Fenrich and company all walked away with smiles on their faces after entering the treasury, they had all gained an adequate amount of resources, f tier spatial rings with 40 cubic meters worth of space inside, relics, equipment, Skill Books and more.
What was even more rewarding to Ren was the fact that he had found a weapon that caused his Blank peak F tier Soul Weapon seed to vibrate.
Firmament Defiance Greatsword (Pseudo-Legendary) (Evolvable)
Level: Adjusts to user, maximum growth level: 650.
Durability: Unbreakable
Strength: + 20%
Agility: + 20%
Endurance: + 20%
Vitality: + 20%
Passive Effect 1: Increases the equippers basic and advanced attribute points by 25%
Passive Effect 2: Absorbs the Qi, Dao, Mana, Life Blood Essence of all slain enemies, converting all the energy into consumable attribute point orbs (quality and quantity decide the gained amounts of attribute points) 0/??????
Passive Effect 3: Increases the overall power of the equippers Mana by 33%
Passive Effect 4: Enhances the overall quality of the equippers Mana, Dao and Qi over a period of time.
Passive Effect 5: Increases all the equippers Sword related Skills by +6 levels
Passive Effect 6: All Mana, Stamina, Qi, Dao energy, Soul energy, Sword Intent energies have their costs reduced by 45%.
Passive Effect 7: Increases the users Life Rating by 1 tier no matter how heavy one's foundations are that hold back Life Rating evolutions.
Passive Effect 8: Increases the overall power of equippers known Combat Techniques, Mana Combat Techniques by 35%
Active Effect 1: Firmaments Wrath - Increases the attributes of all party members, or designated allies by the equipper by 30% for 10 minutes, cooldown - 24 hours.
Active Effect 2: Firmaments Domain - Converts an area of 250 meters into the Firmaments Domain. Weakens the senses of all enemies trapped within the domain and reduces the enemies basic and advanced attributes by 25%.
While inside the Firmaments Domain, the user gains control over 6 strands of Sword Intent that have been inserted into Firmament Defiance Greatsword by past owners of the weapon. Each strand of Sword Intent has its own core Skill developed by the previous owners, each strand is the equivalent of 50% of the current owners attributes. This is both a method of attack, and a method of learning for new owners of the weapon, cooldown - 6 hours.
Active Effect 3: Spatial Devastation - for the next 6 attacks or Skills, increases its total power by 150% and increases the users attack range to 75 meters in a circular diameter. Cooldown - 30 minutes. (due to equipper currently being unevolved to F tier Life Rating, the effects of this Weapon Skill will not increase until achieving a higher overall Life Rating.)
Active Effect 4: Firmament Defiance Shadow - creates 6 identical copies of Firmaments Defiance Greatsword each shadow carrying 60% of the equippers attribute points. Duration: 2 minutes. Cooldown - 5 hours.
Then the thought hit Fenrich like a runaway train, it was now a Blank peak F tier Soul Weapon seed. With his thoughts going in this direction, Fenrich brought the Soul Weapon seed to the Firmament Defiance Greatsword and was awarded with a prompt.
[Would you like to allow your Soul Weapon Seed to consume the Firmament Defiance Greatsword turning it into a Soul Weapon? Yes/No]
Fenrich's heartbeat sped up as he unhesitantly pressed Yes like he was a drowning man at sea given a life buoy
[Ding! Peak Blank F Tier Soul Weapon Seed is in the process of turning the Firmament Defiance Greatsword into a Soul Weapon that is permanently bound to your Soul. This change will be irrecoverable, upon the user's death, the Firmament Defiance Greatsword will crumble into ashes, becoming valuable material to strengthen another weapon or used to create a new weapon. 24 hours until completion.]
The second item that Fenrich had gotten was a Silver tier auxiliary relic.
[Box Of Evolution (Silver Relic)]
Soul Bound
Passive Effect 1: Takes 8 Common pieces of equipment and turns them into Uncommon equipment. Takes 24 Uncommon pieces of equipment to turn them into Rare equipment. Takes 72 Rare pieces of equipment to turn them into Epic equipment. Takes 216 pieces of Epic equipment to turn them into Pseudo-Legendary equipment.]
The last item that Fenrich had, was a neatly folded letter with a maroon coloured ribbon and in what looked like dried blood read Fenrich emergency on it. The envelope was well hidden within a secret compartment that was in Laura's treasure chest of equipment, oddly all of these items seemed like they were specifically organized for them individually based on what they needed the most. Opening the letter and beginning to read it, Fenrich's eyes thinned to a fine tip needle point.
[Dear Fenrich,
I am writing this to you as an ally in this lifetime. I understand the bad blood that stands before us after how I manipulated your Karma, Fate and Fortune against you in the past timeline. But hear me out this time around, Ren has been sent to Carleton Place to bring back the Empyrean Aegis Cultivation Method, as you most know it widely owned and used by the Dark King who is currently in the Mini Game Dungeon with you now. However, you have a different enemy that Fate and Karma has directly guided to be your biggest opponent since your reverse leap in time back to our current Era. "It" has the highest UR+ affinity with the Empyrean Aegis Cultivation Manual, and "it" will swear fealty to whoever is capable of defeating it in combat. As for the other notable figures you plan to kill to avoid their ticking time bombs, I implore you to enslave them for now, until they can be implanted with the Empyrean Seeds. As you know, it allows the user to influence those "infected" by the seeds, changing their personality completely based on the users beliefs and worldly views. It also fundamentally changes a Human making our far more humble foundations break away into higher tiers of Life Rating far faster, and the overall quality of our evolutions. Dark King, Emperor Alexander, Warlord Anderson, Empress Yasmine, Thunder Magus Alannah, Apostle, Nihility, Midnight Reaper, they will all become the power that humanity needs to survive the D- difficulty we now face.
Signed, The Sage, known to you as Obliviscaris in your original timeline.]
Fenrich closed the letter and began massaging his face and head with his open palms and fingers as he kneaded into his forehead, relieving the headache this lunatic always brought to him.
"You don't look like you're all that impressed, master." Laura said as she appeared to Fenrich's side.
"No, no I am not. An old pain in my ass has reappeared and has apparently turned a new leaf. Also, unless you are strictly Oathbound by your words of commitment to me, please just refer to me as Fenrich. There's no need for any of this master bullshit."
[You should fuck her! Spread your seed like a good little manwhor-]
The Abyssal Symbiote nearly rapped those words so fast as if it were Eminem, but Fenrich was now getting better at cutting the Abyssal Symbiote off. Sadly, that did not stop the shenanigans the Abyssal Symbiote performed to vent its frustration of not getting the chance to properly rile Fenrich up.
"Why do you have a demonic looking husky sitting on your shoulder howling into your left ear?" Laura asked with a hint of amusement and confusion, questioning what she'd seen. When her words left her mouth, Fenrich and the Abyssal Symbiote looked at each other with widened eyes, then looked at Laura.
[I FUCKING LOVE HER!]
"NO!"
Fenrich grabbed the demonic husky by the scruff of its fur and yelled into its face. "You do not get to be a bad influence to my people!"
[Fuck you! I will influence whoever I want!]
"You two seem like an old married couple." Laura said as she couldn't help but laugh at the fuckery before her.
[She'd make a far better vessel for this Imperial One compared to you. I like her more, I'm going to have a conversation with Azh'Kirantu. I want her to be my new host.]
Fenrich sighed in exasperation, "We both know you're soul bound to me and that is not possible."
[STOP RUINING MY DREAMS YOU DAMNABLE HALF BREED!]
"We- I need to get a move on. The leaderboard's rewards are no longer my concern. I need to claim this smart base and clear the Mini Game Dungeon sooner than later."
Laura nodded her head as she looked towards the letter in Fenrich's hand, "I am your blade, you only need to point me in the direction and I will clear all your obstacles."
Fenrich visually rolled his eyes, "I want to respect your choice as much as I don't want to."
Laura walked over and grabbed the attention of the others, "Our leader here has taken the role of the leader, yet he doesn't want us to be subservient or show our thanks to him. Many of us would have mental inflections, died, or lost parts of our body for an unknown period of time without him seeking help from the pixies. Just so we can clear the air here for our dumbass leader, does anyone care about the leaderboards? Which one of us here isn't thankful that his actions have been beneficial as much as they have been used to sharpen ourselves?"
Ryan nodded his head and spoke up, "For as much as my mind has become warped, I have gained a Talent because of it from the OAS. It has opened many doors of possibilities, and frankly, you're not the hard man you try to play the role as. You speak tough, but your actions show you're a softy. Who was it that provided us the Dao Fruits without having saved one for yourself? Your lack of selfishness is something I respect and detest. Without that selfishness to make yourself stronger, you will fail my trust one day, Fenrich. I don't want the individual who I entrust the weight of my life to fail me due to inadequate strength."
Lukas spoke up in succession, "Times have changed Fenrich, if you have the knowledge to allow us to empower ourselves use it. If you have to throw us at death's doors to realize our potential, then do it. We are not children whose hands you have to hold and safekeep. Empower us, and let our abilities and potential do that work for you. All you have to do is be the strongest individual, and let us act on our own actions and wants. Following a leader now is more important than an unnecessary death due to ignorance of the full changes that will happen."
Isabella spoke up with her quaint voice, "If we break and crumble to dust because we cannot keep up with you or realize our potential, that is our fault, not yours. We don't understand the pain and misery you have locked up inside of you, but we understand the sincerity and care you show towards us. Whether it be because we're future powerhouses or have high potential, or you're more human than you like to believe yourself to be. I know my life is safe in your hands, so please respect my feelings and allow me to be of service to you. I don't want to die before I can reconvene with my family. I don't want that future you foretold of my death to play out, I don't want my family to suffer."
Fenrich steeled his resolve, he knew better than anybody else what a lack of resolve amounted to, but he also didn't want them to be swallowed by the path he would walk. Indeed if he supplied them everything he could and they still fell due to lack of growth, it wasn't his fault. But every death of the people he cared about stabbed into his heart of hearts tearing that flesh wound open again, and again.
"Alright, we'll do it the way you guys want to do it as a group. But I too am entrusting my trust with you, I do not want you all to turn out to be failures after everything I am able to provide. We must get a move on. Kill everything and anyone in sight that stands before our way." Fenrich said as he took the lead of their group, the aura and pressure he emanated condensed further.
"Tough ass, the failures of old dampen his resolve. But he is just like how my commanding general was, when his confidence came back, that man made miracles happen." Jackson spoke as his eyes were seeing the times of the past, he understood what Fenrich was going through to a lesser degree. When his unit was wiped out and he was the only one to survive, the grieving families blamed and condemned him for being the one to return to his family while theirs was buried in the dirt.
The group began following after Fenrich, the hours eventually passed on as they slaughtered their way through the layered expansions, any remaining groups that the ran into be it human or non human, were mercilessly wiped out. Their positions on the ladder had fallen to the 52nd spot, but were now rapidly rising as they gained in Dungeon Points. With their newly enhanced bodies, foundations, Life Rating, attribute points and Dao, they trudged on for twelve hours straight, crossing 7 layered expansions in that time.
Fenrich passed around the books on advanced Dao theory, when they weren't part of the "cleanup crew" the others would study it with the sole purpose to deepen their understanding without being influenced by it. The books they had gotten were from Vampires, where neither of them had those specialties or Dao to begin with. But even with that alone, it was a treasure trove of wealth in its own way.
Fenrich had been guiding them through the expansion layers effortlessly, there were times he'd mutate into something that was straight out of the alien or predator movies, it was a clear sign when they were going through the "Void" that danger lurked and was nearby. Due to the form Fenrich took, it dampened the amount of archaic aura's that did continue to lock onto them. But that was also tempering, having your Will and Soul exposed to such overwhelming power numbed them, but it strengthened their own Will and Soul as they faced it head on. Diving into the abyss of Void as they made it out to the other side.
This time, however, was different. When they arrived, there was a truly massive hoard of zombies counting in the thousands easily. And before them, stood a human that was wrapped tightly in bandages as if he were a mummy. This person's eyes were feral and full of insanity, a clear reflection of what state Ryan had before the healing, and they were also a mage by the staff and typical wizard hat that was on his head.
Ryan walked forward as he put his hand onto Fenrich's shoulders and pulled the man back, "It is not time to let the skeletons in the closet ignite that fury, let me take care of this one boss." Ryan said as equal parts of madness, insanity, clarity and order were reflected in the depths of his own eyes.
"Don't kill him if possible, there are already plans in place to make use of Nihility in the near future. He is a capable person that wielded the Dao's of Necromancy, Death, and Rot. It is too early in the current timeline for him to have access to all of those Dao's or to have grown them, but you can never be too careful." Fenrich said as he gave Ryan a rundown on what he remembered of Nihility's old toolkit.
Ryan merely smiled, "Would you all be so kind as to thin out the numbers of zombies for me as you keep advancing forward? I'll meet up with all of you again."
Fenrich and the others continued forward, clearing the majority of the zombies they passed. Nihility began summoning bone spears in their direction, to which Ryan used a level 6 Magic Wall and level 4 Reflect, sending them back to Nihility. Above Ryan's head, a humongous sized Fireball shot forward incinerating hundreds of zombies and instantly shattered Nihility's protections that the man rapidly put up.
"I already told my boss and family that I'd clear the way for them, I can't let you make me a liar now can I?" Ryan's smile turned wicked as a full face splitting smile appeared. His steel blue eyes turned a deep blood orange colour whereas his sclera turned midnight black that his eyes seemed to suck in the colour of life around them. The nearby zombies to Ryan began withering and turning into particles of decay becoming a contaminant zone.
"Azh'Kirantu, I made a deal with you to support Fenrich and gave you half of my Soul for the power you have gifted me. Let's put it to the test."
A pair of midnight black raven wings with purple arcs of lightning hummed and zapped as any zombie entered a 30 meter radius of Ryan, turning them into ashes and destroying them down to the cellular level.
"Abyssal Raven Form"
Ryan's beak morphed into that of a raven, while the rest of his body morphed into a half-human, half-raven abyssal creature.
"Yo- You've sold your Soul to an underworld Devil?" Nihility's voice audibly quivered as terror blossomed in his heart staring into the form that Ryan took.
A deep and booming abyssal voice came out from Ryan's mouth, "You're not wrong, but the difference between us is different, Nihility. When you look in the mirror you're probably seeing a bitch. When I look in the mirror, I'm seeing the wicked nature of humanity reflected back into my own form of understanding. And… You. Are. My. Prey."
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
Isabella shuddered as she heard the screams of pure terror as she crossed into the Void.
With there being no more witnesses around. Ryan reveled in the insanity, taking off his glasses and putting them away into his inventory space.
The full extent of Ryan's power was unleashed, for those glasses were no common pair of glasses. Even before their Integration Period began, these glasses alone were the restraints that kept Ryan in check. Without them, it revealed the wickedness that humanity gave birth to. A person broken by their own race, was the most terrifying at the end of the day.
For vengeance had nothing that satiated its appetite.