Chapter Ninety-Four: The Seal on the Wish-Fulfilling Staff Is Lifted

The steady flood of system messages made it clear that the defense had been a success, and by then my level had risen to forty-five.

The few of us immediately went to the boss’s corpse to see what treasures it had dropped, but when we found nothing but bare ground, every last one of us felt like cursing the designer of this quest and every generation of his ancestors.

“What the hell? A boss this huge dies and gives nothing at all? What kind of joke is this?” Purple Moon began to grumble.

Everyone was in a foul mood. We had gone to so much trouble to bring down the boss, only to be rewarded with absolutely nothing. It was infuriating. But just as everyone was stewing in that frustration, the air in front of us suddenly rippled.

Then a figure slowly emerged, becoming clearer by the second, until he stood before us.

It was the red-armored man I had met once before, the one whose voice was identical to mine.

The others gradually gathered around as well.

He was wearing that same suit of armor again, though this time he carried no weapon. He first looked over everyone, and then his gaze settled on me.

“Dragon, I told you we would meet again. Congratulations. Humanity won, the monsters fled, and your Azure Dragon City has escaped disaster. Heh.”

I said, “Yeah, it’s been a while. But what are you here for?”

Sword to the End said, “What else? Obviously he’s here to hand out the quest rewards. Why else would he come?”

The other laughed. “Correct. This time I’ve come to deliver the rewards you earned for surviving the monster siege.”

Sword to the End asked curiously, “What kind of reward is it? Hurry up and show me.”

At that moment, with a flourish like a magician, four black cards appeared in his hand. “You can choose a card pack. The reward is inside. In addition, besides the daily card pack you each receive, you may also choose one of four extra rewards: three thousand gold coins, one random high-grade material, a treasure map, or a piece of equipment blueprint. Start choosing.”

I said, “You all pick first. What do you want?”

Sword to the End said, “I’m not short on money, so I’ll take the treasure map. What about you?”

Purple Moon said, “I’ll take the money. I’m not really lacking equipment right now, but I am short on cash.”

Phantom Moon said, “I’ll take the blueprint.”

I said, “Then I guess I’ll take the material.”

With that, the items were handed to each of us. What I received was a blood-red stone, and I immediately checked its properties.

Explosive Alchemy Stone: a special material capable of breaking the seal on sealed equipment.

This... wasn’t this exactly what I needed? It was as if the heavens had heard my thoughts. After reading its description, I immediately used it on the Wish Staff. At once, I saw the staff begin to absorb the Explosive Alchemy Stone bit by bit.

As the alchemy stone was drawn into it little by little, when the last of it was swallowed up, it suddenly detonated.

Flames burst outward in all directions with a thunderous boom, and everyone recoiled in alarm.

After a long while, the scene finally calmed down. I looked at the Wish Staff, and its originally red body had become an even deeper crimson. Strange carved patterns had appeared on its surface, somewhat resembling auspicious clouds. It felt warm in my hand, and the staff itself seemed slightly longer than before.

“I’m saying, could you not unleash sealed equipment in the middle of a crowd? You’ll hurt people,” Sword to the End said.

I scratched my head. “Sorry. I didn’t know it would do that.”

Then I opened the staff’s attributes.

Diamond Wish Staff, seal released, level one

Grade: Silver

Attack power +700

Strength specialization +10

10 percent chance to ignore defense

30 percent chance to stun the target

On attack, 13 percent chance to reduce the target’s defense by 20 percent for 4 seconds

Each strike deals 40 additional points of non-elemental magical damage

Passive skill: Precise Strike, greatly increases weapon accuracy

Additional skill 1: Havoc in Heaven. Costs 3000 mana. Swing the Wish Staff in place to stir up a hurricane, dealing a fixed 7000 points of non-elemental damage to nearby enemies and launching them into the air, stunning them for 3 seconds. Each enemy can only be launched once. Cooldown: 10 hours. Required level: 50

Additional skill 2: Shape at Will. Costs 100 mana. Allows the Wish Staff to freely change in size, length, and thickness for 2 seconds. Cooldown: 1 minute. Required level: 45. Seal-release rank 1

Additional skill 3: Somersault Cloud. Costs 300 mana. Summons a Somersault Cloud as a mount. The cloud lasts 15 minutes. After that, additional mana may be spent to sustain it, with each payment costing twice as much as the last, up to 3 times. The Somersault Cloud can be dispersed by non-physical attacks. Once dispersed, it automatically enters cooldown. Cooldown: 3 hours. Required level: 55. Seal-release rank 2

Additional skill 4: Thirteen Thousand Five Hundred Jin. Costs 700 mana. Increases the staff’s weight to thirteen thousand five hundred jin and smashes a single enemy for massive physical damage. Cooldown: 2 minutes. Required level: 60. Seal-release rank 3

Additional skill 5: Great Sage Equal to Heaven. Costs 4000 mana. Summons the spirit of the Great Sage to possess the user, increasing movement speed by 40 percent, attack speed by 40 percent, and attack power by 50 percent. Removes all negative status effects from the body. Reduces physical and magical damage taken by 30 percent. Duration: 15 seconds. Cooldown: 120 minutes. Required level: 80. Seal-release rank 4

Additional skill 6: Contract Summon: Victorious Fighting Buddha Sun Wukong. Costs 7000 mana. Summons Sun Wukong, the Victorious Fighting Buddha, to assist in attacking enemies. If the summoner dies, the summoned being disappears. Sun Wukong remains for 30 seconds. Cooldown: 720 minutes. Required level: 100. Seal-release rank 5

Required level: 40

Well-Practiced: reduces the equipment’s required level by 10

Terrifying. Absolutely terrifying.

This reborn Wish Staff was actually far stronger than the original one, and its additional skills were monstrously powerful. But all of them demanded corresponding levels, as well as that incomprehensible seal-release rank. It seemed sealed equipment was indeed something rather mysterious.

“All right, everyone, open your card packs. Time’s running out,” said the man in red armor.

So we each opened the card pack in our hands, and one piece of equipment appeared in each of our palms.

Everyone opened the item windows and looked at one another’s rewards.

Black Demon Sword

Grade: Emerald

Attack power +1200

Strength specialization +15

Armor specialization +15

Increases the user’s attack power by 25 percent

15 percent chance for critical damage to increase by 250 percent

Additional skill: Blood-Devouring Power. Costs 300 mana. Deals physical damage to the first target and absorbs 20 percent of the damage to restore the user’s vitality. Cooldown: 30 seconds.

Sharpness: B

Required level: 45

The sword Sword to the End drew had extremely high attack power, and it also boosted attack by 25 percent. It was an absolute killing tool, and it would probably remain useful even into the sixties or seventies.

Purple Moon received a pair of white boots glowing with a faint pale light.

Traveler

Grade: Silver

Defense +250

Agility specialization +20

Mana +300

Casting speed +20 percent

Movement speed +20 percent

Wind resistance +10

Additional skill: Ghost Step. Costs 400 mana. Increases movement speed by 130 percent for 7 seconds. While moving, obstacles are ignored.

This kind of boot was practically a dream item for a summoner who lacked mobility. Purple Moon’s luck was truly enviable.

Phantom Moon drew a pair of white gloves that looked ordinary at first glance, but on closer inspection, the white outer surface was neither cloth nor leather. It was scales.

Twin Serpent

Grade: Silver

Defense +70

Attack power +300

Mana +300

Attack speed +14 percent

Critical rate +15 percent

Additional skill 1: Shadow Snake Hand. Costs 200 mana. Summons several snakes to launch a surprise attack on the enemy. The snake swarm attacks by biting or coiling around the target, putting the enemy into a poisoned and restrained state for 15 seconds. Cooldown: 2 minutes

Additional skill 2: White Serpent. Costs 500 mana. Summons a giant white-scaled serpent to coil around the enemy. You may also inject mana equal to twice the amount consumed and detonate the White Serpent, dealing magical damage to the target and reducing defense by 30 percent for 4 seconds. Cooldown: 1 hour

Required level: 45

Phantom Moon’s luck was incredible. She had drawn such an absurdly powerful item. Finally, it was time to look at mine.

King’s Heart, necklace

Grade: Gold

Magic defense +780

Magic specialization +20

Magical attack power +30 percent

Mana recovery speed +15 percent

Magical attack range +15 percent

Luck +1

Charm +2

Additional skill 1: Magma Roar. Costs 1000 mana. Forms a ball of boiling magma and rolls it straight ahead. After traveling a certain distance, the magma sphere explodes, dealing powerful magical damage to enemies. Cooldown: 130 seconds

Additional skill 2: Heavenly Fire Burns the City. Costs 1500 mana. Summons pillars of fire falling vertically from the sky to strike ground targets. After hitting the ground, the fire pillars slowly move forward for a certain distance. Cooldown: 250 seconds

Required level: 48

Required magic specialization: 100

Looking at those terrifying attributes, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. This necklace was simply too powerful. Every single attribute was enough to drive any mage player mad with envy.

At that moment, the red-armored man smiled and said, “All right, it’s getting late. Time to say goodbye. We’ll meet again after the next monster siege. Best of luck to you all.”

As he spoke, his figure gradually faded. Before long, he had disappeared before everyone’s eyes, dissolved into the air as though he had never been there at all.

Ding. The server is entering maintenance. You have been forcibly logged out.

The prompt flashed by, and thus the monster siege came to a perfect end.