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Chapter 12: The Offering - The Blood Fiend’s Curse. Can this even evolve?
Chapter 12: The Offering - The Blood Fiend’s Curse. Can this even evolve?
Chapter 12: The Offering - The Blood Fiend's Curse. Can this even evolve?
"What's this?"
Without hesitation, Sterl stepped forward and picked up the glittering item.
Then, an introduction popped up before his eyes.
[Blood Fiend's Curse]+
[Category: Offering]
[Effect: You can place this item on the forehead of a player with talents (only living ones), turning them into a source of Bloody Power. Those with talents below Grade C can extract one strand of Bloody Power, while those with Grade C and above can extract three strands.]
[Description: An offering from the Blood God Sect, rumored to be from Lord Byron of Blood, from the 6712th level of hell. Despite being long wanted, the Blood God Sect developed a new organizational form. The Blood Fiend's Curse is the sect's only identity verification, with low-level followers collecting Bloody Power through this offering, and high-level followers sacrificing it for blessings from the Blood Duke.]
"Blood God Sect??"
A flicker of unease instinctively passed through Sterl's eyes.
The general education at the base had mentioned this infamous sect of the Divine Mountain Empire, which had launched numerous massacres, even completely slaughtering several human bases on Earth.
He understood now. No wonder the Blood Mist Guild wanted to kill off other newbie players—the base had a strict crackdown on cults like the Blood God Sect.
David must ensure there were no informants.otherwise, the base would surely send masters to hunt him down.
However, Sterl had no intention of using this offering to report the Blood Mist Guild.
For one, he suspected that David was not the only member of the Blood God Sect in the base. From just a few words from the guild leader, Sterl guessed that this wasn't the first time they had collected Bloody Power.
Plus, David dared to slaughter newbie players without hesitation, likely having a high-ranking backer in the base to avoid accountability repeatedly.
Also, Sterl had no plans to reveal his strength, so reporting was out of the question.
As for the offering itself, it made him frown: "How cruel, to actually have to drain talented players alive to refine Bloody Power..."
Just reading the description of the offering made Sterl shudder and feel a chill all over.
He didn't continue to study the [Blood Fiend's Curse] but instead stored the item in his inventory.
Then, Sterl approached Linna and Rayna.
The two beauties were in a daze, looking at the gentle-looking Sterl beside them, then at the charred marks around: "What just happened?"
"Why are we here?"
"Weren't we supposed to be leveling up with the Blood Mist Guild?"
"Where are they, and the other players?"
Overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information, the two girls were a bit out of it.
Plus, with Sterl's swift killing, turning enemies to ashes in seconds, Linna and Rayna even doubted if they had hallucinated the whole scene of him swiftly killing the enemies...
"It's all good now," Sterl stepped forward and embraced them.
"You saw right. I received a hidden task and took a powerful mage as my master."
"That fiery storm just now was from a magic scroll given by my NPC teacher. I've learned the move too, but it's not as powerful."
As he spoke, he demonstrated the fire storm again without the divine intervention boost.
Flames surged up on the ground fiercely!
The brilliant visual effect and the burning sensation brought Linna and Rayna back to reality.
It was real!
Everything that had happened was real!
They were targeted by the Blood Mist Guild leader, but Sterl turned the tide and killed the enemy instantly!
"No wonder you were leveling up so fast," Rayna gradually regained her senses, her voice shifting from initial tremble to joy.
Linna suddenly grinned and punched Sterl hard on the chest: "Ah, so you were keeping this from us, huh?"
"If something hadn't happened, were you planning to keep it a secret forever?"
Seeing the girls' emotions stabilizing, Sterl also raised his hands in a placating gesture with a smile: "This kind of thing..."
Before he could finish explaining, the black-haired girl shook her head and interrupted him, saying to Linna, "Don't be so willful, Linna. It's not something that should be shared."
"You've forgotten about the big fuss at the base before?"
"Rumor has it that a player with Grade C talent received a hidden quest, but it was somehow taken away by the higher-ups of the base."
"We, along with Sterl, can't possibly guard a hidden quest. The fewer people know about this, the better, right?"
"Well... you're right. I'm not unreasonable, just got a bit too excited just now..." Linna's voice softened a lot, showing a bit of embarrassment.
Sterl took the opportunity to comfort her, and soon the atmosphere among the three of them normalized, with Linna and Rayna even bursting into exclamations of awe.
"Wow! Sterl, you're really going to soar now!"
"We're all gonna rely on you from now on!"
"That move just now was so cool, even those in the base specializing in fire magic can't compare at all!"
...
The two girls were overjoyed. Sterl had been like family to them from the start, and no matter how strong he became, it wouldn't make them feel uneasy or scared. They were simply proud of him.
In the following period,
Sterl listened to the two beauties praising him while leading them around the base's outskirts to level up by hunting monsters.
The method was somewhat unusual. Sterl, with his mastery-level proficiency in the Firestorm, would target the monsters' sides or behind to release the skill.
Ensuring that the monsters were only grazed by the Firestorm, even a slight touch was enough to leave the monsters with just a sliver of health, or even dying from the burning flames in a few seconds.
Therefore, after releasing the skill, Sterl would let Linna and Rayna quickly move in for the kill.
Moreover, the two girls had only mastered expert-level skills and hadn't acquired player panels, so they couldn't see item attributes.
Sterl used today's evolution opportunity to evolve advanced experience potions, letting each girl drink half a bottle.
He had already revealed having a powerful teacher, so there was no need to hide the advanced experience potions from Linna and Rayna.
The issue was, if the two girls knew how powerful the potion's effects were, they would definitely want to save it for Sterl's use.
Now that Linna and Rayna couldn't check the item's attributes, Sterl easily persuaded them, and they obediently drank it.
In [Transcend], various potions could be shared, with the potion's effect determined by the dosage consumed.
Linna and Rayna now had a 120% experience boost for 24 hours.
Sterl planned to evolve another bottle of advanced experience potion the next day for the two beauties to consume. This way, they could level up for a total of 48 hours and return to the base with the batch of new players.
After that, it was a simple, monotonous process of grinding.
Sterl casually unleashed Firestorms, leaving a group of monsters struggling painfully as they nearly turned into charred corpses, with Rayna and Linna swiftly moving in for the kills.
"First, we level up. After returning to the base and getting more evolution points, I can look into that offering," Sterl mused while watching the action, remembering the offering from the Blood God Sect that could also evolve.
He hadn't forgotten that the sole function of such an item was to collect Bloody Power, and Sterl wasn't sure if evolving it would turn into something useful for him...
As he pondered, a flood of information surged in his mind, seemingly his golden finger hinting—
Evolution ability would always optimize various items, skills, and abilities in a direction beneficial to the host.
"Well? Is that so??"
Sterl raised his hand again to release a Firestorm, forcing three goblins touched by the flames to charge forward in agony.
Rayna and Linna drew the standard longswords produced by the base, each stabbing a goblin and earning forty-two experience points.
Sterl himself was contemplating on the side, feeling somewhat excited...
Offerings weren't only about the [Blood Fiend's Curse] mentioned by the Blood God Sect. In the Divine Mountain Empire where the base was located, powerful priests in some orthodox churches also relied on offerings to communicate with deities for blessings.
Although [Blood Fiend's Curse], as an offering held by low-level followers of the Blood God Sect with only the function of collecting Bloody Power and unable to communicate with the Blood Duke, still held high value!
If he could evolve this item into something usable for Sterl...
The benefits would be absolutely terrifying!