Chapter141-The Catgirl
Daniel didn't pay much attention to the fact that he'd just been officially recorded in human history.
After briefly scanning the news trending across the communication network, he shut off his communicator and headed straight to Winterhold Castle's warehouse.
To Daniel, even his newly granted title as King of the Northern Territories wasn't a reason to shift focus. He had no intention of involving himself in domestic administration or governance. After all, the human race had, over the years, developed a comprehensive and self-sustaining political system.
For Daniel, the top priority remained the same—strengthening himself.
In fact, not only Daniel, but even the Human Emperor and other kings of the human realms shared this mindset. In this era of threats from beyond, especially the Abyss, personal power mattered more than ceremonial authority.
Inside the warehouse, piles of treasures and rare materials filled the space wall to wall.
These were the rewards he had requested from Odin—the Human Emperor—and each one was a rare component necessary for synthesizing God Rank Skills.
Yet even so, it still wasn't enough.
Daniel looked over the mountain of resources with a sigh.
"Seems like it's time... to recruit a new devotee."
Despite the impressive array of materials, the few he was missing were absurdly difficult to obtain. If he wanted to keep accelerating his strength, there was no doubt—the fastest way was to gain new powerful devotees.
Take [Starlight Flurry] for example—the skill he had obtained from Alice. It had now become one of his primary damage-dealing skills. With proper enhancement, a powerful devotee-exclusive skill could even rival God Rank Skills in raw effectiveness.
The key was pairing it with [Talent Specialization], which allowed Daniel to merge or improve skill effects far beyond their original limits.
Of course, even an SSS-tier innate skill didn't start out at the level of a God Rank Skill.
But once enhanced to its maximum through Daniel's specialization system, the difference narrowed significantly.
The challenge, however, was finding an Awakener with SSS-tier talent.
Such individuals were so rare that calling them "once in a millennium" was barely an exaggeration.
And even if he found one, persuading them to become his devotee was no easy feat. Trust, timing, and alignment of goals all had to fall perfectly into place.
If push came to shove, he could settle for an SS-tier Awakener. Their skills were still powerful—but not quite at the level Daniel was targeting.
As he weighed his options, Daniel continued cataloging the materials. The current stockpile would allow him to synthesize one more God Rank Skill.
But to push beyond that... he'd need more.
Mistveil Mountains
At the edge of a mist-shrouded valley, a petite cat-eared girl stood on a rocky ledge, a dagger glinting in her hand as she eyed the colossal being ahead of her—a figure so large it resembled a mountain itself.
The creature was still asleep, its massive body stretched out across the terrain like a slumbering hill.
Surrounding it was an elven military encampment, brimming with elite warriors.
"I didn't expect so many elves to gather here... what are they up to?" she murmured. "Could they really be planning to take down the Fallen Mountain Giant?"
She bit her lip.
"What should I do? Do I follow Lady Luna's orders and proceed? This might be too much, even for me."
As she hesitated, a faint rustle of leaves drew her attention. Moments later, several elven soldiers emerged from the fog, encircling her with weapons drawn.
"Orc-blooded intruder! Why are you here?"
"This region is under lockdown by the elven forces. You are to leave immediately."
"Okay, okay, I'll go now, meow~" she said with a soft, innocent smile, raising her hands.
She then casually licked her palm—an oddly feline gesture.
But in the next second, her wide eyes flashed with cold killing intent.
Before the elves could react, she darted forward like a blur of shadows. With graceful, fluid movements and surgical precision, she plunged her dagger into their chests one after another.
"Sorry. I didn't want to kill you," she whispered.
Then, without hesitation, the catgirl made a beeline toward the giant's resting place.
She made no attempt to hide her approach. Her sprint across the terrain was direct and obvious, triggering shouts from the elves as dozens scrambled to intercept her.
"Intruder spotted!"
"Target confirmed: Beastblooded invader—feline type!"
"Capture her at all costs!"
Commands echoed throughout the forest as the elf warriors regrouped, forming defensive lines.
The catgirl watched their preparations with amusement rather than fear.
"These elves are so clumsy... They're not going to stop me," she purred, tail flicking.
As she drew closer to the giant, the encirclement began to tighten.
These weren't ordinary troops—each of these warriors had been specially selected for the campaign against the Silver Rank World Boss. Every one of them was at least a Tier 10 Awakener.
And yet, the girl remained calm.
"Lady Luna, I'll try not to hurt your followers too badly."
She raised her dagger high.
[Slumberfang Dagger]!
In an instant, her blade shimmered and split into countless phantom daggers, raining down in every direction like a hypnotic mist.
Elves dropped to the ground one after another, some collapsing in mid-air. Every warrior who tried to subdue her fell into a deep sleep, their weapons slipping from their hands.
"Sleep well, everyone," she whispered sweetly.
"I really don't get it. Why are you all trying to catch me? I'm here to help you, you know."
She giggled and pressed onward, blurring through the terrain at unnatural speed—covering hundreds of kilometers in a blink.
Along the way, she enchanted her dagger with a hypnotic enchantment that put everyone she touched into an irresistible slumber.
Wave after wave of elite elven guards fell before her blade—not dead, but thoroughly unconscious.
And before long, she reached the outer rim of the Fallen Mountain Giant's domain—an area both sacred and forbidden to the elven race.
It was the most dangerous part of the Mistveil Mountains.
A step further brought her to the toxic mists—layers upon layers of fog saturated with deadly poisons. The source of these toxins lay in the surrounding flora, which in turn appeared to have a mysterious bond with the slumbering giant.
The catgirl gazed at the massive, mountain-like body.
Her playful expression finally faded, replaced by solemn reverence.
"Great Lady Luna... I now need your power."
Back at Winterhold Castle, inside the warehouse
A flicker of light sparked in the air as a glowing skill book materialized in Daniel's hands.
[God Rank Skill: Phantom Slash]
Weapon Requirement: Sword-type weapons
Effect 1: +10,000 Agility
Effect 2: Phantom Flurry – Executes 100 strikes in a flash, each dealing damage equal to 100x Agility value.
Effect 3: Each slash delivers triple-hit damage.
Daniel's eyes glinted with satisfaction.
Another God Rank Skill now belonged to him.
But even as he absorbed its details, his mind was elsewhere—focused on the next phase of his evolution.
And far away in the toxic fog of the mountains, a deadly yet mysterious catgirl invoked her divine patron's power, preparing to awaken something ancient, something dangerous.
The convergence of powers—human, beastkin, elven, abyssal—was reaching its crescendo.
And the world was about to change again.
Chapter142-Alice's Call
A requirement to equip a sword-type weapon?
Daniel instinctively frowned. He hadn't expected this at all—his newly synthesized God Rank Skill came with a weapon restriction.
But after thinking about it more carefully, he realized it made perfect sense. After all, if there were no weapon restriction, how could he expect to execute a "slash" with just a staff?
As for sword-type weapons, they weren't exactly hard to come by.
In fact, Daniel had several orange-grade swords sitting idle in his inventory. He had barely paid them any attention before—orange weapons barely offered any noticeable boost to his attribute values, making them practically negligible in combat.
However, with the advent of [Phantom Slash], everything had changed.
This skill packed a decent punch.
Currently, Daniel's Agility stat hovered just above 20,000. That meant a single use of the skill could unleash roughly 600 million points of damage.
While that might sound impressive on paper, it still wasn't enough to truly threaten the level of enemies Daniel was now facing.
Still, Daniel remained calm. He hadn't even maxed the skill out yet.
"Do you wish to fully upgrade this skill?"
Without hesitation, Daniel selected "Yes."
Almost instantly, the skill panel transformed again.
But to Daniel's surprise, upgrading the skill to full didn't enhance the first three effects. Instead, it added a completely new fourth effect:
[Effect 4: Blessing from the Abyss — Each time you use the skill, you gain a chance to roll a die. The number rolled ×100 is your final damage multiplier.]
Reading this, Daniel's mouth twitched slightly.
With this fourth effect in play, [Phantom Slash] became something entirely different.
A minimum multiplier of 100×, and a maximum of 600×—this meant that every time he activated the skill, the potential damage would range from 60 billion to 360 billion.
Now that, Daniel had to admit, was truly satisfying.
Of course, it was still a melee-range skill, which brought its own share of risks. Melee combat inevitably involved swordsmanship, something Daniel had never truly studied. He was basically clueless in that department.
So even though he had a God Rank Skill, simply swinging a sword wildly wouldn't cut it. [Phantom Slash] required proper execution and finesse.
Still, he was eager to try out how it felt to wield a sword-based skill.
He reached into his bag and pulled out a single-handed sword.
Activating [Phantom Slash], he immediately felt the weapon become light as a feather in his grip. When he gave it a casual swing, a glowing arc lingered in the air—like a blade of light carving through the void.
As expected of a God Rank Skill—it was undeniably powerful.
But when it came to practicality, [Starlight Flurry] still edged it out.
Daniel didn't linger in the warehouse much longer. His clones had already begun traveling through various Anygates, scattered across the world.
And yet, even with Anygate's immense range, Daniel underestimated just how vast the world had become. Though Anygates weren't yet present in every city, the number of active portals had already surpassed a hundred million.
Even with his clones spread out, it was impossible to cover every single gate in the short term.
During this period, Daniel himself didn't remain idle. He assisted Alice in completing her Star Upgrade Quest.
Alice had already completed the second Star Upgrade Quest and was now in the third stage.
Coincidentally, the final stage of her quest also involved a God Rank Skill.
To Daniel, helping her complete the task was trivial. With a few more authorizations granted, Alice successfully completed her second Star Upgrade Quest.
In just a single day, she had advanced to become a Two-Star Awakener.
Even among the elf race, this achievement was unprecedented. She was the first in recorded history to reach that milestone so swiftly.
Once her quest was complete, Daniel returned to the Abyss, pondering whether he should venture deeper into its core.
It was at that moment that he received an urgent call from Alice.
"Your Eminence, the Great Crossbridge, I have an urgent matter to report."
Upon hearing her voice, Daniel immediately summoned the Divine Temple.
Inside the Infinite Divine Temple,
Alice stood before Daniel, who sat upon his throne, and respectfully bowed her head.
"Your Eminence, I have now completed the Star Upgrade Quest. My talent has evolved into what is now known as 'Sentinel of the Stars.'"
Daniel nodded. He already knew this.
His own skill [Starlight Flurry] had also evolved into [Meteor Arrowstorm].
In terms of performance, the new version simply had a larger area of effect and higher damage output. Nothing too groundbreaking. Still, when he thought about it carefully, [Meteor Arrowstorm] could probably annihilate a high-level underground labyrinth with ease.
Just from one devotee, he had gained such a powerful ability.
So what if he recruited another devotee?
That thought lingered in Daniel's mind. He made a silent decision to prioritize the task of recruiting a second devotee.
At that very moment, Daniel noticed something new in his [Devotee Skills] panel: a new passive skill had been added.
It was a Talent Specialization from Alice herself—[Spirit of the Bow].
The effect was somewhat similar to [Spirit of Skills], except it only enhanced bow-type damage, making it less flexible overall.
Still, even with its limitations, the passive was undeniably strong.
So far, Daniel had never seen this kind of unique passive on anyone else but himself.
Alice continued her report:
"Your Eminence, I've just received intelligence from the elven side."
"A powerful awakener from the Orc clan has broken into the Misty Mountains."
"According to the Elven Queen's judgment, this individual is likely stronger than I am. However, it's unclear whether they've reached full awakening. So far, we've been unable to obtain further intel from within our network."
"May I ask, was this Orc clan awakener sent by you?"
Alice's perception had clearly broadened. The fact that this Orc was stronger than she—despite possessing a God Rank Skill—indicated one thing:
The Orc almost certainly had ties to a god.
And in such a case, the simplest and most direct way to clarify the situation was to ask her own god.
Daniel's expression darkened upon hearing her words.
Clearly, this Orc clan had nothing to do with him.
He only had one devotee right now—Alice.
Which left him with a troubling conclusion:
Could this mysterious Orc have been arranged by another god?
Chapter143-The Stingy God
In truth, Daniel didn't have much confidence in the matter either. After all, he had never encountered a devotee of any other god before.
So the best course of action was not to jump to conclusions, but to attempt contact first.
Especially since this Orc clan member had appeared within the Mist Mountains—could it be that the other side had come to seize the [Fallen Mountain Giant] boss?
For Daniel, there was one unshakable principle—no one, absolutely no one, was allowed to snatch his boss.
Silently gathering his thoughts, Daniel responded in a deep voice.
"I understand the situation. You may withdraw now."
"As for the matter in the Mist Mountains, I will personally go and resolve it."
With those words, Daniel left the Infinite Divine Temple without delay.
At the same time, Alice returned to her little wooden cabin.
Almost simultaneously, Daniel, having returned to the Abyss, activated his God Rank Skill—[Flashback].
In the blink of an eye, he reappeared within the territory of the Elves.
Thanks to the aid of his clones which helped him traverse the map, Daniel had already marked many locations, allowing him to move freely using [Flashback].
And for Daniel, the Elven race was a critical faction. So from the very beginning, he had marked their land as a priority location.
What's more, the upcoming [Fallen Mountain Giant] was a boss he was determined to take down himself.
Upon arriving in Elven territory, Daniel found himself already quite close to the Mist Mountains.
The reason Anygate had been established here, rather than closer to the Mist Mountains, was mainly because silver-rank world bosses possessed their own domains.
If Anygate had been placed within the boss's domain, it would have suffered interference, potentially triggering a chain reaction of dangerous events.
Daniel stood still and quietly attuned himself to the surroundings. After a few seconds, he began moving toward the Mist Mountains.
In a mere few seconds, he had arrived in the vicinity of the [Fallen Mountain Giant].
Just as he arrived, he spotted a cat-eared girl—adorable in appearance—swiftly dashing across the battlefield.
Clutched tightly in her hand was a dagger, and she was striking the Mountain Giant, dealing damage with impressive precision.
The stark contrast between her petite figure and the mountain-like behemoth was striking, almost charming in its own odd way.
Almost at the exact moment, Daniel activated his [Eye of Insight].
As expected, he was able to analyze the cat-girl's complete information:
[Orc Clan: Ally]
[Current Level: 195 (4-Star Awakener)]
[Talent: SSS-rank — Moonlight Apostle]
[Faith: Moon Goddess Luna]
[Skills: SSS-rank — Sleeping Dagger... God Rank Skill (Temporary): Moon Goddess's Blessing, Moonlight Baptism...]
[Status: The first devotee of the Moon Goddess Luna]
Seeing that final line—"first devotee of the Moon Goddess Luna"—Daniel couldn't help but pause for a moment.
So it really was a devotee of another god!
Meanwhile, Ally was also scrutinizing Daniel with sharp eyes.
What surprised her most was that none of her detection methods—god-given or otherwise—had any effect.
From her perspective, Daniel was like a figure completely shrouded in mist, an enigma immune to all her scans.
And just as she was trying to probe further, three powerful Abyssal creatures suddenly appeared and encircled her.
These Abyss monsters were not only extremely strong, but each had an HP exceeding 300 billion.
Even for someone like Ally, dealing with three of them simultaneously would be no easy feat.
Yet, there wasn't a hint of fear on her face. Instead, she stared coldly at Daniel from across the battlefield and asked:
"Human, why are you trying to stop me?"
But then, her sharp instincts seemed to detect something. Her tone softened abruptly.
"Wait a second... Could it be that you're Daniel of the human race?"
"Meow! I'm so happy! I finally get to meet you!"
Daniel blinked, surprised by her reaction. Although he was aware of his growing reputation, he hadn't expected even a god's devotee to know of him.
Ally, observing his appearance and manner, quickly deduced Daniel's purpose.
"Daniel, you're here for this boss, aren't you, meow?"
"I'm really sorry, but I can't let you have it. You'll have to find yourself another boss."
Elsewhere on the battlefield, Elven warriors rushing over to assist finally arrived—only to freeze at the sight before them.
Hovering in the air were three terrifying Abyssal beasts, all level 200.
Shock and horror filled their faces.
How on earth had Abyss creatures surfaced here on land?
And why hadn't they entered a weakened state, as was supposed to happen when Abyss lifeforms left their home realm?
To them, the theories they had studied over decades were crumbling in real-time.
But more frightening than the monsters was the dialogue happening just meters away.
They were talking about a silver-rank world boss like it was a chicken at the market!
How did killing a silver-rank boss become a casual negotiation between two people?
Who could explain how this made any sense?
Back on the battlefield, Ally displayed incredible perceptiveness, instantly grasping Daniel's objective.
She was also assertive, showing no intention of backing down or relinquishing the boss.
However, this didn't mean she underestimated Daniel.
On the contrary, she took him very seriously, even believing that Daniel might truly be capable of single-handedly defeating a silver-rank world boss.
But even so, Ally had no plans to give up the boss.
She had full confidence in her own strength—and she was a god's devotee, no less.
That said, Daniel noticed something else about her.
Like Alice, Ally had access to multiple God Rank Skills.
But unlike Alice, Ally's backing god—Moon Goddess Luna—seemed far more stingy.
Her God Rank Skills were only granted on a temporary basis.
Daniel, having deep knowledge of God Rank Skills, understood perfectly what that meant.
To put it bluntly, the power of a temporary God Rank Skill was only about one-tenth of a true God Rank Skill.
Meanwhile, an authorized or fully bestowed God Rank Skill maintained its complete strength and function.
This distinction revealed something important:
Moon Goddess Luna wasn't nearly as generous as other gods—she wasn't willing to grant full access to divine power.
She was, in short, a stingy god.
Chapter144-Negotiating a Deal
Facing a devotee of another god, Daniel had no intention of engaging in a direct confrontation.
After all, standing behind this girl was a real god.
Whereas the so-called god behind him—was just a complete fabrication.
So unless it became absolutely necessary, Daniel would rather avoid conflict.
If he ended up beating the catgirl to a pulp and that provoked a god to descend in retaliation... well, that'd be a whole different disaster.
Daniel had confidence in his own strength, but that didn't mean he thought he could take on an actual god.
So before things escalated into a fight, he decided to try reasoning first.
"Orc clan girl, why are you going after this boss?"
Upon hearing the question, Ally gave Daniel a serious look.
Then she slowly raised her palm and activated a skill.
[Moonlight Mist]
In the blink of an eye, all the nearby Elven warriors—except for Daniel and Ally—were enveloped in a gentle silver glow.
Silvery moonlight spread like mist, softly wrapping around each of the elves and isolating them.
Daniel didn't move to interrupt her.
The moment Ally activated her skill, he already understood that it wasn't an offensive one.
So he waited calmly, curious about what this god's devotee wanted to say.
However, what he hadn't expected at all was what came next.
After finishing her skill, Ally stretched lazily, arching her delicate body with unguarded ease, then pulled out a small snack from her spatial pouch—followed by a pack of dried meat, which she dangled in front of Daniel.
"Daniel, want to try some jerky from our Orc clan? It's pretty tasty."
Uh...
Daniel had imagined many possible scenarios, but not once had he considered that their meeting would take such a bizarre turn.
Wait a second—are you here to slay a world boss, or are you out on a picnic?
Daniel waved his hand to decline the offer, signaling that he had no interest in jerky.
Ally didn't seem to mind. She simply tore open the pack and started munching enthusiastically.
"Daniel, your strength's been rising fast. I imagine there must be a god supporting you behind the scenes."
"So tell me, which god do you serve?"
Daniel paused to think for a moment. Then, in a relaxed gesture, he put away his weapon and pulled a small glass bottle from his inventory.
"Care to try some fermented wheat juice from the Abyss? It's pretty decent."
He took a hearty swig as he spoke.
Ally, far from being shy, flailed her short arms excitedly.
"Gimme, gimme, gimme..."
Daniel chuckled and tossed a can her way.
Ally caught it and chugged down several large gulps, then gave a satisfied sigh.
"Burp~ This Abyss wheat juice tastes a lot like beer. Not bad at all!"
"Seems like you're a pretty good human."
Daniel subtly exhaled in relief, having successfully redirected the conversation.
Ally, unfazed, continued speaking.
"Ally serves the Moon Goddess Luna. You seem quite strong yourself... you're not serving some foreign god, are you?"
As she spoke, her fluffy tail subtly coiled around her dagger—firmly and with purpose.
Daniel frowned slightly when he noticed this.
Without a word, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a golden die.
This die had once belonged to Sarko, and was said to have been blessed by the Goddess of Fortune.
Without hesitation, Daniel rolled the die toward Ally.
The moment she saw it, her eyes flashed with surprise.
"Well, I'll be! So the Goddess of Fortune has awakened already, meow?"
"But... just one die isn't enough to prove your identity!"
"Oh well, Ally doesn't really like prying into other people's business anyway. Who you serve has nothing to do with me. I'm just here to carry out my task!"
Daniel nodded, but inwardly grew more cautious.
With [Eye of Insight], he could clearly detect Ally's subtle shifts in behavior.
Though she seemed relaxed, that tail of hers had never once unwrapped from the dagger—it was coiled tight, ready to strike fatally at any moment.
Truly, the catfolk were born assassins.
If it weren't for his [Eye of Insight], even he might have missed these signs.
"Ally, let me ask you something," Daniel said. "Are you planning to just kill the boss, or do you intend to take all the materials too?"
He was getting to the real issue.
Killing the boss didn't matter to him anymore. What he really wanted were the materials.
After all, the world-first kill of a World Rank boss was already his. Killing more wouldn't grant any special bonuses.
If Ally were willing to leave the loot behind, it wouldn't be out of the question to let her take the boss kill credit.
"Daniel-lin, that's not how good boys behave, you know!"
"If it weren't for the spoils, why would I even bother killing this boss?"
"All of the [Fallen Mountain Giant]'s drops belong to Ally, no exceptions."
As she said this, she deliberately stretched again, and her tail fully wrapped around the dagger, hiding it from view.
"In that case, how about we strike a deal?" Daniel suggested. "You know... maybe we each have materials the other needs."
"Trading would be a win-win for both of us."
Ally's expression turned thoughtful.
"Hmmm... I guess we could, but it sounds like such a hassle."
"Meh, forget it. Ally doesn't like troublesome things. Sorry, Daniel-lin."
"Of course, you could always try to take the loot by force!"
"But if you do that, I'll get punished by my god, you know!"
Her tone was playful, and her wide, round eyes held a faint sparkle of mischief.
Daniel heard her clearly—and he had already made up his mind.
"What a pity," he said softly.
The [Heart of Titan] was a critical material he absolutely needed.
If he missed this chance with the [Fallen Mountain Giant], he'd have to start from scratch hunting down leads for it.
And Daniel wasn't even sure if any other leads existed.
God Rank Skill synthesis required exceedingly rare materials.
He couldn't afford to let this opportunity slip away.
Without the [Heart of Titan], his third Star Upgrade Quest would remain incomplete—possibly indefinitely.
Daniel let out a quiet sigh, then summoned all of his Abyss creatures to the battlefield.
A moment later, a bow appeared in his hand.
The battle was about to begin.
Chapter145-Initiating Battle
At this moment, Daniel fully understood Ally's intention.
It was obvious—she wanted to fight him!
That actually made things a lot simpler.
Seeing that Daniel was ready for battle, a satisfied smile appeared on Ally's face.
"Well then, let's have a proper fight!"
"Ever since yesterday, I've been hearing all kinds of stories about you, Daniel. I've grown quite curious!"
"And since you're trying to steal Ally's boss, I've got no choice but to take you on."
"But don't worry, Ally won't kill you. Of course, if Ally loses, well... I'll just get scolded by my god."
As soon as she finished speaking, Ally's figure transformed into a beam of moonlight and vanished from sight.
Almost at the same moment, Daniel felt something striking at him.
—600 million!
—1.2 billion!!
—600 million...
As a flurry of damage notifications appeared, Daniel's expression turned serious.
This little catgirl clearly didn't believe in fair duels—she'd gone straight for a sneak attack.
Fortunately, his shield was thick enough. Otherwise, she might've actually broken through his defenses!
But what frustrated Daniel was that although Ally couldn't penetrate his defenses, her agility was so ridiculously high that his counterattacks were basically useless.
And so, the battlefield quickly devolved into a comical scene:
Ally kept whittling away at him with tiny attacks like scraping a stone with a nail file, while Daniel kept missing entirely.
[Time Stream]!
Daniel opened his eyes, rewinding time to the very moment the battle had begun.
Silently, he locked onto Ally's position.
[Flashback]!
In an instant, Daniel reappeared right behind her.
After all, no matter how fast Ally was, her movement still took time.
But Daniel's God Rank Skill, [Flashback], didn't require any time at all.
That meant, no matter how fast she was, she still fell within Daniel's trap.
When her motion finally halted, Ally realized she had landed straight into an ambush.
She was surrounded—by over a hundred Abyssal creatures.
And not just any Abyssal creatures—every one of them was a boss-tier entity.
Yet even in the face of such overwhelming numbers, Ally didn't show the slightest sign of fear. In fact, her eyes lit up with excitement.
"Wow, I didn't expect to meet something even faster than me!"
Ally's skills were primarily God Rank Skills.
Even if they were only temporary grants from her god, their power was still formidable.
At the very least, when facing enemies of the same tier, none had been able to match her speed.
But now, she was curious: could they keep up with this?
"Let me show you... the power of a lunar eclipse."
Ally whispered under her breath. A dark, shadowy radiance began to emanate from her body.
As that black glow spread, signs of corruption began to appear on the surrounding Abyssal creatures.
Was this... the lunar eclipse effect?
Daniel's eyes showed a flash of surprise.
But he didn't stand idle.
In the next moment, he summoned all twenty of his clones—each one instantly casting [Flashback] to arrive on the battlefield.
[Divine Cleanse]!
The moment Daniel's clones activated the status-cleansing skill, the lunar eclipse effect began to dissipate.
It seemed the damage from this so-called lunar eclipse was still far inferior to Abyssal corruption.
At least, Abyssal corruption had no known way of being cleansed yet.
Of course, there was another possibility—perhaps the God Rank Skill granted to Ally by her god was only a fraction of its true form.
If its effect was scaled down, that would explain why the lunar eclipse could be countered so easily.
Ally, meanwhile, couldn't help but widen her eyes at what she saw.
"I can't believe you neutralized the eclipse so quickly..."
"But your powers—somehow, they don't feel like blessings from the Goddess of Fortune!"
Daniel wasn't in the mood to answer.
His thoughts were simple now: defeat the enemy, no matter the cost.
Seeing herself suddenly surrounded by twenty Daniels, Ally's excitement only grew.
And finally, she activated her domain.
Now she was getting serious.
"Ready to enter my Lunar Radiance Domain?"
With a soft yet clear voice, a wave of silver moonlight rapidly expanded from her body.
Daniel remained calm, commanding his clones to begin charging their skills.
Unfortunately, the charge-up wasn't very effective—Ally was simply too fast, disrupting most of them before they could finish.
But Daniel had already prepared for this scenario.
He summoned ten [Abyss Binders], positioning them all around Ally.
[Abyss Binders] weren't known for their offensive strength, but they possessed extremely potent binding abilities.
Daniel didn't expect them to deal damage—only to restrict Ally's movement.
However, Ally's attacks were exceedingly cunning.
Before most of the binders could activate their skills, she had already eliminated more than half of them.
It was obvious she was using temporary God Rank Skills.
Even though they were temporary, their effectiveness was unquestionable.
It was clear to Daniel that he needed a new strategy.
He rubbed his chin, deep in thought, but before he could act, Ally—trapped by the remaining binders—missed her chance to interrupt the clones' charge-ups.
In the blink of an eye, all twenty clones completed their charging sequence.
[Meteor Arrow Rain] ×20!!
In an instant, the entire battlefield—Ally and the surrounding Abyssal creatures alike—was engulfed in a massive downpour of celestial arrows.
Nobody had anticipated such a dazzling sky full of falling stars to appear so suddenly.
But Ally knew all too well: beneath the beauty of this radiant starfall hid an extremely lethal power.
What she couldn't understand was—how could Daniel wield such pure starlight?
It didn't make sense. Not at all.
Lunar radiance and starlight... at their core, they were essentially the same type of energy.
As the Moon Goddess's devotee, Ally should have been more in tune with it than anyone else.
But Daniel's display of power... it outshone even her own.
How? How was that possible?
Unless...
Unless Daniel's true patron wasn't the Goddess of Fortune—
—but the God of Starlight?
But hadn't the God of Starlight fallen thousands of years ago?
For a moment, Ally felt her mind go blank.
And for the first time in a long while, a sliver of doubt crept into her heart—doubt about her own strength.
Why... did Daniel's starlight seem stronger than her own divine blessings?
Chapter146- Ally's Defeat
Fortunately, Ally's speed was formidable.
Even when facing the relentless downpour of [Meteor Arrow Rain], she was barely able to dodge through the gaps.
But despite her efforts, Daniel had already reappeared close to her.
It was only now that Ally began to realize—above her, the [Meteor Arrow Rain] was still continuously regenerating in rapid succession.
How could this be?
Why was his speed even greater than hers?
Had he predicted all her movements in advance?
That shouldn't have been possible.
Ally tried to track Daniel's movement patterns, but to her shock, she found she couldn't see him clearly at all.
Even though the Moon Goddess Luna had bestowed upon her divine hunting vision, she was still unable to follow Daniel's trajectory. He appeared and vanished like mist, as if teleporting at will.
Meanwhile, the storm of meteor arrows intensified, and even the Spirit of Skills joined the fray in the assault.
In the blink of an eye, Ally found herself completely surrounded by waves of deadly arrowfire from every direction. There was no escape. No shelter.
Small wounds began appearing on her body.
—3.6 billion
—3.6 billion
—3.6 billion
...
It wasn't due to her slow reactions—on the contrary, this was simply a scenario where dodging was no longer possible.
She had no choice but to brace herself and selectively endure certain attacks, passing through narrow openings in the arrow barrage.
Feeling her HP steadily draining, Ally frowned deeply.
She immediately activated her God Rank Skill: [Moon's Protection].
This skill was practically a cheat code. Even in its weakened, temporary form, it still reduced all incoming damage by 90%.
But even with that formidable shield, Ally's health continued to plummet at an alarming rate.
She tried to retreat from Daniel, but no matter how she moved, she couldn't seem to get away.
Never in her wildest dreams had she expected to be at a disadvantage against Daniel.
Frustrated and unwilling to accept defeat, Ally gritted her sharp little teeth and activated another skill: [Moonlight Potential]. In a flash, her body surged with speed, her movement accelerating several times over.
Let's see if you can still keep up with me now!
A sly glint appeared on Ally's face—but barely a few seconds after her dash, another wave of [Meteor Arrow Rain] came crashing down from above.
Wave after wave, the arrows were relentless, inescapable.
Even as a god's devotee, Ally wasn't a tank-type warrior.
Taking continuous hits like this was beginning to overwhelm her.
Sure, her current HP had surpassed 100 billion, making her endurance comparable to some tank-class awakeners.
But faced with this ceaseless assault, she was rapidly reaching her limit.
Who would've thought Daniel's strength was actually greater than hers?
While Ally was silently stunned, the elven warriors watching from afar were completely shell-shocked.
They had never imagined that a battle between awakeners could look this magnificent.
Was this really a fight between awakeners?
Or was it a battle between gods?
Ally knew that if she didn't change the situation soon, defeat would be inevitable.
She came to a sudden halt and looked up at the sky, unleashing the ultimate skill she had been preparing:
[Moon Execution]!
But just as she began to channel the powerful lunar strike, a searing pain suddenly tore through her back.
[Phantom Slash]!
A storm of sword energy slashed at her from behind, each arc razor-sharp and merciless.
Wait—she had already turned around! How was he still behind her?
But Ally didn't have time to contemplate the impossible.
The sword shadows engulfed her completely, and her HP was wiped out in a flash.
...Or almost wiped out.
Daniel hadn't finished her off completely.
Just as her health dropped to 1%, he stopped attacking.
"Seems like I'm a little stronger than you right now," Daniel said calmly.
"I don't intend to kill you. But this silver-rank world boss is mine. For now, just take a good rest."
Ally's eyes fluttered open briefly. She glanced at Daniel's health bar—completely full.
The next moment, she fainted on the spot from sheer frustration.
Why the hell is his HP still full!?
...
From Ally's earlier words, it had already become clear that her mission didn't require her to defeat the [Fallen Mountain Giant] specifically.
Daniel guessed her objective was likely to slay any silver-rank world boss.
So the god behind her probably wouldn't take issue with her loss.
Through this battle, Daniel had gained a clearer understanding of the general power level of a god's devotee.
All things considered, even though her level was higher than his, she was still weaker overall.
After all, even a god's devotee only had an SSS-rank talent, while his own talent was now SSS+.
It was just a plus sign—but in terms of real combat power, the difference was quite large.
Especially when it came to God Rank Skills—the difference between temporary and genuine versions was extremely pronounced.
In a way, he had definitely gone a bit overboard.
Daniel looked down at the unconscious Ally, a tinge of regret on his face.
What a pity.
Now that she had become the Moon Goddess Luna's devotee, there was no way she could ever become his.
To attempt to poach another god's devotee right in front of their face?
Daniel didn't have the guts for that.
Without a doubt, if he really tried something like that, the god herself would probably descend in fury.
It'd be no different than someone trying to steal Alice after he had painstakingly nurtured her.
Would he ever allow that?
Absolutely not.
So Daniel wisely dismissed any thoughts of recruiting Ally.
He bent down and carefully picked her up—she had completely lost consciousness.
After a moment's thought, he turned his gaze toward the distant elven warriors.
Among them... was Alice.
At that moment, her face was frozen in awe.
She had just witnessed one of the most dazzling battles of her life.
With her exceptional talent and advanced dynamic vision, she could usually keep up with most fast-paced movements.
But during that clash between Daniel and Ally, even she struggled to follow the action.
She didn't even realize that the [Meteor Arrow Rain] Daniel used was an evolved form of her owninnate skill.
That fight had been simply too overwhelming.
Even Alice had to admit—it made her feel... inadequate.
The battle had left a deep psychological impact on her.
Would she ever be able to reach that level in the future?
At that moment, Alice felt incredibly small.
She too possessed an SSS-rank talent—considered a once-in-a-millennium genius—but standing before those two monsters, she felt like she wasn't even worth mentioning.
And yet, as an awakener who always chased strength, Alice quickly adjusted her mindset.
She looked toward Daniel, her gaze gradually hardening with resolve.
Chapter147-Plunder Effect
After picking up Ally, Daniel didn't immediately head out to slay the [Fallen Mountain Giant].
Instead, he wanted to test something—would [Infinite Plunder] work on her?
After all, Ally possessed God Rank Skills. Even if they were only temporary, and their effectiveness slightly diminished, at the end of the day, a God Rank Skill was still a God Rank Skill.
So, he gave it a try.
He activated [Infinite Plunder]—but the very next moment, a prompt appeared before his eyes:
[Notice: The current skill is not the original but a projected effect, and thus cannot be plundered.]
"Tch..."
A flash of disappointment crossed Daniel's eyes. But then, as if something had clicked, his expression lit up with realization.
Sure, most of Ally's skills were temporary God Rank Skills.
But that didn't mean she didn't have innate talents of her own!
From what Daniel had learned so far, anyone with a talent level above SS typically possessed at least one talent skill.
His thinking was simple: if he couldn't plunder the God Rank projections, then he'd go after the talent skills. That should work, right?
...Although, was it really appropriate to do this?
He hesitated for a moment, then summoned the Dagger of the God of Thieves.
"I'm not stealing the core effect of her skill," he muttered to himself. "Just copying a replica version. This way, it won't affect Ally herself."
He didn't view Ally as an enemy, and had no desire to cause her real harm.
With the dagger, Daniel successfully duplicated one of Ally's talent skills.
Then he activated his Talent Specialization ability:
[Infinite Plunder]!
The next moment, two new effects were added to Daniel's [Meteor Arrow Rain] skill:
[New Effect 1: Lunar Empowerment — Your bow attacks are now blessed by the Moon Goddess. They deal additional moon-type damage.]
[New Effect 2: Moonlit Shadows — When the moon is visible, each arrow you fire will be followed by a shadow arrow. Shadow arrows deal the same damage and are harder to detect.]
Daniel found both effects to be quite practical.
In addition to these, he also gained a few other passive boosts—mostly minor enhancements to his base stats.
At his current level, any improvement to base attributes directly translated into a significant increase in damage output.
Having decided to go all-in on the plunder, Daniel figured he might as well wring Ally for every drop of value.
After all... it was essentially free loot.
Once he handed Ally over to Alice and asked her to take care of the unconscious catgirl, Daniel turned and began walking toward the [Fallen Mountain Giant].
His original plan had been simple—just gather some materials.
But fate had thrown a surprise in his path: another god's devotee.
The timing was oddly coincidental.
Perhaps when Ally woke up, he could ask her for more information. Daniel had a nagging feeling there was more to this story.
The [Fallen Mountain Giant] had existed peacefully in the Mist Mountains for over a thousand years.
It never caused trouble for other races, and due to its immense strength, even the elves had long avoided provoking it.
So why had Ally, of all times, chosen now—right when Daniel was preparing to attack—to suddenly appear?
Something didn't add up.
Daniel figured it'd be best to ask her directly and avoid stepping into any unforeseen traps.
Besides, with [Time Stream] at his disposal, he could afford to be honest—truth for truth.
After leaving a clone behind to watch over Ally, Daniel finally stepped into the restricted zone of the Mist Mountains.
The area was shrouded in multicolored mists—some of which were filled with toxins and corrosive gases.
But these negative conditions were virtually meaningless to the current Daniel. His status resistances were so high, they were practically immunity.
Not far away, the Fallen Mountain Giant—as large as a hill—sensed Daniel's approach.
With a rumbling motion, the colossus slowly stood upright, its towering presence exerting an oppressive aura.
And for the first time, Daniel got a good look at its appearance.
What he saw stunned him.
"Is this really... a giant?"
The giant's head was a bare skull—gleaming white bone that starkly contrasted the rocky texture of its body.
The moment it laid eyes on Daniel, it let out a soul-shaking roar.
At the same time, dark energy—symbols of death—began to gather and swirl around it.
Daniel stared in disbelief.
"You're telling me... you're going to use magic?"
"With that massive physique, and a bone skull no less, you've chosen to go full dark-caster?"
"No wonder you've fallen. Not just morally—you've probably lost your mind too."
"Your kind has ridiculously high magic resistance. And yet you want to fight spellcasters?"
Daniel's sarcasm seemed to touch a nerve, as the Fallen Mountain Giant suddenly lunged at him with even greater fury.
Meanwhile, one of Daniel's clones had already reappeared behind the giant.
Without hesitation, it launched a devastating [Phantom Slash].
For enemies that relied on spellcasting, melee assault was the best solution.
As for Daniel's true body?
He was busy collecting rare materials from the giant's lair.
After all, this was the home of a world boss that had lived for over a thousand years. There was no shortage of treasures here.
If any of them were destroyed during the battle, he'd have no place to cry about it afterward.
Suddenly—
[Dark Domain: Corrosion]!
The Fallen Mountain Giant activated its domain ability right out of the gate.
In an instant, the entire restricted zone was engulfed in thick, viscous darkness.
Daniel could feel it—this wasn't ordinary darkness. It had the consistency of a liquid, and it began to corrode the outer layers of his shield, eating away bit by bit.
But Daniel didn't stand around waiting to be melted.
He instantly activated [Flashback], teleporting out of the danger zone in a blink and avoiding the corrosive liquid entirely.
Meanwhile, he summoned more clones, ordering them to harvest the valuable loot around the area with maximum efficiency.
Seeing Daniel shamelessly plundering its nest mid-battle, the Fallen Mountain Giant let out a rage-filled roar.
Around its body, clusters of ancient runes began to appear.
These inscriptions glowed with a sinister violet light, pulsing erratically as though barely under control.
Daniel immediately sensed the change in the atmosphere.
The corrosion energy intensified again.
A quick glance at his Shield Points showed the corrosive aura was now dealing over 1 billion damage per second.
To any ordinary max-level awakener, this would be absolutely fatal in a matter of moments.
But to Daniel?
That kind of damage wasn't even scratching the surface of his defenses.
At this point, his HP had stacked to an absurd level.
Thirty trillion HP.
First, try breaking the skin.
Chapter148-Boss Hunt
A truly astonishing scene unfolded in the Mist Mountains.
It was as though Daniel was merely taking a stroll through the mountains, wandering from one place to another, occasionally picking up rare and precious materials. After all, this ancient mountain range had existed for over a thousand years, with no one ever stepping foot into it. As a result, many precious materials had accumulated over time.
In addition to these rare materials, the Mountain Giant's collection was also extremely abundant. It had lived for countless years, and it was only natural that it had accumulated many treasures over time.
While Daniel leisurely moved around, seemingly enjoying a casual walk, the Fallen Mountain Giant was in stark contrast—wildly furious. It was like an emotionless machine, throwing various skills at Daniel's location the moment it appeared. However, more than ninety percent of these attacks were skillfully dodged by Daniel. Even the attacks he didn't dodge couldn't break through his shields.
This fusion of elegance and wildness brought a unique feeling to the elven warriors who were watching. However, this wasn't something Daniel did intentionally; it was simply a result of the delicate materials in the Mist Mountains. Many of them were extremely fragile, and even a slight gust of wind could damage them. For example, there was a rare flower called the Wind Bell Herb in these mountains, which could be destroyed with just a gentle breath from an ordinary person.
Therefore, Daniel had to be extra careful, handling the materials delicately and with great precision. He hadn't anticipated, however, that his carefulness would contrast so starkly with the raging Fallen Mountain Giant beside him.
If it had been Ally in his place, she wouldn't have been able to handle it as effortlessly as Daniel. While Ally's strength would have no problem defeating a Mountain Giant, she wouldn't have been able to preserve such rare and delicate materials. For Daniel, destroying rare materials was tantamount to waste!
Both his clone and his main body were fully engaged in collecting materials and treasures, not paying any attention to the enraged Mountain Giant. After all, places like the Mist Mountains, untouched by human hands for millennia, were extremely rare, and this opportunity wasn't something one could come across often.
Meanwhile, the Mountain Giant, trapped in frustration and self-doubt, was questioning its own existence. "How could it be? I, a proud member of the Mountain Giant tribe, have lived for thousands of years, only to be completely ignored by a mere human?"
After five minutes of searching, Daniel finally confirmed that he had collected all the precious materials in the Mist Mountains. He was secretly relieved. If the elven warriors had intervened, he was certain that many of the rare materials would have been wasted or destroyed.
On the other hand, the elven warriors, witnessing Daniel's actions, were left completely stunned.
Wait, what's going on here?
Why are there so many of Daniel around the Mist Mountains? How did he manage that? And how come the toxic mist had no effect on him at all?
Even the formidable silver-rank world boss, the Fallen Mountain Giant, had been completely ignored, its threat reduced to nothing!
At this moment, the elven warriors couldn't help but feel their worldviews shattering along with the Mountain Giant's uncontrollable fury. If they had followed the original plan, with the elven warriors taking the lead to deal with the boss, the result would have been disastrous—at least several thousand elite warriors would have been lost, and the elven tribe would have suffered immense damage.
But for Daniel? It was as though he was out for a walk!
The human race had produced such a terrifying genius!
And then there was Ally, a member of the Orc Clan, who, despite fighting fiercely against Daniel, was still incredibly powerful. Due to Ally's efforts to block the elven warriors' knowledge of her identity as a God Devotee, the elves did not know her true power. However, today, both the human and Orc clans had demonstrated such overwhelming strength that the elves had no choice but to reconsider their attitudes toward these two races.
...
In the Mist Mountains, after a thorough inspection, Daniel finally confirmed that there were no more precious materials left to collect. He glanced over at the Fallen Mountain Giant, his face lighting up with a bright smile.
"Thank you for your hard work earlier. You can rest now."
As soon as he finished speaking, thousands of arrows fell from the sky, raining down on the Fallen Mountain Giant's head!
—1 billion
—600 million
—300 million
—800 million
...
Although each arrow didn't cause a massive amount of damage, only dealing a few hundred million at most, the sheer number of arrows was overwhelming. And this was despite the Mountain Giant's formidable defense.
In reality, silver-rank world bosses like the Fallen Mountain Giant had exceptional resistances to various types of damage and also possessed protective shields. Even with Daniel's powerful armor-piercing skills, much of the damage was mitigated when facing the Fallen Mountain Giant.
This resistance was a special trait given to silver-rank world bosses by the Supreme Will. If the boss had been a gold-rank, the special attributes would have been even more monstrous.
Nonetheless, even with these defenses, the Fallen Mountain Giant couldn't withstand Daniel's endless onslaught of arrows. No matter how many defensive skills it used, the arrows were relentless, finding their way through every gap and chipping away at its health.
Its HP continued to plummet rapidly, and despite the Mountain Giant's ferocious rage and struggle, it couldn't stop the tide of arrows. Eventually, its massive form was completely overwhelmed and vanished into the oncoming storm of arrows.
Through it all, Daniel remained utterly unconcerned, as if slaying a silver-rank world boss was just another routine task for him.
—Fallen Mountain Giant—
[Level: 150 (Silver Rank)]
[Description: Resides in the Nebula Valley, and after being corrupted by the taint of darkness, it has lost its sanity. Its state is unstable, with its attributes fluctuating greatly.]
[HP: 100 million to 500 trillion (the higher the HP, the weaker the desire to attack)]
[Current HP: 10 trillion (Max attack desire!)]
The Fallen Mountain Giant's health was thick, but even it couldn't endure Daniel's relentless assault. After several rounds of Meteor Arrow Rain, it had reached the brink of death, with its attack desire at its peak.
But even in this state, it couldn't inflict any substantial damage on Daniel. Finally, Daniel decided it was time to end things. He unleashed another round of Meteor Arrow Rain, and no matter how much the Fallen Mountain Giant struggled or raged, its HP continued to fall rapidly until its enormous body vanished entirely under the barrage.
From beginning to end, Daniel carried an air of indifference, as if taking down a silver-rank world boss was nothing more than a matter of convenience.
Chapter149-Conscience of the Demon Merchant
In the abyss, Sarko's Kingdom,
An Anygate was quietly opening.
As the Anygate began to glow, Sarko appeared before the portal's entrance.
"Old buddy, you've finally arrived! It's been such a long time!"
With Sarko's enthusiastic voice, a demon dressed in a black tailcoat walked out of the Anygate, standing right in front of him.
"My old friend, every time I visit you here, you always greet me so warmly. I must say, it's truly an honor!"
"Charles, you're too polite. But it's not yet the day for trading. Why have you arrived early this time?"
Sarko said with a grin, but his eyes were fixed on Charles.
A terrifying smile appeared on Charles' face. In fact, his smile wasn't truly scary, but his appearance alone gave off that impression.
"This time's situation is a bit special. If I had waited a few more days, I might not have had the chance to appear before you at all."
As he spoke, Charles threw a golden dice toward Sarko.
This had become a habit between the two of them. Because they were afraid of impersonators, they had developed this token. The golden dice, blessed by the goddess of luck, could not be forged.
After tossing the dice, Charles began to examine his surroundings.
"My friend, it looks like a new genius has appeared in your Kingdom!"
"To have so many casinos under one person's control, not to mention the palace you live in..."
Charles could sense that it seemed like the ownership of Sarko's Kingdom had changed, and all these new owners seemed to have one name—Daniel!
Even the palace where Sarko lived was named after Daniel.
This reminded him of the time when he had lost a bet to Daniel during their last wager.
Upon hearing Charles' comment, Sarko's face turned awkward.
As a seasoned gambler, he had lost to a human, which he found hard to talk about. But eventually, he spoke up.
"Old buddy, the thing is, a human has appeared in our abyss."
When Charles heard the word "human," a look of surprise crossed his face.
However, he didn't interrupt Sarko's story but instead chose to listen quietly.
Charles was a very shrewd merchant. It was precisely because of his sharp mind that he could move freely in the abyss. Therefore, he never interrupted Sarko until he fully understood what was going on.
Soon, Sarko explained everything that had happened since Daniel arrived in the abyss.
Of course, he wouldn't admit that he lost to Daniel in a bet, and now Daniel owned all these assets. Instead, he framed it as if he had a good relationship with Daniel, and all of this had been voluntarily given to him. After all, with his power, how could he possibly lose a bet to anyone?
Charles listened to the story and gave Sarko a strange look.
"So that's how it is?"
Charles, being a demon from the surface, had naturally heard of what Daniel had been doing, especially the announcement about Daniel killing the Abyss King.
It seemed that this matter was true after all!
As for the gnome tribe, Charles knew about them too.
After a moment of thought, Charles spoke up.
"Old friend, do you happen to know where this Daniel is now?"
Sarko immediately shook his head.
"I don't know about that. It seems he possesses very powerful spatial abilities and can appear anywhere in an instant."
"However, if you want to meet him, I can help you contact him—of course, that would be after he returns to the abyss."
Charles nodded.
"Since that's the case, I'll leave it to you then."
After finishing his sentence, he gestured toward the Anygate behind him.
"Take a look at the goods this time. I've carefully selected them. They're all things you can personally use."
Sarko nodded and leaned his head into the Anygate.
After a moment, he pulled his head back out, a satisfied smile on his face.
"This batch of goods is indeed quite good."
"However, about the succubi you brought last time, it seems Daniel wasn't particularly interested. If possible, next time, could you bring something else instead?"
Upon hearing this, Charles couldn't help but furrow his brows.
"This shouldn't be the case! How could a human resist the allure of succubi?"
After a brief moment of thought, Charles simply nodded.
"My old friend, I understand what you mean. If there's a next trade, I'll bring some specialty products."
After a brief exchange, the two of them continued discussing the current trade.
This time, the goods were from the human race.
"My old friend, try this."
Charles said as he handed Sarko a bottle of wine, explaining,
"This is a very rare wine among the humans. Its ingredients require bathing in the rare sunlight for three months before they can be harvested."
Sarko's eyes lit up immediately. He took the wine and drank deeply from it.
"Not bad, not bad! So this is the taste of sunlight. Truly enviable!"
Charles smiled slightly as he watched Sarko savoring it.
"You should know that even on the surface, sunlight is very precious."
"As an old friend and long-time partner, I won't cheat you. I'll sell it to you at the market price from the human world."
"50 million gold coins for a bottle of this wine."
Sarko nodded and spoke.
"My old buddy, I can already feel your sincerity."
"50 million gold coins is indeed a bargain, considering that the last burger you brought cost 200 million gold coins."
...
Mist Mountains
After Daniel killed the Fallen Mountain Giant, he discovered a large amount of wine on the creature's body.
His face immediately turned a deep shade of displeasure.
What was wrong with this Mountain Giant?
Why did it carry this wine around with it?
This was something that could be bought for a single silver coin per box—why treat it as though it was a treasure?
It seemed like this giant had been taken advantage of!
Daniel shook his head, too lazy to even pick up the bottles of wine.
It was such a waste of space in his inventory!
After this brief moment of frustration, he turned his attention to the pile of loot in front of him.
As expected of a silver-rank world boss, the loot was still quite impressive.
However, among this small mountain of loot, there were many pieces of orange equipment that Daniel considered to be worthless.
The elven warriors in the distance, however, were shocked by the mountain of loot and their eyes glistened with greed.
Though they were greedy, they knew these items were beyond their reach.
Chapter150-Gift of the Veiled Goddess
The mountain of loot piled up before him didn't stir even the slightest interest in Daniel.
However, while sorting through the spoils, something unusual caught his attention.
[Mountain Giant Pet Egg]
[Effect: Can hatch into a Silver-rank Mountain Giant and serve as your pet]
[Hatching Time: 1313 years]
Uh...
A Mountain Giant... hatches from an egg??
No, seriously—how is that even remotely reasonable?
Daniel's mouth twitched as he stared at the listed hatching time.
Thirteen hundred and thirteen years? By the time this thing hatches, he might have already turned to dust.
Within a mere second, Daniel dismissed the idea of raising a Silver-rank pet.
With that kind of time, it'd be far more practical to dismantle the egg for materials and enhance his own strength instead.
However... if defeating a Silver-rank boss would yield pet eggs like this, then collecting 200 of them didn't seem that far-fetched after all.
If anyone else could've read Daniel's thoughts at that moment, they'd probably be so angry they'd start cursing.
Seriously? "Not that hard"? Are you kidding?
In what twisted universe does a Silver-rank boss become the equivalent of an elite mob?
For context, throughout the long and blood-soaked history of the myriad races, taking down even a single Silver-rank boss had always required a terrible sacrifice.
And Daniel... he was the only person in recorded history who had ever soloed a Silver-rank boss.
As for the rest of the loot, nothing else could catch his attention anymore.
Among the pile were even some rare Skill Scrolls—S-rank, even SS-rank ones!
But to the current Daniel, these were nothing but junk.
Even if a God Rank Skill were to appear before him, Daniel would only bother with it if it was the right match for his needs.
SS-rank, SSS-rank—it was all the same to him.
Moreover, the spoils also contained a massive stack of Battle Scrolls.
Each scroll contained a powerful offensive ability, sealed and ready for use.
Any other Awakener would've treated these as precious trump cards, lifesaving tools to be used in moments of desperation.
But Daniel?
Daniel didn't even need cooldowns to use his own skills—so why waste time ripping open scrolls?
Just toss out a spell directly. Wasn't that much more efficient?
So, yeah. Trash. All of it.
After inventorying the pile, Daniel felt completely unmoved—calm and unshaken, not a ripple of excitement in his heart.
Meanwhile, one of his clones had already arrived at Winterhold Castle, transferring all of the loot into storage.
At last, the [Heart of Titan] was in his hands.
Without a second thought, Daniel summoned the Dagger of the God of Thieves.
[Heart of Titan]
[Effect: Transforms your body into that of a giant and increases your compatibility with larger forms]
"[AbyssDark Blood Stone], [Heart of Titan], and..."
Gathering these rare materials had taken Daniel quite a bit of effort.
But, as the saying goes, persistence pays off.
At long last, he had assembled the full list of ingredients needed to unlock the God Rank Skill – Gift of the Veiled Goddess.
A brilliant radiance erupted around him, and Daniel's collection of God Rank Skills grew by one.
"Would you like to max out the skill now?"
As usual, Daniel didn't hesitate. He chose Yes.
[God Rank Skill: Gift of the Veiled Goddess]
[Effect 1: All consumables you use will be stored within the Gift Pouch of the Veiled Goddess. When you use a consumable, an identical replica will appear in the pouch. (Only works for consumables)]
[Effect 2: You can transform into any creature you've seen before, gaining their traits. Undetectable by anyone below God-tier.]
...???
Daniel blinked, slightly stunned by what he read.
Looking at Effect 1 alone—did this mean... he now had infinite consumables?
In truth, Daniel had rarely used consumables before.
But not because they weren't powerful—far from it.
Rather, the issue was that truly useful consumables were few and far between for someone like him.
Most ordinary items had no meaningful effect on him at all.
For anything to genuinely help Daniel, it had to be incredibly rare and extremely expensive.
So precious, in fact, that Daniel often hesitated to use them—feeling they were better sold off or converted into materials.
But now?
With the Gift of the Veiled Goddess, everything changed.
Infinite-use consumables... were they even still "consumables" at that point?
Almost in disbelief, Daniel pulled a bottle from his backpack: [Super Berserk Potion].
The effect was simple—triple the user's damage output for three seconds.
Daniel had kept it stored away, saving it for some dire, unforeseen emergency.
But now...
Now he could use it as many times as he wanted.
As he held the bottle, a new prompt popped up in front of him.
[First Phase of Star Upgrade Quest Completed]
At last.
This Star Upgrade Quest had been dragging on for ages.
In the past, the Star Quests were done and dusted in a few short battles.
But this one had taken far too long.
With that thought, Daniel activated [Flashback], instantly teleporting to the Star Upgrade Hall in Castle Mington.
His choice of location wasn't strategic—he just felt familiar with the place, that's all.
While Daniel made his way toward the Hall, elsewhere...
Ally was beginning to stir from her slumber.
As her consciousness returned, she became aware of something odd.
Her tail—someone was holding it.
"Nyaa! What are you doing?!"
"You already won the battle, you even took the boss loot! Why are you still holding onto Ally's tail?!"
As she spoke, Ally studied Daniel seriously.
"Wait a second... don't tell me... you've fallen for Ally?"
"I knew it! Ally is just too adorable, how could anyone not fall for me? Nyahaha~ You've got good taste!"
Daniel didn't immediately respond.
Instead, he smiled gently and gazed into Ally's eyes.
The way he looked at her—so still and focused—it made Ally feel... strange.
A little too strange.
She quickly averted her eyes, unable to hold his gaze.
What she didn't expect was for Daniel to lean in even closer.
"You saw right through me, Ally. You're really adorable."
"Is it so strange that I might like you?"
Daniel knew perfectly well Ally was just teasing him.
He wasn't some clueless fool, after all. He wouldn't fall into her trap that easily.
Still...
Daniel had read her joke correctly. Ally had only meant to poke fun.
She never expected him to actually say it—to come right out and confess.
This isn't how it was supposed to go...