Game World: I Can Share Talents

The complete Soul Bone Metal modification did indeed unlock one’s limiters, but it wasn’t some kind of cheat. It didn’t mean one would become invincible and all-powerful after the procedure.

If described in terms of power tiers, the boost from Soul Bone Metal was, at most, equivalent to gaining an additional T1 Talent. It was far from being a qualitative transformation. The reason it was so crucial was simply its special, immutable property: a resistance to Chaos Erosion that was Defying the Heavens.

The level cap was removed, but that didn’t mean everyone could ascend to higher levels.

There was no shortage of opportunities to advance. The Chaos Tide that Xuli faced directly was suffocatingly vast—blotting out the sun and sky, endless and infinite. But this also meant unparalleled danger.

As an observer, Westheid watched Wan Qi step onto one battlefield after another, enduring one bloody battle after the next.

Forged in blood and slaughter, Wan Qi grew stronger at an astonishing rate. However, the High-tier Cultivators who had undergone the modification alongside her fell in battle, one after another.

’They had tried so hard, fighting with all their might to resist the Tide, save the populace, purge the corruption, and raid enemy positions... They all walked the path to their deaths, some for a greater chance at victory, others to satisfy a self-destructive desire for sacrifice.’

’I’m not more exceptional or powerful than they were. The only reason I survived... is because I’m still filled with hope.’

’I have a reason I cannot fall.’

"DRUM, DRUM, DRUM—"

An incessant, gloomy rain dripped onto the steel fortress, adding another layer of bleak coldness to the already grim Floating City.

This black rain falling from the sky made the entire Floating Fortress seem deathly still. It not only brought corruption but was also a precursor to a surging Chaos Tide.

Another enemy attack was imminent.

All the Warriors were therefore hidden quietly within their fortifications, awaiting the coming battle.

The only exception was a splash of pure white beneath the fortress’s main cannon.

A gray-haired girl in a white robe sat with her knees curled up to her chest. She activated the projection screen on her wristband and began to write in her diary, her fingertip swiping lightly across the display.

"Xuli Calendar, Year 640, Seventh Month..."

"West, my love, I found myself thinking again of the days when we first met. I think of them every day. That time, a time without so much conflict... peaceful, tranquil... I miss it so."

"If the future really has sunlight for the taking and clear, bright skies, I want to go see the ocean—an unpolluted one—with you. I want to try those fun games you used to talk about and taste all that food I’ve never even heard of..."

Having written down her hopes for the future, a barely perceptible smile appeared on Wan Qi’s serene, delicate face. She stroked the hilt of her sword and whispered:

"Once this is all over, everything will be all right... We made a promise."

"RUMBLE—"

The faint rumble of thunder from the horizon erased that last trace of softness from Wan Qi.

A whistling sound came from within the heavy cloud layer. An open Gate of Chaos spewed forth Chaos Creatures like a dark storm cloud, enveloping the entire sky in an instant.

"BZZZZZZ—"

A shrill alarm blared throughout the fortress. The fortress, deathly silent just moments before, instantly roared to life. Legions numbering in the millions began to mobilize in an orderly fashion, preparing to meet the assault.

Wan Qi took a deep breath, put on the mask she had set aside, and picked up her Long Saber. She leaped down from the main cannon’s platform, heading toward the edge of the fortress.

In contrast to the fully armed soldiers, her plain, sacred white Cultivator robes were particularly eye-catching. As Wan Qi walked along the fortress’s main thoroughfare, countless gazes, filled with fervor and joy, turned her way.

"Cultivator Wan Qi!"

"An avatar of the heavens!"

"She’s our Hero!"

"Cultivator Wan Qi is here! The tide of this battle has turned in our favor!"

"Lead us to victory!"

"..."

Cheers from her compatriots and comrades-in-arms washed over her like a tide, but Wan Qi paid them no heed. She simply closed her eyes, regulating her breath. The Soul Bone Metal throughout her body began to glow with a crimson luster, and her smooth, white skin began to look like cracked porcelain as sacred, mysterious crimson fissures spread across it.

"HUUUU..."

Upon reaching a wide-open area at the edge of the fortress, Wan Qi exhaled a puff of white mist, opened her eyes, and gazed toward the heavens.

The suffocating black cloud looked as if it would crush the very dome of the sky. Chaos Creatures, too numerous for the naked eye to count, swarmed down like locusts. The fortress’s defenders had already begun to unleash a torrent of cannon fire.

Wan Qi gripped the hilt of her Soul Bone Sword.

"SHIIING—"

The instant she drew her sword, time and space throughout the entire area seemed to freeze. A majestic, earth-shattering, ineffable slash was unleashed.

"CRACKLE..."

An aurora, like a mixture of countless lightning bolts and raging flames, surged upward, erupting from the very center of the Chaos Demon Army.

A rending, crimson sword mark appeared like a black hole, violently tearing at and pulling in everything around it. Massive quantities of Demons were instantly ripped to shreds, annihilated on the spot, or burned to ash and scattered.

The vast expanse of the sky itself looked as if it had been pierced through, taking on the appearance of shattered glass. Only the crimson sword mark remained.

An assault that threatened to engulf the entire fortress was halted by a single strike from Wan Qi.

"Good heavens... is that truly something a mortal can do?"

"Wait, what’s that?"

Before the soldiers of the Floating Fortress could even cheer their victory, a figure so colossal it struck everyone silent emerged from the dense, black canopy of the sky.

It was a roiling darkness, its silhouette like that of a magnificent yet savage behemoth.

With each surge of this darkness, the surrounding black mist grew thicker. Its power was so overwhelming that it drew lightning from the atmosphere. The moment the dark mist reached a certain threshold, the sky high above erupted with thunder and lightning. Streaks of deep purple lightning snaked above the indescribable beast, unleashing a terrifying might.

The Floating Fortress, capable of housing legions in the millions, seemed pitifully small in comparison.

"It’s... it’s a Demon God!"

"A kingdom-destroying Demon God... One hasn’t appeared in over a thousand years. Why now...?"

"It’s over! We’ve lost! We’re going to die! We’re all going to die!"

"BWAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!"

"..."

The mere sight of the colossal shadow’s presence was enough to cause the mortal Warriors to have mental breakdowns, collapsing to the ground in tears.

Some battle-hardened soldiers clutched their heads and fled, while others took their own lives with their guns.

By merely revealing its silhouette, this terrifying Demon God had shattered the minds of mortals.

Even those who did not go insane trembled so violently in the dense, corrupting aura that they could no longer maintain their fighting stances.

’With every Chaos offensive we thwarted, their next assault grew fiercer, and the attacking Demons grew stronger, until at last, a Chaos Source God—a being capable of trampling the mortal realm underfoot—appeared.’

’But even a Chaos Source God—one that has never been defeated, a font of terror, a world-ending calamity—must be slain.’

Wan Qi stepped into the void, pushing off the layered fabric of space itself as if it were a solid platform.

"BOOM—"

As ripples spread through space, the sound of shattering shockwaves echoed endlessly. The vast expanse of the void directly behind Wan Qi’s feet was shattered, and countless thick, black, shocking cracks spiderwebbed outward.

The flash of her blade, swung in midair, struck the behemoth’s body like a great Wind Giant Hammer. The turbulent, dense black fog surrounding the Chaos Source God was cleanly split in two, and the entire sky began to shake violently.

Wan Qi leaped onto the Chaos Source God’s indescribable body of black mist and, with unwavering resolve, swung her sword.

"SQUELCH—"