Chapter 468 - 465: Life Shatter

Chapter 468: Chapter 465: Life Shatter

"Only one person can inherit ’Hidden Kill.’ You two can decide for yourselves," the Thief Master said, smiling at them.

Upon hearing this, Lin Luo gave a faint smile and pursed his lips. "Everyone gets an inheritance anyway, so it doesn’t matter who takes what. If Brother Feng wants it, he can just have it. I’ll go look at the others."

Feng Hao couldn’t help but frown in thought. To be honest, ’Hidden Kill’ was an excellent Inheritance Secret Technique from any perspective.

Moreover, it was a rare Secret Technique that dealt fixed damage. This so-called "fixed damage" was guaranteed damage that ignored armor, Gang Qi, defense, and immunity from life-strength attributes—similar to the "true damage" found in games on Earth.

Fixed damage was only affected by external damage amplifiers. In other words, any self-buffs that increased one’s own damage had no effect on fixed damage. It was only affected by debuffs on the target that amplified incoming damage, such as weak point exploitation or certain weakening effects.

Based on Feng Hao’s current Breath Concealment value, activating ’Black Pupils’ would allow him to deal over twenty thousand points of fixed damage. If he hit a weak point, the damage would be even higher.

All in all, ’Hidden Kill’ was a great fit for Feng Hao.

But in Feng Hao’s view, ’Hidden Kill’ was an even better fit for his big brother, Lin Luo. ’My build isn’t specialized in the ’Concealment Root System,’ and I don’t have any branch talents that boost my Breath Concealment attribute. So, at the same level, even if I activate ’Black Pupils,’ my Breath Concealment value wouldn’t be as high as Lin Luo’s.’

’Forget it. I should give it to Big Brother.’ After thinking it over, Feng Hao decided to give ’Hidden Kill’ to Lin Luo.

Seeing Feng Hao give up the inheritance, a hint of gratification appeared in the corner of the Thief Master’s eyes. He nodded in satisfaction. "Very good. In that case, Xiaolin, don’t be coy. Hurry up and go comprehend the inheritance."

"Understood." Lin Luo nodded solemnly and slowly walked toward the ’Hidden Kill’ inheritance statue.

After Lin Luo left, only Feng Hao and Mei Meimei were without an inheritance. The Thief Master, unhurried, walked to the foot of the fourth statue and waved his hand, activating the information for the fourth Inheritance Secret Technique:

[Five Children - Silent Strike]

Level: 100

Magic Power Cost: 200

Effect: Focus your mind to unleash a silent strike, dealing 500% Strength Damage and 500% Magic Damage (+4% per level).

Cooldown: 120 seconds

"’Silent Strike’ is built upon the foundation of ’Silence.’ It isn’t restricted by weapon type and scales with both Strength and Magic Damage." After this brief introduction, the Thief Master smiled at Mei Meimei. "Sanmei, go ahead and comprehend it."

"Okay, okay!" Mei Meimei had been waiting impatiently. The moment she heard him, she dashed over.

Now, only the last of the Five Children’s inheritances remained. The Thief Master studied the final statue for a long time before turning to look meaningfully at Feng Hao. "This final inheritance was established using the ’Instant Death’ Demon Pattern."

Seeing the complex expression on the Thief Master’s face, Feng Hao couldn’t help but feel curious. "Master, is this last Inheritance Secret Technique very special?"

The Thief Master gave a wistful smile and answered with a question of his own. "Do you know why I saved it for last?"

"Please enlighten me, Master." Feng Hao was completely bewildered.

"Because you are my disciple, and you must, no matter what, inherit this technique!" The Thief Master’s gaze suddenly turned grave.

Feng Hao was stunned, a look of utter confusion on his face.

The Thief Master suddenly straightened his back, his expression solemn. He spoke in a heavy tone, "Come. Join me in paying respects to our Grandmaster—the one who taught me everything I know."

"Your master?" Feng Hao’s expression filled with shock, his eyes widening abruptly. "You mean...?"

"That’s right." The Thief Master nodded calmly, his aura suddenly erupting, seeming to resonate with the Thief God Statue before him. "I am the one and only Direct Disciple of the Instant Death Ancestor, and one of the first-generation Thief Children of the Thief God Hall."

A tempestuous storm raged in Feng Hao’s heart. At this moment, he finally understood why Jing Lou and the other leaders respected the Thief Master so much.

"What are you waiting for? Come and pay your respects to our Grandmaster!" the Thief Master’s deep voice snapped Feng Hao out of his daze.

Feng Hao dared not hesitate. He quickly walked to the Thief Master’s side and, together with him, performed a deep, formal bow to the Instant Death Ancestor.

"Alright, go and comprehend it quickly." After the bow, a trace of sorrow and gratification welled up in the Thief Master’s eyes as he patted Feng Hao’s shoulder.

Feng Hao said blankly, "Shouldn’t I look at the inheritance’s information first?"

"It’s the only one left, what’s there to look at? Go on!" The Thief Master shot him an exasperated glance and chuckled.

"Right." Feng Hao scratched his head in embarrassment. He took a few steps forward, sat down cross-legged on the spot, and the moment he closed his eyes, he extended his Divine Sense into the statue.

The next moment, a world of brilliant fluorescence appeared before Feng Hao. Wisps of golden patterns crisscrossed and flowed, like a beautiful, dynamic scroll painting.

As a member of the Thief God Hall, Feng Hao could tell at a glance that the structure of these patterns was very similar to the ’Instant Death’ Demon Pattern he remembered, yet fundamentally different.

As he perceived it more deeply, a clear stream of information about the Secret Technique flooded into Feng Hao’s mind:

[Five Children - Life-Reaper]

Level: 100

Magic Power Cost: 200

Effect: Attack with the power of Instant Death, dealing 100 points of Life Force damage.

Cooldown: 120 seconds

’Life-Reaper?’ Feng Hao was slightly taken aback, but an ecstatic joy surged within him.

’One hundred points of Life Force damage in a single hit... The number doesn’t seem high, but its effect is actually immense. It can’t be helped, after all, it’s Life Force damage!’

’One hundred points of Life Force damage at base Mastery. It seems like each realm advancement will add another point of damage.’

The reason Inheritance Secret Techniques were so powerful was precisely because of their ’base Mastery.’ This meant that as long as one successfully comprehended it, they would directly acquire the Secret Technique at the Mastery level, without needing to grind it up from proficiency.

The only strange thing was that ’Life-Reaper’ was at base Mastery, yet it didn’t have any mastery effects. And it wasn’t just his; his big brother Lin Luo’s inheritance and the others’ also lacked any mastery effects.

Feng Hao couldn’t wrap his head around it...

But strange as it was, Feng Hao didn’t forget his purpose. He opened his mind completely, earnestly comprehending the slowly revolving patterns around him.

Time trickled by as he remained immersed in his comprehension.

An unknown amount of time passed. When Feng Hao opened his eyes again, a complex and massive [Secret Technique Circuit] had already formed in his Sea of Consciousness. Judging by the number of patterns alone, it contained several thousand paths, far exceeding the total number of paths in all his current Secret Techniques combined.

’Good thing it’s not Hidden Energy damage, or I wouldn’t even be able to use it after getting the inheritance.’

Feng Hao smiled in relief. He couldn’t help it; he was only level fifty-one, and his meridian root system was only at 229 base points. He was still a ways off from the 300 base points required for ’Hidden Energy Condensation.’ Before reaching that, he couldn’t use any Hidden Energy-type Secret Techniques whose Secret Technique Marks exceeded one thousand paths.

Atop the giant peak, at the feet of the five Thief God Statues, the Thief Master sat quietly to one side, patiently waiting for the five to finish their comprehension.

Seeing Feng Hao awaken first, a hint of gratification appeared on the Thief Master’s face. "Not bad, not bad at all. You’re even a little earlier than I expected."

"Big Brother and the others haven’t succeeded yet?" Feng Hao looked around in surprise, noticing that Lin Luo and the other three were still sitting cross-legged at the feet of their respective statues.

"That’s normal. Among the Five Children inheritances, the mark for ’Life-Reaper’ is the simplest. The mark patterns for the other four inheritances are all over ten thousand paths long. Given their comprehension abilities, it will probably take them another three or four days," the Thief Master explained with a faint smile.

Feng Hao nodded in understanding. He walked quickly over to the Thief Master and voiced the question that had been bothering him. "Right, Master, don’t Inheritance Secret Techniques start at the Mastery level? Why don’t they have any mastery effects?"

"That is the core of the Five Children inheritances. Once Xiaolin and the others succeed in their comprehension, you will understand," the Thief Master said with a mysterious expression.

"Is that so?" Feng Hao nodded dubiously, a faint sense of anticipation growing in his heart.