Chapter 553 - 554: Ascendant Rank Water Arsenal

"First one down," Leon said as he surveyed the surrounding area, his gaze briefly passing over the bodies scattered across the ground. "Five more to go."

"You mean four, since it said there’s five commanders."

"I’m counting the [Heretic King] too," Leon smiled.

He turned toward the others and found that Celeste, Violet, and Emilia had already finished dealing with their own enemies.

Each of them had fought roughly a dozen heretics, but the battle had been far easier than expected, and none of the girls appeared to have suffered any injuries.

Even so, Leon wasn’t about to let them become careless.

The heretics they had encountered so far were only ordinary members of the village, and while their combat power was considerably higher than that of most players, they were still manageable opponents.

"I need all of you to start being careful from now on," he warned, "The average heretic shouldn’t cause you much trouble, but the commanders are a different matter."

He didn’t mention the [Heretic King], but there was no need to do so.

The girls already understood that the king was on an entirely different level from the other heretics, especially after hearing about his combat power and the blessings he had received from three gods.

Although Leon had killed the first commander without much difficulty, that didn’t necessarily mean the remaining four would be equally weak.

As he thought about it, Leon glanced at the bodies scattered around them and noticed something peculiar.

Not a single player had been among the heretics he had killed.

He had initially assumed that the inhabitants of the village might be players but...

"Did your Slaughter Meter increase?" he asked the girls.

Emilia, Celeste, and Violet checked their respective panels before shaking their heads.

"No," Emilia replied. "It hasn’t changed at all."

"Mine hasn’t either," Celeste added.

Violet looked down at the bodies before shrugging. "Same here."

"Hm, I guess it’s fine."

He opened his inventory and began inspecting the items he had obtained from the battle, curious to see whether the heretics had dropped anything worthwhile.

The ordinary members had mainly dropped equipment and a few miscellaneous materials.

[Heretic Outfit (Legendary)]

[Heretic Blade (Legendary)]

There were also several scraps of materials, pieces of monster hide, and other items that depended on what each heretic had been carrying.

Unfortunately, none of their equipment was particularly useful to Leon.

The situation was different when it came to the beasts.

[Heretic Beast Essence x7: Consuming will increase one stat randomly by 100.]

[Heretic Beast Scales (Legendary Material)]

Leon raised his eyebrows slightly as he examined the drops, "Not bad, actually."

He continued scrolling through the inventory until he reached the drops from the commander.

[Skill Book: Water Spears (Ancient)]

[Heretic Commander Outfit (Mythical): +320,000 Constitution, +170,000 Agility, +200,000 Spirit. Massively boosts sea-related powers. Requirement: Submit to the God of the Sea.]

[Heretic Leash (Ascendant): Use to massively increase the loyalty of a beast you own by using fear. It carries many risks.]

[Enhancement Stones x10]

The commander had clearly been equipped with far better items than his subordinates.

But... the outfit required the wearer to submit to the God of the Sea, which was something Leon would never consider doing, regardless of how much power it offered.

The [Heretic Leash (Ascendant)] was somewhat interesting, but its description made it sound dangerous.

Increasing a beast’s loyalty through fear was hardly a reliable method of controlling it.

He immediately proceeded to burn the outfits and weapons belonging to the heretics, along with the commander’s equipment, since there was no point in keeping items that required him to submit to a god.

Almost everything they had obtained came with that restriction, which made the drops worthless in his eyes.

The skill book, materials, and enhancement stones were the only exceptions, and those were the items Leon intended to keep.

"Take it," he said as he handed the skill book to Emilia. "You definitely need another skill, and I won’t have any use for this one anyway. Besides, perhaps it might be useful alongside something you already have."

"Thank you!"

Emilia beamed as she accepted the book, then she learned the skill.

Ding!

[You have learned "Water Spears (Ancient)"]

Leon watched the notification appear. Only a second later, another system notification appeared.

Ding!

[Synergy between "Water Foundation" and "Water Spears" detected.]

"Knew it," Leon said with a satisfied smile. "You hadn’t even used [Water Foundation] before, and now it’s already showing a synergy with another skill."

Emilia’s expression brightened as she looked at the two skills displayed on her panel.

Unlike most of the abilities she possessed, this was one of the few skills she had obtained independently rather than through Leon’s talent.

Fwoosh!

Suddenly, a strange wave of energy began to spread around her.

The power belonging to [Water Foundation] and [Water Spears] emerged from her body, intertwining with each other.

Ding!

["Water Foundation" and "Water Spears" have fused into "Water Arsenal (Ascendant)"]

[Water Arsenal (Ascendant Lv.1): Allows the user to manipulate water and shape it into a wide variety of weapons, including swords, spears, axes, bows, and other forms. The strength, durability, and destructive power of the weapons depend on the user’s Spirit and mastery of the skill.]

"So... I can create all kinds of weapons instead of just spears?" Emilia asked, her eyes widening, "And it’s even Ascendant-rank...!"

She couldn’t hide her excitement, especially after realizing how much more versatile it was.

In the hands of someone like Emilia, the skill would be terrifying.

Her combat style had always relied on powerful attacks, and while [Divine Wrath] remained her strongest ability in terms of raw destructive power, [Water Arsenal] offered a level of versatility that she had previously lacked.

With enough mastery, she could easily overwhelm enemies.

Of course, the skill was still at Level 1, which meant its current power couldn’t compare to [Divine Wrath].

However, once she raised its level to the maximum, the difference would likely become far smaller.

The only problem was the cost.

Emilia would need 645 Skill Stones to raise the new ability to its maximum level, which was an absurd amount by ordinary standards.

Even someone who spent countless years grinding monsters and completing quests would struggle to accumulate that many.

But Leon wasn’t particularly concerned about that.

’ I can just grind for it,’ he thought, ’Unlike these Higher Domains, I know the [Eternal Battlefield] perfectly well from my past life.’

The [Eternal Battlefield] was one of the few places where his knowledge from his previous life could give him a truly overwhelming advantage.

He knew where the best hunting grounds were located, and where to find items that most players wouldn’t even discover until much later.

More importantly, unlike the Higher Domains, there was no strict time limit forcing them to leave the battlefield before they were ready.

As long as they hadn’t completed their advancement task, they could remain there indefinitely.

That meant Leon and the girls would have an opportunity to grow stronger for as long as they wanted, provided they were capable of surviving the dangers within it.

In Leon’s eyes, the [Eternal Battlefield] was their final opportunity to prepare.

Once they entered the [Eternal Domain], the situation would become far more dangerous, and the enemies waiting for them would be on a completely different level.

If they weren’t strong enough by then, they might not even have the chance to fight back before being killed.

The gods weren’t opponents they could afford to underestimate.