Chapter 2666 - Soul Upgraded, Natural Domain!
Zero Wing’s Residence, Guild Leader’s Office:
Sitting quietly on his chair, Shi Feng suddenly opened his eyes, his mind roiling with confusion.
Just a second ago, he clearly sensed that he had successfully activated the core magic array. In the next second, however, the Soul Array had shattered so thoroughly that no traces remained whatsoever. It was as if the Soul Array had never existed in his mind.
“What is going on here? Did I succeed or fail?”
After confirming the absence of the Soul Array, Shi Feng tried moving his body a little. However, he did not detect any changes or discomfort in his body. It was as if everything that had happened was an illusion.
From what he understood of the Soul Array, so long as players successfully activated it, their souls would receive an upgrade, and their game character’s natural talent would receive a significant improvement. On the other hand, if players failed to activate the Soul Array, their souls would get devoured, and their natural talent would deteriorate significantly, which would, in turn, eliminate almost all chances for further improvement.
However, he currently didn’t feel any different from before he tried activating the Soul Array. Both his physical body and mental state felt normal, neither more active nor sluggish.
“Could this Soul Array be a sham?”
After pondering for some time, Shi Feng could come up with only this conclusion. Instead of the real deal, the “Soul Array” planted in his mind was merely a somewhat special Soul Mark. No other explanation made sense.
Of course, there was one other possibility—all the information he obtained regarding the Soul Array in the past was false. The Soul Array did not possess the ability to alter a player’s soul at all, and everyone who supposedly experienced these effects had only been imagining things.
At this point, Shi Feng could not help but sigh.
If that really was the case, then he had suffered a huge loss this time.
He had spent one God Crystal to reset the Cooldown on Augustus’s Damaged Heart. Previously, in order to help out the Guild’s core members, he had spent most of the God Crystals he had on hand and kept only one for himself, just in case. Now, he had wasted his last God Crystal.
Just as a wave of depression washed over Shi Feng, Youlan knocked on his door and entered the room.
“Guild Leader, Melancholic and the others have arrived. In addition, the 300-plus disabled NPCs are already in the Residence’s plaza. We can start the ceremony at any time,” Youlan said, finding the look of depression on Shi Feng’s face a little strange.
“Alright. Have the NPCs wait on the second underground floor first. Have Melancholic make the necessary preparations as well. I still need some time to myself,” Shi Feng said, nodding.
“I’ll inform them, then,” Youlan said before leaving the office.
After she left, Shi Feng took out the Memory Crystal the Crimson-eyed Sword Saint had given him. Since Augustus’s Heart was still pumping out Eternal Energy, he planned to use this opportunity to learn Elvoze’s Legacy.
In God’s Domain, God Crystals were rarer than even Epic Weapons and Equipment. Coming across one was highly dependent on luck.
Now that he had wasted a God Crystal to activate Augustus’s Heart, he naturally couldn’t let even a second of its duration go to waste. Otherwise, he would have to wait three months or obtain another God Crystal to activate it again.
The instant Shi Feng tried to inject his Mana into the Memory Crystal, a white mist actually formed around the crystal, stunning him.
“This… Materialized Mana? How is this possible?”
Mana was intangible. Players could only rely on their senses and imagination to control it. Even then, they could exert only simple control over Mana. Trying to concentrate the density of thin Mana was beyond even Tier 4 players who had basic control over Mana.
Normally, players would be capable of such a feat only after reaching the Advanced Master Magician standard.
Shi Feng had just recently reached the Intermediate Master Magician standard, yet this materialized Mana indicated that he had actually reached the Advanced Master Magician standard already. He could hardly believe it.
An Advanced Master Magician!
Although the Magician class was only a sub-class in God’s Domain, the Advanced Master Magician standard was a realm all Tier 4 experts sought to reach.
At the Advanced Master Magician standard, players could rely on their will to manipulate the Mana around them, utilizing the ambient Mana as if it were an extension of their bodies. They could have their own Natural Domain!
An ordinary Tier 3 player who reached the Advanced Master Magician standard would be invincible among all opponents below Tier 4—the true Tier 4 standard, not monsters or players that possessed Basic Attributes at the Tier 4 standard. One could easily imagine how powerful the Advanced Master Magician sub-class was.
“Could this be the Soul Array’s effects?” This was the only explanation Shi Feng could come up with for this situation after giving the matter some thought.
Manipulating intangible Mana was an incredibly complex task. Players needed a lot of time to adapt their minds before they could do it.
Now, however, he could exert a great degree of control over Mana despite barely putting any thought to the task. It was as if his mind had automated this process for him.
“Amazing! Truly amazing! The change to my magical talent is simply heaven-defying!” Shi Feng was filled with an indescribable sense of shock as he controlled the Mana Domain that had naturally formed around him.
Currently, he could freely control all the Mana within a 30-yard radius as if it were one of his limbs. With just a thought, he could have the ambient Mana attack someone. Moreover, this attack would carry power at the peak of Tier 3—just by him materializing the ambient Mana. If he were to use a magic array, the power he could exhibit would be even greater.
After a brief moment of excitement, Shi Feng calmed himself and put away the Crimson-eyed Sword Saint’s Memory Crystal. He then took out a tattered notebook from his bag.
“Originally, I thought that I could learn this thing’s contents only after reaching Tier 4. I never dreamed that I could actually learn them now. That Faux Saint Devourer really has helped me a bunch,” Shi Feng muttered, chuckling as he looked at the notebook in his hands.
The notebook he held was none other than the Mana Forging Notes he had received from the Famed Smith Alba Gray. Although he had only one volume of the Mana Forging Notes, the value of this one volume could easily rival that of a Legendary item. It was an item that the various empires of God’s Domain would go crazy over.
This was because the forging techniques recorded within the Mana Forging Notes could serve as the foundation of an empire.
Of course, learning the recorded forging techniques was an incredibly difficult task. Firstly, one had to have reached the Advanced Master Magician standard.
This requirement was because Alba Gray’s Mana forging techniques were different from conventional forging techniques, which prioritized the materials used. Instead, Alba Gray’s techniques prioritized Mana, while the materials used were only of secondary importance. One could consider Alba Gray’s techniques a kind of lost ancient technology.
Shi Feng immediately started manipulating the Mana around him to break the Mana Seal on the notebook.
In order to remove the Mana Seal, one needed to use one’s Mana to decode it. Utilizing brute force would permanently destroy the notebook’s contents.
The Mana Seal consisted of 27 magic arrays, every one of which was at the Basic Grandmaster standard. The degree of precision one needed to have when decoding these magic arrays was akin to threading a needle. Only those capable of freely manipulating Mana would succeed in lifting the Mana Seal.
This was also the reason why Shi Feng had left the Mana Forging Notes sitting inside his bag all this time.
One array… Two arrays… Three arrays…
After working on the Mana Seal for more than two hours, Shi Feng finally decoded the last magic array on the Mana Forging Notes.
Immediately, all Mana within his office seemed to have been summoned, as it surged toward the Mana Forging Notes. This Mana then transformed into texts and images that flowed into his brain.
For a time, Shi Feng felt as if his head would explode.
The amount of information contained within the Mana Forging Notes was comparable to that of the Small Mobile Fortress Design. If not for his Concentration having reached the Tier 4 standard already, he would’ve most definitely lost consciousness.
The information transfer continued for 20 minutes. Then, the Mana Forging Notes closed itself, and the Mana Seal reappeared on it. As for Shi Feng, he slumped back in his chair, his complexion indescribably pale. However, despite his miserable state, his eyes sparkled with joy and shock.
Before Shi Feng could snap out of his daze, he suddenly received a call request from Youlan.
“Guild Leader, we just received news that the Faux Saint monster army is currently crossing Star-Moon Kingdom’s borders. Rough estimates put its numbers at over four million. We have also spotted some of Saint’s Hand’s members among the monsters,” Youlan reported anxiously.
“They’re finally here?” Shi Feng revealed a faint smile on his face when he heard Youlan’s words. “Have Melancholic and the others ready the materials. I’ll head over immediately.”