Volume 6: Fighting for the World Chapter 101 Sacrifice
The improvement of more than three levels in basic mental strength did not disappoint me, but it did not bring any unexpected surprises. After all, I paid a considerable price to complete the additional promotion task of "Breaking into the Sky City Alone", and there are two colors above the seven colors, silver and gold, which are still quite far from the top level. According to the current promotion improvement of my main and secondary occupations, even if I become a tenth-level Holy Spirit Mage or even a ninth-level Thief Saint, I am afraid it will be impossible to step into the golden threshold.
After the basic attribute values are improved, it is time to learn eighth-level professional magic. "The average strength of the one hundred bright players and NPCs you killed in the additional promotion tasks is not very outstanding, so you can't get more additional rewards in terms of improving basic attribute values. However, among them are four eighth-level elite NPCs who are officially included in the organization and the third person in the Tiancheng management, the city defense officer Angel in the world. According to the battle results statistics rules, killing these more difficult targets can get certain extra points. Therefore, you are given a special opportunity. According to the four groups of options I proposed, you can choose the one that suits you best to learn." Pangdoni did not give me the magic scroll for study as usual. From what he said, I should have received corresponding rewards in terms of professional skills.
"The first option may be a single spell or a combination of two spells. I will explain their functions in detail, so you must listen carefully. I will only explain each option once, and then it is up to you to decide whether to 'learn' or 'give up'. You can only make one choice - once you decide to give up learning the magic of this option, you will completely lose the opportunity and it will be impossible to go back and ask to learn them again. You will have a maximum of ten minutes to make a decision for each option, so you must be cautious and give your answer after careful consideration."
After talking about the restrictions, before I could say anything, Pondoni went straight to the point . "Pay attention and listen carefully. The first option is the combination of 'Soul of the Dead' and 'Hand of Darkness'. 'Support of the Dead' can heal the caster's own undead pets or captured undead. Depending on the severity of the injury, it can quickly replenish their lost mental power at a ratio of 1.563 to 1, and can also speed up the recovery and regeneration of their damaged limbs. The effective casting radius is 100 meters. It can be cast in both the 'Dead Space' and the human world. 'Hand of Darkness' can absorb the mental power of one's own undead pets or captured undead. There is also no restriction on the place of use, but it must be touched by hand to work, and each casting will consume 15% of the physical value. If you have any questions, you can ask me. You have ten minutes to decide whether to learn these two magics."
These two magics are not directly helpful for fighting, but for the necromancers who mainly rely on "Soul of the Dead", they are definitely very practical auxiliary skills. However, for me, "Soul of the Dead" is certainly a good choice, but "Hand of Darkness", a magic that other necromancers urgently need, has the same function as my "Touch of Death" and has no effect at all. Although "Touch of Death" combined with "Soul of the Dead" will be more effective - one absorbs and the other treats, which can greatly enhance the combat effectiveness of the undead subordinates. Not to mention other aspects, it should be able to provide great help for the "Hell Volcano" immersion qualification challenge and the Nether Dragon challenge that have been bothering me. But if you look at it as a whole, a magic combination that can only play half of its function should not be the best choice.
There are multiple choices, but I only have one chance. If I lose it, it will never come back. Maybe I should make a quick decision and choose the one that suits me best. However, whether it is one option or a group of options, the overall function of magic should be equal. If I wait patiently, I may learn more valuable skills. I hesitated for a while whether to choose or give up. The system is really annoying. It would be fine if I just put all the options out for me to choose, but it has to limit the chances of choice and deliberately increase the difficulty. I don't know if my task points are not enough, so I can only enjoy this level of "treatment"?
As I weighed the pros and cons, the ten-minute limit was soon approaching. "I give up!" I let out a long sigh and finally made a decision. I always felt unwilling to choose magic with discounted value. There were still three chances left, so I decided to try my luck and see if I could come across magic with more practical functions.
Pondoni did not comment on my choice, and directly started to state the next option, so that I, who was watching from the sidelines, had no way of knowing whether the decision I made was right or wrong. "The second option is the 'Sacrifice' magic. You can only choose an undead pet or a subdued undead as the target each time. After casting, it will share 80% of the damage suffered by the caster. Or it can act between two undead, with one undead replacing the other to bear 80% of the damage. Each casting is effective for five minutes and cannot be interrupted during this period. Moreover, even if the target dies, it cannot be cast again. The distance between the caster and the target and between the two targets cannot exceed 100 meters. Once exceeded, the damage replacement effect will be lost. It can be cast in both the 'Dead Space' and the human world. If you have any questions, you can ask me. You have ten minutes to decide whether to learn this magic."
This "Sacrifice" magic can be said to be similar to "Soul of the Dead", and its scope of action is even wider. When used in conjunction with my "Touch of Death", it should be able to play a greater role. Although there is only one, it is obviously more valuable to me in comparison, and it will definitely be a good choice.
Although there are two more options, I have already resolutely given up the "Soul of the Dead". Facing the "Sacrifice" magic that is also applicable to the Immersion Qualification Challenge and the Nether Dragon Challenge, I no longer have enough courage to wait for the next better opportunity. Moreover, I learned from Pondoni that "Sacrifice" is the ninth-level magic of the Necromancer profession . After a struggle in my heart, I finally made a decision, "I choose to learn this 'Sacrifice' magic." Stop while you are ahead, and don't be too greedy. Maybe the magic behind is also very powerful, but it may not be more suitable for me.
The Undead Grand Mage who was promoted to level 8 had his basic mental power raised to the 7th level, 2nd level, lavender. After the promotion ceremony, I naturally wanted to test the effect of "Summoning the Undead" first. Although I still had the same equipment, the upper limit of my mental power did not increase, but the basic mental power rose to the 7th level, breaking through the level difference limit, and the mental power required to summon the undead, especially the higher level undead, would be reduced accordingly. Therefore, in a normal state, I can summon two level 8 middle-level subordinates and one level 7 upper-level subordinates. After I performed "Blood Transformation", I was able to summon Khufu, who was at the lower level of the 9th level, and my strength finally reached a new level.
Too lazy to rush back to the Eastern Continent, I went directly into the "Dead Soul Space". With my current ability, I should be able to subdue the ninth-level middle-level undead in theory, but unfortunately I can't find a suitable experimental subject for the time being, so I have no way to verify it. However, the ninth-level lower-level Flame Bone Demon Kekexili sealed in the "Soul Sealing Card" can definitely be subdued. But today is October 11th, and the Nether Dragon Challenge will be held in four days. Before I have experienced it and know the specific situation, I don't want to release it for the time being and let it return to the volcano, so as to avoid any more accidents.
After arriving at the "Hell Volcano", I received many complaints from my low-level subordinates about Houston's atrocities. I have heard a lot of similar incidents in recent days, which really pissed me off. Although I dare not kill more alien undead, Houston keeps looking for trouble everywhere, hurting the weak undead that I have conquered, and preventing them from doing things for me. Taking advantage of the privileges of having the qualification to soak, he bullies people and exploits the people in the village, constantly creating a tense atmosphere on the "Hell Volcano", intimidating other volcano undead to keep their distance from me, increasing the difficulty of conquering them, and completely becoming Hades's golden thug and dictatorship tool. Even in front of me, he was so arrogant - he beat my poor level 6 brother a few times, and then he swaggered away, with a posture that didn't take me seriously, which aggravated my anger and strengthened my determination to never let him go - if I didn't crush him to ashes, there would be no way to establish and show my prestige in the "Hell Volcano", which meant that I would be suppressed by Hades forever. I really don't know if his brain was burned when he was changing his physique. The blood bats, which have always been known for their "intelligence", actually evolved such a stubborn idiot who is determined to fight against me, who has a bright future, to the end. Even if he is intimidated by Hades's power and chooses to remain neutral or not contribute, I can forgive him.
Before the 15th of every month, you can submit a challenge to Hades. There are still a few days left, so there is no need to rush to decide who will participate in which projects. Anyway, according to the current situation, as long as I don't have any subordinates on the "Hell Volcano" that can threaten Houston's life, Hades should not arrange for it to pass the Nether Dragon Challenge, and the role it can play will be much reduced. Instead, it will continue to occupy the immersion qualification in a marginal area, and use the privileges it enjoys to exercise dictatorship and strike against me to further expand my power in the "Hell Volcano". Therefore, I only need to endure for a while and solve the problem of improving the strength of my subordinates first. In time, I will find an opportunity sooner or later to cut off the cancer of Houston in one fell swoop, severely dampen Hades's spirit, and bring the alien undead under my control.
I was helpless for the time being and chose to ignore Houston's blatant provocation. I did not do anything illegal in my anger to give Hades an excuse to interfere. Every day, I went around to forcibly subdue those low-level alien undeads and develop the power of the grassroots masses. I no longer needed them to search for Houston's traces. I shifted the focus of my work to exploring volcanoes, paying special attention to those corners or areas with steep terrain, to see if I could find a few rare treasures such as "Millennium Fire Lotus" or "Ten Thousand Years Fire Crystal" to promote the evolution of Hades, Guben, Taotao, and even Khufu, who are more promising subordinates.
Although it was only an additional requirement for the promotion task, and it was only with the help of the artifact "Transmission Star Disk" by the Undead Holy Mage Black Shadow that I was able to successfully invade the Sky City controlled by the Supreme Honor, and took advantage of the special external environment of the "Light Festival" that was being held, so I didn't receive a very grand reception, but I was alone in the enemy-filled Sky City for twelve hours, killing more than a hundred players and NPCs including Angels in the World and several level eight NPCs, destroying many buildings, and finally died in a grand manner with laughter in the form of self-explosion, without giving the other party any chance to save it. It can be said that I lived gloriously and died gloriously. I lost the face of the Church of Light and the Supreme Honor, and in one fell swoop, my reputation as the "World's No. 1 Undead Wizard" and the "Resistance Alliance" climbed to an unprecedented new height, and there was no negative impact due to losing the first opportunity to advance to the eighth level profession.
I successfully completed the additional promotion task, and while I felt relieved, a different kind of storm arose. Because of this incident, there was some unfavorable news about me in Tianxia, and it spread quickly - because of the series of atrocities I committed, especially "driving the ugly and disgusting undead creatures like giant pythons to swallow other players, especially female players, into their stomachs, and then spit them out covered with black mucus after being ravaged and destroyed in the sour and smelly stomach", such extremely inhumane and despicable means caused many players, especially most female players, to sympathize with such victims. They either wrote articles in Tianmei and published them publicly, or spread them privately, expressing strong dissatisfaction and condemnation of my atrocities, which caused unimaginable but far-reaching impact on me. In just one or two days, after being criticized and denounced by everyone, my reputation among the majority of female players, who were not handsome, cool, and had no image or temperament, quickly fell to the lowest point. They evaluated me as an unpopular player who was "the most unromantic, the most hard-hearted, the most cruel and tyrannical..." I was also given an extremely unpleasant but quickly recognized name by those players who were full of love, or who were afraid of me and saved others and themselves - "Devil Fool". With the help of some people with ulterior motives, it soon spread throughout the world. Even within the "Resistance Alliance", many female members who love beauty and cleanliness looked at me strangely. In connection with my past battles and records, I was confirmed to be bloodthirsty. Some familiar people publicly and those who were not so familiar with me privately began to call me Devil Fool. No matter how hard I try to justify my actions, they always seem so pale and powerless compared to the voices of the people, and I can no longer get rid of the title .
Of course, compared to the almost unanimous opinions of female players, many male compatriots, especially some players of the "Resistance Alliance" represented by Long Xing Tian Xia, quite appreciate my name which is quite ominous and very awe-inspiring. In their words, "Devils have always been a kind of existence with terrifying power. Devil, what a domineering and powerful name. I am fortunate to be recognized with this special title, which shows that more and more players have truly realized the power of me and the undead wizard profession and the "Resistance Alliance" that I represent, which will play a positive role in future development." I couldn't refute such a comforting explanation, and I could only try to be more open-minded and accept this cruel fact.
Ignoring the reports of possible actions by the Church of Light and the Supreme Honor, which should be a headache for Long Xing Tianxia, I still focused on the first Nether Dragon Challenge that was coming on the 15th. Houston has not made any moves until now, and it seems that it will not occupy this month's quota. If no undead takes the initiative to apply, Hades will have to decide at will. At that time, I will be at the mercy of others, and the situation will inevitably be very unfavorable. I will definitely not let Hades take the initiative. The safer way is to delay and prevaricate, and choose one of the three newly conquered undead who are eligible for immersion, sacrificing my own development to protect Khufu and Qitlei. However, this is too passive and has wasted a month in vain - Khufu's immersion in the edge area of the "Hell Magma Pool" has not had much effect. If he wants to gain further development and enhance his own strength, he must pass the Nether Dragon Challenge as soon as possible. Whether in the "Dead Space" or the human world, there are too many things waiting for me to solve. It is better to hurry up than to be late. There is really no time to delay.
If we want to take the initiative and assign Khufu and me to join forces to accept the challenge of the Hell Dragon, we will inevitably have to take risks. With Khufu's strength at the lower level of the ninth level, facing the Hell Dragon, which is slightly higher than the upper level of the ninth level, one is walking and the other is flying. We are at a disadvantage in terms of strength and speed. Under normal circumstances, we can't last for six hours and will definitely lose. And my situation is also quite dangerous as I am participating in the battle together - due to the rules, Hades cannot kill Khufu, but there is no rule that he cannot take the opportunity to kill me. I don't know the specific means of the Hell Dragon. When facing it, I must be fully alert and dare not be careless.
Of course, an important reason that increased my confidence in accepting the challenge of the Hell Dragon and prompted me to decide to take the risk is that the newly learned "Sacrifice" magic has more than 860% of the spiritual value in the "Dead Space". Combined with the "Touch of Death", I can use me as bait to contain the Hell Dragon, and arrange other undead minions to share the damage suffered by Khufu. As long as the tactics are appropriate, there should be hope that I can survive the six-hour challenge time limit and obtain the right to immerse in the middle area.
