Risky Unsealing

Point out any errors I made in the chapters, as I'm very lazy and sometimes can't be bothered to reread them. Also, give your opinions on something I should change or add. 

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Sharlyn closed the Bible of Darkness and turned to Feng, saying softly, "Yes, the curse has been removed. It's good that you actually managed to get rid of Great Demon Kildred. However, even though Kildred is dead, why is there still such a dense Power of Darkness lingering around you?"

Seeing Sharlyn's confused expression, Feng already knew about the root cause. He then retrieved Moloch's Ring from his bag, saying, "This is why."

"Moloch's Ring!" Sharlyn instantly recognized the ring. Surprised, she asked, "How did you get your hands on this ring?"

"I got it from killing a Great Demon called Knettel." Feng responded casually. 

"You killed Knettel?" Sharlyn was a bit surprised at first, not believing Feng's claim. Feng was undoubtedly strong on his own, and even more so with her Full Blessing, but a Tier 4 Great Demon at full power still wasn't something he should be capable of killing. His current weak aura also didn't reassure Sharlyn that he could take down a Great Demon. Though, deciding that Feng didn't have any reason to lie to her, Sharlyn moved on from the impossible statement that Feng had just made "Are you really not afraid of death, or are you just that ignorant? You actually had the guts to remove the seal on the ring. Fortunately, you only obtained Moloch's Ring now. I guess you are somewhat lucky.

"Legend has it that Moloch's Ring is related to the fall of the Lord of Balrogs. Moreover, this ring is a complete Legendary item. Based on what I know, several hundred years ago, the Demon that guarded this ring was a Tier 5 Great Demon King. After that Great Demon King was devoured, it became the current Great Demon Knettel's turn to guard it. With your strength, this ring would devour you very quickly if you didn't have my Full Blessing." 

"You don't have to worry about it, Sharlyn. I'm already aware of the dangers that come with the Moloch's Ring. I hadn't expected the benefits of a Full Blessing to be this amazing, though. It not only protected my soul from the Power of Darkness, but even fully blocked it and rendered the Ring incapable of doing any damage or posing a threat." Feng naturally knew about the backstory of the Moloch's Ring, as he had possessed it in his previous life. 

The only thing that didn't go according to Feng's expectations was that the Chibi Sharlyn residing in his soul as a result of Sharlyn's Full Blessing would be capable of completely stopping the Power of Darkness from the Legendary ranked Ring in its tracks while it attempted to invade his soul. 

With the protection provided by the miniature Creation Goddess, there was no risk of the Moloch's Ring devouring Feng. At least, not with the amount of power it was currently using. 

"Of course it did. Do you think a fragment of my God Factor's energy is just for show? A measly Legendary item could never compete with it. Although the Moloch's Ring is powerful, even with the remaining power from the Lord of Balrogs sealed inside it, in the Ring's current state with the seals in place, except for the one you had removed, it won't be able to do anything to you." Speaking matter-of-factly, Sharlyn reassured Feng of the Full Blessing's power. 

"Right, in its current state..." Feng thought for a moment while watching the Power of Darkness trying to invade his soul get repelled by the Chibi Sharlyn and the Wraithwood Sigil's soul barrier, before inquiring "By the way, on an unrelated note, how much Power of Darkness would the blessing be capable of protecting my soul from if more seals on the Moloch's Ring were to, for some reason, disappear?" 

"If more of the Moloch's Ring's power were to be unsealed?" After pondering for a moment, Sharlyn gave an educated guess "Well I can't be sure since I don't have any information on how much power each seal contains, with each one most likely containing more inside the Ring than the last. But if I had to guess, even with two seals removed, the Power of Darkness won't be strong enough to break through or pose a threat thanks to the blessing and your soul's strength. 

"Anything beyond that, and the Moloch's Ring would have a chance at devouring your soul; albeit it will take a very long time. It all depends on how powerful your own soul is, which will result in how much power my blessing can display. However, since I've never personally seen the Moloch's Ring before today or know of its complete power, there's no way to say anything for certain." Sharlyn shook her head slightly, not having any details on the actual power sealed inside the Legendary Ring or exactly how well the blessing would cope with it. 

"I see, thanks. In that case," After Feng finished internally calculating something, he smiled at the Goddess of Creation and opened a System Panel "I suppose we're just going to have to find out together what the limit is." Saying so, Feng infused one hundred of his Soul Crystals into the Moloch's Ring and chose to remove the second of the six seals[1] placed on the Legendary ranked Ring. 

"Wha-" Before Sharlyn could ask what he means, she suddenly noticed the Power of Darkness around Feng spike, and immediately realized what he was doing "Don't!" 

However, it was already too late. 

The amount of Power of Darkness around Feng and the amount that assaulted his soul continuously increased in huge degrees as Feng undid one seal after another. 

Since his current soul could endure the power released from the Moloch's Ring with just one seal removed forever without the Ring having enough strength to be a problem, Feng could afford to release more of the Legendary item's power. 

Naturally, Feng chose to do just that, maximizing its usefulness to him. 

If his soul can endure, then Feng will push it further, releasing as many seals as possible until unsealing any more would mean his death, along with leaving enough time for him to prepare and take on the Tier 2 Promotion Quest before the Moloch's Ring could devour him so that the deadline would get extended with his promotion. 

After all, Feng will need every possible means of strength, improvement, and enhancement that he can possibly get his hands on, becoming as strong as humanly feasible for a Tier 1 creature, in order to succeed in killing a Tier 6 natural-born God. 

Moloch's Ring is a very powerful Legendary item, among the best Rings that he can currently acquire. Though, that's only when it's completely unsealed. 

In its current form, Moloch's Ring's attributes are lesser than even that of an Epic item's, and it won't be of much help to Feng. 

Hence, releasing more seals is a must, especially when he can fully afford to, which is why Feng didn't pay Sharlyn's concerns any heed as he allowed the Moloch's Ring to consume huge amounts of Soul Crystals that Feng had obtained during his time in the Dark Den, removing multiple of the Legendary item's seals. 

Of course, Feng didn't intend to completely lift the entire seal on the Moloch's Ring, since there was no way his soul would survive that, nor did he casually and carelessly remove all the seals at once without carefully assessing his condition each time. 

Instead, Feng kept his eyes on his soul and Moloch's Ring's Attribute Panel at all times as he removed the seals one by one. 

System: Second seal on Moloch's Ring lifted. 

With the second seal being removed, the inscriptions on Moloch's Ring glew even brighter than before, while the Legendary Ring's information changed. Now it provides a 20% boost to all attributes, gives more Fire Resistance, increases the wearer's Movement Speed and Attack Speed by a bit, and adds Ignore Levels to the user. 

Meanwhile, the Power of Darkness trying to invade his soul significantly increased in both quality and quantity. Carefully assessing the situation in his soul, Feng confirmed that Sharlyn's guess had been correct, as even with the additional dark fog gathering, although there was more pressure on the Chibi Sharlyn and she was having trouble coping with it, Feng judged through his ability and sense of danger that the Moloch's Ring in its current state with only two seals removed will not be able to enter his soul and devour it no matter how much time passes. 

So he immediately allowed the Moloch's Ring to absorb another 1,000 Soul Crystals and released the third seal as well. 

System: Third seal on Moloch's Ring lifted. 

The increase to all of his attributes that Feng received from the Legendary ranked Ring was now 35%, with all of the other stats receiving a large improvement as well along with more appearing, while even another one of the Moloch's Ring's skills, called Calling of Balrogs, had been unlocked. 

However, with the third seal being released and the inscriptions on the Legendary item growing not only brighter but also clearer, the Power of Darkness assaulting his soul increased exponentially, threatening to overpower the miniature Goddess of Creation as she was no longer able to completely neutralize its attempts, along with the soul barrier from the Wraithwood Sigil beginning to crack. 

Nevertheless, they held on and temporarily drove off the dark fog, managing to protect Feng's soul for now. According to his senses, Feng estimated Sharlyn's blessing will be able to keep his soul from getting devoured for around a decade or so; which served to impress him even more than before and greatly raised Feng's opinion on the Chibi Sharlyn. 

Although Feng's Immortal Soul was much stronger than that of other Tier 1 players thanks to receiving a Full Blessing from a being like Sharlyn, and he also had his newly acquired Legendary Ornament, at the end of the day, he was still only Tier 1. 

The power that could be used as a foundation for the manifestation of Sharlyn's Full Blessing inside his soul was very limited as a result. Yet, the Chibi Sharlyn could still deal with this much from an item like Moloch's Ring. 

Since he was now fully reassured about the protection of his soul and still had so much time before it caved in, though, Feng didn't hesitate as he removed the fourth seal on the Moloch's Ring, ten thousand Soul Crystals disappearing from his bag with the third consecutive unsealing. 

System: Fourth seal on Moloch's Ring lifted. 

A greater sense of danger permeated throughout Feng the moment he released the fourth seal, and the situation within his soul space grew extremely intense. The cracks across the soul barrier from the Apperation's Blessing Passive Skill expanded, with the pitch-black fog seeping through them, and the miniature Creation Goddess was now being pushed back, the Power of Darkness too powerful for her to stop as she could only slow down the dark fog's advance into Feng's soul. 

At the rate it was polluting his soul, Feng would be done for within a couple of years. 

As for the Moloch's Ring itself, it too had undergone a significant change. The incantations have become much brighter and clearer, seemingly reforming into their original state and becoming connected to power the Legendary Ring. 

The Moloch's Ring's attributes vastly improved as well, now boosting all of Feng's Basic Attributes by 55%, the other attributes he received being that of a top-tier Fragmented Legendary item and getting close to the Legendary rank attributes, and he had even gained an Additional Passive Skill. 

Faced with his current situation and the next seal, it only took Feng a split second to decide on his next course of action, using up most of his remaining Soul Crystals and removing the fifth seal on the Legendary item with 100,000 Soul Crystals. 

System: Fifth seal on Moloch's Ring lifted. 

Shatter! 

Not a moment after the fifth seal was released, the sound of the soul barrier around Feng's soul shattering spread throughout his consciousness with a shockwave that rattled the entire soul space. 

The pitch-black flog previously making slow advances steamrolled through all the defenses set up and any attempt made by the Chibi Sharlyn to stop the invasion. No attack that the miniature Creation Goddess threw at it could even slow down the Power of Darkness as it began to devour Feng's soul. 

Noticing this and the feeling of death creeping up, Feng quickly intervened, controlling his soul energy to power up the Chibi Sharlyn and assist her in repelling the encroaching Power of Darkness. Sensing the additional power within and around her, Chibi Sharlyn tightly gripped her seven-colored staff with both hands and powerfully smacked the bottom end against the ground, causing a holy glow to explode out of her and spread in the surroundings. 

As the pure-white sphere expanding from the miniature Goddess of Creation as the center made contact with the dark fog, the evil power was instantly dispersed and got pushed away. 

Unfortunately, the holy sphere only covered a small radius around the Chibi Sharlyn, which stopped the pitch-black fog's assault, preventing it from encompassing Feng's entire soul and devouring it. The defensive measure could not be enlarged any further and used to just eradicate all of the Power of Darkness. 

Moreover, not only did this method consume an enormous amount of energy from both the Chibi Sharlyn to keep up and Feng's soul to power her, meaning it couldn't protect him indefinitely, with the constant bombardment of the pitch-black fog, which continuously gathered now nonstop unlike before where Chibi Sharlyn would shot down some of it and decrease the quantity of the evil fog, the white sphere began to weaken ever so slightly, and the dark fog seeped through fraction by fraction into the area guarded by the holy power. 

Despite their best efforts, the invading power from the Moloch's Ring with five of its seals removed was simply too powerful for the current Feng, and the pitch-black fog, although very slowly, was managing to get through the holy sphere around the Chibi Sharlyn. 

Feng will be dead within a few days, his soul devoured by the Legendary item. 

"Sigh What have you done?" Letting out a heavy sigh, Sharlyn questioned Feng with exasperation and despair in her voice. 

Previously, she had believed that Feng was exceptional, and with him being a reincarnator with knowledge of the future, possessed a lot of potential, giving the Creation Goddess hope that he might be capable of helping her fix the problems plaguing her and achieve her goals. 

Sharlyn had even agreed to bestow her Full Blessing on him out of that hope due to Feng's promise of getting a God Factor for her, which would lead to the Goddess of Creation quickly regaining her strength and returning to her peak. 

But now, all her hopes have been dashed. Thanks to her Full Blessing and the chibi version of herself inside Feng's soul, Sharlyn could tell what was happening, and knew that Feng only had a few days before the Moloch's Ring devours him completely. 

In her current state, there was nothing the Creation Goddess could do to help Feng or prevent his death, and with Feng's soul, her Full Blessing and the power of her God Factor will be devoured as well, leaving Sharlyn feeling hopeless, regretting her choice of giving Feng her Full Blessing. 

"Relax. I won't die so easily." Feng appeared unbothered by the development in spite of his soul's situation and the risk to his life. Since he chose to go through with the fourth unsealing, Feng was naturally prepared for the potential scenario of him about to die happening, and had a way to deal with the problem before him. 

A doubtful gaze was all he received from Sharlyn, the Goddess of Creation clearly not believing it was possible for Feng to save himself after lifting five of the Moloch's Ring's seals considering the Legendary Ring's current power, but the man himself paid her no mind and instead turned to the demon maid standing a distance from them. 

"Celestina, come over here." Hearing the bastard human calling out to her, the Demon Empress's expression immediately soured even more than before as she collected all of the items dropped by Kildred. 

Since she was the one to kill the Great Demon instead of Feng and his extreme Luck didn't influence the loot, there weren't many drops to pick up, so Celestina had quickly gathered all of the items while Feng was talking to Sharlyn and assessing the danger to his soul. 

She didn't want to have to face Feng and the Creation Goddess after what had just happened and preferred to busy herself with this task while settling her mental state, especially after Celestina noticed the change happening in her mind towards her contractor, a feeling that she was not familiar with slightly arousing her. 

Since Feng had called her over, though, the Demon Goddess had no choice but to finish collecting all the loot and walk back to the two of them. 

However, as Celestina neared Feng and was in proximity of him, she suddenly sensed that there was a very dense amount of Power of Darkness around him. 

This wasn't new, as her contractor had always been surrounded by an evil aura ever since she first saw him, and the Demon Empress knew that it was because of a curse placed on Feng by the Great Demon summoned by the Goddess of Creation, which she had slain a few minutes ago. 

Logically, the Power of Darkness should have disappeared from plaguing the human after the Great Demon had been killed, but that wasn't the case. 

In fact, it had actually increased by dozens of times over, reaching a much higher level than before; the amount of the Power of Darkness being something creatures of his level should have no way of surviving. 

After observing him for a moment, Celestina also identified the cause of this dense darkness, originating from the Ring on one of Feng's fingers, and she could feel an incredibly evil aura coming from it, along with something somewhat familiar. 

Most importantly, however, was not just the Power of Darkness dense enough to be seen with the naked eye around Feng, but also the darkness enveloping Feng's soul. 

"What happened to you?" The Demon Empress asked in slight concern. 

From what she could tell, even with the Creation Goddess's Full Blessing protecting Feng's soul, it would give out within the next few days, and her contractor would be devoured by that Legendary ranked Ring, which would be quite bad for Celestina as her soul was still within his hands, along with the contract between them. 

Hence, the Demon Goddess was rightfully unsettled upon learning of his current situation. 

"A bit of a miscalculation," Feng briefed Celestina on the predicament he was in before taking out six hundred Soul Crystals and handing them to the Demon Empress "I need you to create a few Soul Arrays on my soul to prevent the Power of Darkness from devouring it so quickly." 

"Although I can slow down the process of your soul getting completely enveloped by it, I can't get rid of the Power of Darkness or stop it from devouring your soul for a prolonged duration. You'll only be delaying the inevitable without a proper way to rid yourself of this problem. What even is that Ring and why the hell did you unseal it to such an extent?" Realizing Feng's intentions, Celestina noted that it was possible to accomplish his request thanks to her proficiency with souls and having a high ranking in the Magician Subclass, but it would only be a method to temporarily stall the takeover of Feng's soul and not something they could permanently rely on. 

The Demon Goddess also questioned the identity of the Ring that had caused all this, as she did not recognize it, as well as what in the world would possess Feng to release more of its power while knowing the risk, especially to a point where he was about to be devoured by it. 

"It's the Moloch's Ring, belonging to the Lord of Balrogs," Sharlyn coldly informed Celestina while Feng prepared the other necessary components for the Soul Arrays, "As for why he had removed so many of its seals, it's because he's a dumbass." 

"Moloch's Ring?" A thoughtful expression appeared on the Demon Empress's face upon hearing the Legendary item's name, apparently not recalling it as she shook her head "Never heard of it, nor of this Lord of Balrogs." She said nothing about the Creation Goddess' explanation on Feng's reasoning for releasing the seals, though, since it wasn't anything she didn't already know about. 

"Figures as much. He only appeared several centuries after your death, so it's unlikely you know of the Lord of Balrogs. From what I've heard, however, he only rose to his position of a powerful Demon God thanks to obtaining something you left behind, but I don't know what." Sharlyn wasn't surprised by Celestina not being aware of the demon who created the Moloch's Ring due to her no longer being around at the time, and the Goddess of Creation chose to tell her what she knew about the Lord of Balrogs in hopes of her having a more permanent solution to the predicament they were in, while Feng finally finished all the necessary preparations. 

"You don't have worry about the Moloch's Ring's effects for later on. I'll deal with it once I raise my tier, so I just need you to buy me enough time until then." Handing everything to Celestina, Feng stated casually, not too worried about the aftereffects of unsealing five of the Legendary Ring's seals. 

Giving a simple nod, the Demon Empress went into work mode. With Feng assisting her and giving Celestina access to his soul, she didn't have much difficulty setting up the Soul Arrays as per Feng's request, all the while Sharlyn had stood over them and carefully kept an eye on the demon maid so that she doesn't try to pull anything. 

Using the six hundred Soul Crystals and other materials, Celestina created three Soul Arrays for Feng; one to siphon out the Power of Darkness and greatly weaken it around the holy sphere, one to boost the performance and regenerative ability of Feng's soul, and one to increase Chibi Sharlyn's output and decrease her energy consumption. 

All three were extremely complex Arrays with powerful abilities that would normally be very difficult to create even individually, but Celestina had much expertise with these things and had managed to easily create all three one after another within a short period of time. 

Thanks to the Demon Empress's efforts, the strain on the Chibi Sharlyn and Feng's soul had lessened greatly, allowing her to keep up the holy sphere and prevent the pitch-black fog from devouring the soul much more effectively. 

Of course, it only served to slow down Feng's demise, and Celestina will have to upkeep some of the Soul Arrays every so often so that they don't collapse. 

Nonetheless, it served to buy Feng plenty of time, with the three of them estimating that he'd get another month or two with continuous monitoring of the progression and having the Soul Arrays work at peak performance; which was more than enough for Feng. 

Feng had already planned to initiate his Tier 2 Promotion Quest within a month of time, thinking that if he couldn't get strong enough to take the God Mode on within that time frame with all of his plans, means, and opportunities, it would be unlikely that he'd ever reach the level of defeating a Tier 6 natural-born God while at Tier 1; and Feng would just have to settle for the Asura Mode Promotion Quest, so he might as well not waste any more time at being stuck in such low tier. 

But there were still a number of ways he could increase his strength and chances of completing the God Mode Promotion Quest, hence Feng planned on waiting until there was no more time remaining and seeing where he stood with possibly succeeding. 

After his Tier 2 Promotion Quest was completed, although that wouldn't make Feng or his soul strong enough to endure the Moloch's Ring with five seals lifted, there would be nothing more holding Feng back, and since he'll be working towards becoming strong enough to attempt the impossible task of fighting a God, whether Feng succeeded or not, his foundation will be set, so the Blade Saint's Tier 3 Promotion Quest would be a breeze. 

Thus, as soon as Feng promotes to Tier 2, he can immediately go for Tier 3 as well without a pause being necessary between the tiers, which will greatly increase his strength, both physical and the power of his soul, making it not only more difficult for the Moloch's Ring to devour his soul due to its rank, but also because the miniature Creation Goddess will be capable of displaying more of her strength. 

Undergoing such an upgrade along with Celestina's assistance, Feng might not have to worry about the problem pertaining the Moloch's Ring at all even if he stays at Tier 3 for years, and he'd have plenty of time to prepare for his next tier promotions. 

Not to mention, if the plans Feng has in his mind work out ideally and he manages to help Sharlyn recover her strength, Feng will even have a chance at becoming a Hero. At that point, the Moloch's Ring won't matter, and lifting the sixth seal would be an option. 

Thinking of that, Feng grew curious about the Legendary Ring's current state and how strong it was after having another four of its seals removed in this timeline, since he had previously lifted all of them at once during his previous life without inspecting each unsealing individually, so he called up the Moloch's Ring's Attribute Panel to check out the changes it had undergone. 

[Moloch's Ring] (Ring, Legendary Rank)

Sealed by the Lord of Balrogs, legend has it that this ring contains all of the Lord of Balrog's secrets and power. By wearing this ring, one can obtain this power. After Moloch's Ring had been sealed away, the Great Demon Knettel stood guard over the item. 

Fifth seal lifted. A large portion of its power has been released. Power of Darkness required to lift the final seal: (0/1,000,000) 

When Equipped: 

Damage received from all attacks with the Power of Darkness decreased by 65% 

All Attributes increased by 85% 

All resistances +150 

Movement Speed increased by 50% 

Attack Speed increased by 60% 

Reaction Speed increased by 50% 

All negative environmental effects weakened by 20% 

Ignore Levels +25 

All item level requirements reduced by 20 Levels 

Additional Passive Skill: Ornament of Darkness 

Damage dealt with all dark-type attacks increased by 300%. 

Additional Active Skill 1: Gate of Darkness

Opens a teleportation gate to the central area of the Dark Den.

Duration: 1 hour 

Cooldown: 12 hours 

Additional Active Skill 2: Calling of Balrogs 

Summon a group of Balrog Demons that are on the same Tier and no more than 10 Levels higher than the summoner (Up to a maximum of Tier 5) to assist the user. 

Duration: 3 hours

Cooldown: 9 hours 

Additional Active Skill 3: Bestowal of Darkness 

Infuse yourself with the potent Power of Darkness left behind by the Lord of Balrogs, increasing the user's tier by 1 (Up to a maximum of Tier 5), Strength by 200%, Agility by 150%, Endurance by 180%, Defense by 175%, and Damage received from all Holy sources by 1,000% for 1 minute. 

Cooldown: 1 day 

Just like that, of the six seals that had been placed on the Legendary ranked disaster that is the Moloch's Ring with the sacrifice of ten Tier 5 powerhouses, five had been removed, four of them in quick succession by someone who didn't care for the sacrifices made by the people to stop the problems caused by the Moloch's Ring nor for the consequences of his actions. 

Feng would say that it was a worthwhile tradeoff, though. 

Compared to the current Moloch's Ring, the one with only a single seal lifted that he had been using was nothing. For still having its final and most powerful seal in place, the Moloch's Ring's attributes and skills were very powerful, already being on par with a decent portion of Legendary ranked Rings in terms of attributes. 

Unfortunately, of all the four skills possessed by the Moloch's Ring, only Ornament of Darkness was currently of use to Feng, since he couldn't afford to use any Active Skills due to them polluting his soul even further with each use. 

Additionally, he already had the Manager's Token and the Bible of Darkness as a gateway to the Dark Den and the World Summit, so Feng had no need for the Gate of Darkness skill, while the use a couple of Tier 1 demons ten levels higher than him had to Feng at this point even with the level advantage was quite little; especially when he could already summon demons using the Bible of Darkness, which would also be one tier higher than him, for whatever was necessary. 

The only skill that would be very valuable among them was Bestowal of Darkness, with the increase in tier and boost to attributes being a massive benefit to Feng. Considering the risks that came with using it, however, particularly the way its description is phrased that made Feng think it would bring even more darkness upon his soul, Feng doubted that he'll be using it unless the situation became extremely dire. 

Having finished his business with Sharlyn, Feng bid her adieu, collected the items dropped by Kildred from Celestina, returned the Demon Goddess to the Spectral Animacell, left the Stargazing Tower, and teleported out of Blackwing City with Echoport, arriving at his Private Warehouse. 

After seeing Feng leave her room, Sharlyn's gaze grew solemn. 

She had already carried many doubts in her heart ever since Feng revealed his identity as a reincarnator to her and she bestowed him her Full Blessing. With everything that happened today, from the reveal of the Demon Empress to his reckless choice to lift so many of the Moloch's Ring's seals, those reservations that the Creation Goddess carried intensified greatly. 

However, there was no denying that Feng was incredibly powerful, having obtained many valuable items and achieved a level of strength that should be impossible for a Tier 1 creature, even with her Full Blessing. 

Hence, Sharlyn was conflicted on whether placing her hopes in Feng and agreeing to give him her Full Blessing had been the right choice or not. 

There was also something else very different about Feng this time around. 

It was a very faint feeling, but something about his aura seemed... off... and familiar to the Goddess of Creation. A feeling that, for some reason, made her tingly upon sensing it. 

Sharlyn wasn't sure of what it was, and it seemed greatly suppressed when she tried to probe. Nevertheless, it unnerved her. 

Considering her current situation and relationship with Feng, though, Sharlyn could only put it aside for now and rely on Feng to keep his end of the deal so that she could recover back to her normal self. 

What Sharlyn had sensed was naturally the change to Feng's aura due to the Seducer Subclass. Although she was a powerful being and a natural-born God, in her current state and being at Tier 4, Sharlyn would still be decently affected by an Advanced Master Seducer like Feng. 

However, the Goddess of Creation only sensed it, without there actually being any change to herself that she felt. This was because Feng chose to not use his influence over female creatures on Sharlyn, so aside from the basic effects of the Seducer Subclass, there was nothing to interfere with the Creation Goddess's thought process, mental state, or sexual attraction. 

In fact, despite the benefits it could bring him, the thought of using his Seducer abilities on Sharlyn had never even occurred to Feng. 

Unlike Celestina, who Feng only saw as a potential tool and someone he could exploit to achieve his goals, Sharlyn was a dear friend of his with whom he had gotten close over the years as they worked and fought together, seeing her not much different than his guild members. 

Feng still had some principles remaining, so he didn't intend on using manipulation, his future knowledge, or the effects of the Seducer Subclass to trick Sharlyn into getting what he wanted; not to mention that Feng planned on restoring her memories once he became strong enough. 

When that happened, Sharlyn might still know what he had done during this timeline, and the situation would be very awkward if he tried using the Seducer Subclass to coerce her into doing something. 

Additionaly, it also won't be necessary to use his new Hidden Subclass for such purposes once he restores Sharlyn's memories. 

Upon appearing in his Private Warehouse, Feng retrieved two items from one of the cabinets, and two from his Spatial Bag. 

They were a thick, heavy black leather book, and three tattered pages, on which the words had long since become indiscernible, that still radiated a faint trace of Divine Might, while the surrounding Power of Darkness gathered around the pages as Feng held them. 

The tome was the Bible of Darkness and the three pages were pieces originating from the bible, one of which Feng obtained on his own in the Dark Den, while the other two were acquired by his guild members who have been exploring God's Domain's high-level maps and secret places before any of the other players could; gaining many powerful and valuable items along the way, including fragments of many treasures like the Bible of Darkness. 

Due to the special identity of the bible and the rarity of its fragments, two pages were the most Zero Wing's restored members could acquire with their current strength, as most pieces from the Bible of Darkness were either in high-level maps, in difficult to reach locations, or in special places outside of their God's Domain like Otherworlds and Higher Planes, such as the Darkness World that Feng had obtained one of the pages from in his previous life. 

Even in places that are accessible to them at this point, obtaining these two pages took plenty of effort from the restored members, so Feng was fairly satisfied with the situation since three pages should be enough for the current him and Zero Wing to fulfill their needs. 

System: You have discovered a page of the Bible of Darkness. Do you wish to spend 500 Magic Crystals to assimilate this page with the Bible of Darkness and repair it? 

System: You have discovered a page of the Bible of Darkness. Do you wish to spend 500 Magic Crystals to assimilate this page with the Bible of Darkness and repair it?

System: You have discovered a page of the Bible of Darkness. Do you wish to spend 500 Magic Crystals to assimilate this page with the Bible of Darkness and repair it?

"Repair" Feng agreed to all three notifications, spending 1,500 Magic Crystals to assimilate the three pages with the Bible of Darkness. 

When Feng agreed to repair the Bible of Darkness, the book flew out of his hands and hovered before him. The book then opened to reveal the missing pages' location. At the same time, the missing pages transformed into a black mist that melded with the Bible of Darkness one by one. Ten seconds later, the pages had joined the book as seamlessly as if they had never left in the first place.

After the Bible of Darkness had recovered three of its missing pages, the Power of Darkness that gathered around the book became denser, and now a black mist settled over the book.

Although the book's aura wasn't much stronger than before, its control of Power of Darkness had improved, and after repairing the Bible of Darkness, its appearance indicated that it had become far more powerful. 

Feng then inspected the slightly repaired Bible of Darkness. 

[Bible of Darkness] (Fragmented Legendary Item)

The Bible of Darkness had been destroyed during the Great Destruction. However, the Power of Darkness contained within the Bible is extreme. If one can gather the other fragments, they can restore the Bible's power, gaining dominance over all Demonic Creatures and become the Lord of Demons.

Additional Passive Skill: Demonic Respect 

Makes all demonic creatures of the same Tier as the user and below unconditionally obey the user. (Up to a maximum of Tier 5) 

Additional Active Skill 1: Demon Summoning 

Summons the Demon Gate with the Power of Darkness, calling forth a random Demon that is no higher than 1 Tier and 10 Levels than the summoner (Maximum Tier cannot exceed Tier 5). The holder of the Bible of Darkness can command the summoned Demon for up to five hours.

Cooldown: 3 hours

Additional Active Skill 2: Gate of Darkness 

Allows teleportation to the Dark Den. Can also be used in the Dark Den to teleport to the outside world. Can teleport a maximum of 20 people at a single time.

Cooldown: 1 day

Additional Active Skill 3: Light of Darkness 

Strengthen a player with the Power of Darkness, allowing said player to wield the Power of Darkness. Can strengthen up to a maximum of 1,500 people. Every player strengthened provides one Source of Darkness to the wielder of the Bible of Darkness.

Additional Active Skill 4: Power of Darkness 

Fill your body with the Power of Darkness, increasing all Attributes by 100%, decreasing Cooldown of all Skills by 30%, and increase damage by 50%. Duration will be equal to the number of Source of Darkness*1 seconds. (Power of Darkness cannot stack. Can only strengthen players up to a maximum of Tier 5 classes)

Cooldown: 5 hours

Additional Active Skill 5: Tainted Conversion 

When activated, there is a 50% chance of turning any targeted creature into a demonic being (Up to a maximum of Tier 5). Success depends on the target's Concentration standard. 

Cooldown: 4 days 

Additional Active Skill 6: Coming of Demons 

Open a permanent gateway to the Demon Realm that any creature below Tier 6 can cross. 

Cooldown: 1 year 

Those three pages made for a fairly big difference, gaining Feng a Passive and two active Skills, along with enhancing the previous four thanks to the boosted Power of Darkness within and around the Bible of Darkness. 

With him being able to buff 1,500 players with the bible's skill, Feng could create multiple legions of Zero Wing members possessing a Berserk Skill, and his own new Berserk Skill will have a duration of twenty-five minutes. 

As for the additional skills originating from the repaired pages, there was value in demonic creatures on his tier obeying him, but not a huge amount since he'll be able to easily kill any creature that was the same tier as him so they provided little help; while Tainted Conversion could be something interesting to test out. 

However, unless he decided on fully betraying the Forces of Light or a particular situation arises, Feng didn't see himself opening a permanent portal for Demons to cross over into God's Domain, so the final skill currently couldn't be put into practice. 

Seeing the number of Sources of Darkness that he could give out to his members, Feng contacted Aqua Rose.

"Aqua, have all the members of the Main Force, all the restored members, and any additional elite players that qualify for the Dark Gods Legion gather at the Residence." Feng said.

By this point, Feng had already restored the memories of around 1,000 Zero Wing members, some of them not being combatants, so even after strengthening all of the restored members with the Power of Darkness, Feng will still have plenty of spots remaining for both future core members and unrestored members who had potential and Zero Wing planned on training; once again creating the Dark Gods Legion from his previous life. 

"Sure, but are you really okay?" Aqua couldn't help but ask worriedly. Feng had previously sent them a short and simple message that he was fine and not to worry, but that did nothing to ease Aqua's or the other girls' anxiety over Feng's condition; especially when he still hadn't told them what had happened and the cause of him almost dying. 

"I'm completely fine and have already recovered. You don't have to worry about it." Feng brushed the matter off like nothing happened, casually dismissing Aqua's concern and the entire thing like he didn't almost die; and would have most likely had his soul shatter if not for the four of them being there to nourish Feng with Nutrient Fluids. 

Feng didn't bother telling them the details about his soul being close to breaking since he didn't want the girls to be unnecessarily stressed out over him, while there was nothing they could do about it. Hence Feng thought it was best to simply keep them in the dark about his problems despite his condition being very life-threatening. 

Of course, Aqua was no fool. She could definitely tell that Feng was hiding something, but seeing that he wasn't planning on telling her what exactly happened, Aqua could only let it go and hope that Feng would tell them later. In the meantime, the four of them would have to procure more S-rank Nutrient Fluids in case another emergency occurs and keep a constant eye out for anything out of the ordinary in Feng's condition. 

Leaving Aqua to sort out all the candidates and arrange everything, Feng remembered that he still hadn't completed the Gold Legacy Tablet whose three pieces he had obtained on the Divine Staircase, so he took out the three Secret Technique Tablets and brought up the System Panel for them. 

[Secret Body Technique]

The pattern engraved on this tablet is too vague and incomplete, and no information can be deciphered. However, some kind of divine power hides within this pattern. If one gathers all of the stone tablets, this vague and incomplete pattern can be restored.

Current tablet count (3/3)

System: You have collected all Legacy Tablets for Devil's Parade. Do you wish to synthesize the complete version of it? Synthesizing the complete version will require 1,000 Mana Stones. 

Transferring a thousand Mana Stones from his Warehouse to his bag, Feng clicked "Agree", causing all three Gold Legacy Tablets to be surrounded with a golden glow as they seemed to melt into a golden liquid, before all of them merged together to form a golden tablet slightly larger than any of the previous three. 

However, the stiffening Divine Might radiating from this singular Gold Legacy Tablet far surpassed the combined might of what the three previously had. The pattern of inscriptions and runes carved on the Secret Technique Tablet were now much clearer in their complete state, allowing one to learn from deciphering the patterns. 

[Devil's Parade] (Gold Rank Secret Technique Tablet)

This tablet is engraved with information on the Gold Secret Body Technique, Devil's Parade, created by the Demon Empress, which has been passed down since ancient times in the Demon race. 

Although the value of this Gold Legacy Tablet was immeasurable due to its origin and Combat Techniques inscribed in it, currently Feng couldn't put it to use, so he just stored the Legacy Tablet and left it for later use in training the Zero Wing members. 

Following which, Feng used the Bible of Darkness to travel to the Evil Ghost Domain.

After his three-day absence, Feng found that District One had developed rapidly. The Shelter had annexed six other Shelters and invested all of the Soul Crystals they obtained into upgrading the Shelter, including the promotion of the Lions Bar to 3-star rank with Feng's funds. 

Now, Hundred Berry Wine's production has increased to 100 bottles per day.

According to Feng's arrangements, 40 bottles would be held for District One's Shelter, while he would take the remaining 60 with him. Feng had been away for three days now, so he had a stockpile of 180 bottles.

Feng had also brought with him a huge stock of Light Stones for Blue Frost and the others.

The nights in the Dark Den were longer than the days. Hence, Light Stones were far more useful to these players.

"Having a Guild is awesome. I never imagined that we would get our hands on an item like this. Even at night, our top ten parties will be able to grind safely." Best Reincarnation and the other party leaders expressed their shock as they stared at the Light Stone in Feng's hand.

Not a single Shelter in the Dark Den had anything like the Light Stones.

Other than grinding and questing, the Light Stones could also be used during monster attacks to weaken the monsters, making it much easier to defend the Shelter.

"Right, my main goal in coming here this time is to give this to you." Feng said as he retrieved the Chapter of Shelter from his bag.

The Chapter of Shelter was an item that could promote a Shelter by a single rank, up to a maximum of Large Shelter.

When everyone saw the Chapter of Shelter, they were stupefied.

Up until now, Large Shelters were something that only Guild Forces possessed. Although they had thought of upgrading District One's Shelter to a Large Shelter countless times before, it was simply too difficult for independent players. They would require at least a month to gather the required manpower and resources. That time might be extended further depending on their progression on the quests involved.

Now, however, with the Chapter of Shelter, they could upgrade District One's Shelter into a Large Shelter without going through all that trouble. They would then qualify to compete for dominance in the Dark Den.

Zero Wing was astonishing!

Feng's generosity had engraved this notion on everyone's hearts.

The many Guild Forces in the Dark Den had spent a ridiculous amount of effort to upgrade a Medium Shelter to a Large Shelter. They had gathered all of the resources from the Shelters under their control and had spent significant time to do so. On the other hand, Feng had completed a similar feat by casually revealing a Chapter of Shelter.

If the other Guild Forces discovered this, they would definitely be dumbfounded.

"Lotus, begin the preparations. We're going to upgrade the Shelter." Blue Frost proclaimed calmly as everybody stared at the Chapter of Shelter in Feng's hand. 

Shortly after District One joined Zero Wing, Feng had Blue Frost, and any other Zero Wing members who had still been alive by the time Feng reincarnated, come over to the Big Dipper Training Center for restoring their memories. 

Since he already knew Feng was going to bring the Chapter of Shelter, Blue Frost naturally wasn't surprised and immediately went to work. 

The Evil Ghost Domain was vast. It was roughly one-fifth the size of Star-Moon Kingdom. There were also several Shelters within the Domain. Among these Shelters, some were under the control of large Guilds. However, not a single Shelter within the Evil Ghost Domain had been promoted to a Large Shelter until today. One could just imagine how difficult it was to promote a Medium Shelter to a Large Shelter.

When a Medium Shelter became a Large Shelter, its player capacity increased from 30,000 to 100,000. Not only would this increase the Shelter's defensive capabilities, but the larger population would also improve collection speed of Soul Crystals by several times.

Most importantly, upon becoming a Large Shelter, a Shelter could have three Specialties, which was two more than a Medium Shelter. Moreover, these Specialties production volumes would increase significantly.

Originally, the 1-star Lions Bar only produced 20 bottles of Hundred Berry Wine per day. After becoming a Large Shelter, the Lions Bar's production of 100 bottles a day doubled. In other words, the 3-star Lions Bar could produce 200 bottles of Hundred Berry Wine each day.

The Hundred Berry Wine was a rare tool that could increase a player's compatibility rate with their weapons for a short time, allowing players to grasp the feeling and subtlety of improved compatibility rates. It was the best item for cultivating experts. The Hundred Berry Wine was far more effective than the Trial Tower of the Divine Colosseum.

Otherwise, with no Divine Colosseums inside the Dark Den, these players would stagnate and fall far behind players elsewhere.

Half an hour later, the Heavenly Crystal Pillar inside District One's Shelter released a dazzling red light that shot into the sky. A faint red barrier then began to form around the Shelter. For a time, aside from Feng and the others who were currently inside the Heavenly Crystal Pillar, every player was teleported out of the Shelter.

In the next moment, the Shelter began to expand. At the same time, new buildings began appearing, one after another.

A short while later, the Medium Shelter's size had increased by tenfold.

When the Shelter stopped expanding, a system announcement reached out to every player inside the Evil Ghost Domain.

Evil Ghost Domain System Announcement: Congratulations to the Shelter of District One for becoming the first in the Evil Ghost Domain to become a Large Shelter. Rewarding 1,000 Soul Crystals to the Shelter. All players of District One will receive a two-day Protected buff that increases all Attributes by 10%. Production volume of the Shelter's Specialties will be increased by 100% for seven days.

The system announcement excited District One's stunned players.

"Our District One is too amazing! We actually became a Large Shelter! We won't have to worry about getting Mounts once we reach Level 40!" Everyone celebrated the new achievement.

Currently, the Shelter's players were nearing Level 40. It wouldn't be long before they reached that milestone.

However, upgrading a Medium Shelter to a Large Shelter was not achievable in a short amount of time. If they wanted to obtain Mounts, they would have no choice but to travel to other Large Shelters and pay an exorbitant fee to purchase one. Moreover, they had to obtain permission from the ruling parties of said Shelters beforehand. Otherwise, they would not be able to purchase a Mount even if they could afford one.

Now, however, they no longer had to worry about such problems.

They could just buy a Mount at cost price from their own Shelter.

---

Meanwhile, the various other Shelters in the Evil Ghost Domain were stupefied.

Normally, to promote a Medium Shelter to a Large Shelter, one had to pool the majority of the resources available within a Domain and invest a lot of time. Although District One was one of the strongest Shelters in the Evil Ghost Domain and had annexed several competitors, it should still require a long time before becoming a Large Shelter.

Yet, after only a few days since District One began annexing other Shelters, it had successfully upgraded to a Large Shelter. It was simply inconceivable.

"Contact the leader of District One's First Party, Blue Frost, immediately! Tell him that our District Nine is willing to submit."

"How did they manage this so quickly? Wouldn't it be more beneficial to join District One, rather than joining a Guild Force, now? We need to head to District One and discuss an alliance."

--- 

Shortly after the system announcement, the top ten parties of many Shelters discussed currying favor with District One.

When a Medium Shelter became a Large Shelter, it could hold 70,000 more players than before. It could easily fit the population of two or three Medium Shelters. If they could obtain a slot for themselves, they would not have to worry about obtaining Mounts in the future. They could also enjoy the various benefits only available in a Large Shelter.

---

Meanwhile, inside District One's Heavenly Crystal Pillar, aside from Blue Frost and the other restored members, everyone was similarly surprised.

Although they had expected the Shelter's promotion, they had never expected their hold over the Shelter to become more powerful.

All along, the Shelter belonged to all of its residents. Meanwhile, they, the Shelter's top ten parties, only acted as managers; they were not the owners. The managers were determined through Contribution Shares. If another party possessed more Contribution Shares than they did, they would be replaced immediately. Normally, this rule held fast even after a Shelter was upgraded.

Only, after a Shelter's promotion, the top ten ranking parties would receive a massive amount of Contribution Shares, making it more difficult for other parties to compete for the top ten positions. However, while it might be difficult for a Guild Force to take over a powerful Shelter by force, it was not entirely impossible.

However, after Feng used the Chapter of Shelter, the management system had changed.

Feng had become the Shelter's Administrator.

An Administrator was far more powerful than the managers. Feng could now arbitrarily delist players from District One, exiling them from the District and the benefits the Shelter offered. No other player possessed this authority.

Of course, this was useless against the Shelter's top ten parties. Moreover, there was a limit to the number of players an Administrator could delist each day.

Even so, an Administrator's authority was plenty frightening. Now, they had the ability to remove potential threats easily, preventing other Shelters from scheming against their Shelter.

More importantly, an Administrator had the authority to veto a decision.

For example, if the top ten parties wished to construct something, even if all ten parties agreed, the Administrator could voice their refusal, and the matter would end there.

Moreover, the position of Administrator was unrelated to Contribution Shares. In other words, even if someone else accumulated more Contribution Shares than the Administrator, they could not replace the Administrator. The only way to overthrow an Administrator and take over a Shelter was to assault the entire Shelter and destroy it.

However, it was not easy to assault a Large Shelter. In other words, currently, the Shelter of District One was under Zero Wing's complete control. Outsiders could not steal it.

Feng had already learned of this after using the Chapter of Shelter in the previous timeline, so he wasn't surprised. However, with this, he would not have to worry about losing the Shelter to other Guilds. He could rule with an iron fist.

With that out of the way, he could invest more resources in District One's Shelter, transforming it into an iron fortress.

Following which, Feng left the Shelter's management to Blue Frost, giving him all of the Soul Crystals that he had gathered for upgrading the Shelter and allowing the Branch Leader to operate as he pleased while he was away, entrusting Blue Frost with taking over the Evil Ghost Domain for Zero Wing. 

He then purchased all of the available bottles of Hundred Berry Wine from the Lions Bar and took the massive batch of Gemstones Blue Frost had prepared before going out to the area of the Evil Ghost Domain that was opened after Noya's death, collecting any interesting items and restoking on Soul Crystals, which he had run out of, and finally returning to White River City.

As the Shelter had just upgraded to a Large Shelter, its Specialties' production had improved. As a result of the 7-day bonus , the Lions Bar could produce up to 400 bottles of Hundred Berry Wine each day. However, as Blue Frost and the others had already purchased 100 bottles, there were only 300 bottles remaining. Even so, Feng was satisfied with this amount.

Even one bottle of Hundred Berry Wine could tempt many experts, not to mention 480 bottles. With this many, he could raise the combat power of Zero Wing's unrestored members to a whole new level. 

Shortly after Feng used a Return Scroll and returned to White River City, the Shelter of District One hummed with activity.

Now that the Shelter's population potential had increased so drastically, many players in the Evil Ghost Domain planned to migrate to District One to enjoy the benefits of a Large Shelter.

Hence, reviewing the invitations demanded a considerable amount of work.

In addition, the promotion to a Large Shelter did not mean that players could purchase Mounts immediately. There was a need to construct a Taming Facility first, and the construction of a Taming Facility required a massive amount of Soul Crystals.

Meanwhile, after District One's Shelter became a Large Shelter, many Guild Forces based in the Evil Ghost Domain began to consider it a target. They all wished to conquer the Large Shelter.

In the past, although District One occupied valuable land, and the Shelter was relatively strong, to Guild Forces, it had been a trivial opponent. After all, independent players ran District One. It was of no threat to Guild Forces. Now, however, things have changed. District One had become the first District to own a Large Shelter in the Evil Ghost Domain. This would greatly affect the situation in the Evil Ghost Domain. The Medium Shelters under their control held no advantage against a Large Shelter.

If they could take control of District One, not only could they extinguish any looming threats, but they could also increase their own strength. They also wouldn't have to waste effort collecting and pooling their Guild's resources to obtain a Large Shelter for themselves. Most importantly, District One's Large Shelter had not been promoted by a Guild Force. As far as they were concerned, District One was like a heap of loose sand; its residents were not united. They could take advantage of this and take the Shelter by storm.

With this, they could kill two birds with one stone. Why wouldn't they do it?

For a time, the many Guild Forces in the Evil Ghost Domain secretly plotted to insert their own men into District One's Shelter.

Meanwhile, although Blue Frost and the others had predicted these Guild Forces' intentions, not only did they not attempt to stop them, but they also actively encouraged it.

After all, they were not afraid of anyone trying to replace them.

They earnestly wished the various Guild Forces would come and offer them more resources.

The matter of District One joining Zero Wing was only known by a few of District One's upper echelons. In the eyes of outsiders, District One had only obtained a Large Shelter due to its managers being very united, powerful, and lucky.

Moreover, there were only so many Guild Forces in the Evil Ghost Domain. Everyone knew which Shelters belonged to which Guild Forces. Hence, everyone believed that District One's Shelter had yet to ally themselves with a Guild.

Normally, if players wished to join a Shelter, the Shelter's managers would welcome them with open arms. After all, more players would strengthen the Shelter itself and increase the number of Soul Crystals the Shelter could obtain. For District One, however, other than those who had been recruited by the Shelter's upper echelons, any player who wished to join District One was required to pay a fee of one Soul Crystal.

Although the price was high, current players were much higher leveled than before. As a result, the difficulty of obtaining Soul Crystals and the price of Soul Crystals had decreased. 

Compared to Feng's initial arrival in the Dark Den, Soul Crystals' prices had fallen by two to three times. Currently, every elite party had at least one Soul Crystal on hand at all times. If they worked hard for a week or so, they could collect six Soul Crystals. Obviously, Guild Forces' elite teams had a far easier time of collecting the Crystals.

Even after Blue Frost and the others recruited some players, there should still be 50,000 spots remaining. Charging one Soul Crystal per person, if they managed to fill all 50,000 slots, they would receive an additional 50,000 Soul Crystals. A player's ownership of 50,000 Soul Crystals was vastly different from a Shelter's ownership.

Take the Lions Bar's promotion for example. If Blue Frost and the others funded the promotion themselves, they would only have to spend 500 Soul Crystals to promote the bar to 3-stars. However, if they used the Shelter's cumulative resources, they would have to spend 10,000 crystals.

With 50,000 Soul Crystals, not only could they easily construct a Taming Facility, but they could also construct two more buildings that supplied Specialities and upgrade both buildings to 2-stars. 

---

Meanwhile, Feng had returned with a large stock of Gemstones and Hundred Berry Wine to White River City.

Gemstones were extremely rare. Ordinary players would be reluctant to embed the Gemstones they had obtained into their equipment; if the item were destroyed, the Gemstones would similarly be destroyed. Players would generally only embed Gemstones in top-tier equipment as it was a safer option. When the need arose, they could simply remove the Gemstones and reuse them with other top-tier equipment.

Currently, Tier 1 Gemstones were very cheap in the Evil Ghost Domain. Each one only cost 3 Silver. In Star-Moon Kingdom, however, each Tier 1 Gemstone sold for 9 Silver. As for Tier 2 Gemstones, each sold for 30 Silver in the Evil Ghost Domain, while prices in Star-Moon Kingdom fluctuated around 1 Gold. Star-Moon Kingdom's prices were at least three times higher.

Feng had obtained 30,000 Tier 1 Gemstones from Blue Frost. These Gemstones had either been secretly purchased from the various Shelters in the Evil Ghost Domain or traded for Light Stones. A single stack contained 20 Gemstones. Feng had returned with a total of 1,500 stacks of Tier 1 Gemstones, valued at a total of 900 Gold. As for Tier 2 Gemstones, he had not bothered taking any as he had the Philosopher's Stone. Through Alchemy Synthesis, he could produce Tier 2 Gemstones from Tier 1 Gemstones.

After returning to White River City, Feng immediately headed towards Zero Wing's Guild Residence. 

Things were getting extraordinarily lively in the Residence belonging to White River City's number one guild. 

News of Zero Wing calling back all of its core and many elite members had already spread all across the Star-Moon Kingdom, the development immediately attracting the attention of the many Guilds in the city and making the independent and guild players wonder what Zero Wing's next move will be.

However, the ones paying the most attention to this matter were still the independent players.

At this point, Zero Wing was no longer the small Guild it was in the past.

Whether it was grinding monsters or questing out in the fields, not a single Guild dared to do anything to the members of Zero Wing within the region of White River City. This situation had made many independent players envious of the members of Zero Wing.

At this stage of the game, large Guilds already occupied all available high-resource maps. As independent players, even when they were out doing a high-level quest, there was a chance that Guild players would target and kill them. As a result, leveling up and upgrading equipment became extremely difficult for them. Hence, many independent players were considering joining a powerful Guild.

Meanwhile, Zero Wing was currently forming a Dark Gods Legion. Moreover, the members of the Legion received treatment that was inferior only to the Guild's Main Force. It should be known that, while every Guild had plenty of ordinary teams in its midst, there would be only one Main Force. Zero Wing's formation of a legion was equivalent to establishing a second main force. This situation tempted many independent players to join Zero Wing.

For a time, the number of players trying to enter Zero Wing surged once more. 

Zero Wing's elite members who had been picked out were particularly excited, and nervous, at the notion of suddenly being told to gather at the Guild Residence.

Some thought that they were going to be receiving some kind of training, while others feared that the top echelons will be cleansing their group; as the Guild has been doing such things on a regular basis ever since a huge number of players had started joining Zero Wing.

---

Inside the main meeting room of Zero Wing's Guild Residence, the entire Main Force and a large portion of the restored members who were combatants had gathered at the Vice Guild Leader's summons.

All of them already had a guess on why they were all here at once, but no one could be 100% certain due to the changes in the timeline.

The most they could do was speculate and chat amongst themselves on various topics while waiting for Feng to arrive.

Shortly after, their thoughts were confirmed the moment Feng walked into the meeting room, his menacing aura oozing off of him. Although Feng had used the Demon Mask and other tools to conceal the thick Power of Darkness around him, making it so that even experts like the restored members would not be able to notice it, that didn't stop the members from instinctively sensing his dark and overwhelming aura.

Even Fire and the others couldn't help but be shocked after their acute senses and instincts perceived Feng's existence.

Danger signals buzzed in their heads as they watched Feng walk up to the meeting table and take his seat on the Guild Leader's throne.

It wasn't surprising that Feng would be extraordinarily powerful to any of them, but the extent of his current strength that they could sense was out of this world and something none of them thought to be possible for a Tier 1 player. All of them wondered if Feng had already progressed through the tiers, but they were positive that such a thing wasn't the case.

Aside from the massive gap in attributes, Feng's Life Rating also far surpassed the norm, and even Fire, who had the Basic Royal Atrocity Bloodline, was far outmatched in every metric measurable.

"Now that everyone is here, I'll be bestowing you with the Power of Darkness," Feng stated the reason for having Aqua call in all the restored members "Afterwards, aside from the Main Force members and those with special jobs and obligations, all of the current and future Zero Wing members who have had their memories from the previous timeline restored will be a part of the Burning Wing[2] Legion." 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. How many seals there were was never stated in the OG, nor did the seals get mentioned at all after the Moloch's Ring's introduction by Sharlyn, so I've had to decide the number of seals on my own. 

2. I remember somebody recommending that I make a group to categorize the restored members and having a theme of it being an inside joke on referencing their reincarnation like a phoenix, so that it was the Burning Wing Legion if I recall correctly. It's a good name, but I'm wondering if anybody has any other recommendations.