Chapter 126 - 96: What If I Can Sacrifice 10 Times?

Chapter 126: Chapter 96: What If I Can Sacrifice 10 Times?

When Hellish Roar one-shotted the mutated Boss, the entire Divine Hall seemed to fall silent.

Blood Roar and the other Beastmen all stared blankly at the dark figure.

Sitting atop the Horned Eagle, a thoughtful look flashed in Shen Xing’s eyes.

’Hellish Roar’s current state must be from activating his Bloodline Skill, Half-Demonization.’

’But... is this Skill really that powerful?’

’I remember the Skill’s description only mentioned a 40% boost to All Attributes after activation.’

’Why does it feel like the current Hellish Roar got a boost of over 400%?’

’One-shotting a Boss of the same tier, one whose Level was far beyond his own... that was truly absurd.’

"HAAH... HAAH..."

The sound of Hellish Roar’s heavy breathing filled the air as the black flames on his body quickly receded. He looked completely exhausted, as if he were about to collapse.

But he still used his War Axe to support himself, turning to Shen Xing and kneeling on one knee. "Lord, I have disappointed you."

"You invested so many resources in me and even taught me personally, yet I couldn’t even defeat a single Extraordinary Level enemy."

The corner of Shen Xing’s mouth twitched slightly, but he maintained his smile and said, "Hellish Roar, there’s no need to blame yourself."

"On the path of growth, we will constantly encounter enemies far stronger than us. But don’t be discouraged."

"A true Master always maintains the heart of a student."

"A true Master... the heart of a student... I see!" Hellish Roar’s whole body trembled. "I understand, Lord! Thank you for your guidance!"

His fighting spirit seemed to be reignited, and a fierce flame burned in his eyes.

Shen Xing: "..."

He couldn’t even be bothered to make a sarcastic comment. ’As long as you’re happy.’

At this moment, the battle in the Divine Hall had subsided.

The Beastmen outside had already cleared out all the enemies. Although there were some casualties, the losses were still within an acceptable range.

After the battle, it was naturally time for the exciting harvest.

Shen Xing took a deep breath and said in a low voice, "All units, clean up the battlefield. Collect the spoils and treat the wounded."

"Yes, Boss!"

The Beastmen immediately sprang into action, cleaning up the battlefield around the entire Divine Hall.

Shen Xing, meanwhile, opened the system panel.

A notification had flashed by right as the battle ended. He hadn’t paid much attention to it at the time, but now he was ready to take a look.

[Ding! You have successfully killed the Fallen Divine Hall Guardian (Boss★★★) and obtained 300 points!]

[Your cumulative points have entered the top 100 on the leaderboard. Please keep up the good work!]

...

’Hm? I’m... in the top 100 already?’

Shen Xing found it a bit incredible. After all, it had been less than three hours since the leaderboard opened!

With a hint of anticipation, he opened the leaderboard to take a look.

[89th Place: Shen Xing, 562 points]

...

’I really made it, and into the top ninety at that!’

’Damn, did I just jump thousands of places in one go?’

Shen Xing was astonished. The leap in rank was truly staggering.

But on second thought, it made sense. After all, he had gained a full 300 points just from killing this Divine Hall Boss.

Add to that the fanatics outside the Divine Hall, who contributed another one or two hundred points.

Among the Novice Lords worldwide, there were many experts.

But there weren’t many who, like him, could take down a Boss stronghold in such a short time.

’Not bad. Before, I was only aiming to stay in the top thousand. Now, I might be able to fight for a spot in the top hundred.’

’Although I know I might drop out of the rankings again, since I’ve confirmed that killing wild monsters also awards points, I’ll just keep expanding my exploration range.’

’I’ll find some special areas with high win rates to clear out and earn more points.’

’If I work hard, I might be able to maintain this rank until the expansion ends.’

With these thoughts in mind, Shen Xing closed the leaderboard.

He then took a wheelchair from his backpack, sat in it, had Fried Chicken crouch down, and slowly wheeled himself down.

Then, he went to the center of the Divine Hall, the very spot where Hellish Roar had just fought that mass of jet-black roots.

Amidst the pile of remains on the ground, a few glittering items were visible.

Clearly, this was the loot dropped by the mutated Boss.

With a hint of anticipation, Shen Xing collected all of it into his backpack.

[Obtained: Large Soul Stone x1]

[Obtained: Decaying Dark Tree Heart (Gold) x1]

[Obtained: Dark Gemstone (Gold) x1]

[Obtained: Believer’s Pendant (Purple) x1]

[Obtained: Black Spirit Wood (Purple) x1]

[Obtained: Vinar Silver Coins x253]

...

’A Gold drop... and two of them!’

Shen Xing exclaimed internally, ’Damn, this monster really lives up to its name as a mutated Boss. The drop rate is insane.’

Once his excitement subsided, he took out the looted items to inspect them one by one.

The first was a fist-sized, grayish-black, irregular sphere, its surface covered in dense holes.

[Decaying Dark Tree Heart]

[Quality: Gold (Treasure)]

[Introduction: A Tree Heart containing immense Dark Magic Power, as well as the power of corruption. The two forces have long since fused into one, creating a brand new power.]

[Effect: Can be absorbed by a creature that has Control over the Power of Darkness. Will significantly increase their Potential limit and has a chance to awaken a brand new class system.]

(Note: "Darkness descends, the earth decays...")

...

’Hm? Increase Potential limit and awaken a new class?’

Shen Xing pondered for a moment, roughly understanding the item’s effect.

It was just like how Hellish Roar had fused with the Blood of Inferior Demon, awakening many powerful Bloodline Skills and changing his class to Hell Vanguard.

This Decaying Dark Tree Heart had the same kind of ability.

’However, this Dark Tree Heart can only be absorbed by a creature with Control over the Power of Darkness...’

’And it seems I have quite a few of those in my territory.’

For example, the Skeleton Archers and the Black Moon Knight Order both wield the Power of Darkness.

Shen Xing thought for a moment and decided to consider the specific allocation plan after he returned. For now, he would continue to examine the spoils.

He opened his right hand, and a black light flashed.

A diamond-shaped Gemstone, as large as a goose egg and shimmering with a cold light, appeared in his palm.

[Dark Gemstone]

[Quality: Gold (Treasure)]

[Effect: When socketed into a Unit Nest, increases the Dark Attribute Attack Power of all soldier types of the same kind by 20% and their Dark Attribute Resistance by 20%.]

(Note: An extremely rare Dark Attribute Gemstone, which only gestates inside certain powerful creatures.)

...

’Gold Gemstones really are different. The bonus effect is double that of a Purple one.’

Shen Xing mused that this Gemstone could probably be socketed into the Skeleton Archer Camp.

’Actually, I’d rather give it to the Black Moon Knight Order, but they are recruited creatures and don’t have a Unit Nest to socket it into.’

He returned the Gemstone to his backpack and continued to the next item.

This time it was a necklace. The chain was woven from rough vines, and a dark green Gemstone hung from the end.

[Believer’s Pendant]

[Quality: Purple (Rare)]

[Equipment Attributes: Spirit +10, Spirit Resistance +20%]

[Equipment Effect: Faith Shelter (The pendant contains devout Power of Faith, allowing it to resist Mental Attacks and increasing Spirit Resistance. Additionally, the Power of Faith can be consumed to block a single attack from any creature below Tier Three. After activation, it must reabsorb Power of Faith, which takes 24 hours.)]

(Note: "The conviction of nature protects you.")

...

’Good stuff. This could save my life at a critical moment.’

Shen Xing put it on without hesitation.

A cool stream of energy flowed from the pendant into the space between his eyebrows. His mind instantly felt clearer—a sign of his Spiritual Power increasing.

He patted his chest in satisfaction. The necklace alone had made this attack on the Divine Hall worthwhile.

With that, he had finished inspecting all the loot dropped by the mutated Boss.

The last item, the Black Spirit Wood, needed no further introduction; it was a key item used to upgrade the Campfire.

However, the real harvest was just beginning.

Shen Xing looked around, quickly found his target, and silently wheeled himself over.

In the depths of the main hall stood a holy statue of a goddess.

She stood with Her arms crossed over Her chest, Her pale stone eyes downcast, Her expression serene and compassionate.

However, one of the statue’s arms was broken, and a few strands of black roots grew from the fracture, lending a strange, eerie air to its sanctity.

As he focused his gaze on it, a piece of information appeared.

[Holy Statue (Nature)]

[1: Pious Prayer (Silently recite the name of the goddess ’Alvaro’ and pray devoutly for 1-3 hours) to receive a random blessing (temporary buff, permanent Attribute increase, star-rank breakthrough. Remaining uses: 0/1)]

[2: Offer Holy Relic (Offer equipment or treasures) to receive Nature’s Grace (Transforms the offered item into a random Natural Element item of the same Quality, with a small chance to directly increase its Quality. Remaining uses: 0/1)]

[3: Natural Devotion (Sacrifice a single Attribute) to receive Natural Balance (Evenly distributes the sacrificed Attribute among other Attributes. Can be used on allied units.)]

(Note: ’Natural Devotion’ can be used a maximum of 10 times, but it can only affect the same creature once.)

...

The first two functions were quite normal.

But when Shen Xing saw the third function, his eyes widened instantly!

’Sacrifice a single Attribute and distribute it to other Attributes, and it can be used multiple times!’

’Doesn’t that mean I can get a ton of free attribute points by sacrificing Agility?’

Shen Xing’s breathing grew ragged.

After all, if it really worked, he could not only increase his own Attributes, but also raise the Attributes of all the main forces in his territory.

Of course, he would have to test it to see if it would actually work.

After all, the Holy Statue was different from the Demon Altar. If these Divine Spirits didn’t let him exploit loopholes, he would have gotten excited for nothing.

He suppressed his excitement and tried clicking on the third option.

[Do you wish to sacrifice the ’Agility’ Attribute to increase your Power, Spirit, and Constitution Attributes?]

[Based on your current Level, you can sacrifice a maximum of 100 Agility points to increase the other three Attributes by a total of 70 points.]

...

’Huh? I sacrifice 100 Agility points and only get 70 points back?’

’Wait, is there a middleman taking a cut here?’

Shen Xing grumbled internally. He didn’t expect to get a cut taken even when worshipping a god these days.

’And forget just taking a cut, taking 30% in one go is pretty unscrupulous!’

’But then again,’ he thought, ’if this works, it’s not like I’m actually losing anything. Take your cut, I don’t care.’

He directly clicked confirm.

The next second, a pillar of green light erupted from deep within the statue and landed on Shen Xing.

A strange power seemed to manifest within his body, flowing everywhere as if searching for something.

But just like before, when this power flowed to his legs, it stopped, confused.

After about three seconds of silence, the strange power, unable to find its target, quickly retreated.

Immediately after, three pillars of light—red, white, and yellow—burst forth from the statue’s chest and poured into Shen Xing’s body.

He could feel these three pillars of light strengthening his body.

His muscles grew firmer, his skin became fairer and tougher, and his sight and hearing grew sharper.

When the light faded, the euphoric feeling of being enhanced slowly dissipated.

He glanced at his attribute panel.

[Attributes: Power 72, Spirit 75, Agility 0, Constitution 73]

...