Chapter 2271 - Tower of Four GodsJecrets
As more time passed, the strange energy the crimson stone radiated became so dense that even Shi Feng could feel it affect him from five yards away. He felt his bloodlust rise and rage fill his mind.
What is this thing? Despite being inactive, it has such a powerful, mental influence on those around it. Shi Feng stared at the crimson stone in shock.
Eternal Energy filled the Tower of Four Gods, allowing players to maintain ideal mental clarity and focus.
However, the strange energy this crimson stone radiated had the complete opposite effect.
Shi Feng picked up the stone to inspect it.
The instant his fingers touched the crimson stone, however, his very soul shuddered. He felt, for a moment, as if he stood in a sea of blood and gore. Powerful, violent energy assaulted his body, weakening the Eternal Energy’s effects.
Contaminated Soul Fragment? Shi Feng was dumbfounded after inspecting the stone. How is this possible?
The crimson stone was a fragment of condensed souls.
A soul was intangible in the real world and in God’s Domain. Trying to make a soul tangible was an excruciatingly difficult process. Normally, a soul could only take on a physical form with the help of divine items.
Take the Soul Orb, a fragment of the Treasure of Illusion, for example. It could be used to absorb a portion of a player’s soul and use the collected souls to create Soul Water. The Ancient God’s Literature Fragment could also absorb the souls of half-dead creatures to create Soul Essence. However, Soul Water and Soul Essence were significantly smaller items than this fist-sized crimson stone.
…
(Contaminated Soul Fragment) (Special Item)
This fragment is comprised of countless condensed and violent souls. It contains dense Soul Power and can be merged with any creature’s soul to achieve ascension. However, doing so will subject the target to intensely oppressive effects. (This fragment can only exist within the Tower of Four Gods. It will disappear upon leaving the tower.)
…
It’s no wonder why the Ore Empire’s founding emperor was so bloodthirsty. So, that was due to this thing. Realization dawned on Shi Feng after reading the Contaminated Soul Fragment’s description. So, the ‘opportunity’ everyone referred to was this stone.
The Tower of Four Gods had been responsible for the rise of countless powerhouses in God’s Domain, including the founders of empires.
These individuals’ powerful souls were a large part of the reason they had gained the strength to lord over a country. After all, souls were the root of everything, including players. If players’ souls were extinguished, they’d have to start a new account if they wished to continue in God’s Domain.
If players could strengthen their souls, they’d have an easier time mastering Skills, Spells, and combat techniques. Their physiques would improve, as well.
When one gained a new tier in God’s Domain, their soul ascended. If a person’s soul ascended by other means, they’d improve in all aspects.
And now, Shi Feng learned that Soul Fragments, which could help one’s soul forcibly ascend, dropped in the Tower of Four Gods. One could easily imagine how great of an opportunity this was. It was no wonder why even Tier 6 God- ranked players had fought to enter the tower.
Absorbing such violent souls will likely be a major challenge for players. Absorbing too many of these Contaminated Soul Fragments is likely impossible. Shi Feng gave the crimson stone in his hand a disappointed look.
He only held the Contaminated Soul Fragment, yet it had such a powerful effect on his mental state. Moreover, it was surrounded by Eternal Energy. Its effects would likely be many times stronger in the outside world. Shi Feng couldn’t even imagine what would happen if he absorbed this thing.
He estimated that absorbing two Contaminated Soul Fragments would be his limit. Any more, and it would affect his mental state.
Of course, his limit was only this low because he was a Tier 2 player. He’d likely be able to absorb more Contaminated Soul Fragments as he rose in tier. It was like adding salt to water. Once the water was saturated, no more salt would dissolve. In this case, the violent energy within the Contaminated Soul Fragment was the salt, while his soul was the water. If his soul couldn’t absorb the violent energy, the excess would affect his mind.
Suddenly, Shi Feng had an idea.
It was too risky to absorb the violent energy, but the crimson stone itself was condensed souls’ essence. He might be able to absorb only the Soul Power within the fragment by relying on the Ancient God’s Literature Fragment.
The Ancient God’s Literature Fragment’s Soul Absorption Skill absorbed Soul Power. The ‘half-dead creatures’ only referred to monsters when their HPs hit zero. As the corpses disappeared, their physical bodies no longer protected their souls, and the souls could wander. In this state, the Ancient God’s Literature Fragment could then absorb the souls.
The Soul Fragment was the condensed form of these wandering souls.
Shi Feng then pulled the Ancient God’s Literature Fragment from his bag to experiment.
If his experiment failed, so be it. If it succeeded, however, he would hit the jackpot. The Ancient God’s Literature Fragment could, after all, strengthen a creature’s soul without any side effects.
He grew nervous as he used Soul Absorption on the Contaminated Soul Fragment.
The Ancient God’s Literature Fragment began to glow, and the violent energy within the Contaminated Soul Fragment flared as if it were trying to resist the Literature Fragment’s power. However, the Literature Fragment had been carefully crafted by an Ancient God; how could violent souls possibly resist?
The fist-sized crimson stone turned to dust in Shi Feng’s hand in less than five seconds, and Shi Feng had acquired a single drop of Soul Essence.
Wonderful! Shi Feng rejoiced over the result.
Condensing a Soul Essence was extremely difficult. First, he had to choose a monster that met the minimum level requirement. Soul Absorption would not work on monsters that were a lower level than he was. Second, the target had to be sufficiently powerful. Great Lords were likely the lowest limit. Considering that he hadn’t reached Level 90 when he had hunted the Level 102 Great Lord ranked Skeleton Generals, he guessed that not even souls from Level 100 Great Lords would yield him any Soul Essence once he reached Level 100. At the very minimum, he had to target Level 100 Grand Lords.
Moreover, Soul Absorption had a six-hour Cooldown. It wouldn’t do him any good to grind one Boss after another, and he didn’t have the free time to hunt a powerful Boss every six hours.
However, he was currently stuck in the Tower of Four Gods and had nothing better to do. So, he might as well use this opportunity to collect Soul Essence. Moreover, he couldn’t take the Contaminated Soul Fragments outside the Tower of Four Gods. It was wonderful news that he could use the Ancient God’s Literature Fragment to convert the Contaminated Soul Fragments into a form that he could take with him when he left.
Following which, Shi Feng continued through the tower’s trials, collecting Bloodline Power and stockpiling Soul Essence. Due to the generous EXP these monsters provided, he leveled even faster than he would grinding elsewhere.
Fortunately, these trials, which would be challenging to normal Tier 2 players, were no problem for Shi Feng. His life within the Tower of Four Gods was actually quite relaxing. Once he cleared a floor, he rested for a day and returned to the real world to check up on Zero Wing’s situation. However, once he reached the third floor, he found the trial to be a bit challenging.
Not only were the third floor’s monsters Bloodline Creatures, but they were also of a higher rank than those on the second floor. The first trial alone tasked Shi Feng with killing 900 High Lords of the same level. Even peak experts would need a long time to complete the task. Killing all 900 would be utterly impossible in three days. Shi Feng had only completed the task thanks to his superior Basic Attributes and the Secret Technique, Lightning Flash.
During the third floor’s second trial, Shi Feng had to face Great Lords, and he had to kill 300 of them in three days. Even Shi Feng had barely managed to complete the trial.
After killing the 300 Great Lords, Shi Feng had risen to Level 99, only one level away from the Level 100 threshold. It was at this point that he had finally collected the 100 Bloodline Power he needed and accumulated 86 drops of Soul Essence. If not for the Contaminated Soul Fragment’s low drop-rate, he would’ve had more.
When Shi Feng completed the third floor’s second trial, the scene around him changed, and he found himself in the same colosseum he had visited during the first floor’s third trial.
However, instead of 10 Giant Gladiators, an ordinary human stood on the elevated platform. This human wore dazzling armor and carried a pitch-black greatsword.
When Shi Feng saw this Swordsman, he could not help but gasp.
A Tier 3 Hero!