BXBX NOVEL Chapter 202: Devour (Incomplete)
The name of the skill was—
[Devour (Incomplete)]
[Description: Originates from a [data deleted] special creation. These entities are tasked with unique missions, and this ability is exclusive to them.]
[Effect: Each time you kill an enemy or are hit by an enemy\'s attack, you can restore a certain amount of health, energy, and stamina.]
Sterl couldn\'t help but express his genuine feelings:
"What a garbage skill!"
While Devour wasn\'t entirely useless, it was only marginally better than having nothing at all.
The skill\'s primary function was merely to restore health and mana, and even those numbers were disappointingly low. Sterl could sense that the amount of recovery he\'d receive after killing an enemy was minimal.
Compared to the automatic regeneration he received per second from his health, energy, and stamina pools, the recovery from Devour was only about 1/10th.
Sterl\'s thinking at the time was straightforward: once he activated the Fate Token, he was determined to pick the rarest-looking skill available.
Even though Devour\'s stats were unimpressive, Sterl remained unfazed.
He was convinced that the skill\'s description hinted at something extraordinary.
What did they mean by special creation? What unique mission? Did creation refer to the Devourer of All Things? It seemed these entities weren\'t villains but had specific tasks to fulfill.
Sterl casually pondered this, feeling confident that Devour was far from an ordinary skill.
Moreover, the skill had a plus sign next to it, an ordinary one at that.
This indicated a high probability that Sterl could unlock the skill\'s potential through regular upgrades, and maybe even perform a forced upgrade in the future.
Sterl imagined how Devour could eventually reach heights unattainable even for the Devourer of All Things!
He enthusiastically contemplated this for a while.
Then he retrieved the loot orb from the Devourer of All Things and clapped his hands together without hesitation.
[You have opened the Legendary Low-tier Loot Orb from Devourer of All Things.]
[You have received 100 Purple Coins.]
[You have received 30 Legend Points.]
[You have received an incompletely digested chaotic legendary crystal [Spiritual Soul].]
[You have received the title [Resistor].]
[You have received experience points equivalent to level 15 based on your current level.]
[You have received a legendary item [Heart of Soul Convergence].]
The numerous notifications and various items all piled up before Sterl\'s eyes.
After a brief review, he felt quite pleased.
The basic rewards of money, Legend Points, and experience were abundant, befitting the terrifying difficulty of the Devourer of All Things!
Sterl found himself in a sweet dilemma; he hadn\'t even fully processed his previous experience points, and now he had more!
His level-up speed was reaching unprecedented heights!
And then, the remaining three items each brought a sense of delight to Sterl.
First up was the "Chaotic Legendary Crystal." At first, Sterl didn\'t quite understand what this item was until he checked its specific attributes.
[Spiritual Soul (Doped Material)]
[Category: Special]
[Description: Under the immense pressure from the Hall of Valor, the Devourer of All Things failed to fully refine the perfect legendary power it had devoured. The remaining suppressed energy within it combined with the Legendary Crystal, resulting in a unique crystal.]
[Effect: Upon release, you may randomly receive one of the following effects—
The power of your next spell increases by 200%, but its cost doubles.
Instantly refresh the cooldown of a specific skill twice.
The effect of your legendary ability is enhanced by 100%.
All of your damage output within 5 seconds will be averaged, and 30% of that average will be dealt as damage to the enemy.
...]
[Usage Count: 0/25]
There were roughly over 20 different random effects, some strong, some weak.
At the very least, the weakest effect could still be considered a quality enhancement for a high-tier golden skill.
Sterl frowned slightly after reviewing it. The crystal wasn\'t entirely useless, but relying purely on random effects felt somewhat impractical to him.
Sterl often fought by pushing his limits, taking on stronger opponents, and needed to maximize various buffs and boosts in split seconds.
Wasting time to use a random-effect Legendary Crystal in the heat of battle seemed reckless.
Conversely, using this Legendary Crystal in less intense battles would feel like a waste...
Fortunately, there was a plus sign displayed on this item.
Sterl put away the Legendary Crystal, hoping that upgrading it might make it more practical.
Next were the other two pieces of loot. One was a title that Sterl had been wanting to collect but had few channels to obtain.
Though the title\'s name was humble, its actual attributes surprised Sterl—it was quite potent!
[Resistor]
[Category: Title]
[Description: Even if you swing your blade at the sky, the heavens will praise your valor.]
[Effect: While wearing this title, your reputation level with all factions automatically increases by one (cannot be raised to the maximum level). The probability of triggering hidden and mainline quests increases by 100%.]
"This title is pretty useful!" Sterl\'s eyes gleamed with excitement. Increasing his reputation level with all factions by one would allow him to quickly exchange for many valuable items in the Hall of Valor\'s contribution shop.
The restriction of not being able to raise his reputation to the maximum level was reasonable. After all, the highest reputation level typically required extremely difficult tasks, and expecting to achieve that just by wearing a title would be asking too much for the quality of [Resistor].
Still, even though it couldn\'t elevate him to the highest level, it could boost him to the second highest level. Achieving that tier of reputation was already exceedingly difficult.
Sterl had previously wreaked havoc in the Divine Mountain Empire, completing several mainline and hidden quests. He even managed to establish connections with the future emperor of the empire, which raised his reputation to the second-highest level.
To elevate his reputation to the highest level, he had to do something even more extreme: he directly killed the perfect legendary Octavius, completing a theoretically impossible task.
This alone showcased the value of the [Resistor] title, not to mention its ability to double the probability of triggering hidden and mainline quests.
Doubling the probability!
The potential future benefits for Sterl were enormous!
Hidden and mainline quests encompassed a broad range of opportunities. The Divine Mountain Empire\'s quests were just regional mainlines, but [Resistor] increased the probability for all types of hidden mainlines.
In the Hall of Valor, this meant he could accept extremely high-level hidden mainlines. Even when he moved to more advanced maps in the future, this increased probability would still be effective!
"Wait... are the rewards for killing the Devourer of All Things this high?" Sterl couldn\'t help but be slightly moved.
He looked again at the title\'s description.
What did it mean to defy the sky, and the sky still rewards you??
Sterl was puzzled at the moment, but he had too little information to make any judgments.
He decided not to equip the title immediately.
After all, the trial was almost over.
If he were teleported out and someone saw the [Resistor] title, especially someone knowledgeable who knew that it required killing the Devourer of All Things to obtain, it would ruin his plan to develop quietly and discreetly.
To prevent exposing his strength, he only glanced at the last legendary item before hurriedly storing it in his small world.
[Heart of Soul Convergence (Legendary)]
[Tier: None]
[Category: Special]
[Description: The core material used to create the Devourer of All Things. Originally merged with the monster, but under special circumstances, the chaotic energy within the Devourer of All Things re-condensed this item.]
[Effect: This item cannot be equipped normally. Any entity can choose to absorb it into their body. Once absorbed, the item can only be removed upon the entity\'s death.
Upon equipping, life energy slightly increases, and all attributes increase by 1%. Each time the player kills an entity, they can absorb its residual soul, allowing the attribute boost to be gained again (the killed entity must be within 20 levels of the absorber). The boost lasts for 24 hours, with a maximum attribute boost of 100%.
Attached ability: Requiem of the Soul. The absorbed residual souls remain stored in the item even after the attribute boost vanishes and can be released in one burst to deal true damage (this damage cannot be mitigated by any means). The damage is determined by the releaser\'s attribute values, and there is no limit to the stored residual souls.]
"This thing…" Sterl realized, after tossing the first legendary item into his small world, that he could have absorbed the Heart of Soul Convergence on the spot!
Moreover, the Heart of Soul Convergence had quite impressive effects, truly worthy of its legendary status!
First of all, there\'s no level requirement! Yet the bonuses it provides are incredibly powerful. Within 24 hours, Sterl can become progressively stronger, with all attributes increasing by 1% for each unit he kills. What does that mean?
If Sterl kills a hundred monsters, his attributes would double, not to mention the added life energy boost!
At that point, he\'d deal massive damage, be nearly invincible due to his increased survivability, and essentially become an unstoppable force!
Even though the Heart of Soul Convergence has a restriction that prevents the absorption of residual souls from units more than 20 levels below the absorber, this limitation is practically irrelevant to Sterl, as he usually fights higher-level monsters anyway!
Given Sterl\'s speed at clearing monsters, if there were enough of them, he could potentially max out the Heart of Soul Convergence\'s effects with a single skill use, doubling all attributes and significantly boosting his life energy!
This means that in environments with a high density of monsters, Sterl could treat the Heart of Soul Convergence\'s bonuses as his default state!
Moreover, in non-encounter situations, he could pre-farm some wild monsters to stack up high attribute bonuses before heading into battle, ensuring he maintains a substantial advantage!