Chapter 248: Others: D+, Me: B+, Just…

The moment he held this mask in his hand, Lin Guang wore an extremely rare expression of genuine gravity.

-It really is this thing after all.

To anyone else, this looked like an ordinary mask, at most a bit unsettling for having no eye holes.

But the moment it touched his palm, that familiar sensation surged through Lin Guang's heart.

It felt as if it had been condensed and sublimated from boundless magic power, soul, and will, yet strangely, it exerted no influence whatsoever on the surrounding world.

It simply existed there with arrogance, refusing to interact with anything in the entire world except Lin Guang.

B+.

According to Wu Nuo, the highest power level currently permitted in Wind Capital was the peak of the second Energy Level, which was the D+ tier.

True Transformation Elements were proof of breaking through B-Rank, evidence of twisting the world through one's will.

The mere existence of this thing already surpassed the current upper limit of this world by two entire major realms.

In other words, this thing was unquestionably a Transcendent Means, and absolutely among the very pinnacle of Transcendent Means.

Dangerous to the extreme.

If a B-Rank entity, equivalent to a fourth Energy Level Infernal Species, descended upon Wind Capital, what would happen?

Even if it were incomplete, it would inevitably be a catastrophe of horrifying proportions. The sky and the earth would surely shatter, and the entire city would be twisted into a purgatory by the True Transformation Element.

However...

Looking at the quiet, docile appearance of the mask in his hand, and the warm, familiar feeling transmitted through the Soul Link, Lin Guang's eyes returned to their usual calm.

It wouldn't spiral out of control.

Because this was, after all, his Domain and his crown, the authority and power belonging to him as the King of Pride, the extension of his will.

He raised his hand and slowly placed the white mask onto his face, murmuring softly: "Yi yo yi yo ha ji ma lu zou..."

The mask silently melted and vanished, transforming into a warm current that merged into the Soul Gem on his chest, becoming one with his soul.

In that instant, that familiar sensation suddenly came flooding back.

Hum-

A faint hum emanated from the surrounding air, and light and shadow began to violently tremble, shatter, and break apart.

The radiance within the Soul Gem on his chest transformed into a rainbow, casting bizarre, kaleidoscope-like patterns across the room.

A pressure of overwhelming heaviness began to press in from every direction in the world, as if all of reality itself was attempting to reject the birth of an individual bearing such immense power.

Everything that exceeded the current world's capacity for containment would invite rejection.

This was the knowledge Wu Nuo had imparted to him.

But Lin Guang merely raised his hand lightly.

In that instant, that rejecting force was negated and canceled out by another power, dissolving into nothingness. The living room fell into silence.

-What does the world's rejection matter to me?

The next moment, he closed his eyes and began to carefully savor this power that had been lost and now regained.

.........

A short while later.

Lin Guang sat back down on the sofa, looking down at the items placed on the coffee table before him.

A blue Secret State hundred-yuan bill.

A hundred-yuan bill was nothing particularly remarkable. Xia Yao had given him who knew how many of them.

But the real key was...

This wasn't his original money. It was something he had casually created with the power of Pride, and whether judged by appearance or actually put through a counterfeit detector, it would absolutely never show a single discrepancy.

Yet as he stared at this paper bill, a subtle expression crossed his face.

"Sure enough, the construction spell is shit."

The Domain of Pride, even now reduced to only a fledgling form, would certainly have no trouble manufacturing a bill like this.

Its effect was actually very simple.

It manifested the facts one acknowledged as true, and negated the facts one refused to acknowledge.

The key lay in its specific manifestation.

Anyone who'd ever lurked on that forum knew that setting was setting, and manifestation was manifestation.

Back in the Trial world, Lin Guang not only possessed magic power of sufficient quality to perfectly drive the entire Domain, he also had the backing of the entire Utopia.

But in the real world now, not only was he unable to transform, his Energy Level was firmly stuck around D+, and the Pride Mark had dropped to B+, targeted and rejected by the entire world.

Could the effects possibly be the same?

And now, he had basically figured out the situation.

Simply put.

The strong aspects far exceeded Lin Guang's expectations, but certain other areas fell short of what he'd hoped.

Under normal circumstances, B-Rank and above superhumans and magical girls would all possess their own True Transformation Element as the core of their spells.

Just like how driving a more powerful engine required swapping in different fuel. In other words, to display the true might of a fledgling Domain, one had to use a higher grade of magic power.

And the Pride Mark itself came with this conversion function, as well as the capacity to store this True Transformation magic power.

Even though Lin Guang's Energy Level was still stuck below C-, this Pride Mark effectively provided him with a mana bar of a higher grade than ordinary magic power, which would be consumed whenever he properly used transcendent-level power.

And what was incredibly impressive was that it could recover on its own.

Although it was constantly being naturally depleted, consumed to offset the world's ever-present rejection, making the self-recovery speed actually quite slow, at least it could recover by itself.

Additionally, magic power could be converted into it at a certain ratio. The efficiency was visibly low... but having an extra channel was always better than none.

It wasn't abundant enough to use freely in ordinary combat, but neither was it a consumable item like Wu Nuo had suggested.

This was very good news.

In the past, Lin Guang would always subconsciously hoard consumables in every game he played, only to find after defeating the final boss that he still had a warehouse full of top-tier consumables with nowhere to use them... This was a common occurrence.

And as for the specific situation when actually using it...

Lin Guang picked up the paper bill from the coffee table and examined it closely.

Conclusion first.

If the Pride Mark were treated purely as a projection spell or construction spell, then from the cost-effectiveness of magic exchange, it was complete shit. Poor versatility, weak counterplay capability. Without question a medium-tier offering, with a DPS rating of unqualified.

This matter was also documented in "Fate/Stay Up Tonight" and "Loan Fight Back."

The reason was simple.

Creating something from nothing was a distortion and modification of the world.

The reason it had been so easy to establish before was because the entire Utopia was catering to his will as the Witch King, essentially fighting on home turf.

But in the real world, the world itself was already rejecting him, and then he had to extend his power outward to modify reality.

And if he wanted to use it in combat, he'd have to use that modified reality against his enemies to defeat them.

Frankly speaking, compared to attacking a specific opponent, this behavior was more like single-handedly opposing the entire world. Having to endure that suppression, the consumption would multiply exponentially. Extremely foolish.

In other words, for Lin Guang to do what he did before, where a mere thought could simulate various spells, recite various incantations and have various special effects respond...

It wasn't impossible, but the consumption would be absurdly high.

And then Lin Guang discovered the correct usage.