Chapter 581 - Shadow Clone
The external walls of the tall tower were dark green in color. Each of the floors was 100 meters tall, and the friezes jutted out under the cornices so immensely that they looked like giant umbrellas that were overlapped with each other.
Right outside the high tower, countless Spectres wandered around the area. Their Tiers and Levels were randomized. Some were just Skeleton Soldiers, the lowest Tier of all, and some were Necromancers of extremely high Tier. There were also a few Skeleton Dragons among the monsters roaming around! The number of monsters in the area was similar to the number of Ancient Creatures that Zhang Yang had faced a few days back. Furthermore, these foul monsters were literally rotten to their core. It would really send a good chill up the spine by just looking at them!
Zhang Yang entered the Malevolent Tower cautiously. Because he had the [Friendship Jade] to disguise himself as one of the Spectre monsters, Zhang Yang was just a weak Skeleton Soldier in the monsters’ eyes. None of the Spectre looked at him for any longer than 1 second as they passed by him as if he was one of their own. So, Zhang Yang snuck his way through the horde of closely packed monsters in the area and entered the tower like it was nobody’s business.
As he turned around to have a look at the monsters, what he saw was an army of Spectre closely packed together roaming around. He could not help but to wonder, how many monsters were there to slay in order to get here if he had come here without his [Friendship Jade]. He would definitely need to reach Level 150 first before he could slay all these monsters. Or else, the Level Gap Suppression function of the game would kick in to slap him in the face. By then, it wouldn’t do him much good, even if he activates his {God of War Transformation}.
The stairs in the towers were made of skulls. The weak-hearted ones might find them terrifying. They might not even want to set foot on the steps!
Zhang Yang was not born to be bloodthirsty. He could not help but frown intensely. Then, he took a deep breath as he gathered his courage and went up the first step of the stairs. Zhang Yang then began to make his way up to the highest floor of the Malevolent Tower. Along the way up, what he saw could be described as a living hell.
The lowest floors such as the first floor and the second floor were ‘producing’ the lowest Tier of the Spectre --- the Skeleton Soldiers. Countless of white boned corpses were dropped into a pond filled with dirty water. In the meantime, there were also countless of ‘newborn’ or rather, ‘newboned’ Skeleton Soldiers crawling out from the pond!
However, not every corpse could become a Spectre.
One must be filled with hatred and grief in order to become a Spectre. That way, the hatred and grievances would only manage to latch onto the corpses and get molded into a new form of ‘life’. Some of the Spectre was born with only grievances without any sense of emotion and intellect. That would only turn them into the lowest Tiers among the Spectre.
For instance, ghouls are born with only the resentment and would only attack to ‘feed’, while the Skeleton Soldiers would be born with only the will to ‘massacre’.
However, some of the Spectre may be born with some intellect remaining from their previous life. Some might even have the memories of their previous life intact with them. Those would be Spectres belonging to the middle Tier and high Tier. For example, a Wraith, a Wraith King or even the leader of the Wraith King with the highest Tier!
Unlike the Skeleton Soldiers that were ‘cheap’, the chance of coming across a high Tier Spectre was as rare as the chance of coming across the hair of a phoenix and the horns of a giraffe. Therefore, the Spectres decided to build a ‘man-made’ factory that was filled with hatreds and grievances --- the Malevolent Tower.
Upon stepping onto the fifth floor of the tower, Zhang Yang could witness the Spectres tormenting humans, orcs, and even elves! They were torturing them without giving them any moment of relief! The hatred, the rage right before death! Those were the biggest source of grievances! Upon death, they would be turned into Spectres. Most of them had a better chance of becoming high Tier Spectres!
Even though Zhang Yang had a mind that was as strong as steel, he could not help but feel the chill up his spine. He was also cursing the designers of the game who had actually thought these scenes up. Those designers must be more hardcore than the hardcore. It was like a hellish nightmare that would haunt a person for quite some time!
After walking through the nightmarish stairs for about half an hour, Zhang Yang finally found himself on the highest floor of the tower. The floor was spooky as hell. However, there were no longer any signs of those torture equipment and facilities. Instead, the place was like the compound of a palace!
More precisely to say, the place looked more like a huge library. There were rows of bookshelves across the space of the floor. There were all sorts of books on the shelves. Zhang Yang believed that a number of books in the library of White Jade Empire might not even get close to the number of books in here.
Zhang Yang snuck in cautiously as he looked around for the [Book of the Damned]. Although he had no idea what the book looked like, there should be an indication or hint if it is a quest item.
The Malevolent Tower was really spacious. The diameter of the tower was about 1 kilometer wide. Because the stairs were designed at the center of the tower like how humans had their spines right in the middle of their body, Zhang Yang found himself at the other end of the tower after he walked along the wall of the tower for half a circle.
There, he found the large shadow of a man sitting on a throne. The man looked intimidating enough, as he was, seated upon his throne. Zhang Yang could also see that the man was so much larger than the size of regular men. He would tower over them even while seated.
This man wore a long robe that had the color of the moon. He had a violet-red staff in his right hand. There was also a towering, tall hat on top of his head. From a certain point of view, this man looked like some sort of high priest!
[Wraith King of Death, Madravich - Leader of the Seven Wraith] (Celestial, Spectre)
Level: ???
HP: ???
Defense: ???
Attack: ???
Skills: ???
Suddenly, Madravich turned his eyes and glared at Zhang Yang without any warning. However, what he saw before him was merely a small, weak skeleton soldier. So Madravich did not care about his existence at all. He moved his eyes away from Zhang Yang after a brief moment of glaring.
Zhang Yang could feel an intense chill straight up his spine. He even took a step back in fear. Fortunately, the boss did not see right through his disguise.
Zhang Yang continued to look around for clues. He discovered that there was an exquisite desk about 30 to 40 meters away from the boss. There was also a thick book placed neatly on top of that desk. Zhang Yang could see the book was flashing over and over again as if it was taunting him to go over and take it.
That must be the item he had been looking for --- [Book of the Damned]!
Zhang Yang made his way quietly over to the desk. He took a peek at the boss. Seeing that the boss had not realized his presence, Zhang Yang reached over to the book in an attempt to take it.
However, the [Book of the Damned] could not be kept in the inventory immediately. Instead, a progress bar appeared on top of the book. It was like opening a chest! It would take 12 seconds for the progress bar to fill up!
"Huh?" Madravich set his eyes upon Zhang Yang once again. His eyes turned murderous in an instant as he began to let out an intimidating roar, "You are just a pitiful human, and yet you dare dream to lay your hands on the treasure of the Spectres!" he raised the staff in his hand and aimed it at Zhang Yang. A dark ghastly gas spewed towards Zhang Yang.
Zhang Yang’s disguise had been seen through!
‘-1,982,375!’
A large damage value appeared on top of Zhang Yang’s head.
‘Ding! You died! The durability of your equipment has dropped by 10%!’
Holy god!
After releasing his soul, Zhang Yang quickly made his way back to his dead body from the Graveyard.
Haih... it seemed that the quest item was not easy to acquire, even with the help of the [Friendship Jade]. Zhang Yang started coming up with a plan.
Looks like the boss would not attack if he does not touch the [Book of the Damned]. Furthermore, Zhang Yang would not have to take out this Celestial Tier boss in order to get the item. As long as he stays alive for 12 seconds, Zhang Yang would be considered to have completed his quest even if he dies after getting the [Book of the Damned].
Theoretically, both [Warrior's Honor] and [Heart of the Death Knight] could provide Zhang Yang with 13 seconds of invincibility. However, the two items could not be used at the same time. So Zhang Yang would have to choose [Warrior’s Honor] over the other one. So, how about the two seconds that is not covered by the invincibility?
Should Zhang Yang let Felice activate her {Absolute Defense} and tank against the boss?
The boss could deal almost 2,000,000 damage in a normal hit! Although that had something to do with the Level Gap Suppression function of the game, that function would also apply to Felice. That 1% of the damage that Felice would receive might reach up to 20,000 Damage!
Furthermore, that was just a normal attack of the boss. There was no way knowing if the boss had other Skills that would inflict more damage than that! If the boss really did have some deadly, powerful Skill that could instantly kill Felice, Zhang Yang would not last for 12 seconds!
The cooldown period of {Absolute Defense} was 12 hours long as well. Zhang Yang did not want to wait for another 12 hours before he could try again if he fails. So he tried to think of another way.
After reaching his dead body and resurrecting himself, Zhang Yang did not use any [Bandages] or [Snacks]. The reason was simple. He couldn’t even survive one normal hit from the boss. There was no point of healing himself at all if he ever gets touched by the boss.
Upon activating the [Warrior’s Honor], Zhang Yang had become invincible for the next 10 seconds. Without wasting any precious time, he reached his hand over to the [Book of the Damned] once again.
"Persistent. Do you seek death? Because that is what you’re going to get!" Madravich humphed coldly as he pointed his staff at Zhang Yang again. The dark gas flew at him again.
‘Immune!’
Even if the boss is a Celestial Tier and all-powerful, he could not hurt a player who has an Invincibility Effect on him. That strike did not do anything to Zhang Yang!
"Stubborn!" the boss was furious, he began to gather countless beams of dark light by the tip of the staff. There was a 3-second progress bar appearing right below his head. It seemed that the boss was chanting for a spell! The damage of this Skill should be immensely high!
3 seconds later, the boss had finally unleashed the spell upon Zhang Yang. The dark light shot out from the tip of the staff like a laserbeam! That beam then dispersed into hundreds of dark arrows and landed straight upon Zhang Yang.
‘Immune!’
‘Immune!’
‘Immune!’
However, that would not do a thing. If players could be hurt when they were invincible, they wouldn’t be called invincible anymore!
5 seconds, 6 seconds!
The duration of Zhang Yang’s ‘Invincibility’ was ticking off as every second passed. 2 seconds before the ‘Invincibility effect’ of the [Warrior’s Honor] expired, Felice flew straight up to the boss in her Humanoid Form. She then activated her {Absolute Defense}, followed by her {Dragon's Spear Barrage}!
"Argh ---" Madravich turned to Felice the moment he received Felice’s attack. More furious than ever, the boss pointed his staff at Felice and shot out another dark shroud from his staff. The dark shroud surrounded the little lady and caused a value of damage.
‘-10,244!’
Fortunately, the damage was not too much for Felice to bear. Felice had over 180,000 HP. Meanwhile, Zhang Yang only needed to hang on for another 3 seconds!
Madravich seemed displeased to have been prodded by Felice. He raised his staff again as the dark light began to charge up around the tip of his staff again. The 3-second progress bar appeared once again right above his head.
3, 2, 1!
‘Ding! You have acquired an Item: Book of the Damned X1!’
Zhang Yang could feel the joy rushing up his head. He quickly tore off a piece of [Teleportation Scroll] as he was ready to get the hell out of that spooky place with Felice! As long as the magic circle could form completely, they should be able to escape without a problem.
At the same time, the progress bar below the boss’s head had also filled up. The boss shot out a dark light from the tip of the staff again. The attack then dispersed into hundreds of dark arrows just like the first time and rained upon Zhang Yang and Felice like a storm!
‘-10,334!’
‘-22,102!’
‘-11,034!’
Each of the arrows could cause about 10,000 damage on Felice. Some of the arrows caused up to 20,000 damage on her --- the effect of Level Gap Suppression worked randomly (200%, 300%, 400%). It almost killed Felice on the spot!
Zhang Yang was shocked. He quickly waved his hand and kept Felice back to the Battle Companion Slot.
"How dare you! Thief! Die!" as Felice was no longer there for the boss to target, he turned around and shot a dark shroud at Zhang Yang.
Upon tearing the [Teleportation Scroll], the magic circle for the teleportation would take up 10 seconds to activate. Felice was taken out of the picture when there was still 9 seconds left. There was no way for Zhang Yang to get away anymore.
‘-1,023,873!’
A damage value of over one million popped up on top of Zhang Yang’s head. Zhang Yang was instantly killed. He was sent to report himself back at the Graveyard again.
"Hehe!" Zhang Yang looked at the [Book of Damned] in his inventory as he grinned --- getting a quest item at the cost of 20% durability of all his equipment wasn’t really that bad at all! Especially when the quest reward would benefit him greatly!
Zhang Yang resurrected himself at the Graveyard before he tore another piece of [Teleportation Scroll]. In another 10 seconds, he had teleported back to Morning Town. Then, he used the Teleportation Circle in the Territory to get back to White Jade Castle. He summoned his Thunderhawk and flew straight towards the tower of Skill Mastery. He looked up for Grand Magus Anthony Faylon, who was studying Spells at the top of the tower.
"Hmm, have you gathered all three of the items?" Anthony seemed surprised. Then he said, "It surely had to have been difficult for you to have accomplished this at your current level of Strength!"
‘Ding! You have completed a quest: Materials for the Instrument, received 10,000,000 experience points. Quest Assessment: Perfect!’
Huh? Just like that?
Zhang Yang quickly asked, "Sir Anthony, shall we move on to the next step?"
Anthony nodded and said, "I will create an instrument, a vessel! We shall attempt to cleanse Calina’s soul of her resentment! However, I have no confidence that this would work..."
"As long as there’s a glimpse of hope, there is a way!" Zhang Yang said.
Anthony nodded as he was persuaded by Zhang Yang’s words. Then he began to move his hands around the three items. Countless rays of light began to gather around the items. In just a brief moment, a staff that was Milky-White in color was formed in the air. Looking at the shape of that staff, Zhang Yang could not help but have some dirty thoughts in his mind. A ‘vibrator’!
"Hold this ---" Anthony was speaking in a weak voice as he seemed to have strained himself a little in making the staff, "Find a way to infiltrate and get close to Calina. Use this on her and try to rid her of the anger that rages within her heart!"
‘Ding! Grand Magus Anthony Faylon has a quest for you: Calm the Rage! Do you accept? This quest is linked to a huge arc of the Main Story Quest. Complete the main story linking quest to obtain a luxurious reward!’
Zhang Yang took the ‘vibrator’ from Anthony and said, "I shall try my best! However, Calina is so powerful. It would be very difficult for me to get near her!"
"Then I shall teach you a Spell. When you have mastered it, this Spell shall increase your survivability!" Anthony touched Zhang Yang on the forehead as he spoke. The scene was just like how Ares had touched Zhang Yang’s forehead.
‘Ding! You have learned a New Skill: Shadow Clone (Level 1)!’
Well, this was more like it! So, this was supposed to be the actual reward of the quest that had put him through so much hardship!
Zhang Yang quickly brought up his Skill list to take a look at the Skill description.
[Shadow Clone] (Level 1): Summon an illusion of your exact copy. The illusion will support you in attacking your enemies and repeat every movement of yours. The illusion will have the same amount of HP as you. However, it can only deal 10% of your initial amount of damage that you can deal. Upon each level up of this Skill, the number of illusions that you can summon will increase by 1. The illusion can last for 2 minutes. Cooldown: 2 hours.
What an incredible Skill!
If any opponent ever sees 11 Zhang Yangs in a PvP battle, the opponent would surely be pissing in their pants!
Zhang Yang could not help himself but smile in joy. Unfortunately, he had already spent all his newly acquired Skill Points on {Eagle Eye}. So he had no Skill Points left to level up his {Shadow Clone} for the moment.
Hence, it did not really matter that much, as long as his guild could take the ‘First Clear’ for the Hardcore Mode of Dragon Throat Fortress. They would be able to get one additional Skill Point upon achieving that. Furthermore, there were numerous Main Story Quests and Hidden Side Quests all over the game. Some high Tiered bosses might also drop rewards that would give Skill Points as well. So high Tiered players should not have to worry about not having enough Skill Points to spend, at all.