Chapter 61: Town Ascension! Return to reality
Caelus decided to check the other premium reward he received. It was none other than the new assault rifle.
[Item: Assault Rifle (Legendary, 1-Star)]
[Rank: Iron I]
[Note: Upgrades with Rank]
[Effect: Deals 40% of your CS damage per bullet if uncharged. After charging for 3 seconds, deals 100% of damage per bullet. Charged bullets possess a 30% chance to critically hit. Critical hits inflict paralysis.]
Equipping this rifle would give him a six-point Combat Score boost, but unfortunately, that was currently a drop in the ocean for him. He needed a weapon strictly rated for Iron II to make a real difference.
These types of advanced weapons usually only ever dropped when the Endless Expanse opened up.
"Wait, is the Endless Expanse already open here?" Caelus wondered curiously.
The Endless Expanse being open meant the local players were either far ahead of their game or had patiently waited it out until the newbie phase was over and their servers merged with the main realms.
But here, the Endless Expanse was already fully accessible.
He pulled up his interface. There was a massive map stretched out endlessly. He could not even pinpoint where he should be looking. That confirmed one thing. The Endless Expanse was completely open in this merged Middle Expanse server.
Before he explored it, he decided to check the new title he obtained.
[Title: Harvester (Rare)]
[Description: You are the best harvester in town (doubt).]
[Effect: Within a 5-meter radius, you can automatically conduct loot gathering.]
It was highly similar to the Herb Gatherer profession skill he possessed. He never really used that skill since he was not an alchemist, but now that he had Sylvia with him to brew potions, maybe he should gather some rare herbs along the way.
But this title was far better than he expected. Did this mean he no longer had to manually touch every single corpse and could just magically vacuum up all their loot at once?
With that confirmed, he checked his updated stats.
[Name: Caelus Kross]
[Race: Chaos Perception Dragon (Locked)]
[Class: Ender]
[Profession: Blacksmith (Tier 1: Iron I) (0/25,000 EXP), Engineer (Tier 1: Iron I) (2,000/25,000 EXP)]
[Aspect: Chaos Perception Eyes (Mythical, 1-Star)]
[Talent: Endless Extraction (SSS-Rank), Body Enhancement (D-Rank), Dexterity (C-Rank), Fire Manipulation (D-Rank), Lightning Domain (Lower B-Rank), Charge (D-Rank), Weapon Light Barrage (D-Rank), Shadow Hand (D-Rank), Projection Frame (Upper A-Rank), First Generation: Spark Ignition (C-Rank), Tremor Authority (Middle B-Rank), Poison Application (E-Rank), Laser Manipulation (Lower B-Rank)]
[Mod: Golden Light]
[HP: 160/160]
[CA: 150/150]
[Rank: Iron I]
[Level: 15 (0/3,200)]
[Combat Score: 1.15 (Iron II)]
[Affinity: E-Rank]
[Origin Credits: 4,631]
[Reputation: 25]
[Title: Rookie Emperor (Passive Skill), Town Leader of Server 513, Harvester (Rare)]
[Skill: Fireball (Common, 1-Star), Blood Manipulation (Common, 1-Star), Compressed Lightning Shot (Rare, 1-Star), Lightning Step (Common, 1-Star), Weapon Manifestation (Common, 1-Star), Tremor (Rare, 1-Star), Thunderclap (Rare, 1-Star), Stream (Epic), Plasma Nuke (Mythical, 1-Star), Laser Shot (Rare, 1-Star), Point-Defense Grid (Epic, 1-Star)]
[Profession Skills: Rainbow Light Forge (Tier 1: Iron I), Herb Gatherer (Tier 1: Iron I), Flash Patterning (Tier 1: Iron I)]
[Techniques: Aura Manifestation (Mythical)]
Laser Shot and Point-Defense Grid were his two new acquisitions. Laser Shot was simple and effective. He could charge concentrated light energy at his fingertips and fire it at enemies, or even apply it directly to his weapons. If it struck a target, they would be instantly blinded.
As for the Point-Defense Grid, it functioned as an aggressive passive skill. Whoever or whatever dared to attack him would be automatically shot down by tracking lasers. It was essentially an automated killing system. As long as an entity showed killing intent, the grid would activate, costing a mere five mana per shot!
"Then, shall we get going? We must explore the Middle Expanse before we log out for today. We never know when we will be able to come back after all," Caelus turned to Sylvia and spoke.
She had received her Mod, a Mod Fragment, her own Assault Rifle, ten Epic HP potions, and a unique accessory.
[Item: Crimson Blaze’s Necklace (Epic)]
[Effect: Increases the total effect of all buffs by 5%.]
This was extremely suitable for her Origin Blood Blessing.
"Not yet," Sylvia smiled beautifully as she held out the glowing necklace. "We can leave once you put this on me."
Caelus smiled wryly and did exactly as she asked. He stepped behind her, softly brushed her silver hair to the side, and gently clasped the lock of the necklace against her pale neck.
"Come on, let us go. We shall head directly into the Endless Expanse."
Sylvia had no problem with this. They needed a massive amount of EXP to fuel their growth.
Whoosh!
Since Caelus was vastly faster than Sylvia, he scooped her up into a princess carry. Utilizing his Projection Frame, he blurred out of sight, crossing massive distances in a fraction of a second. She sat comfortably in his embrace, happily enjoying the high-speed ride.
---
A few hours later.
[Monster: Common Lightning Leopard - Level 1 (Iron II)]
[Combat Score: 1 (Iron II)]
Multiple Lightning Leopards lunged at them from the dense brush with terrifying speed. However, Caelus and Sylvia simply stood their ground with completely bored expressions.
Before the beasts could even bare their fangs, the Point-Defense Grid flared to life. Brilliant red laser beams danced violently through the air, perfectly tracking multiple targets at once.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
The blinding lasers pierced straight through the skulls of the charging leopards with precision. They dropped dead to the ground one by one with each laser piercing their heads.
They had traveled far and wide to find these specific creatures, and after three hours of hunting, they finally struck gold!
"Try gathering their blood essence, Sylvia. These things will give us massive foundation boosts," Caelus suggested as he casually utilized his Harvester title’s effect.
Whoosh!
A sweeping light gathered all the dropped loot instantly. So far, the grinding session was incredibly lucrative. They managed to gain a mountain of EXP during this short timeframe.
[Level 15: (1,932/3,200)] (Caelus)
[Level 15: (2,034/3,200)] (Sylvia)
The most crucial thing they noticed during their hunt was that some beasts naturally possessed active Mods, while others did not. They directly avoided the monsters with glowing Mod auras because, in this dangerous area, even a Level 1 beast possessed a baseline Combat Score of 26 at the Iron II rank. If they had Iron II Mods equipped, their actual lethality would be catastrophic!
[System: Combat Score: 1.15 -> 1.65 (Iron II)]
The results of absorbing Middle Expanse essence were terrifying. The raw surge of physical strength pumping through his veins gave him a dopamine hit far superior to anything else in this world. Experiencing this explosive, exponential growth was by far the most enjoyable feeling right now.
[System: Sylvia Combat Score: 1.13 -> 1.51 (Iron II)]
Sylvia’s Combat Score also increased rapidly after she gracefully absorbed the rich blood essence of the fallen beasts.
"Should we pack it up? We have not completely downloaded all the system versions yet. So far, we only managed to update the patches for drop rates, Mods, Mod Slots, and the Shield mechanics."
"We should try again another day," Caelus sighed.
The drop rate of system updates here was a bit disappointing, but he still gained a massive amount of raw power out of the trip.
But before he officially left, he wanted to test one last thing.
"Before we get thrown out by the server timer, let us test out the recall function."
He wanted to see exactly where the teleportation would take them, considering they did not belong to any established server in this region.
"Sure." Sylvia smiled beautifully as she pressed her recall button, quickly followed by Caelus.
Whoosh!
Their figures distorted into pixels. A moment later, they teleported directly into the center of a bustling town.
There was a gigantic, glowing blue crystal floating in the very center of the plaza. The surrounding architecture was highly advanced, with mechanical gears and glowing pipes running along the buildings. It was crystal clear that this settlement had fully reached the Manapunk Era.
However, just as they took in the sights, the system was triggered again.
[System: New mechanics found.]
[Ding!]
[System: System Update Successful.]
[System: A new function has been added to your interface: Town Ascension.]
As soon as those golden words lit up, a final Domain message appeared.
[System: The time limit is up.]
[System: You will now return to reality.]
Normally, they should have been completely disconnected from their reality until they found a designated exit. That was exactly what Allstar had warned them about. Yet, they could still leave the world safely. Only time would tell what that hidden contradiction truly meant.
The very last thing Caelus saw before his consciousness faded back to the real world was the glowing Town Ascension catalog etching itself into his mind.