Sterl couldn't help but fantasize about a future where, with the Divine Office: Human Race, he would integrate numerous Law Powers and ascend to demigod status with an invincible presence.
Then he turned his attention back to the task at hand.
With the recent boost in Divine Power and Law Power, he finally estimated the cost of his divine ascension—one point of Divine Power could sustain his divine state for one second.
Reaching 50 points in Law Power slightly strengthened him, and he could now use the various effects of [Moon] three times before entering a cooldown period.
"It seems that true transformation will have to wait until the growth progress bar is maxed out..."
Sterl contemplated, but he wasn't particularly impatient.
Because, even as Sterl pondered, he could see players appearing on the distant horizon.
For the next period, Sterl enjoyed relatively leisurely days, mostly waiting in the watchtower, watching as waves of players came to their deaths.
And he continued to reap the benefits.
Divine Power +0.1...
Divine Power +0.1...
...
Law Power Growth Progress +1...
Law Power Growth Progress +1
One day later.
Sterl successfully broke through one point of Divine Power, allowing him to ascend to a divine state for a full second.
Law Power also maxed out at 100 points and evolved.
[Moon (Incomplete)]
[Effect: You now possess the ability to control the power of the moon.]
[Related Platinum Skills: None]
[Law Power Growth: 23/1000]
At this moment, Sterl had an epiphany—
Law Power is divided into several stages: Incomplete, Complete, and Perfect.
Normally, demigods or legendary players who haven't yet become demigods, if their legendary abilities are of extremely high quality—derived from three gold skills with twenty levels of legend—could potentially deduce an incomplete law on their own, given high enough talent and professional ranks.
Otherwise, players would need to travel to specific worlds to comprehend the corresponding laws. For example, Sterl's [Shadow Stealth] could take him to the Shadow World, where he might comprehend Law Powers like [Shadow] or [Death].
However, a skill like [Shadow Stealth], which only allows a few seconds in the Shadow World, couldn't possibly enable someone to comprehend Law Power.
Players must physically enter certain special worlds for extended periods to successfully comprehend them.
Once they possess an incomplete law, players can continue to train in various other worlds, continuously evolving the law to a complete and then perfect state. Each advancement would significantly enhance the Law Power's effects.
The Law Power Sterl previously obtained wasn't even incomplete, so he naturally didn't know this information.
[Type: Consumable]
[Effect: Instantly replenishes energy, stamina, and life force upon consumption. Provides an energy pool with a total value of 300,000. Whenever energy, stamina, or life force is depleted, it automatically draws from the pool to restore them. The recovery speed of this potion is doubled.]
No need to elaborate—this was a top-tier life-saving potion! Even if Sterl's body was shattered, as long as he had a breath left, he could recover, avoiding the loss of his resurrection armor.
He was so thrilled that he wanted to evolve several more bottles, but unfortunately, only one full recovery potion was dropped.
The third item was equipment crafted from the Bloody Jewel.
After his carnage in the Netherworld, Sterl met the second evolution requirement for the Bloody Jewel (NPC kills didn't yield benefits, but they did provide bloody power).
Post-evolution, the Bloody Jewel's ability to pay bloody power to launch attacks and create shields was enhanced. Its proficiency breakthrough ability now extended to all skills below platinum level (including platinum), allowing them to reach master proficiency through bloody power.
Additionally, several pieces of equipment and skills were crafted.
However, Sterl was no longer the pauper he once was. He had plenty of good items. Therefore, he only favored one piece of equipment.
[Wail of Anguish]
[Type: Special Equipment (Monocle)]
[Description: This lens originated from a jest by the Blood Duke. He once promised a certain king eternal life in exchange for the sacrifice of the entire nation's lives. The king's soul was eternally sealed within this lens, forced to watch the endless wails of the countless souls from his nation.]
[Effect: All attributes +30. Passive Ability [Slayer: Each time you kill any unit, surrounding enemies will undergo a fear check. Units with mental attributes not higher than 100 points above the player will be feared for 0.5-1 second (cooldown time of one minute).]
[Crafting Requirements: 500 Bloody Power, Materials: Dragon Tooth Crystal, Ice Emperor's Essence, Blood Linen Flower...]
[Warning: If materials are not used, and the item is forcibly crafted with only Bloody Power, it will not reach perfect quality.]
After the evolution, Sterl still had 481 points of Bloody Power remaining in the Bloody Jewel. So, he took some time to leave the stronghold where the Waters of Netherworld were located, farmed a few waves of wild monsters, and collected various equipment and gold. He gathered enough Bloody Power and found a secluded spot in the wilderness to craft the [Wail of Anguish].
He was pleasantly surprised to discover that since [Wail of Anguish] did not reach perfect quality, a plus sign appeared next to the equipment's name. Sterl immediately allocated points to it.
After evolving, the effect of [Wail of Anguish] increased to all attributes +50. The [Slayer] ability was also significantly enhanced. Units with mental attributes not higher than 200 points above Sterl would be feared, and the maximum fear time doubled to two seconds.
For Sterl, this was a highly practical piece of equipment. Not only did it occupy a special equipment slot (a monocle), leaving his other equipment slots free, but it also provided free attributes and skills.
For someone like Sterl, who had extremely high burst damage but was relatively fragile (often challenging enemies above his level), possessing this equipment meant that once he entered an enemy formation and killed a target, he could induce area-wide fear. This acted as a powerful life-saving measure.
The only downside was that the passive ability of [Wail of Anguish] did not reduce its cooldown time, preventing back-to-back fear effects.
Of course, Sterl also thought that if the cooldown time were reduced, the equipment would be too overpowered. Theoretically, facing a group of enemies would be easier than facing a single enemy. If he could sneakily kill one, the rest would succumb to continuous fear, making them easy prey.
...
As Sterl gradually transformed his evolution points and Bloody Power into combat strength, the players finally began to gather in earnest.
Many of the latecomers, having learned about the situation at the third Waters of Netherworld through various channels, did not rush in to die, thus avoiding being slaughtered by the Netherworld soldiers.
Players gathered away from the stronghold, eventually forming a group of nearly 2,000 people.
As a result, Sterl no longer hid in the watchtower. He cloaked himself and mingled within the player groups, casually disguising himself as a player corpse he had seen earlier in the wild.
At this moment...
Sterl was sitting cross-legged on a mound, looking ahead. On a high platform formed by earth element magic stood a young man in leather armor with a handsome face, raising his arm and calling for action.