Chapter 70: Spoils Of War
Asher thought about his battle with the Priestess, and then checked his own profile; no matter how he thought about it, the right skill to pick is this.
{Congratulations Master for picking Warrior Knights.}
{Skill: Warrior Knights: Summon Four Knights with 50% of your Stats. Heaven-Tier. (No Cooldown). (Consumes 10,000 Energy per use).}
{Note: Knight dealing damage doesn’t summon more.}
"Sonic Scream is indeed powerful, but it doesn’t actually help in battle. Yes, it helps break traps, mind control, illusions, but I have Shadow gaze to give me details about these things... It truly didn’t make any difference having it, my combat power also won’t increase." He shook his head lightly, instantly recognizing the redundancy. Building an optimized skill loadout meant eliminating overlapping abilities; survival depended on versatility and raw damage multipliers, not niche utility.
"But the second ability, Warrior Knights... With this, I can summon four Knights, with my current stats, they should be as strong as S-Rank Awakened. The best part is, each of them could attack... There is another reason I picked this skill."
He clenched his fist, activating Warrior Knights. Asher watched as four Knights in black armor rose from the ground, then dropped on one knee before him, bowing their heads in submission. The absolute loyalty radiating from the dark constructs felt fundamentally different from the mindless thralls of a necromancer; these were extensions of his own will.
[Name: Asher’s Personal Knights.]
[Rank: S-Rank.]
[Class: Normal Boss.]
[Agility: 61,000.]
[Energy: 61,500.]
[Defense: 70,000.]
[Health Point: 61,500.]
[Physical Attack: 70,500.]
[Magical Attack: 70,500.]
[Skill: Once summoned, gained all the active Buffs on Master’s body for five minutes, and can use one of Master’s skills; once per summon.]
"I knew it!!"
Asher jumped to his feet; when he fought the Boss during her second stage, he checked the profile of the Knights, and discovered they could use skills, he believed his should also have this ability, and it turns out he was right. Exploiting the system’s hidden sub-mechanics was the true path to supremacy. Asher hadn’t just gained a summoning skill; he had gained four independent proxies capable of casting his Divine-Tier abilities.
He paused, staring at the profile with a slight frown: "I am still asking myself this question, and I haven’t got an answer... Why do Monsters have higher stats than Awakened, even when they are both in the same rank?"
He sighed, turning his attention to the second card; on it was the image of the Priestess with two wings, her arms raised above her head.
’If my memories are correct, I am 100% sure I faced those knights in her second stage, the first was lightning and sonic scream... This dungeon is so weird.’ He thought, staring at the system screen.
{Please pick one Master.}
{Lightning Domain: Covers a 50 meters radius with your aura, and unleash Lightning continuously on anyone caught in it. Celestial-Tier skill. (Ten minutes cooldown) (10,000 Energy per use).}
’She used this skill during the first stage, oh well, what’s the difference.’ He turned his gaze to the second skill, his mind already calculating the area-of-effect potential of controlling a localized thunderstorm.
{Holy Sun: Create an Artificial Sun which covers 100 meters. Holy sun completely destroys all Illusions, stealth, and traps, Celestial-Tier. (30 minutes cooldown) (Zero energy when used).}
{Note: Stealth, Illusions, and Traps will be ineffective in the sun rays.}
"Huh? Even a fool will pick Lightning Domain. With this skill, I can easily deal with many enemies at once... But too bad it’s also nerfed."
The restrictions on cooldowns were annoying, but compared to the Awakened who had to spend years meditating to grasp a single elemental spell, it was an absolute cheat.
{Congratulations, Master gained a new skill: Lightning Domain.}
Asher turned his gaze to the last card, it has the image of the Priestess with double daggers:
{Instant Stealth: Enters Stealth and deal +10% physical attack damage to your opponent. Mortal-Tier skill.(10,000 energy per use).}
He frowned, staring at the skill: "Are all Mortal-Tier skills this useless? My Shadow Merge is a lot stronger than this." He swiped the screen to the last skill, immediately discarding the low-tier trash that ordinary Awakened would kill for.
{Slow Death: With each attack, applies 5% poison to target, once Poison reaches 100%, target dies instantly, no matter their health points left. (Celestial-Tier). (Passive skill - No Cooldown). (Zero energy needed).}
{Note: Poison can be cured.}
"I will pick Slow Death."
{Congratulations, Master gained a new skill: Slow Death.}
’If used correctly, Slow Death will become one of my trump cards.’
Asher smiled. The ability to bypass monstrous health pools and armor ratings entirely with twenty successive strikes was a boss-killer mechanic. Combined with his immense agility, it was an execution sentence.
Finally done with the three cards, he turned to the golden chest, grabbed the lid, and pulled it open:
{Congratulations!! For completing your first Devil Ground, you gained Twin Daggers, Mythic-Tier.}
Asher froze, staring at the two short daggers before him; these were the exact weapons the Priestess used in her third stage. The crimson blades pulsed with an ominous, blood-thirsty aura, practically demanding to be wielded.
{Twin Daggers: When skill is activated, and also when user is in stealth, attack increase by 300%, and Agility increase by 100%. When used together to attack one enemy, it causes bleeding, which removes 10% of User’s health from the Target’s health for ten seconds.}
"Holy!! If my health is one million, and I attacked someone with these two blades, it removes one hundred thousand health for ten seconds, meaning the person will lose one million health for ten seconds... Isn’t this too overpowered?!!" He thought in shock, feeling grateful to his soul defense.
If the skill hadn’t rebounded the attack from this weapon, he could have died by now. The realization of how close he had truly come to being instantly erased washed over him, sobering his excitement.
{Congratulations! Master gained an equipment: Spectral Boot. Divine-Tier: When equipped, User gains the ability to pass through non energy objects.}
{Congratulations, Master gained Three Heaven-Tier skill books.}
{Congratulations, Master gained 1,000 Spirit stones.}
{Congratulations, Master gained a Devil Tower key.}
{Congratulations, Master gained 20 Equipments, and the Key to the Holy Goddess’s Temple.}
".....?!!"
Asher stood frozen, stunned speechless. The cascade of notifications blurred his vision, the sheer weight of the final key completely shattering his understanding of the world he now stood in.