Chapter 98: Rumors and Gossip
[Ding, detecting that the three Talents inside the host have begun to evolve. Now rescanning Talent abilities...]
[Because the host’s inner potential exceeds the system’s evaluation range, the three Talents will now undergo an extraordinary upgrade...]
[Talent upgrading...]
[Talent Name: Lance of Condemnation (Unique)]
[Talent Rank: SSS-Tier]
[Talent Stage: Second Stage (↑New)]
[Description (↑New): The Lance of Longinus you hold is stained with the blood of gods. It has the power to cleanse original sin, judge heretics, and break through illusions. It can turn all chaotic beings, Eldritch horrors, mental pollution, flesh mutations, and hellish curses into infinite Judgment Power.]
[Talent Effect 1: Radiant Grace]
[Talent Effect 2: Lance Phantasm]
[Talent Effect 3 (↑New): Judgment Power. Whenever you use the Lance of Longinus to kill Eldritch Entities or break evil curses, you gain Judgment Power. The host can spend Judgment Power to permanently increase any of their own stats.]
...
[Talent Name: Covenant of the Saint (Unique)]
[Talent Rank: SSS-Tier]
[Talent Stage: Second Stage (↑New)]
[Description (↑New): You sit upon the holy throne. Your fate is washed by light and divinity. You can bond with pure-hearted women, form covenants with them, turn them into your "covenant-bearers," grant them power, and receive their gifts in return.]
[Talent Effect 1: Reward Return]
[Talent Effect 2 (↑New): Blessing of Light. The host can grant the power of light to a covenant-bearer, giving them a 15% boost to any one of the host’s stats. The type of stat boosted by the Blessing of Light can be refreshed daily.]
[Talent Effect 3 (↑New): Damage Sharing. Damage taken by the host can be shared among all covenant-bearers. The total amount shared cannot exceed 90% of the damage the host receives.]
.....
[Talent Name: Mechanical Sovereign]
[Talent Rank: S-Tier]
[Talent Stage: Second Stage (↑New)]
[Description (↑New): A mechanical kingdom will be born deep within your soul. It can scan, build, and control all kinds of machines, create your mechanical followers, and command them in battle. You can also use the blueprints you already have to research advanced technology.]
[Talent Effect 1: Control Machines]
[Talent Effect 2: Scan Machines]
[Talent Effect 3: Build Machines]
[Talent Effect 4 (↑New): Tech Research. The host can extract scientific theories from the mechanical blueprints they already have and study them. The mechanical kingdom can simulate any experimental environment to speed up the research process. Research results can be used to develop and build new types of machines.]
...
[Talent upgrade complete. Now beginning to digitize the host’s information...]
[Name: Kevin]
[Status: Beyond Mortal]
[Strength: 22 (15-2+3+6)]
[Mind: 18 (16+5-3)]
[Agility: 21 (14+3-2+6)]
[Endurance: 14 (14)]
[Perception: 31 (26+5)]
[Sanity: 1/125]
[Stamina: 90/120]
[Health: 117/117]
[Talents: Lance of Condemnation (SSS) Stage 2, Covenant of the Saint (SSS) Stage 2, Mechanical Sovereign (S) Stage 2]
[Equipment: Windwhisperer Set (B-Tier)]
[Weapon: Mantis Fist (A-Tier)]
[Eldritch Artifacts: Regeneration Source (C-Tier), Pirate’s Crystal Skull (C-Tier), Wraith Revolver (B-Tier), Pendant of the Lovelorn Banshee (A-Tier), EldritchMall VIP Card (Unknown)]
[Covenant-Bearers: Luna, Amelia, Nova, Celula, Monchhichi]
[Summon Mark: Elite · Blood Mist Phantom x 15]
...
Kevin stared at the list of information and numbers floating in front of him. His mind was still a mess.
He knew he had gotten stronger this time, but his Sanity, stuck at only one point, wouldn’t let him think straight.
Acting on instinct, he grabbed a fresh bottle of "Tears of the Goddess" and chugged it down.
[Sanity +60]
Suddenly, Kevin felt a wave of clarity wash over his mind.
He gasped for air and started sorting through the flood of information in his head. His eyes went wide. "Holy shit. I just hit the jackpot."
So that was it. Leveling up his Talents could really change the game.
No wonder all the top Survivors in his past life were people who had successfully awakened their Talent abilities and pushed them to the second or even third stage.
Right now, there were three main things holding Kevin back.
First, Kevin’s own stats couldn’t grow steadily.
Second, Kevin’s [covenant-bearers] were too weak to share the burden of his fights.
Third, there weren’t enough machines out there on the Terror Sea for Kevin to scan, which really limited his [Mechanical Sovereign] Talent.
But with this Talent upgrade, Kevin had solved all three problems.
From now on, as long as Kevin killed enough Eldritch Entities with the Lance of Longinus, his stats would slowly go up.
Sure, he might have to kill thousands of Eldritch Entities just to raise one point. But it was still better than having no way to grow at all.
Plus, with Kevin’s current stats—already beyond what a normal human could reach—he could now give his companions a stat boost of about 2 points.
Giving them two points wouldn’t make them godlike overnight. But it would definitely help them make the most of their own strengths.
Most importantly, from now on, Kevin’s [covenant-bearers] could help share the damage he took.
That meant, as long as Kevin made enough covenants, his actual defense in battle would reach a terrifying level.
Finally, Kevin’s [Mechanical Sovereign] Talent now had the ability to research tech trees. This took a huge weight off his shoulders when it came to scanning machine parts.
From now on, as long as Kevin scanned some key devices and core structures, the research module inside his mechanical kingdom would run on its own. It would fill in the gaps in the scientific theory and help Kevin upgrade and improve all kinds of mechanical equipment.
This meant that the most advanced weapons and top-tier gear from modern technology would soon appear on the Terror Sea.
Modern aircraft carriers, military tactical drones, electromagnetic railguns, tactical nuclear weapons — none of these were just dreams anymore.
In fact, Kevin was already picturing himself building an army of tens of thousands of unmanned warships, unmanned submarines, unmanned combat vehicles, robot dogs, robot birds, and more.
Just thinking about it made Kevin so happy he couldn’t hold back a laugh.
Right then, Monchhichi suddenly appeared in front of him. "So this is where you were."
Kevin forced himself to sit up, ignoring how tired he felt, and kept smiling. "Why aren’t you resting in your room?"
Monchhichi poked Kevin’s forehead and blushed. "It’s because of you. Take a look at the world chat. Everyone’s talking about you."
"Talking about me?" Kevin looked confused and switched his attention to the system chat channel.
"This guy is so shady. He sold out his own allies, got them all killed, and then took all the credit for himself. Don’t let me find out his name, or I’ll kill him the second I see him."
"And those two women, Nova and that girl called Celula? They’re no better. They teamed up with Raphael and Toti and got seventeen entire crews killed. That’s almost a hundred lives."
"So shameless. It took eighteen crews working together to take down those three Eldritch monsters. But in the end, all the rewards went to those women and that one guy."
"With that kind of robber logic, whoever lives to the end gets to keep everything. So someone tell me their coordinates. I’ll kill them myself. Then by that logic, shouldn’t I get to take everything they have?"
Kevin watched the messages fly by one after another, and the more he read, the tighter his frown became.
These people had heard from somewhere that Raphael and the other seventeen crews had originally teamed up to fight the Eldritch monsters. But because of Raphael’s betrayal and Kevin’s group’s scheming, all of them had been wiped out.
And in the end, Kevin and Raphael had taken all the rewards for themselves.
Kevin closed the chat channel and took a deep breath. "Who started spreading this? Can you find out?"
Monchhichi nodded. "I already checked. It was that guy who ran away — Kamiza Saki."
"Him." Kevin’s face darkened as he slowly stood up.
Monchhichi stepped closer, wrapped her arms around Kevin’s, and pressed herself against his chest. "Should we try to control the rumors? Clear things up publicly?"
Kevin shook his head and didn’t seem bothered. "There’s no point explaining. Let these people entertain themselves with the gossip. We need to focus our energy on getting stronger."
He paused, and his eyes turned cold. "In a few days, when those idiots realize they don’t have enough food to eat, they’ll find out that stupid rumors won’t fill their empty stomachs."
Kevin turned and walked over to the few remaining ships nearby. He reached out and placed his hand on the hull.
In an instant, the ship’s mechanical structure flooded into his mind. A massive amount of information, along with all the materials used in the ship, poured into the mechanical kingdom inside him.
Kevin noticed the scanning speed and was surprised. "Even the scanning speed is twice as fast."
Excited, he released a drone.
He guided it to fly farther and farther away.
One hundred meters.
Two hundred meters.
Three hundred meters.
It wasn’t until the drone was five hundred meters away that Kevin started to feel some strain.
He tensed up and quickly turned the drone around, guiding it back until it landed safely beside him.
"So the control range has also increased to five hundred meters." Kevin put the drone away and said, "Looks like it’s time to start working on upgrading the big ships."
He turned to Monchhichi. "I’m going to spend the next few days focusing on building ships. Tell the other sisters to start turning all the loot into combat power as soon as possible. They have full authority to make trades — no need to ask me for permission."