Chapter 174: Boarding the Rainbow Ship

Sterl, after some contemplation, decided to store the newly acquired Legendary Crystal in his backpack. Even without evolving it, the Legendary Crystal could still be used up to 10 times. However, Sterl didn't have enough blood energy to utilize it effectively, and the legendary ability might not even be as good as a golden-quality skill!

It was quite a useless item!

Moreover, based on his previous speculations, if the [Blood Sacrifice Technique] was indeed part of some powerful entity's grand scheme, trying to sell this Legendary Crystal might bring him trouble...

"Troublesome!" Sterl muttered to himself, reluctantly stashing the annoying item in his backpack.

He then opened the highest-level Divine Mountain Empire contribution shop.

Immediately, a vast array of items flooded the screen.

To Sterl's surprise, although not entirely unexpected, the items in the shop were possibly the best the Divine Mountain Empire could offer, yet they still couldn't compare to the Dark Moon Alliance's shop.

Fortunately, he noticed two things:

Firstly, as the [Worshipped One], he could transfer shop privileges and contribution points to any player. Sterl had already decided that he would let Teresa use the remaining contribution points to continue developing their organization.

Secondly, although there were few valuable items, the contribution shop did have some limited-edition items that caught Sterl's interest.

Starting with the equipment category, Sterl discovered that the reputation equipment series he had previously purchased was not the upper limit of similar equipment in the Divine Mountain Empire! A new batch of decent reputation equipment had appeared.

It's worth mentioning that Sterl's current equipment had been fully updated.

Except for the [Veil of Nothingness], which permanently occupied the headequipment slot (with Star Insight and other equipment being in special slots), all his other equipment had been replaced:

(Here is the Protagonist's Equipment)

Weapon: None (primarily using weapons created by Flowing Water Law and Star Blade).

Headequipment: The Veil of Nothingness (details omitted).

Upper Body: Spirit Armor (second class diamond; +70 to all attributes, includes the skill: Divine Phantom, which boosts all attributes by 10% when activated and creates a phantom that replicates the same actions, dealing 30% of the original damage).

Lower Body: Dragon Blood Black-Yellow (second class diamond; +60 to all attributes, includes the skill Reserve Power, a passive ability that increases final damage by 1% for every 10% of health lost by the player).

Belt: None.

Boots: Frost Perception (second class diamond; +60 to all attributes, includes the skill Frost Path, which leaves a trail of frost that deals damage when walked upon).

Necklace: Heart of Sacrifice (second class diamond; +50 to all attributes, includes the skill Engulfed in Flames, which can be activated to consume 5% of health per second, causing all your attacks to ignite opponents, making them lose 10% of their health per second).

Ring: None.

Bracelet: None.

All these pieces of equipment—the upper body, lower body, necklace, and boots—were second class diamond equipment obtained by Teresa through resource exchanges.

The effects were quite powerful. The upper body armor enhanced damage and boosted attributes, which was extremely useful for someone like Sterl, who already had high base attributes.

The lower body skill was also potent, with the term "final damage" referring to an increase in damage after all other bonuses had been calculated.

As for the boots, while they were just an ordinary second-class diamond item, their attached skill was very useful for regular second-class players and even somewhat strong. However, for Sterl, who had golden-quality skills competing for use, the Frost Path skill would never see the light of day due to its energy consumption.

The necklace fell into a gray area between useful and somewhat redundant. During boss fights, the health-burning ability of the skill would be practical.

However, the issue was that sometimes Sterl could defeat bosses in a single hit, rendering the Heart of Sacrifice skill pointless.

The remaining empty equipment slots were due to Sterl's obsessive-compulsive tendencies. He didn't want to pair subpar items with his fourth-tier second-class diamond equipment.

[As a Creator's Act] fell within the range of spatial spells.

Sterl felt that using [As a Creator's Act] to materialize elements from his mental world now consumed nearly half as much energy!

"Nice, this is great!" he exclaimed with surprise.

Finally, he checked his panel once more.

Star Point Finger, Celestial Stars, and Stardust all had a glowing upgrade symbol next to them, indicating that they could be forcibly upgraded once through his newly acquired cheat.

Looking at his equipment, except for the Star Insight and Dimensional Heart provided by the Dimensional Traveler, which couldn't be upgraded, all other equipment had the normal upgrade symbol, indicating that they could be enhanced at least once.

Of course, Sterl currently didn't have any upgrade points.

At this point, he had fully integrated the benefits of being second class and the task rewards, resulting in a massive power boost!

The only things left were unrefined experience points and unenhanced arcane skill proficiency.

Just then, Sterl noticed a new message popping up on his panel.

At first, Sterl thought it was some overlooked benefit he hadn't sorted out yet, but it turned out to be a private message from Faye: "The blockade of the Divine Mountain Empire's capital has been lifted. Hurry up and come over."

Sterl was taken aback. Based on his knowledge from before his transmigration, such chaos following a king's death would typically last a long time, possibly even six months to a year...

Had the capital's lockdown been lifted so quickly?

Sterl pondered for a moment.

"I have nothing to fear if I have done nothing wrong! What Nathan did has nothing to do with me, David. And even less with me, Sterl!"

Resolutely, he decided to head back to the capital of the Divine Mountain Empire. On his way, he casually tossed the kidnapped prince out near a small roadside village—

His task required that at least one prince survive. The easiest way to ensure this was to keep a prince in his little world until he collected his task rewards, guaranteeing absolute safety.

When Sterl finally arrived in the capital, he put on a "surprised" expression and exclaimed, "What happened here?"

He looked around and saw ruins everywhere, with many common folk crying or hanging their heads in despair because their homes and stored resources had been completely destroyed by the recent catastrophe.

The entire city was steeped in sorrow.

Feigning concern, Sterl stopped a soldier and asked what had happened. He also mentioned that he was under the command of the Fourth Prince.

The soldier, however, only responded with a gloomy look, "There is no longer a Fourth Prince."

"What?" Sterl was stunned. Had the Fourth Prince been killed after he left??

They knew each other, after all. Sterl felt a slight pang of sadness, but the soldier then said, "He is now our new Emperor."

Sterl: "..."

Good heavens, within just one day, he had ascended to the throne?

Sterl silently griped to himself.

Not long after, Sterl found Faye. They exchanged a few pleasantries before getting straight to business—

The chaos in the Divine Mountain Empire had already delayed their plans.

First, they activated the invitation to the Hall of Valor. A burst of colorful light shot into the sky, and soon, a rainbow-colored ship appeared in their sight.

Afterward, they began to catch up on recent events.