Chapter 60: Opening the Raid Chest! Mod: Golden Light
Whoosh!
The blinding light around Caelus and Sylvia dispersed. In the next moment, they stood upon a vast, endless plain surrounded by several towering structures.
[System: You have entered Merged Region 031 of the Middle Expanse.]
[System: You have four hours remaining until the Domain closes.]
"We made it." Caelus grinned with pure excitement, turning toward Sylvia, who shared his eager expression.
Then, more instructions cascaded down their system screens.
[Ding! You are currently in a world running a higher system version.]
[System: Installing higher version effects based on player observations and acquired data.]
[System: Your interface has already been updated to Version 1.0.1 with Mod Slots enabled.]
[Changes Catalog:
[1. Mod Slots Unlocked]
[2. Mod Fragments Enabled]
[3. Beasts and monsters now possess a rare chance of dropping Mods and Mod Fragments.]
"Interesting. So the system finally recognized the Mod Slots the moment we entered the Middle Expanse," Caelus noted.
It was the exact same for Sylvia.
"For now, let us open our Raid Chests and see what we got. Based on the loot, we will plan our next move," Caelus instructed quickly.
"I wonder what we will get!" Sylvia smiled happily.
Bright light shone around Caelus as a glowing crimson box radiating multi-colored energy materialized in front of him. Beside him, Sylvia pulled her own Raid Chest from her inventory.
[System: You have opened the Raid Chest (Mythical, 1-Star).]
[System: You have received the following:]
[1. Mod: Golden Light (Rare)]
[2. 1x Mod Fragment]
[3. Assault Rifle (Legendary, 1-Star)]
[4. Profession Skill: Flame Forge (Blacksmith)]
[5. 10x Mana Potion (Epic)]
[6. Title: Harvester (Rare)]
"Oh?" Caelus’s eyes lit up in surprise seeing the massive loot haul.
He even got a profession skill! But it made perfect sense. These premium chests were personalized for the players who cleared them. They gave you exactly what you needed for your current progression path rather than random junk, much like how he obtained the Abyssal Devourer’s Stud earlier.
[System: Your Profession Skill is evolving.]
[Flame Forge + Flash Forge = Rainbow Light Forge]
[Profession Skill: Rainbow Light Forge (Tier 1: Iron I)]
[Description: Form a multi-colored hammer of pure energy to temper and refine ores into shaped items. If your forging speed is fast enough, a critical hit can be triggered, giving birth to Mythical tier items.]
"It upgraded?" Caelus was pleasantly surprised.
He strongly suspected this was his Endless Extraction talent working in the background. There was no other logical way a profession skill would evolve and merge so seamlessly on its own.
For now, forging could wait. He needed to check his new Mod right away.
[Mod: Golden Light (Rare)]
[Rank: 1/5]
[Status Effect:]
[+25 Combat Score]
[+100 Max Shield]
[Mod Effect:
[Landing consecutive weapon hits without being staggered builds a Radiance Stack (Max 5). Each stack visibly accelerates your attack speed. Stacks decay completely if you stop dealing damage for 3 seconds.]
[Reaching 5 stacks triggers the Aegis state, which passively recovers your shield at 5 points per second.]
[When HP hits zero, you instantly regain 5/10/15/20/25 HP and enter the Golden Light state. Golden Light grants total damage immunity for 1.0/1.5/2.0/2.5/3.0 seconds.]
[When Golden Light ends, you unleash a burst of holy light that knocks back nearby enemies, dealing 5/10/15/20/25% of your total Combat Score as True Damage. This attack ignores all shields to give you breathing room.]
[Ding!]
[System: Your Shield capacity can now be viewed.]
[Shield: 100/100]
[Ding!]
[System: You have obtained a new fragment from the Middle Expanse. Changes have been made.]
[Change Catalog: Shield System Unlocked]
A warm light shone from his Mark of Origin as raw power coursed into his very being.
[Combat Score: 147 -> 1.15 (Iron II)]
Caelus’s body began to rapidly strengthen as he felt his cells being nourished by the dense Domain power. His core foundations expanded, shooting his rank straight past the bottleneck and into Iron II!
"Let’s go!" Caelus cheered with a wide smile.
He finally managed to reach the combat score of Iron 2!
Then, he felt Sylvia visibly transforming beside him.
"You made it to Iron II as well?" Caelus asked, genuinely happy for her progression.
He checked her updated status.
[Combat Score: 1.13 (Iron II)]
"What Mod set did you get? Can you show me?" Caelus inquired curiously, sharing his own screen with her.
Hers was also at the Rare tier.
[Mod: Crimson Blaze (Rare)]
[Rank: 1/5]
[Status Effect:]
[+25 Combat Score]
[+100 Resistance Shield]
[+15% Armor Penetration]
[Mod Effect:]
[Sprinting or dodging leaves a lingering trail of ash. Enemies that touch the ash are inflicted with Ignite for 4 seconds, taking minor continuous fire damage.]
[Hitting an Ignited enemy with a Heavy Attack or Skill instantly consumes the burn to trigger a Crimson Detonation, dealing burst AoE damage and granting you 1 Blaze Stack.]
[Upon reaching 4 Blaze Stacks, you instantly enter the Overheat state for 8 seconds. During Overheat, your attacks are infused with fire, launching piercing flame waves that deal 10/15/20/25/30 bonus Fire Damage per hit, and your movement speed increases by 20%.]
[When the Overheat state ends, your weapon needs to cool down. You take recoil damage equal to 5% of your current HP, and you cannot gain Blaze Stacks for 3 seconds.]
"Yours is significantly better than mine for raw damage," Caelus noted with an impressed blink.
"Yours is not that bad either. At least your life will be completely safe," Sylvia said with a soft, reassuring smile.
These passive effects were terrifying to say the least.
"If this is the standard effect of a Rare Mod, I cannot even imagine what Epic, Legendary, or Mythical tiers look like," Caelus clicked his tongue in wonder.
They were both slightly unlucky to land just a Rare Mod from a Mythical chest. But on the other hand, they both received a Mod Fragment as a bonus. Combining two fragments into one meant they could increase the base rank of their Mods, which guaranteed a massive spike in their status effects and damage percentages.