As soon as s.h.i.+ Feng finished chanting the incantation on the Ancient G.o.d's Literate Fragment, silver armor began to encase Kite's body. A fivefold magic array appeared beneath Kite, who carried two black iron swords across his back.
As the magic array completed, s.h.i.+ Feng felt as if s.p.a.ce around him had frozen, and everything around him had turned gray. The dense, violent Mana around Kite also began to increase at an unprecedented rate.
Three times... Six times... Ten times...
So much Mana gathered around the Personal Guard that the ambient Mana around the magic array had been sucked dry, and drops of liquid Mana formed around Kite.
With the magic array to guide it, the liquid Mana encased the five drops of Soul Essence the Ancient G.o.d's Literature Fragment had released. These five drops slowly moved toward Kite's forehead, merging with his soul.
As more of the Soul Essence merged with Kite's soul, he began to scream in agony. The very sound of his screams stung. As the last of the Soul Essence merged with Kite's soul, his aura exploded from his body.
s.h.i.+ Feng could sense the changes that were happening to Kite's body. This new aura was nothing like the aura Kite had released before merging with the Soul Essence. It was obvious that the Personal Guard had grown significantly stronger.
Is Soul Strengthening truly this powerful? s.h.i.+ Feng stared at Kite in astonishment.
s.h.i.+ Feng had a.s.sumed that Soul Strengthening would only increase Kite's Growth Potential, not affect his current combat power overmuch, yet Kite's current Attribute Panel proved that s.h.i.+ Feng had been greatly mistaken. However, Kite's current Attribute Panel proved that s.h.i.+ Feng was greatly mistaken.
Aside from his Growth Potential, Kite's body had improved.
After the Soul Strengthening, Kite's Growth Potential had risen from 94 to 96. All of his Basic Attributes had increased by roughly 5%, as well. A 5% increase might not be much to ordinary players, to it was a huge boost to NPCs. Furthermore, the 5% was a direct boost to his Basic Attributes; it didn't factor in the bonuses from his weapons and equipment.
Personal Guards typically used stronger weapons and equipment than players. Not only was Kite wearing a full set of Epic Equipment, but the black iron swords across his back were Epic Set Weapons, as well. Hence, Kite's weapons and equipment ma.s.sively increased his total Basic Attributes.
According to s.h.i.+ Feng's estimates, Kite's overall strength had increased by at least 20% after the Soul Strengthening.
Moreover, that didn't take into account his new Growth Potential. A two-point increase was immensely meaningful for a Dark-Gold Guard. There would be visible differences as Kite leveled up.
With a Growth Potential of 96, Kite could rank among the top Dark-Gold Guards. Very few Dark-Gold Guards throughout G.o.d's Domain would be a match for Kite, now.
If I use Soul Strengthening a few more times on him, could he become an Epic Guard? s.h.i.+ Feng's eyes glowed with excitement as he considered the possibility.
If each Soul Strengthening increased Kite's Growth Potential by two points, then Kite would only need to undergo Soul Strengthening two more times to reach 100 Growth Potential and upgrade to an Epic Guard.
With this thought in mind, s.h.i.+ Feng used the Ancient G.o.d's Literature Fragment to scan Kite again, trying to determine the cost of using Soul Strengthening a second time.
Once the scan was complete, s.h.i.+ Feng gasped when he saw the required number of Soul Essence.
How vicious! s.h.i.+ Feng silently cursed.
Kite's second Soul Strengthening cost 50 drops of Soul Essence!
This was ten times more than the first Soul Strengthening.
Collecting 50 drops of Soul Essence was possible with enough time, but if the second Soul Strengthening cost 50 drops, wouldn't the third cost a minimum of 500 drops?
"Sure enough, upgrading Personal Guards with the Literature Fragment isn't going to be easy," s.h.i.+ Feng muttered to himself, smiling bitterly.
He had hoped to form an army of powerful Personal Guards though the Ancient G.o.d's Literature Fragment, but it seemed the chances of such a thing happening weren't optimistic. Based on the scale of Soul Strengthening's cost, he could, at most, upgrade each Personal Guard twice. For Personal Guards like Anna, he'd only be able to afford to upgrade their souls once. The cost for a second Soul Strengthening would be astronomical.
However, after giving the matter some more thought, s.h.i.+ Feng realized that the scaling might be lower for lower- ranked Personal Guards. If that were the case, he could then afford to upgrade them a few more times than he could with Kite and Anna.
If he could upgrade Mysterious-Iron, Secret-Silver, and Fine-Gold Guards that were close to the next Growth Potential rank, he could use them to boost Zero Wing's overall strength. The only problem was that such Personal Guards were not easy to come by. Even so, they would be easier to find than higher-quality Personal Guards.
Once s.h.i.+ Feng had finished upgrading Kite, he left to gather Ice Resistance items.
The Frost Monarch was not an easy opponent. If they entered the World Boss's Domain without enough Ice Resistance, even Tier 3 experts would freeze to death.
Fortunately, Zero Wing had been developing its potion and equipment production excellently. The Master Ice Resistance Potions, which the various major powers still considered rare, were relatively easy for Zero Wing to obtain. In fact, several hundred bottles already sat in the Candlelight Trading Firm's warehouse.
Zero Wing also had the Advanced Ice Resistance Armor Kits, which Melancholic Smile had been researching and crafting. Not only would these Armor Kits increase players' Ice Resistance by 10 points when equipped, but they'd also increase players' base Ice Resistance by 3%. Furthermore, each player could equip a total of five kits. In other words, players could increase their Ice Resistance by 50 points and base Ice Resistance by 15% if they equipped the total number of Advanced Ice Resistance Armor Kits. It was an absurd amount compared to the Ice Resistance equipment that was currently available. If the required materials weren't so rare, Zero Wing would've made a fortune by selling off these kits.
Players had already begun to explore Level 80 maps, a few of which included snowy environments. If players could equip five Advanced Ice Resistance Armor Kits, they'd have no trouble traversing these maps. They wouldn't need to sacrifice their Basic Attributes by unequipping their normal armor, either.
While s.h.i.+ Feng crafted these Armor Kits, he received a call from Melancholic Smile.
"Guild Leader, the Asura adventurer team's members have arrived at White River City's Teleportation Hall. Should I call them here?" Melancholic Smile asked.
"They're here? Good. Have them wait at the Teleportation Hall for a little while longer. I'll head over once I'm done handling my affairs here," s.h.i.+ Feng said, nodding.
World Bosses were not easy to raid. Normally, one would take on a World Boss with a 200-man raid team, while some allowed up to 1,000 players. Of course, players were allowed to bring larger raid teams, but the World Boss's Basic Attributes would significantly increase as a result. Meanwhile, a team could raid the Frost Monarch with 200 players before the World Boss's Basic Attributes rose.
Raiding a Level 90 World Boss was a monumental matter. Since s.h.i.+ Feng didn't want any of his plans to leak, he had to select trustworthy players for this raid. The only players he could truly trust right now were Zero Wing's and Asura's main forces.
Players had to meet strict requirements and were thoroughly vetted before they could join either main force. Zero Wing's main force members were selected from thousands of Guild experts, while Asura's were selected through a fierce compet.i.tion held among the Adventurer's Alliance. Both main forces' members were experts among experts.
Hence, s.h.i.+ Feng had asked Melancholic Smile to request Asura's partic.i.p.ation for the Frost Monarch raid.
Melancholic Smile relayed s.h.i.+ Feng's message to the Asura adventurer team's members in White River City's Teleportation Hall.
...
A group of Level 78-plus players had gathered in the third-floor bar in White River City's Teleportation Hall. When pa.s.sersby saw this group, they were astonished by how high the players' Levels were.
Moreover, every member of the group wore dazzling equipment, with the weakest piece at Level 75 Secret-Silver rank. The dozen or so players that clearly led the group even wore Epic Equipment. The man carrying a bluish-purple spear was particularly eye-catching. Not only had he reached Level 79, but the weakest piece of equipment he wore was also Level 75 Dark-Gold rank. Aside from the spear, whose rank couldn't be determined, the man had a total of four pieces of Epic Equipment on him. Even a superpowers' peak experts would be jealous of this man.
This group's aura deterred any players from entering the bar. Not even expert players dared to do anything more than watch from a distance.
Vice Commander, do you think the commander will be surprised when he sees our current stats?" Yan Ya, who currently sat by a window, asked, smiling at the man carrying the spear.
Since the Asura adventurer team had begun to grind on G.o.d's Domain's main continent, their development had skyrocketed. Thanks to the constant supply of combat techniques and potions from Zero Wing, the Asura adventurer team had been able to take on dangerous expeditions, as well. Both the adventure team's combat and equipment standards had improved by leaps and bounds.
Nowadays, Asura ranked as one of the top-ten adventurer teams in the Fire Dragon Empire, one of the Four Great Empires on the G.o.d's Domain continent.
"Maybe," Lifeless Thorn muttered.
Lifeless Thorn had thirsted for a rematch with s.h.i.+ Feng for a long time now. s.h.i.+ Feng was, after all, the first person to defeat him in the Ice Crystal World, and after arriving on the G.o.d's Domain continent, Lifeless Thorn had continued to challenge experts from the various major powers, rapidly growing stronger. Now, he wanted nothing more than to challenge s.h.i.+ Feng.
"Maybe? He'll definitely be surprised!" Cleansing Whistle confidently declared. "We've even raided a Level 80,100-man h.e.l.l Mode Team Dungeon. Our weapons and equipment are just as powerful as the main force members from the Fire Dragon Empire's superpowers."
Solitary Nine and the others nodded their agreement. At this point, only superpowers could successfully raid Level 80, 100-man h.e.l.l Mode Team Dungeons. Not even first-rate Guilds had survived the Dungeons.
After waiting for about two hours, Asura's members spotted a group of players wearing six-winged emblems as they entered the bar.
