The sunlight shone over everything in the endless blue sky. Gu Nan sat under the eaves of the Gu family's residence and gazed at the faraway sky.
'Being invincible… How lonely it is!'
After returning from Immortal Demon World, he got 5 more Evil Value and 100 points, which made his Evil Value break through the 100 mark and reach 102.
Since his Evil Value surpassed 100, he could now activate another skill slot. His constitution also welcomed another strengthening, and he also spent a grand 1000 points to improve himself.
500 points were used to upgrade the core skill. "Power of Shadows" became Level 2, and with the buff from the Shadow Earring, the skill level was actually equivalent to Level 3.
In other words, Gu Nan's comprehension of "innate ability" was now the same as this world's Domain Stage experts and could be considered among the strongest on this planet.
On the surface, there was only one Domain Stage cultivator in the entire Ruby Fish Star, which was the Xu family's old man. The strongest members of the Gu and Long families were only at Infinitesimal Stage.
Another 500 points were used to buy the skill "Resistance."
｢Resistance——Passive skill. Your body will resist damage, and any damage taken will be reduced by 50%｣
In the Evil God game, there were a large number of high-quality skills to choose from. As long as players could think of it, then it existed in the game.
But in reality, very few of these skills were truly useful. The reason was very simple—players only had three skill slots.
Many comrades who chose the agility development direction with dreams of chaining skills for stealthy infiltration, sneak attack, kidney attack, backstab, throat slash, and finally shadow steps were severely punished by the game designers.
They could only use three skills in total. Like hell they could chain so many skills!
After the predecessors' bitter experimentation and exploration, the latecomers finally understood what kind of skill combinations were the most powerful.
And in these combinations, the skill "Resistance" appeared very frequently. Because in addition to the powerful effect of reducing damage by half, "Resistance" also had a hidden attribute.
"Your body will resist damage" —this meant that players became immune to most status effects!
From now on, Gu Nan would have nothing to do with status effects like stun, blood loss, and fainting. He'd be able to ensure that he could always maintain a good fighting condition.
'It's too bad that I can't level up this skill until I reach 200 Evil Value…' Gu Nan lamented.
He knew that although his strength seemed like it was soaring now, he was still far from the desired level.
He was only able to stand at the top of Tier 3 cultivators by using the Shadow Earring. This also meant that it'd be difficult for him to experience another leap in strength like this for a long time.
He wouldn't be truly invincible at the same level until he reached an Evil Value of 300 and unlocked the core skill arcana.
As for this world's Void Cutter Realm powerhouses… He wouldn't dare to say whether they really were the equivalent of Tier 4 until he actually saw one with his own eyes.
In any case, if that realm really was equivalent to Tier 4, then even the current him would only be able to turn around and run after meeting one. There was absolutely no chance of winning in a direct confrontation.
"Young Master." Wang Dong's voice came from outside the door, "Eldest Miss told me to bring the person over."
"Let her in." As Gu Nan's voice fell, the door was gently pushed open.
Lin Jun came in wearing casual modern clothes, walking quite awkwardly.
Looking at her, it was obvious that she had yet to adapt to Star Realm's modern fashion.
It had already been five days since the completion of the mission in Immortal Demon World and his subsequent return to Star Realm.
Although Gu Nan assured Lu Zhanyu that he wouldn't disclose the plane's coordinates to the Gu family, the first thing he did after returning was tell Gu Nian the coordinates for Immortal Demon World.
Gu Nan actually didn't care about a single world's resources, but he wouldn't let Lu Zhanyu know this. This was to discourage some of her ideas and schemes.
And selling Immortal Demon World to Gu Nian was out of consideration for his future path.
He was already Tier 3, which wasn't far from completing the First Round… After the First Round, he'd have to start thinking about building a Divine Kingdom. Thus, it was better to prepare early and have a spare kingdom.
"Gentleman…" Although Lin Jun wasn't dressed in ancient clothes, her temperament and speech still contained a classical flavor that couldn't be eliminated.
"Just call me Young Master." Gu Nan waved his hand. "I have some tasks to do here. I happen to lack trusted aides, so I brought you up… Do you understand what you should do?"
"...I understand." Lin Jun lowered her head slightly, blushing a little.
Gu Nan looked at her with some confusion. He didn't know what exactly she "understood," but that didn't matter. She was originally brought up as a substitute for Yan Xiaoxiao anyways.
After the Gu family took over Immortal Demon World, they were ecstatic to see this piece of "virgin land."
Most of the Long family was destroyed, but they didn't dare to deal a fatal blow because the Long family's higher ups had escaped and still weren't captured yet. They also didn't know where to put the people they obtained from the Long family, but now, it just so happened that they could reincarnate these people into Immortal Demon World on a rotational basis.
As long as those people weren't allowed to touch the ceremony itself, the Gu family would still be able to hide the plane coordinates, which was akin to using the Long family as free labor.
With such great efforts to develop the land, the ancient altar was quickly reactivated, and Lin Jun was able to "ascend."
"Sure enough, Xiaoxiao's unwilling to come up?" Although Gu Nan had expected this for a long time, he still had some regrets when he saw that Lin Jun was the one who ultimately ascended.
No matter how he looked at it, an Innate Realm Lin Jun wouldn't be as useful as Yan Xiaoxiao.
Lin Jun gave a small nod. "Xiaoxiao… would rather stay there."
She paused and couldn't help sneaking a glance at Gu Nan. She knew there was a more important reason, but she could only keep that inside her heart.
She once inadvertently learned the truth about Yan Xiaoxiao's background. It turned out that her whole family was slaughtered, and it was actually on her own teacher's orders…
Gu Nan shook his head and didn't lament any further. "Since she wants to stay, let her stay."
Twenty years later, Yan Xiaoxiao had indeed become a smart person.
She already knew the truth and didn't necessarily hate Gu Nan, but she deliberately chose that time to reveal her cards in order to force Gu Nan to leave her behind, or at least give up the right to decide.
Yan Xiaoxiao knew that if Gu Nan really wanted to take her away, she would have no way to resist.
So she buried a thorn in Gu Nan's heart. As long as the thorn was there, Gu Nan wouldn't dare to keep her by his side and feel safe. Only then would she have the opportunity to stay behind in Immortal Demon World and do whatever she wanted to do.
"She sure thought things through." Gu Nan's mouth curled a little, and his smile was more or less mocking. "You can escape from me, but can you escape from her?"
If his guess was correct, then the Evil Value for the first event in the chain of events might fall on her…
Sure enough, the more scheming someone was, the more abnormal they were.
Gu Nan smiled and picked up the documents from the table, handing them to Lin Jun. "Look at this information first. What you need to do next is all in here."
"This is…" Lin Jun looked at this thin stack of documents and was a little puzzled.
What was recorded were some deliberately selected behavioral patterns about a woman named Gu Nian.
Lin Jun had been in Star Realm for some time. Of course she knew who Gu Nian was and what kind of status she held in the Gu family…
'Gu Nan actually wants to target her?'
As if he read Lin Jun's mind, Gu Nan smiled and assured, "I'm not targeting her; I'm helping her."
"To give her what she wants the most—this is called adapting to her tastes."
Gu Nan's meaningful words made Lin Jun feel uneasy. She began to look through the content of the files carefully.
She found that these materials summarized certain people Gu Nian had met, either during her many reincarnations or in Star Realm.
[Hundred Demons World, Mo Yao, Female, 13 years old.
Heavenly Fortune World, Qian Ling, Female, 14 years old.
Lonely Cloud World, Yin Qianrui, Female, 11 years old.
...
Star Realm, Shi Miao'er, Female, 15 years old.
Langya World, Bai Luoluo, Female, 14 years old.]
Strange ideas began to form in Lin Jun's mind, but she didn't dare to confirm them. She looked up at Gu Nan.
Gu Nan calmly looked into her eyes. "Gu Nian will return today. I also called over the girl named Lin Yunyun. You just need to follow the instructions I wrote down."
"I understand…"
Devotee's Game System Inspired Note
» This section of the chapter is a Fan based created system to mock-up or simulate the 'Status Information' of our MC - Gu Nan. This implies that you are free to skip reading this and continue your journey onto the next chapter.
» All catalog data below is a summary of various information achieved by Gu Nan that corresponds till the end of the related chapter and is compiled into a singular 'Status Screen.' Additionally, the invented system below would continue to evolve as we progress and learn more about the novel itself.
MC's Status Information
Name: Gu Nan
Current Location: Gu family's residence, Ruby Fish Star
Current Soul Location: N/A
Status: ⟪ Evil God ⟫
Advancement Direction: Agility Type
Current Evil God Rank: Tier 3
Equivalent/Current Martial Art: Prodigious Realm
◈ Comprehension of Innate ability: Domain Stage
Chosen Core Skill: The Law of Shadow
Current Evil God Temple Quest:
→ Main Mission Objective/s:
-— Evil Event: Ruby Fish Star's Martial Arts Competition. - Evil God Temple Issued
◈ Status: On Going
-— Protect Zhang Yueying for 30 days. - External Source
◈ Status: Cleared
→ Side Quest Objective:
-— None. - N/A
◈ Status: N/A
Current Evil Points: 600
Overall Evil Points: 3875, Overall Evil Value: 102
Core Skill Acquired
— Shadow. ｢Also known precisely as 'The law of Shadow' - its one of the highest-ranked laws in the game. Skill 'Power of Shadows' LVL +1｣
Normal Skills Acquired:
— Resistance. [ Passive Ability ] ｢Your body will resist damage, and any damage taken will be reduced by 50%｣
— Locked ｢N/A｣
— Locked ｢N/A｣
Exclusive Skills Acquired:
— Deceitful Steps. [ Passive Ability ] ｢Movement Speed increased by 30%. Attack Speed increased by 50%｣
— Power of Shadows. [ LVL 3 ] ｢Allows the players to activate the skill "Hidden Shadows" at LVL 1 and unlocks the skill "Shadow Form" at LVL 2. If the 'Power of Shadows' reached LVL 3, the player will be able to use the 'Law of Shadow' to a much finer degree.｣
▸Hidden Shadows. ｢The power to manipulate shadows to a fine degree.｣
▸Shadow Form. ｢An incomparable handy skill that allows the player to manipulate shadows to create things, like weapons and armor. At the highest level of mastery, it could even create a humanoid clone.｣
Equipment being worn
→ Armor
-— Dawn Sage's Robe. ｢Basic level defense. If you are not attacked within 3 seconds, you will receive the "Praise of Dawn" effect.｣
→ Weapon
-— Four Element Crossbow. ｢A Tier 2 crossbow weapon that can generate four types of elemental arrows—earth, water, wind, and fire—based on the user's needs and does not need to load arrows.｣
→ Accessories - Facial Accessories, Necklace, Earrings
-— Observer Eyepiece. ｢An eyepiece that have a fixed Tier 2 magic 'Insight' inscribe in it.｣
-— Dragon Heart Pendant. ｢Allows players to activate the skill "Dragon Power". This skill cannot be upgraded｣
-— Shadow Earrings. ｢Skill 'Power of Shadows' LVL +1｣
Equipment Skills Acquired:
-— Insight. [ Passive Ability ] ｢Ability to obtain high-precision data analysis when looking at people or objects.｣
-— Dragon Power. ｢Greatly enhances the player's strength and physique. Duration: 5 seconds. Cooldown: 5 minutes｣
-— Praise of Dawn. [ Passive Ability ] ｢Increases self-healing ability by 300%｣
Item/s owned:
→ None.