Outside the Forest of Truth.
Mike, with a black cloak draped over his shoulders and the Thunderclap Hammer cradled in his arms, was overwhelmed by his sudden fortune.
[Thunderclap Hammer, as soon as its residual will is fulfilled, can be upgraded to a higher tier.]
Once belonging to an Ultimate Battle Lord, the tier and power of the Thunderclap Hammer were beyond question. However, if it were the complete version of the Thunderclap Hammer, Mike, with his current strength, wouldn’t be able to wield it!
Morpheus had considered this when designing the Forest of Truth. All equipment came with a seal, automatically matching the user’s level and growing with them!
The details of the Thunderclap Hammer were clear before Mike’s eyes.
Equipment: Thunderclap Hammer (Lv.54)
Tier: SS
Attributes: Strength +540, Constitution +300
Physical Attack: 1260
Perks:
[Armor Penetration]: Ignores Physical Defense on the first physical damage to an enemy, this effect can only occur once every 12 hours on the same target.
[Everlasting]: Durability remains at 100%, will not take damage.
[Wrath of the God]: When wielding this weapon in battle, affects enemies within a 300-yard radius, reducing their attributes by 5%. Increases the user’s attributes by 1%-15%, the more enemies affected, the higher the attribute increase, reaching the maximum of 15% when affecting 150 enemies.
[Residual Will]: Killing a Battle Chief level demon creature with this hammer can fulfill the residual will.
Residual wills to fulfill: 9
Residual wills fulfilled: 0
“No wonder it was once the equipment of an Ultimate Battle Lord, even sealed, it’s so powerful!” Mike couldn’t help but remark.
He was a worldly man; his Force of Nature staff was also very strong. But compared to the Thunderclap Hammer, there was a significant gap!
In terms of basic attributes, the Thunderclap Hammer added 540 to Strength and 300 to Constitution, pushing Mike’s Strength and Constitution over a thousand.
The perks of the Thunderclap Hammer were also formidable!
[Everlasting] saved Mike the trouble of repairing the weapon.
[Armor Penetration] as a first physical attack ignored Physical Defense, creating massive burst damage!
Mike, being a mage and using a hammer for melee combat, was quite absurd. But striking with the hammer, ignoring Physical Defense, and dealing massive damage was thrilling!
As for [Wrath of the God], this perk was perfect for group battles, increasing his attributes while decreasing those of his enemies when surrounded.
According to the principle of relativity, others losing attributes equated to Mike gaining attributes. It was like winning twice, a double victory!
Mike stowed away the Thunderclap Hammer. Since it was once the weapon of an Ultimate Battle Lord, it was highly recognizable. Its appearance would immediately attract attention.
Considering Mike’s current situation, he didn’t need to use the Thunderclap Hammer in normal battles. It was best used as a trump card against bosses, striking unexpectedly for the best effect.
After securing the Thunderclap Hammer, Mike’s gaze shifted to his shoulder.
[Morpheus’s Cloak – Battle Damaged Version]
[Due to severe damage, this cloak was discarded at the Monument of Faith]
[Morpheus never expected someone would actually take it from the Forest of Truth, right, smart kid?]
Seeing this note, Mike’s expression shifted slightly. He had a bad feeling.
Equipment: Nightmare’s Breeze (Lv.1)
Tier: SSS
Durability: 0.001%
Attributes: Agility +1
Physical/Magic Defense: 1
Perk:
[I’m Broken]: Please fix me, I really miss being intact.
Mike: …
“Shadow Nine, do you take back cloaks? The Supreme Being limited edition kind, I’ll trade it for Ultimate Battle Lord equipment, even if it’s a loss for me!”
“I don’t collect trash.”
From the shadows, even a few snickers could be heard. Loud and unrestrained. Clearly, Shadow Nine was also aware of the condition of the cloak on Mike’s shoulder.
“How am I supposed to fix this thing?” Mike muttered.
The Eye of Truth and Shadow Nine gave the same answer.
[Invest SSS-tier materials for the cloak to consume, it can restore durability.]
SSS-tier materials, each one was extremely rare! But Mike did have one, the skull of Cerberus.
“Shadow Nine, is it safe around here?”
“It’s not safe, kid, what are you thinking? Save it for inside the Tower of Truth.”
Shadow Nine seemed to guess Mike’s thoughts and asked, “You got a part of Cerberus’s skeleton when you cleared the SSSS-tier newbie instance, right?”
“Yeah, the skull.”
Mike was honest with Shadow Nine, trying to deceive him as little as possible.
“The skull… I see.”
Shadow Nine fell silent, no longer speaking. Today in the Forest of Truth, Shadow Nine had been quite talkative. Usually, he was mostly silent, following beside Mike.
Now returning to silence, Mike wasn’t surprised and continued following the sphere’s directions, heading to the target location to complete this exercise.
…
In the Forest of Truth, one of the four Guardian Shadows, Shadow Seven, was approached by an unexpected visitor—Shadow Four.
“Shadow Nine has a task for you.” Shadow Four was expressionless.
They had met three times in just one day, more than they had in the past year!
Shadow Seven raised an eyebrow, countering, “What task?”
“Shadow Nine wants you to go to the Abyssal Plane, find a King Cerberus, and bring back all its bones except the skull.”
“A mature King Cerberus is a Battle Lord level being. With all three heads, it’s as powerful as three Battle Lords, even more so if they agree on something!”
Shadow Seven’s voice trembled slightly. This task, if given to another Battle Lord, would probably result in curses. It was clearly a suicide mission!
“If you’re scared, I can do it for you.”
“Scared?!” Shadow Seven’s voice cracked with excitement, “I’ve been cooped up here for three years, I’m nearly insane! If I had known becoming Shadow Seven meant guarding the Forest of Truth, I’d rather have stayed as Shadow Ten, continuing to protect those naive students!”
At this point, Shadow Seven was almost hysterical, clearly harboring great resentment. “At least there, I had enemies to kill.”
Shadow Seven took a few deep breaths, calming his excited emotions. “What about my guarding duty?”
Under normal circumstances, he couldn’t leave without permission. Even with an order from Shadow Nine, Shadow Seven had to ensure someone else would take over.
“Shadow Three is coming back from the battlefield soon. He’ll be here to heal and will help you guard the Forest of Truth.” Shadow Four warned, “You only have three days.”
“Got it, when do we leave?”
“Now.”
Before Shadow Four finished speaking, a burst of purple smoke charged out, filled with a murderous aura like a hungry lion, eager for the kill.
“Abyssal Plane, here I come!”
Shadow Four watched Shadow Seven’s retreating figure, sighing helplessly, “This kid, nearly thirty and still so impetuous.”
“Maybe I should advise his parents to have another one.”
…
At the foot of the Tower of Truth, there was a sizable town. Following the sphere’s directions, Mike found the meeting point, a vast square.
At the center of the square stood a hundred-foot-tall stone monument, a mini version of the Monument of Faith.
“Mike, over here!”
Mike hadn’t even approached the square when he heard Cain calling him. Jessica and Elena were also there; they were just waiting for Mike.
Before Mike got close, Cain hurriedly warned, “Don’t mention the two items you got in the Forest of Truth, keep them a secret!”
Mike: ???
I wasn’t planning to mention it! Even if I did, who would believe a Thunderclap Hammer and a Battle Damaged Version cloak?
“It might be better if you didn’t shout about it.”
As soon as Mike finished speaking, everyone’s gaze turned to Cain.
There it was, the intellectual low point had appeared.
Despite Cain lowering the average IQ of the [DDF] group, he raised the average age!
Jessica added, “Well, now everyone knows, Cain got two weapons in the forest.”
Mike shook his head with a smile, “But it doesn’t matter. The training summer camp is elimination style, to ensure you’re not eliminated, you have to give your all in various tests. In other words, our trump cards can’t really be hidden, it doesn’t make a difference whether people know or not.”
Hearing Mike’s words, Jessica blinked and smiled silently.
Trump cards, huh? She could keep some secrets.
Her S-tier talent and canary were overwhelming advantages. But what she didn’t know was that in terms of trump cards, she was far behind Mike.
Comforted by Mike, Cain’s mood, already gloomy at the thought of being eliminated soon, grew even gloomier.
After chatting for a while, the countdown on the sphere ended.
“Time’s up!”
Elena looked towards the other end of the square, standing straight, her expression extremely serious.
“What time is up?”
“Shh!”
Jessica made a quiet gesture, whispering, “A corps is returning from the Abyssal Plane!”
As her words fell, a huge portal suddenly opened at the end of the square.
A shadow burst out of the portal first.
“Safe!”
The shadow dropped this word and flew towards the east of the Forest of Truth at high speed, without any pause.
Thud, thud, thud— fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com
The ground began to shake.
From the portal, rows of Battle Soldiers marched out, stepping into the square with uniform strides.
Bang—
Bang—
Each step they took was like a stomp on the heart, making everyone’s heart tighten!
Their aura majestic, their bodies reeking of blood, their murderous intent sky-high!
Their movements were uniform, absolute obedience!
Many boys were staring, and Cain was utterly mesmerized by this unprecedented scene!
Mike looked ahead as rows of Battle Soldiers marched past him.
His eyes also sparkled, “It’s spectacular!”