Chapter 581 - Epic Weapon

The moment s.h.i.+ Feng’s finger made contact with the system window, the pitch-black Abyssal Blade released a dragon’s roar.

The deafening roar sounded as if an actual dragon stood before s.h.i.+ Feng right now.

With such a ferocious roar, even the birds in flight were petrified, falling out of the sky one after another.

Immediately after letting out the dragon’s roar, the Abyssal Blade struggled free from s.h.i.+ Feng’s hand and flew into the air.

In the blink of an eye, the pitch-black Abyssal Blade transformed into a cloud of black mist that devoured the eleven sacrificial weapons.

As it consumed the weapons, s.h.i.+ Feng could also hear a strong heartbeat coming from the black mist. It was as if an ancient creature was awakening. A terrifying aura washed over s.h.i.+ Feng and his surroundings; the nearby greenery even withered.

“Why is there such a huge difference in power from the last evolution?” s.h.i.+ Feng looked at the black mist floating in midair, frowning. “Is this the beginning of a Backlash?”

s.h.i.+ Feng had never witnessed or heard any details about the Backlash of a Magic Weapon before.

In the past, players who obtained Magic Weapons had never disclosed any information regarding Backlashes. They only advised others to stay as far away as possible from Magic Weapons.

The pressure the Abyssal Blade was currently emitting was incredibly terrifying. Back when s.h.i.+ Feng upgraded the Magic Weapon to Level 25, he could still move about relatively easily under the aura the weapon emanated. Now, however, even motion was a luxury. He could only stand still and watch quietly as all of this happened.

After a while, the magnitude of the heartbeats gradually increased. The black mist in the sky also took the shape of a black heart. Meanwhile, with this black heart as the core, a vaporous phantom of a black dragon appeared.

The black dragon silently looked down on s.h.i.+ Feng, a human-like playful expression contained within its blood-red eyes. In the next moment, the phantom dissipated into nothing, this time transforming into a silver sword that landed at s.h.i.+ Feng’s feet.

The phantom of the black dragon is becoming more realistic with each subsequent evolution. Even the pressure it emits is growing stronger. No wonder so many players dared not use Magic Weapons even though they had obtained them. s.h.i.+ Feng frowned slightly as he looked at the Abyssal Blade, which had stabbed into the ground.

When and where a Backlash would occur, n.o.body knew.

Continuously strengthening the Abyssal Blade was equivalent to enhancing the power of the Magic Weapon’s Backlash. Just the current Abyssal Blade could already make him feel fearful. If he continued upgrading the Abyssal Blade, he might really fail to cope with the Backlash.

This should be the so-called “the bigger they are, the harder they fall.”

“Forget it. Let’s take things as they come.” s.h.i.+ Feng shook his head, dispelling the negative thoughts in his head. He then pulled out the Abyssal Blade and took a look at its Attributes.

[Abyssal Blade] (One-handed Sword, Magic Weapon)

Attack Power +633

All Attributes +42

Attack Speed +15

Ignore Levels +15

Attacks have:

50% chance to cause 200% damage.

25% chance to cause 300% damage.

Every attack increases Attack Speed by 2%, up to a maximum of 20%.

If wielder belongs to any Swordsman-related cla.s.s, all Skill Levels +3.

Increase Free Ability Points received for every increase in Level by 2 points.

Equipment Level 30. Can be upgraded. (Devour twenty Level 35 Fine-Gold Weapons and three Level 35 Dark-Gold Weapons to upgrade to Level 35).

Can be evolved (Unknown).

Additional Skill 1: Phantom Kill. Instantly creates a doppelganger. You can control this doppelganger. Doppelganger will have 70% of original body’s Attributes and all Skills. At the same time, doppelganger and the original body can be swapped.

Duration: 1 minute

Cooldown: 5 minutes

Additional Skill 2: Abyssal Bind. Binds enemies and prevents movement, reducing Defense by 100%.

Duration: 4 seconds

Cooldown: 1 minute

Additional Skill 3: Nine Dragons Slash. Instantly creates twelve phantoms of the Abyssal Blade for wielder to use; each phantom sword is capable of dealing up to 50% damage.

Duration: 30 seconds

Cooldown: 5 minutes

Additional Skill 4: Abyssal Curse. Prevents all targets within a radius of 30 yards from moving or attacking for 5 seconds, as well as reducing all their Attributes by 20% for 10 minutes.

Cooldown: 40 minutes

Additional Profound Inheritance: Black Emperor. When activated, every critical hit will acc.u.mulate one stack of Death Aura. Each stack of death aura can be used to increase all Attributes of wielder by 2% and Attack Speed and Movement Speed by 1% for 10 seconds, or be used to reduce the Cooldown of a skill by 3 seconds. Maximum of 30 stacks of Death Aura.

Duration: 10 minutes

Cooldown: 15 hours

The Abyssal Blade was personally created by master smith Olysses using the Black Dragon King’s fangs as material. It is one of thirty-six famed swords, and it is ranked 31st. However, this sword has been cursed by the Black Dragon King. Aside from providing the wielder with immense strength, there will be a Backlash every period of time. However, after being remodeled by Jack using a Star Crystal, the strength of the Backlash has been greatly reduced. If the wielder is unable to suppress the Backlash, the wielder will receive the curse of the Black Dragon King, permanently reducing all Attributes by 50%.

Unable to be dropped.

Unable to be traded.

“Such a high Attack! This is equal to the Attack Power of a Level 30 Epic ranked two-handed sword, right?” s.h.i.+ Feng exclaimed in surprise.

Back when the Abyssal Blade was Level 25, its Attack Power had only been over 400. Now that the Magic Weapon was upgraded to Level 30, its Attack Power had actually increased by over 200 points. Not to mention, the weapon’s Skills had also undergone a transformation, with Abyssal Curse replacing Dark Violent Dance. Used against a single target or a group, it was an extremely powerful Control and Weakening Skill.

However, this was still not the most significant change to the Abyssal Blade.

Swinging the Magic Weapon lightly, s.h.i.+ Feng felt as if the Abyssal Blade was an extension of his arm, so much so that he could even feel the sword’s edge cutting through the air.

“What’s going on here?” s.h.i.+ Feng looked at the Abyssal Blade incredulously.

There was a saying that, when one’s mastery of a weapon reached a certain level, said weapon would feel like an extension of one’s own body.

However, this was only a saying.

Just being able to incorporate a weapon into one’s own attack habits and styles was already an amazing feat.

During the early stages of G.o.d’s Domain, the Attributes of weapons and equipment were very important. However, as players acquired better equipment, they would begin ordering custom-made weapons and equipment for themselves. Even if two items possessed the exact same Attributes, most players would choose equipment custom-made to their requirements over the other.

Why was this so?

The reason was very simple: the far greater ease of harmonization to their habits and styles. For this reason alone, players were willing to spend as much money as necessary.

If a player possessed a high compatibility rate with the weapons they wielded, their attacks would flow much more smoothly. Most importantly, a weapon with good compatibility could improve a player’s Skill Completion Rate. This was also the reason why, during the later stages of the game, many players chose to discard ready-made Epic Weapons and, instead, were adamant in paying an astronomical sum to hire a Master or Grandmaster Forger to produce a custom-made Epic Weapon for themselves.

It was all because custom-made weapons and equipment possessed a much higher compatibility rate.

Thinking up to this point, s.h.i.+ Feng immediately began brandis.h.i.+ng the Abyssal Blade to get used to the newly enhanced weapon. He then found a Level 35 Demonic Hound to test his sword on.

Chop!

Usually, s.h.i.+ Feng could achieve a Completion Rate of 85% or above when using this Skill, displaying 100% of the Skill’s might. In the past, his best record for Chop was 90%. Although this Skill was very simple, it was extremely difficult to execute properly.

The three sword lights, which should have resembled three silver crescents, converged into one as they struck at the Demonic Hound, causing the damage dealt by Chop to reach its maximum. At this moment, however, the three sword lights had transformed into three full moons that met at a single point. The s.p.a.ce at this single point looked as if it had been pierced—one could faintly see a small spatial crack at this location.

System: Chop Completion Rate 92%, resulting in 125% of Skill’s effect. Skill Proficiency +4.

s.h.i.+ Feng then followed up with Thunder Flame Explosion. Originally, this Skill should have combined the power of lightning and fire into a ma.s.sive fireball that bombarded the enemy. Now, however, instead of a fireball…

System: Thunder Flame Explosion Completion Rate 90%, resulting in 110% of Skill’s effect. Skill Proficiency +3.

“What?! Why is there suddenly such a huge increase in Skill Completion Rate?!” s.h.i.+ Feng stared at the system notification window, flabbergasted.

Compared to his past self, his current strength was much stronger. In the past, his best record for Chop was 90% Completion Rate. Although it was only a meager 2% increase, the gap was like the difference between heaven and earth.

Based on the system’s configuration, Completion Rates between 81% to 90% were categorized into the same group; achieving any percentage within this range would give an increase of three Proficiency Points. Also, at 90%, one could display 110% of a Skill’s effect. At 91%, a Skill’s effect was directly upgraded to 120% and would yield four Proficiency Points.

The improvement to Thunder Flame Explosion was even more apparent. Previously, he could not even achieve an 85% Completion Rate on the Skill. Now, however, he had managed 90%.

s.h.i.+ Feng had killed a Level 35 Demonic Hound in just two moves.

“It’s no wonder many had said Magic Weapons possessed frightening power and many experts could not bring themselves to divest their Magic Weapons in the past. So this was the case!” s.h.i.+ Feng’s heart was pounding madly as he looked at the Level 35 Demonic Hound he had just annihilated.

His compatibility with the Abyssal Blade right now was practically perfect. He felt invincible!