Chapter 1933 – Book Acquired
The first floor’s di什iculty is already so high? Astonishment flashed across s.h.i.+ Feng’s eyes as he watched his doppelganger’s body dissipate into nothingness.
Although he did not focus on getting his doppelganger to reach the bookshelves and simply had it fight, from the moment the doppelganger attacked the first Stone Guard until it died, less than ten seconds had pa.s.sed in total. If an ordinary Tier 2 expert had attempted the same thing, they most likely would have died an even more miserable death.
At this moment, s.h.i.+ Feng felt very fortunate that he had not sent one of the other Lifestyle Masters of the Candlelight Trading Firm to the Divine Library. Otherwise, this entry slot would have been wasted.
After waiting for several minutes, s.h.i.+ Feng summoned his doppelganger again for another experiment. This time, instead of fighting the Stone Guards, s.h.i.+ Feng had his doppelganger focus on moving as far as possible into the hall.
However, when s.h.i.+ Feng’s doppelganger was still 30 yards away from the first row of bookshelves, the patrolling guards noticed his doppelganger.
By the time the doppelganger was 20 yards away from the bookshelves, more than 30 Stone Guards had already surrounded it, blocking off its path forward completely.
What a rapid response! s.h.i.+ Feng was surprised as he watched the Stone Guards rus.h.i.+ng toward his doppelganger.
However, while the Movement Speed of the Stone Guards was indeed very fast, the doppelganger was not slow, either. Immediately, s.h.i.+ Feng had his doppelganger use Wind Blade, its Movement Speed skyrocketing. The doppelganger then skirted the blockade and dashed for the bookshelves.
Whenever the Stone Guards launched an attack at his doppelganger, s.h.i.+ Feng would have the doppelganger deflect the attack using its two swords. While it barely managed with the Chieftains’ attacks, it had no problem with the Elites’ and Special Elites’ attacks. Leveraging this knowledge, s.h.i.+ Feng controlled his doppelganger to surround itself with Elites and Special Elites, using them as s.h.i.+elds to hinder the Chieftains as much as possible.
A short moment later, s.h.i.+ Feng’s doppelganger arrived before the first row of bookshelves.
The first row of bookshelves contained Advanced Recipes and Designs, all of which came from ancient times, so they could be considered unique in the current G.o.d’s Domain.
The sight of these recipes and designs tempted s.h.i.+ Feng greatly. However, he also understood very clearly that the deeper the bookshelves were located, the more valuable the books they held. Hence, he had his doppelganger continue deeper without hesitation.
Second row…
Third row…
The deeper s.h.i.+ Feng traveled into the hall, the more effort he had to expend to get even further. The first reason for this was the continuous increase in the number of Stone Guards. The second reason was the Elites and Special Elites taking the initiative to give way to allow the Chieftain ranked squad captains to attack.
After s.h.i.+ Feng expended every Skill his doppelganger possessed, the doppelganger ended up dying in the middle of the first-floor hall.
So that’s how it is. It’s no wonder so many experts failed to obtain anything from the Divine Library in the past. s.h.i.+ Feng took in a deep breath as he mentally replayed the scenes of his doppelganger’s attempt
There were several hundred Stone Guards on the first-floor hall, including over 50 Chieftains. The deeper one traveled into the hall, the more Chieftains one would encounter. Moreover, if players took the initiative to attack even one of the Stone Guards, every Stone Guard in the hall would swarm over to attack them, making it almost impossible for players to locate a book of their preference.
In addition, the combat standard of the Chieftain ranked squad captains bordered on the Refinement Realm. A Tier 2 Refinement Realm expert would be fortunate to obtain a book from the first row of bookshelves. Experts that hadn’t reached the Refinement Realm wouldn’t even be able to touch the bookshelves.
Moreover, players’ greed would also play an important role when selecting a book.
The further one proceeded into the library, the more valuable the books they would see. Hence, players that visited the Divine Library would definitely try to push themselves to their very limits. However, after they truly reached their limits, they would not have any opportunities to reach for a book on the shelves, as the patrol guards would have already surrounded them. Even if they did still have some energy left to grab a book, it would be nearly impossible to accurately grab a book suited to their own needs.
Now that I’ve already grasped the basic movement patterns of the guards, it’s about time I made a move myself. After s.h.i.+ Feng simulated the battle on the first-floor hall in his mind several times, he focused his gaze on the closest patrol squad.
If he tried to advance into the hall by sneaking through the gaps between patrol squads, once he got discovered, multiple patrol squads would charge at him and quickly surround him. However, if he were to charge straight at the nearest patrol squad, it would take the other patrol squads some more time to reach him.
In other words, for a certain period, he would have to deal with only one patrol squad. He wouldn’t have to deal with the encirclement of multiple patrol squads right off the bat, which would, in turn, slow down his advance and allow more patrol squads to gather around him.
After s.h.i.+ Feng was done planning, he immediately charged at the nearest patrol squad.
“Intruder, die!”
After noticing s.h.i.+ Feng’s approach, the 10-man patrol squad quickly moved to surround him.
Upon seeing this, s.h.i.+ Feng executed Purgatory Pentaslash without hesitation. In terms of Basic Attributes, he was significantly superior to his doppelganger. Moreover, unlike his doppelganger, he had the a.s.sistance of the Seven Luminaries Ring’s Aura of Wind to increase his Movement Speed by a significant margin. After sending five Elite Stone Guards flying, s.h.i.+ Feng used Wind Blade and rushed past the squad captain, bolting for the depths of the hall.
In the middle section of the hall, more than ten patrol squads managed to surround s.h.i.+ Feng. Faced with such a situation, even s.h.i.+ Feng felt that he was close to reaching his limits, his HP rapidly decreasing. He immediately activated Heavenly Dragon’s Power, his Strength skyrocketing, then executed Sword’s...o...b..t to send the approaching Stone Guards flying.
The boost in Strength allowed s.h.i.+ Feng to advance with great ease. Only after he neared the staircase leading to the second-floor hall did he start feeling some pressure.
Currently, dozens of squad captains surrounded him. Even though he had an advantage in Strength, the squad captains charged at him without fear. Unlike before, when squad captains only tried to hinder his movements and buy time, they now recklessly traded blow for blow, fully intent on reaping his life at all costs. Hence, even though he had superior Strength, advancing still took him a lot of effort.
In the end, s.h.i.+ Feng decided to use Nine Dragons Slash against the overwhelming number of attacks. With the help of the sixteen Abyssal Blade phantoms, he finally managed to get through the first floor and reach the second floor.
Unlike the first floor, the guards on the second floor did not give s.h.i.+ Feng any time to prepare at all. The moment he appeared on the floor, the guards were already swarming toward him.
Meanwhile, the guards on the second floor had clearly received a qualitative improvement, as even the weakest guards were Chieftains, while the squad captains were High Lords whose combat standard was at the Refinement Realm. Compared to the guards on the first floor, the guards here also coordinated much better with each other. To make matters worse, even with Heavenly Dragon’s Power activated, s.h.i.+ Feng was actually inferior to the High Lords in Strength.
By the time s.h.i.+ Feng arrived at the first row of bookshelves, he already felt himself close to reaching his limits. Right now, he didn’t even have any energy to spare for grabbing a book.
Sure enough, the second floor isn’t a place Tier 2 players can casually visit. s.h.i.+ Feng could not help but reveal a bitter smile when he noticed three more patrol squads approaching. It seems I have no choice but to give it my all!
He activated Blade Liberation, allowing his Strength to skyrocket once more. With the activation of Twofold Berserk, his Strength rivaled that of the High Lord ranked squad captains. Following which, he stabbed the Abyssal Blade into the ground. Shadows then spread out from the Magic Weapon.
Abyssal Curse!
All the guards within a 50-yard radius were instantly immobilized. Next, s.h.i.+ Feng activated Phantom Kill and had his doppelganger transform into a Black Dragon. He then split up with his doppelganger and took independent action.
After s.h.i.+ Feng left, the pressure on him decreased visibly. Even after he reached the second floor’s middle section, only six patrol squads were chasing him. In comparison, the Black Dragon had attracted the attention of over a dozen patrol squads.
Lightning Slas.h.!.+
Shadow Blade!
Although he had repelled a few squad captains with his Skills, even more squad captains quickly took their place, the High Lords launching attacks at his defensive blind spots. Even though s.h.i.+ Feng perceived the attacks ahead of time, there were simply too many of them. There was a limit to the number of attacks he could deflect. As a result, he steadily incurred damage time after time.
When he activated Void s.h.i.+eld, the s.h.i.+eld’s energy depleted rapidly.
80%… 50%… 20%…
Just when his Void s.h.i.+eld was about to shatter, s.h.i.+ Feng gritted his teeth and activated Divine Steps. Immediately, he and his ten new doppelgangers scattered, das.h.i.+ng in different directions, forcing the patrol squads to split up. By constantly switching positions with his doppelgangers, he managed to advance a considerable distance into the hall.
Is this my limit?
When s.h.i.+ Feng saw the 20-plus patrol squads charging at him from the hall’s rear section, he understood that entering the rear section would be impossible. Moreover, his Twofold Berserk was about to lapse.
Risking getting hit, he dashed for a dark-gray bookshelf nearby. Just as he was about to look at the books there, however, an angry bellow entered his ears.
“Intruder, die!”
When the squad captains saw s.h.i.+ Feng approaching a bookshelf, they went berserk. Suddenly, over a dozen squad captains raised their spears and hurled their weapons at him.
Xiu… Xiu… Xiu…
The spears created sonic booms as they flew at s.h.i.+ Feng. It was evident that the power contained within those spears was already at the Tier 3 standard.
Seeing this scene, s.h.i.+ Feng no longer dared to inspect the books. Sensing the lethality of those spears, he grabbed one of the three books displayed on the bookshelf.
The moment s.h.i.+ Feng took the book off the bookshelf, he disappeared from the hall. As for the dozen or so spears, they harmlessly pa.s.sed through his former location and crashed into the magic barrier protecting the dark-gray bookshelf, the magic barrier trembling slightly from the spears’ might