Chapter 1005: The Beginning to Connect the Present and Future
The weightless dizziness struck Rhode as the white radiance enfolding him gradually disappeared. He closed his eyes and opened them after a few moments. The blurry, white radiance slowly turned into a clear light. Shortly after, he witnessed people standing below him. The light column that enveloped him slowly dissipated. The flickering light on the signal tower became less distinct.
“Sigh…”
Rhode let out a long sigh, resting his hand on the signal tower for support. Perhaps the signal tower had used his power to activate the signal, which explained why he felt extremely exhausted. However, the rewards from this trip were great. Rhode clutched the gemstone in his hand and swept a glance at the system interface before him. Ever since he returned to his senses, he kept hearing pleasing jingles from it. He couldn’t be more familiar with it. It was the sound of leveling up.
“Seems like this trip was the right choice?”
Gazing at the [LV100 (+30)] detail at the top of the screen, the corners of his mouth lifted slightly. Not only did he receive the power that his younger sister had left him, but he also gained strength from the four Creator Dragons. They purified their power, wisdom, and techniques and pa.s.sed them all to him, which increased his strength dramatically. Even though the system interface showed that Rhode was at the maximum level of 100 like the other Creator Dragons, he had an additional 30 levels now. Although the extra 30 levels didn’t provide him with more skill points, his overall attributes had shot up drastically. He was sure that with his current strength, he could take on any dragon soul heir without pressure.
Of course, it would be hard to tell if he faced the twin dragons…
“Let’s go with this…”
After being forcefully upgraded to level 100, he currently owned between 40 and 50 skill points, where not even Canary and Mini Bubble Gum had this many. But of course, they were only players while Rhode had literally become a ‘BOSS’. If he were of the same caliber as players, it wouldn’t make any sense at all.
Shortly after, he quickly filled up the remaining six talents in his talent trees. He spent nearly 20 skill points on [Holy Code: Energy of Illusion], [Soul Code: Undead to Death], [Sinister Code: Spirit Traveler], [Sword Legion], [King’s Path], and [Absolute Willpower].
[Holy Code: Energy of Illusion] could strengthen the cards that were equipped on him and separate them from him. In the past, Rhode needed to equip the card on himself when he wanted to use its abilities. But after unlocking [Energy of Illusion], he only needed to summon the card, battle alongside it, and he could obtain its strength and techniques.
[Soul Code: Undead to Death] was a killer weapon against undead creatures. Within the range of [Undead to Death], all of his summoned spirits would possess a certain probability to ignore defense and deal an instant, killing blow to undead creatures. This also meant that he would have higher success rates against the attack of undead creatures in the future.
[Sinister Code: Spirit Traveler] would fire up Rhode’s spiritual powers, making him immune to all skill damage for a period of time, and after the effects ended, he would continue to possess a 50 percent chance of immunity and counter damage until the battle ended. Rhode felt really satisfied. It would be too miserable for him if he couldn’t be invincible in the same ways as a BOSS.
[Sword Legion] was a pa.s.sive talent. It could instantly summon all cards in the entire deck, while consuming only the energy required for summoning one spirit. Moreover, it could strengthen all spirits in the deck by 15 percent and make them share the damage taken by Rhode. In other words, the more spirits he summoned, the less damage he would receive… But it was a pity that there was also a limit to it. If not, he could basically summon 300 spirits and would be completely invincible.
[King’s Path] was a relatively huge teleportation ritual. Rhode could teleport himself and his subjects to a specified location. But it was a pity that this skill was only effective under his very own dragon soul protection. If he were to use this skill in other territories, the effects would be weakened and might not even work. This completely smashed his hopes of teleporting a squad of elites to backstab enemies. He finally understood why the teleportation rituals of the protagonists in movies and games couldn’t send them directly to the final bad guy. It was due to the plot needs, it seemed… No, it was beyond one’s power.
At this moment, he seemed to detect something incredible.
[Absolute Willpower] made him realize the truest and most powerful part of being a Creator Dragon. This particular skill allowed him to revive people who wors.h.i.+ped his dragon soul power and return them back in perfect condition! Those revived by him would automatically become his direct subjects and receive powerful strength. But the strength would be relative to their level of devotion. The more they were devoted to the Void Dragon, the higher the chances for them to be revived and receive strength. If not, those people under his dragon soul protection would technically never die.
It seemed like his talent trees had also changed as he turned into the Void Dragon. Not only were his previous talents enhanced in strength, but also the newer talents were so powerful that they seemed like ‘cheats’. But… this should be the way for a BOSS. He was one of the Creator Dragons, so how could his talents be the same as players?
And next…
Rhode widened his eyes slightly at the three talents that had fused together as one. Then, he s.h.i.+fted his gaze away and the screen changed into a new form along in his movement.
[Detected Number 1, Number 2, Number 3, and Number 4 additional data. About to connect to Number 0 port. Confirm to activate port?]
After reading the system prompt, Rhode answered softly in his head.
Activate.
[Port activation complete, begin downloading of upgrade data. Please do not turn off the power. Awaiting completion of data download before installation process. Download progress 5%… 10%… 15%…]
Will I be able to turn off the power even if I want to? Rhode gazed at the system prompt and criticized it in his head. But shortly after, he lost the mood to ridicule it.
The world began to transform at this moment.
The bright radiance dimmed as though it were contaminated by darkness. This scene left the people below knitting their brows anxiously. But shortly after, Rhode gestured for them to not act rashly. The group witnessed the signal tower coalesced from crystal s.h.i.+ne brighter. One by one, mysterious, flying characters rushed forth and gathered. At the same time, the entire world became darker. It wasn’t a dark l.u.s.ter, but more like everything around them was slowly turning faint and illusory.
“That is…”
Erin gazed astonis.h.i.+ngly at the signal tower before her. Anyone who was as powerful as her sensed an incomparable aura of Order exuding from within. No, not only exuding, but also suffusing in all directions. This burst in the aura of Order felt similar to when G.o.dlike figures awakened their strength and inherited new roles. But Erin knew that this was entirely different because she vaguely sensed that this aura of Order was not only infiltrating the continent, but was also altering and adding to the rules within!
How is this possible?
Erin was baffled. Even though she wasn’t a dragon soul heir, she had grown up with Ion. Perhaps she wasn’t experienced in politics, but she understood her big brother well. With Ion’s abilities, he might be able to ‘change’ the rules to a certain degree. But to entirely ‘modify’ and ‘increase’ the rules were impossible! If not, Ion wouldn’t need to rely on his undead armies anymore. He could simply change the rules of this world and dominate the entire continent!
But now, the energy erupting from the signal tower was slowly and unwaveringly changing this world. Even though Erin wasn’t aware of the reasons behind it, she knew that it was related to Rhode. Although she knew that this Void Dragon who appeared out of nowhere was a difficult person to handle, she didn’t expect him to be this difficult… which was almost exaggerating. Who knew what rules he was ‘transmitting’ to this world exactly?!
Erin grimaced at this thought. She had always hoped that someone could stop her big brother’s impetuous and arbitrary ideas. She couldn’t rely on the twin dragons because they wouldn’t move from their nest unless the world was on the verge of destruction. On the other hand, the Light Dragon was completely unreliable. Without a choice, Erin paid close attention to Rhode, who suddenly appeared and was strong enough to stop her big brother. But it seemed like there was also a limit to how far this man could stop her big brother despite him suddenly becoming the Void Dragon and owning a huge territory. No matter from which aspect, Rhode had only just become a dragon soul heir and in terms of ability execution, he couldn’t possibly pose too much threat to her big brother. But this was the first time that she felt doubtful after sensing this powerful strength. Was her judgment wrong?
She could accept Rhode as a stumbling block because this way, she could at least slow down her big brother’s reckless thoughts and actions. But what if Rhode wasn’t a stumbling block and was a tall mountain or an endless abyss instead? Would there be any meaning left if her big brother failed, fell into the abyss, and couldn’t get out of the predicament?
Should I eliminate this threat once and for all now?
This thought flashed in her mind. Even though she felt that Rhode was an interesting person and hoped that he could cause some ‘harmless’ failures in the Country of Darkness, she absolutely hated to see the destruction of the Country of Darkness. Based on the fact that Rhode could change and even increase rules and Order, this showed that he was a troublesome enemy. As the princess of the Country of Darkness, her priority was to remove this threat completely. But…
No.
The murderous intent lasted for only a brief moment in Erin’s mind. If she were facing Rhode earlier, she was confident enough to kill him in a single attack. But it was different now. Even though only a few moments had gone, the presence and pressure that he brought upon them were as deep as the abyss. Even though it wasn’t as heavy and breathless like her big brother’s, Rhode’s imposing presence was like the ma.s.sive ocean while Erin stood by the sh.o.r.e, gazing in awe from the bottom of her heart. This was what she felt from Rhode right now.
I can’t defeat him. In this case, I’ll only make things worse if I act rashly. It seems like…
Erin let out a subtle sigh.
Perhaps I have to really consider fulfilling the duties of my ident.i.ty and… protecting the safety of the Country of Darkness.
At the same time, an unspeakable fluctuation in the air erupted. Then, the entire world came to a halt.
[Data download complete, begin upgrade. Please do not turn off power during the upgrade process]
How about you tell me how I can turn it off…
Rhode gazed at the system prompt, speechless.