Chapter 704: Act 63 – The Reward of the Mission II
Should he focus on offense or defense?
Brendel gritted his teeth. He felt something was off. This self-enhancement related to time-space attributes was somewhat frustrating for him, but it wasn’t irreversible—only it meant he was likely going to have to abandon the path he had previously planned.
He hesitated for a moment but ultimately placed his hand on the class of Sanctuary Knight.
In the past games, players often changed their class path due to a powerful weapon. Changing his class path because of a strong element seemed much more reasonable. After all, elements were lifelong companions, and the time-space element was exceptionally powerful. Generally, element-enhanced stats maxed out at around 50%, while conceptual elements doubled the impact.
Such a tremendous advantage was not something he could easily give up.
Moreover, he had considered the warrior’s combat-oriented knight path as well. While its offensive capabilities might be slightly weaker than his original class path, it wouldn’t be too far behind either—after all, he still had the Sanctuary Knight’s Conflict Aura and the Thorned Crown—
Brendel quickly decided on the path he would take.
Then he looked at his Sanctuary Knight skills, and indeed, the skill panel had completely changed. After the element enhancement, the skills had proprietary rules:
Blood of the Burning Sun
(Level 10)
Master (Element/Normal)
Any enemy dealing melee damage to the Sanctuary Knight will suffer a 50% damage rebound.
(Element Enhancement) Now, Blood of the Burning Sun can ignore spatial constraints and rebound ranged damage.
Thorned Crown
(Level 10)
Master (Element/Normal)
Continuously applied, it increases 20 resistance and durability.
When actively activated, it converts all defense, resistance, and durability into attack power for half an hour. After the effect ends, the Sanctuary Knight loses all defense, resistance, and durability for the same duration. This ability can be used once a day.
(Element Enhancement) The duration of the active effect is doubled, and the side effect will be consumed by temporal rifts.
Conflict Aura
(Level 10+1)
Master (Element/Normal)
Increases all allies within a hundred-meter radius, including self, by 7 points of defense.
(Element Enhancement) The coverage area is doubled and adds an additional 2 defense.
The enhancement seemed to conclude in an instant, and Brendel finally breathed a sigh of relief at seeing these enhancements. The effects of different elements on skill enhancement were entirely distinct. For instance, if the healing element of the Crystal Stag were to enhance Blood of the Burning Sun, it would likely have the effect of slightly healing himself when dealing rebound damage.
However, the enhancements from time and space were clearly in perfect harmony with these defensive skills. Especially the “side effect will be consumed by temporal rifts” property of the Thorned Crown made Brendel want to laugh with joy.
In fact, he now had 952 points of physique, which translated to nearly an additional 500 points of life and a natural defense bonus of 4 points. With the effects of the Firefly, Bahamut’s Grip, along with the influences of his talents and skills—he would roughly have 40 resistance, 30 durability, and 17 defense. This attribute would convert into a total of 87 points of attack.
In the Amber Sword, attack is a fundamental attribute. Only when combined with strength and a series of enhancements does it represent the final damage. And to think that the renowned Earth Sword, a holy fantasy tier holy sword, only had 42 points of attack, while the pure attack of the Lionheart Sword was likely even lower, and what about the sealed Azure Lance? It only had 122 points of attack.
The significance of 87 points of attack was immediately obvious.
One could say that after activating the Thorned Crown and then entering Frenzy, Brendel’s frenzied state could genuinely be considered a true mad dog mode. An hour of nearly tripled attack power without any side effects—how could he not be satisfied with that?
With defense in place and offense just right, Brendel suddenly realized that his choice of time-space elements had given him a perfect answer.
But the gifts brought by the awakened element didn’t stop there, as Brendel finally saw a status list at the very bottom of all his attributes that made his heart race:
Elite Skill—
Demonization
(Level 1)
Basic (Elite/Normal)
Disguises the user’s aura as that of a monster for a short time, causing monsters below the lord level not to attack proactively, lasting one minute or until the user attacks.
Elite template—this was an attribute he had obtained after saving Fiona from Duke Toniger. Finally, after awakening his element, the first column of elite skills had unlocked, bringing him an entirely unexpected surprise.
Demonization.
Brendel finally understood how this skill had come to him.
Back in the Amber Sword, there had been a player known as the Nightingale Lord, who could be said to be the idol of all Nightingales. A lone wolf and a personal hero, he never teamed up with anyone and wandered through various dungeons and instances, stealing from everything except those large instances, legendary instances, and scene battle areas with special settings.
That guy’s skill, which was later verified by others, was precisely Demonization—this fantastic skill could conceal the player’s aura, turning monsters in those top-level areas into non-aggressive ones.
Unfortunately, nobody knew how to acquire this skill. Most knew it was a genuine monster skill, and in that era, only the heavens knew how it was learned.
Yet today, Brendel finally had an epiphany.
This was indeed a skill attached to the monster template; no wonder players had turned the entire world upside down, seeking out NPCs to teach it but found nothing. Although he was slightly puzzled as to why a warrior like him would randomly get assigned such a thieving aura skill.
Of course, he wasn’t dissatisfied. He was too satisfied, as this skill was incredibly useful for him, especially in this frost-stained forest.
If before obtaining this skill, he simply thought of sneaking behind Duke Anlek to stab in the back, now he truly had the confidence to teach the other a lesson they would never forget.
Even for the sake of avenging the Princess from his past life.
Brendel thought to himself.
He couldn’t help but exhale softly, then snapped back to attention, realizing Nemeses was standing not far away, looking at him with some confusion—he must have been standing there holding the card for quite a while.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Nothing…” Brendel then placed the ‘Reincarnation Serenade’ into his backup deck, taking one last look at the card featuring the white deer and the fae; then the card flickered slightly and vanished. Fortunately, due to having expanded his elemental pool earlier, he had an extra slot for a card; otherwise, he would have had some trouble.
He looked at Nemeses again and explained, “You should have felt it—”
“Congratulations on entering the realm of elements—” the lady knight’s expression softened a bit, “Earl, you’re only 21 this year, right—your accomplishments today have already surpassed those of the Flame King Gilt.”
“Um…” That question was hard to answer; Brendel casually turned around to look behind him—the newborn Crystal Stag still lay in the grass, and due to its frailty, it seemed it couldn’t even open its eyes, trembling as it lay there.
Nemeses looked puzzled again, “It’s strange; you must have had the same dream as I did, right? Why can you remember it so clearly? Are you really Brendel… or are you Sue?”
Brendel turned to look at her, “I’m certainly not Brendel, but I am also Sue. I don’t reject the memories of another world, just like everything you saw in the dream—it is still your experience.”
He realized then that Nemeses seemed to think he had the same dream as her, which struck him as a bit odd. Didn’t she realize that was a real world? But he shook his head, deciding to go along with her line of thinking.
Unfortunately, the lady knight appeared quite cautious. The moment “memory” and “dream” were mentioned, she immediately closed off the conversation.
Brendel scrutinized her; Nemeses slightly turned her head, and when she was assured that the topic wouldn’t continue, he turned back.
He walked over to the trembling Crystal Stag and bent down, gently touching its forehead, asking, “Little one, what’s your name?”
The newborn deer shivered a bit but didn’t reply. In fact, it couldn’t, as until maturity, the Crystal Stag could only grasp some simple water-based language.
Brendel naturally understood this; he looked around it, and found that the Crystal Stag lay amidst the remnants of Malorcha’s corpse. Soon, he spotted three shiny objects.
These naturally were not drops.
He clearly understood that these were the mission rewards in the game.
Generally speaking, creatures like the Crystal Stag, which coexist harmoniously with magical power, rarely had drops. They were very sensitive to magic and could easily dispel all magical items they carried. But at the last moment, he chose to help Malorcha and successfully unlocked that quest.
For this reason, the guardian of the Holy Seal Forest left him these three gifts.
Brendel still felt a sense of regret, as the highest completion state of a quest is “perfect.” Next is “outstanding” and only then “acceptable.” He guessed the final issue lay with that Miss Faerie; if she had not sacrificed herself, the quest completion state might have been “perfect.”
Under perfect reward conditions, there would likely have been more than just these two items.
Of course, any reward was better than none.
He picked up the three shining magical items from the ashes. Two were sky-blue crystals resembling magical cores, while the other was a golden ring; Brendel remembered that this item was originally worn on Malorcha’s long horn.
“This is…” He paused slightly when he saw these two items.
“This is the Strength Origin Stone, the Portable Ring… it actually left these two items for you. It seems it is very grateful to you…” Nemeses answered softly from behind him.
Strength Origin Stone—also known as Experience Crystal in the Amber Sword. Wizards define it as a substance generated by the gathering of a significant amount of purified holy magic. Being pure, it can be absorbed by most Vaunte creatures, and even monsters—thus one could say this crystal in Brendel’s hand is what the frost fae outside the Holy Seal Forest had been coveting for centuries.
Yet Brendel held this crystal gently, feeling only its heavy weight. Malorcha had guarded this sacred magic for thousands of years, only to give it to a stranger like him.
“Yeah… this is a Strength Origin Stone. I’ve only seen its existence in storybooks; legends say that before the War of the Saints, those great mages would produce this.” Brendel replied.
“You say you’ve only seen it in storybooks; do you mean Sue or Brendel?” Nemeses asked from behind, a little concerned.
“Both.” Brendel lied to avoid delving too deeply into the topic. He felt he should try to avoid talking about past matters with the lady knight, lest he found a sword pointed at his head again.
That feeling was not pleasant.
He was just a bit puzzled, as he felt Nemeses seemed to care about her dream yet also deliberately avoided it; it was genuinely conflicting.
“You should know its purpose, right?” Brendel asked, turning back.
“Me?” Nemeses thought for a moment, “The literature says that the Strength Origin Stone can enhance a person’s strength, sometimes even helping those who have given up hope of entering the next realm break through. But I think that’s nonsense; there’s no power in this world that comes without effort.”
“Not entirely,” Brendel looked at the crystal in his hand. He knew what Nemeses said was technically correct. This substance known as the Experience Crystal had only one effect—to convert the sacred magic inside into experience to inject into the absorber.
In the entire Amber Sword, such direct sources of experience were not many. Divine artifact fragments, Strength Origin Stones, the Spring of Blessing, along with a Golden Apple.
However, it was precisely because of this that they appeared particularly precious.
Brendel tossed one of the Strength Origin Stones to the lady knight, saying, “But no matter how the legend goes, don’t you want to give it a try?”
“I…?”
The lady knight caught the crystal, cradling it in her hands, surprised: “Why are you giving this to me?”
Brendel smiled; he wasn’t quite sure himself. Perhaps it was because this item had no effect on him anymore. The Strength Origin Stone, being a lower tier item for increasing experience, was significantly more effective for the Silver to Gold tier beings, able to deliver experience unscathed. But for someone like him who was already at the element awakening stage, its effect was naturally reduced.
Of course, he could have considered Medisa, Charles, or Himelam.
But he couldn’t pinpoint why; he simply reacted instinctively upon seeing Nemeses’ expression. “Legendary items aren’t always real; I intend to use you as an experiment,” he answered.
The lady knight gazed deeply at him.
She suddenly lowered her eyelashes and softly asked, “Is the other one meant for Freya?”
Brendel was momentarily taken aback: “You know?”
“Because I had the same dream as you,” she replied softly, then her voice softened, “But regardless, thank you.”
The lady knight carefully examined the crystal in her hand and then stored it away cautiously. She raised her head and looked seriously at Brendel: “I really appreciate this gift.”
“Because you want to grow stronger?” Brendel suddenly sensed something and narrowed his eyes.
Nemeses nodded slightly.
“Let’s see the other item then,” she said.
Brendel couldn’t wait either; he picked up the golden ring in his hand—the name Portable Ring already indicated its function. This item belonged to the category of spatial storage magic items, like dimensional holes, dimensional bags, or drawer rings.
However, unlike dimensional holes, the Portable Ring only had two slots for storage and could hold only two items. But it possessed a feature that other storage items don’t—objects stored within can be retrieved by the holder’s mere thought, instantly appearing in their hand.
Because of this property, it earned the name Portable Ring. In the game, this ring was a rare piece of equipment, often used by players to store weapons. This allowed them to switch weapons instantaneously, catching their enemies off guard.
Just this feature alone meant that, regardless of whether it contained anything, Brendel had already struck gold by simply acquiring this ring. However, he was still very eager to see what lay within, as generally speaking, portable rings tended to contain weapons.
And weapons were the most valuable category of magical items.
But as he held the ring, a fleeting thought struck him, and he couldn’t help but freeze.
Two items were within the ring.
One was nearly worthless—a stone fragment; however, Brendel recognized it all too well. He had seen an almost identical item among another person’s remains.
He immediately recalled the gray stone he had obtained from Mr. Borge Nesong, Antinna’s father. Having never figured out the purpose of that stone, he had carried it with him all this time; upon seeing the contents of the Portable Ring, his heart skipped a beat, and he swiftly took out that stone from his pocket.
He compared them and was immediately stunned.
Identical.
Aside from shape and size, all other traits were almost perfectly the same. The color, the texture, and even the fact that it had no magical properties at all were identical.
“What is this?” Nemeses asked, unable to help but speak when she saw the stone in Brendel’s hand.
But Brendel shook his head, answering for the first time with great honesty: “I don’t know either…”
The lady knight shot him a skeptical glance but didn’t reply further. Brendel noticed her expression; he couldn’t help but feel a bit speechless—telling the truth seemed to result in disbelief. It was hard to tell if this was a classic case of “the boy who cried wolf.”
But he thought for a moment and put away both stones. Luckily, since Malorcha was now sealed as a card, he’d have the chance to ask it about this stone’s secret later. As a Crystal Stag that had existed for thousands of years, Brendel didn’t think it would have something so worthless in its collection as that gray stone.
After putting away the stone, Brendel took out the other item from the Portable Ring.
It was a piece of parchment.
In fact, he had seen something similar when he first encountered Babasha. For items like this, the Amber Sword had only one name.
Skill Scroll.
However, the skill recorded on this scroll was distinctly different.
Newborn Annihilation
(Superb/Ancient)
Burn life to transform into elemental power.
Learning prerequisites: Sage’s Realm, Bloodline attribute 300+
Brendel’s gaze slowly scanned over the blood-red parchment; all the characters seemed to blur. In his view, he could only see those four simple words.
Superb, Ancient.
Martha, dear, Brendel groaned silently in his heart.
(PS: Today’s update is here, = =, another wave of data and settings, which made me weep. Every time at this point, I just want to tear my hair out. But I finally finished it. Apologies for being a little late; I hope everyone understands~ Two updates, which is nearly ten thousand words.
Additionally, I recommend a book, “The Legend of the Great Sage”; I’ve been reading it recently, and it’s not bad!) (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)
