus: Double Power, Double Range.
Sterl snapped his fingers.
The Celestial Stars, having been upgraded to Golden Quality, already had significantly enhanced power and range. Now, with the Stardust bonus, an enormous warning area of over 400 square meters appeared on the ground!
Of course, these monsters, having long lost their sanity, showed no caution and continued to charge at Sterl madly!
At that moment, the colossal Celestial Stars, with a dazzling flaming tail, descended from the sky!
Accompanied by a thunderous boom, the Celestial Stars plummeted towards the ground at a terrifying speed, crashing with immense acceleration.
For a moment, the earth shook!
If the ruins of this city once bore traces of past civilization, with the skeletons of many skyscrapers still visible, those last remnants were now completely obliterated by Sterl's technique!
Countless remnants of buildings were smashed by the celestial strike, and the remaining material was dissolved by the intense heat!
The impact left a massive, radial crater on the ground!
The destructive force and shockwave spread out, annihilating the entire city!
Even Sterl himself was slightly taken aback.
In [Transcendence], his Celestial Stars skill was aimed at relatively powerful creatures and primordial environments. But in reality, Sterl could truly see the terrifying nature of this skill!
The various skyscrapers and the ground reminded him of scenes from before his transmigration, giving him a real sense that he now possessed city-annihilating power.
As the flames from Celestial Stars gradually dissipated, the city's ruins had transformed into a basin, several meters lower than before.
Sterl waved his hand, dispelling the [Flowing Water] shield that had protected him.
He had almost been blown up by his own Celestial Stars. The reason was simple: in reality, there was no such thing as friendly fire reduction.
He had to endure the aftershocks of his own techniques.
After such a terrifying finishing move, Sterl nodded in satisfaction. "Not bad, most of the monsters were one-shotted."
Beyond the world-ending flames, heat, and shockwave of Celestial Stars, many monsters triggered Sterl's Starlight Spray upon taking heavy damage, killing even those that were well-hidden or further from the epicenter.
However, in reality, these monsters dropped no experience or loot.
After his ultimate move, all that remained was an apocalyptic scene.
Then, with a slight wave of his hand, countless mists gathered from all directions, concentrating in Sterl's palm.
The massive amount of mist eventually condensed into only one-third of a drop of water.
"Still not enough?" Sterl sensed that his cheat ability showed no signs of activating.
"It seems the quantity of mist isn't sufficient to form a complete item."
He pondered this while transforming into a rainbow-colored flame, flying toward the next abandoned city.
Two hours later.
"It's done."
With yet another Celestial Stars strike, another city's ruins were obliterated.
This was the seventh city he had massacred, refining a massive number of monsters down to—
A single round, pure white droplet lying in Sterl's hand.
Because the number of monsters varied between cities, it took him seven to gather enough.
But what disappointed Sterl was that the droplet was hollow in the middle, as if missing a crucial element.
He observed it for a while, using the Flowing Water principle to sense the droplet's state, and finally understood.
Sterl's idea was correct. He could indeed use the Flowing Water principle to forcibly condense mist into an item, but ordinary mist, even when fully condensed, was insufficient.
Sterl stared at the hollow droplet for over a second, trying to check its attributes, before realizing that there were no such attribute panels in reality.
However, despite the droplet being in an incomplete state, Sterl sensed a faint reaction from his internal cheat ability.
Clearly, it could be enhanced!
After pondering for a few seconds, Sterl realized he had no immediate means to fill the hollow inside the droplet. On the contrary, gathering another droplet wasn't too difficult. A few more city massacres would suffice.
So, he silently commanded, "Allocate points!"
Immediately, the droplet in his hand began to shine with a myriad of colors, indicating another instance of [Forced Stat Allocation].
After the light faded, the white liquid seemed unchanged.
But Sterl's face lit up with excitement.
Firstly, the rainbow-colored light, symbolizing the allocation of points, lasted longer than ever before—about two full seconds!
This indicated the droplet's immense value and power!
Simultaneously, Sterl felt an overwhelming desire as he gazed at the droplet, an instinctive craving for something beneficial to his body.
Without hesitation, Sterl swallowed the droplet.
After all, in reality, his divine descent's resurrection armor was still effective, so he wasn't afraid of any adverse effects!
The moment Sterl ingested the droplet, his expression changed dramatically. He felt an incredibly potent and domineering force surge into his body.
Soon after, he sensed this force morphing into blades, axes, and spears, relentlessly carving through barriers and thin membranes within him that he hadn't even been aware of before!
Throughout this process, Sterl felt a soul-wrenching pain, as if his very essence was being torn apart.
"Shit! What the hell is this stuff?" he cursed out loud.
He mustered his remaining strength and quickly hid in a crater formed by his Celestial Stars, where uneven heating had left a scorched hollow, offering some additional protection.
Then, Sterl collapsed to the ground.
The white mist initially only pierced through some unseen shackles within Sterl. But soon, it began coursing through his flesh, bones, blood, meridians, and marrow, as if attempting to crush his entire being!
The process was excruciating!
Sterl could only grip the ground tightly with his hands, applying so much force that the soil and rocks beneath his fingers were transformed, nearly as hard as diamonds.
Meanwhile, cold sweat poured from his body, and his skin split open, as if he were undergoing some sort of severe torture.
Eventually, Sterl collapsed in the rocky hollow, almost as if he had passed out, lying there completely motionless.
Everything turned silent, as if death itself had descended.
Grayish-yellow marks, resembling shed dead skin, continuously appeared on Sterl's body.
...
It wasn't until a long time had passed that there was finally movement in the ruins formed by Sterl's Celestial Stars.
With the sound of crumbling stones, an exceptionally fair and delicate arm emerged, followed by a youth with equally snow-white skin, as if he had never been exposed to wind, sun, or rain, climbing out from the ground.
Despite his altered appearance, the youth was still recognizable as Sterl, only now he looked far more handsome, as if he had been reborn and cleansed of all impurities.
Sterl himself seemed to sense the extraordinary changes in his body, closing his eyes to silently perceive them. Moments later, he opened his eyes with an expression of immense joy.