Chapter 42
Chapter 42
“Ding!”
[Your pet Celestial Spirit Beast · Xuanniao has refused your summons!]
Zhou Ming: “…”
It could refuse?
That was probably a special privilege unique to highly sentient divine pets.
Still, it didn’t matter if their relationship was strained for now. At least he had truly captured it. If he treated it sincerely from this point on, its loyalty shouldn’t fall so low that it ran away on its own.
With that thought, Zhou Ming opened the pet panel and inspected its details.
[Celestial Spirit Beast · Xuanniao] (Zhouyou Shijie’s Pet)
Grade: God Tier
Level: 1
HP: 1
Defense: 1
Skills: [Undying] [Good Fortune Divination] [Misfortune Divination] [Super Lucky Star]
Description: A mysterious bird that soars freely across the Destiny Continent. You might encounter it anywhere, but it never stays long.
Talent: [Fortune’s Favor]
Exclusive Trait: [Celestial Spirit Beast]: The owner of this trait cannot gain any EXP. In compensation, it may ignore all requirements when learning buff or debuff skills.
[Undying] (Passive) (Exclusive SSS Rank): Twenty minutes after Xuanniao dies, it will resurrect in a random location that is absolutely safe. Its killer suffers Luck -99, All Attributes -10%, and All Elemental Resistances -20% for 7 days!
[Super Lucky Star] (Passive) (Exclusive SSS Rank): Any item touched by the owner increases in grade by 1! Note: No effect on items above God Tier. May activate at most once per day.
…
As the pet’s owner, Zhou Ming could naturally see information that Inspect had failed to reveal.
“Holy shit!!!!!”
Zhou Ming stared, slack-jawed.
The exclusive Talent and trait had still fallen within his expectations for a divine pet. But the moment he saw Super Lucky Star, he completely lost control of both his words and his expression.
Any item it touched increased in grade by one!
That stupid bird was… insanely powerful!
Zhou Ming grinned foolishly for a long time before finally recovering.
Then he looked toward the piece of ore where Xuanniao had originally perched.
[Goldsource Ore] (Silver-Grade Ore)
…
The ore here was originally all Bronze grade, with only a tiny chance of mining anything Silver grade. Yet simply because Xuanniao had lingered on this piece for a while, its grade had increased.
“Now I finally have enough capital to clear the Sin of Envy!”
Zhou Ming beamed. Blackwind Sword in hand, he resumed hunting Mining Centipedes.
By around five in the afternoon, he had reached Level 38 and established an overwhelming lead over every other player on the Level Rankings.
1. Zhouyou Shijie, Class: Flame Demon Lord, Level 38
2. Rule by Inaction, Class: Eternal Imperial Guard, Level 29
3. Submit and Perish, Class: Dragon Soul Mage, Level 28
4. Bawang, Class: Swordsman, Level 28
5. Die Beneath the Peonies, Class: Bloodthirst Assassin, Level 27
6. Gaibang Laoda, Class: Star Guardian, Level 27
7. Falling Heaven, Class: Swordsman, Level 27
…
The players behind him were packed tightly together, separated by only a single level, sometimes less. Zhou Ming alone stood nine full levels above second place. Rather than allowing others to catch up as his EXP requirements rose, he had only widened the gap.
BOOM!
Just as Zhou Ming was preparing to log out for dinner, the ground began to tremble faintly.
Sensing something, he abruptly looked into the distance. A pillar of black light shot into the heavens, piercing the clouds and churning the wind. Even the blue sky grew much darker.
“What is that…?”
Zhou Ming stared in alarm.
“Within three days, the Demon Gods of the Dark Faction will return,” Qianying said gravely. “War will sweep across the entire Destiny Continent!”
“…”
Zhou Ming had nothing to say.
In terms any player would understand, Qianying meant that the peaceful development period was over. The next major content update would usher in a dark upheaval.
That was only natural.
No game would allow its players to remain idle forever.
“The Demon Gods will descend in less than three days?” Zhou Ming found the timing extremely troublesome.
That meant the Sin of Envy from the Trial of the Seven Sins would overlap perfectly with the Demon God invasion event, making his trial even harder to clear.
…
Moreover, the gods of the Light Faction were barred from attacking him by their wager, but the Demon Gods of the Dark Faction were under no such restriction.
He had offended every one of those Demon Gods not long ago. The conflict between them could no longer be resolved.
If they all came for him at once, he had no hope of survival.
“Ultimately, you’re an adventurer and naturally belong to the Light Faction,” Qianying reassured him. “As long as you remain inside a town, any Demon God who wants to harm you will have to attack the town itself. Sieges have a combat-power capacity limit, so you don’t need to worry too much.”
“A combat-power capacity limit?”
“A tertiary town is too small to accommodate a coordinated assault by several Demon Gods at once.”
Qianying patiently explained, “Besides, the Demon Gods face pressure from many sides. Victory in the opening battle is critically important, and they must seize enough territory to house their subordinates. They can’t possibly focus all their attention on you…”
Zhou Ming understood.
According to Qianying, when the Demon Gods descended, every national region would need to be vigilant. The Eastern Region would be only one of many regions under attack.
That made sense.
Every server had to participate in a major version event.
Even if Zhou Ming possessed precious treasures, the Demon Gods wouldn’t abandon everything else just to fixate on him. Their horizons couldn’t be that narrow.
“No use overthinking it. Food first!”
Zhou Ming discarded the distracting thoughts and logged out.
…
At the same time, inside a small pavilion surrounded by bamboo…
A handsome man sat upright in a room, starlight swirling around him as he absorbed every last trace.
Bang!
At a certain moment, his eyes snapped open. A powerful shock wave erupted around his body with impressive force.
“Ding!”
[Congratulations! You have successfully changed class to the Rare hidden class Star Guardian and received the rewards…]
“Ding!”
[You have comprehended the Star Guardian exclusive skill…]
…
“I finally completed my class advancement!”
Gaibang Laoda, Zhang Liwei, looked vigorous and full of spirit. He was extremely satisfied that Star Guardian possessed four-star growth in all four basic attributes.
An ordinary Swordsman, balanced in every category, had only three-star growth across the board.
“Congratulations!” Mo Yun appeared beside him.
“Master!”
Gaibang Laoda hurriedly saluted.
“No need for ceremony!” Mo Yun said. “Work hard from now on. Defeat Zhouyou Shijie as soon as possible and seize the God-Demon Orb for your master!”
He had not accepted Gaibang Laoda as a disciple out of appreciation for his talent.
His primary goal was to use an adventurer to circumvent the Divine Ember Queen’s protection.
Zhouyou Shijie!
At the sound of that game ID, hesitation appeared on Gaibang Laoda’s face. “Master, he obtained an SSS-Rank Talent. Even with your help, I may not be able to defeat him!”
“It doesn’t matter!”
Mo Yun smiled coldly. “Your Talent is no weak thing either. Use it under the right circumstances, and your victory is assured!”
“You mean…”
“Three days from now, when the Demon Gods attack the city, you will have your best opportunity to kill Zhouyou Shijie!”
As he spoke, Mo Yun took a green stone from his robes. “To make absolutely certain, do something for your master. Complete the task, and I will give you this treasure!”
When he saw the stone’s effects, Gaibang Laoda was both surprised and delighted. “Thank you for your generous gift, Master!”
…
That night, Zhou Ming methodically continued killing Mining Centipedes, ensuring he could reach another level of strength before the possible siege.
“Ding!”
[Your pet Celestial Spirit Beast · Xuanniao has refused your summons!]
He tried to summon Xuanniao to assist him, but it still refused. Being captured seemed to have driven the bird straight into depression.
Around midnight, Zhou Ming reached Level 39. Just as exhaustion began weighing on him, the second trial finally arrived.
“Ding!”
[Attention! Sin of Envy from your Trial of the Seven Sins has activated automatically!]
It was here!
Zhou Ming’s spirits surged. He immediately opened his skill list, only to find a trial objective he never could have imagined.
“It’s actually…”
…