Chapter 57: God-Tier Blade of the Black Death! Even Enemy Talents Can Be Stolen!

Chapter 57: Chapter 57: God-Tier Blade of the Black Death! Even Enemy Talents Can Be Stolen!

John took a deep breath and immediately opened the chest.

[Ding——]

[Obtained: Blade of the Black Death (One-Time Use · God-Tier Item)!]

[Blade of the Black Death]

[Effect: When used on a target, randomly steals one of their attributes, skills, talents, or special traits of God-Tier quality or below, permanently making it yours.]

[Note: One-time-use item. Disappears after activation.]

"Hiss!"

John sucked in a sharp breath.

"Stealing talents..."

This was practically an item tailor-made for someone like him, who was constantly making enemies.

John carefully put the item away, already planning to make the most of it when the opportunity arose.

Only after he had finished everything did the system notifications finally arrive.

[Lord Tyrant’s level has increased to Lv22!]

[Undead Dragon Knight Legion’s level has increased to Lv19!]

[Frost Mage Legion’s level has increased to Lv18!]

[Fire Mage Legion’s level has increased to Lv17!]

[Hero Ophelia’s level has increased to Lv22!]

[Hero Raistlin’s level has increased to Lv19!]

While John was sorting through the spoils, Raistlin stood beside the crater for a long time, leaning on his staff. Only after a while did he let out a long sigh.

John glanced at the time.

[Godfall Battlefield Standard Time: 18:05:12]

"It’s getting late."

He looked at the others.

"Let’s go home."

...

On the journey back, everyone was unusually quiet.

Ophelia had probably been affected by what happened to the Mage race as well. She remained silent.

John knew neither of them needed comforting right now. They simply needed time to process everything themselves.

So he opened his own skill tree instead.

Every time his class advanced, new skills would appear in the skill tree, ranging from low-tier to high-tier abilities.

John scrolled down, casually passing over the ordinary offensive, defensive, and support skills.

Until—

One of the ten God-Tier skills at the very top caught his attention.

[Styx Ferry (God-Tier · Active)]

[Effect: Revives enemy units killed by you and permanently converts them into Undead units under your command.]

[Current Level: Lv1.]

[Current Resurrection Limit: 1,000 units.]

[Restriction: Can only resurrect units of God-Tier quality or below.]

[Special Note: Undead units resurrected through this skill cannot be revived through conventional methods such as gold coin payments or Unit Altars if they are killed in subsequent battles.]

[Learning Cost: All Basic Resources ×10,000,000.]

John’s eyes immediately lit up.

"Resurrecting a thousand units... Even if they’re only two-star or three-star units, that’s practically an entire additional army!"

Just imagine what would happen during a large-scale alliance war in the future.

The enemy could send wave after wave of troops against him. He would simply keep killing them and recruiting them into his own army at the same time...

Just thinking about it was exciting.

John continued examining the learning requirements.

He hadn’t paid much attention to these ten God-Tier skills before. He had assumed they would all require rare materials that he couldn’t possibly obtain at his current stage, or that his level simply wouldn’t be high enough to learn them.

He hadn’t expected that leveling up this time would unlock a God-Tier skill that required no special materials at all.

All it needed was ten million of each basic resource.

"This is the only God-Tier skill that doesn’t require any special materials to learn."

John grinned.

Ten million of each resource sounded like an enormous amount.

But he currently had all the resources he had seized from the Judgment Alliance’s Third Division.

"If I sell everything eventually, I should be able to get pretty close."

John was confident that he could unlock this skill before the Novice Continent came to an end.

"Mark this one for later."

He closed the skill tree, his mood considerably improved.

...

It wasn’t long before Ophelia landed in the plaza in front of the castle.

The moment her dragon claws touched the ground, John spotted Sylvie, Bladeborne, and Gru waiting for them.

"My Lord!"

Gru hurried over, looking extremely excited.

John dismounted and turned toward him.

"Your territory was attacked today. Tell me exactly what happened. Were any of the villagers injured?"

Hearing this, Gru immediately replied.

"Reporting to My Lord! When those people first broke into the territory, the villagers panicked a little. Fortunately, the troops you left behind protected us. Everyone only suffered minor injuries, and the Priests have already healed them all!"

"But... well..."

Gru scratched his head awkwardly.

"A few of the houses we had just finished building were destroyed by those bandits."

"I’ll gather some people and rebuild them later!"

John nodded without saying much.

However, the incident had given him something to think about.

There was no denying that Undead units were powerful.

But they had no intelligence of their own.

Those players had managed to sneak into his territory today. If he hadn’t left behind the command for his troops to automatically retaliate whenever villagers were attacked, the consequences could have been disastrous.

This was still the early stage of the game, when everyone’s levels were relatively low.

But what about the middle and later stages?

What if another player arrived with five-star or six-star units?

Even if John left a massive army behind to defend his territory, there was no guarantee it would be enough.

"I still need a defensive Hero who can help guard the territory and keep the entire place secure."

John quietly made a mental note.

"Alright. Have someone else take care of the houses. I have another task for you later."

John patted Gru on the shoulder before turning toward Sylvie and the Sword Saint.

"How did things go on your end?"

Sylvie had an unmistakable smile on her face.

"My Lord, we had quite a fruitful journey as well."

She raised her hand, summoning a translucent resource panel.

"Bladeborne and I pushed southwest the entire way. We cleared three monster lairs along the route, and our levels increased considerably."

"We also collected a large amount of resources and brought back another group of natives. There were more than three hundred people in total, men and women combined. I’ve already handed them over to Gru for accommodation."

As she spoke, a hint of pride flashed in Sylvie’s eyes.

"Additionally, using my talent, I managed to replicate two Epic-grade Resource Plots, besides the Water of Life."

"One is an Epic-grade Wood Resource Plot."

"The other is an Epic-grade Ore Resource Plot."

John raised his eyebrows.

He already had two Epic-grade Resource Plots in his territory.

With the two Sylvie had brought back, that made four in total.

Among the basic resources, Stone, Wood, Gold Coin, and Food now all had Epic-grade production plots.

Only one remained—

Iron Ore.

"Not bad."

John nodded approvingly.

"Come on. Take me to have a look."

Sylvie smiled and led the way.

"My Lord, let’s visit the Fountain of Life first. I built it as soon as we returned, so it should be ready by now."

...

After passing through a newly cleared patch of grass behind the main castle, John immediately spotted the fountain.

It was a circular pool constructed entirely from pure white marble, standing roughly three times a man’s height.

At the very center of the pool stood a stone statue of the Goddess of Life.

The statue was about the height of an adult, carved entirely from milky-white jade. A thin layer of moss covered its surface.

The Goddess’s face was gentle and compassionate, her eyes slightly closed. Her hands were crossed in front of her chest, palms facing upward in a delicate gesture, as though she were gently gathering dew.

Her dress flowed down toward the edge of the fountain pool. Silvery moss had accumulated in its folds, forming patterns that looked almost as though they had grown naturally out of the stone itself.

Drops of fresh, vibrant green liquid slowly condensed in midair above the Goddess’s hands, trickling through the gaps between her fingers before falling into the fountain below.