Chapter 182: [182] : The Quarantine Zone, Void Laceration Wave
The system chimes hit him a full second later.
Because the game engine had to process three hundred Level 75 enemy deletions at the exact same millisecond, the notification audio actually lagged. When the server finally caught up, it sounded like a massive casino slot machine hitting the jackpot right inside Declan’s physical brain.
[Multiple Enemies Defeated!]
[Combat Rating: SSS]
[Experience Points Gained: 12,500,000]
Declan’s vision flooded with a blinding brilliant golden light. The experience bar in his biological state menu rocketed forward, completely smashing through the required thresholds like a runaway train.
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[You have reached Level 85.]
[Stat Points Available: 500]
The raw energy of the level-ups flooded his avatar. Declan let out a sharp and heavy grunt. His Abyssal Leviathan physiology drank in the digital code aggressively. His muscles condensed even further, packing an impossible amount of mass into his frame. The dark purple veins pulsing under his pale skin flared with a bright terrifying light.
He felt his physical density increase again. He already possessed the raw mass of a collapsing star, but now, he felt like he could walk straight through a solid titanium wall without even slowing his pace.
"Dump them all into Strength and Agility," Declan ordered the system instantly. He didn’t care about balanced builds. He didn’t need points in Vitality or Defense. He just wanted to hit things as hard and as fast as mathematically possible.
He didn’t bother checking his updated stat sheet. He knew the numbers were completely broken. He turned his attention down to the ground.
The black obsidian floor of the wasteland was completely covered in hundreds of glowing items. Rusted iron plates, corrupted beast cores, static-filled fangs, and small piles of Origin Points littered the area where the three hundred Static Hounds had just died.
Declan tapped the +20 Ring of the Void-Hoarder resting on his right index finger.
The dark silver Mythic ring flared with a deep Abyssal energy. It acted like a massive cosmic vacuum cleaner. In a fraction of a second, every single piece of dropped loot within a hundred yards was sucked directly into his infinite digital storage.
[Origin Points Transferred: +85,000]
"Nice chunk of change," Declan muttered. He opened his digital inventory to filter through the junk. Most of the drops were standard vendor trash that he would just dump on Sloane later so she could sell it on the Global Auction House.
But two specific items caught his eye. They were glowing with a distinct brilliant white light that easily stood out against the standard blue and green loot drops.
Declan pulled the first item out into the real world. It was a heavy and perfectly smooth ring made of bright silver metal. It had a small glowing white gemstone set in the center that looked like a tiny trapped star.
[Item Recognized: Overclock Ring]
↳ Tier: Starlight
↳ Base Stats: +1,200 Agility, +500 Intelligence
↳ Passive Trait: System Acceleration. The user’s cooldowns on all active skills are permanently reduced by 50%.
Declan’s eyes went wide. "Starlight tier? That is a new one."
It was clearly a tier sitting somewhere right below Sovereign. And the stats were absolutely ridiculous. A flat fifty percent cooldown reduction on all skills! Combined with his Sovereign Neural Interface that removed cast times entirely, he was basically a walking machine gun of ultimate abilities.
He didn’t even bother enhancing it. He just slipped the Overclock Ring onto his left index finger. The massive stat boost washed over him, making his thoughts race even faster and his body feel impossibly light despite his massive density.
He reached back into his storage and pulled out the second glowing item. It was actually a stack of three thick blue skill modules. They looked like heavy glowing data drives.
[Skill Module: Spatial Tear]
[Skill Module: Wave Slash]
[Skill Module: Gravity Crush]
They were all high-tier drops, but individually, they were just standard area-of-effect attacks. A normal player would be thrilled to have just one of them to help clear out low-level dungeon rooms.
Declan looked at the modules in his hand, and then looked out at the massive sprawling expanse of the Abyssal Quarantine Zone. It was way too big. Even with his Void Blink, hunting down scattered packs of monsters in this endless wasteland was going to take hours of manual labor.
"My area-of-effect isn’t big enough," Declan decided. The Abyssal Shockwave was great for a three-hundred-foot radius, but he wanted to clear entire map grids at once.
He opened his system enhancement menu. He dragged all three blue skill modules into the center of the holographic interface.
"System. Initiate skill fusion. Target all three modules. Use the Abyssal Shockwave code as the base file."
The interface immediately flashed a glaring angry red.
[System Error]
[Skill fusion requires matching elemental affinities and compatible code structures.]
[Attempting to fuse spatial, kinetic, and gravity parameters will result in critical data collapse. Fusion denied.]
"I wasn’t asking," Declan growled. His voice dropped into a heavy unnatural bass that vibrated the obsidian rocks around him.
He pushed his Abyssal Sovereign administrative authority directly into the menu. His SSS-Rank talent Boundless Enhancement surged forward like a digital sledgehammer. It slammed into the system’s safety protocols and utterly crushed the red error boxes into dust.
[Talent: Boundless Enhancement overriding error.]
[Safety protocols bypassed. Forcing code integration...]
A blinding violent white light erupted from the three data drives in his hand. The system chimes hammered rapidly in his head, screaming in protest as the game engine desperately tried to stop the physics-breaking fusion from happening.
Declan just fed it more mana. He forced the raw data together with pure unyielding willpower.
The white light shifted. It turned into a deep consuming pitch-black void outlined in jagged purple static. The three modules melted together and formed a single heavy black skill book.
[Fusion Successful.]
[New Skill Created: Void Laceration Wave]
↳ Tier: King Grade
↳ Description: The user summons a massive projection of raw dark matter. The attack sweeps outward in a massive cone, completely severing the spatial coordinates of anything caught in its path.
↳ Functionality: Deals 500% true physical damage. Ignores all armor, shields, and terrain durability. Range: 1 Mile.
Declan read the text. A slow highly satisfied smile spread across his face.
One mile range. True damage. Ignored terrain.
"A one-mile delete button," Declan laughed loudly. "This game is completely broken, and I love it."
He smashed the black skill book against his chest. It shattered into dark light and absorbed directly into his neural link. The muscle memory and coding of the new skill downloaded instantly into his brain.
He looked out across the blood-red wasteland. He could see massive shadows moving in the distance. He could hear the faint guttural roars of hundreds of high-level glitch entities waiting in the dark.
Declan cracked his neck. "Let’s go see what Level 100 looks like."
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