17: Chapter 17 Inherited Noble Phantasm: Mask of Calamity!

Heizi fell straight back with a look of utter bewilderment on his face.

Tang Long picked up his shovel and quickly dug a hole to bury him, smoothing it over until it was clean and firm. He then stood on top, watching with his Fire Eye until the spiritual light within the earth beneath his feet vanished.

Then, he turned and entered Heizi's mine, swinging his pickaxe to dig rapidly. Before long, he unearthed a cloth bundle.

Opening the bundle, he found a golden mask etched with blood-red veins.

[You have obtained the Legacy Treasure: mask of calamity!]

[mask of calamity: The core component of the Red Religion's Sixth Saint's Holy Armor, it houses the soul of a Saint. This item is soul-bound upon equipment. Bind now? Yes/No]

[Treasure Trait 1: {Calamity Sacrifice}. Triggers immediately upon binding. Sacrifices 10 HP per minute. When the total sacrifice reaches 10,000 points, {Calamity Sacrifice} transforms into the {Indestructible Calamity Seal}. The initial sacrifice inflicts soul damage. Active sacrifice can proportionally shorten the sacrifice duration.]

[Treasure Trait 2: {Indestructible Calamity Seal}. If lethal damage is taken within 72 hours of acquisition, the user will be resurrected and immediately teleported to the mask's location. After resurrection, {Calamity Sacrifice} is reactivated. If no lethal damage is taken within 72 hours, the treasure ignores distance to automatically return to the binder's face and reverts back to {Calamity Sacrifice}.]

[Treasure Trait 3: {Immortal}. The treasure and the Saint's soul are eternal and immortal. Anyone who damages it, along with the binder, will suffer soul damage equal to the {Damage Degree} once per minute for {Damage Degree} minutes. If the binder intentionally damages it, the next {Calamity Sacrifice} will inflict soul damage. Damage to the treasure is automatically repaired upon completion of each sacrifice cycle.]

[Treasure Trait 4: {Sacred Revival}. When sacrifices reach ten, a hundred, a thousand, and ten thousand times, a portion of the Sixth Saint's power is automatically revived. Related content will unlock upon meeting requirements.]

Tang Long scrutinized the information for a long time, reading it over a dozen times, feeling a bit of a headache coming on.

This thing really was a piece of Saint equipment; the game system had clearly authenticated it.

But this thing...

To put it bluntly, this was a blood-drinking resurrection item.

The resurrection had a time limit, operating on a three-day cycle; once it expired, you had to feed it again.

And it ate quite a lot. A normal person from Blue Star wouldn't be able to withstand it at all; they'd be eaten to death in no time.

Furthermore, this thing was like a persistent plaster; once bound, you couldn't get rid of it even if you wanted to.

If it got hurt, you suffered the punishment, and there was no way to destroy it.

He believed that if this thing dropped in a Saint Dungeon, the pro players would definitely curse up a storm before tossing it into the trash.

Players could already resurrect, so they had absolutely no use for this. Who in their right mind would bind themselves to such a vampire?

To players, it was pure garbage!

Based on its traits, he suspected many local Blue Star people had been killed by it. He'd heard Heizi mention that this mine had the highest death toll; that likely had everything to do with this item.

But!

Thinking it over, believe it or not, this thing was actually a perfect fit for him!

Players came with built-in resurrection, but it was hard to say if he enjoyed that same privilege.

After all, he was essentially a bug, different from legitimate players. If he truly didn't have that ability, this mask was a necessity.

Though the resurrection function had many limitations, having it changed everything. His margin for error would be greatly increased.

While it consumed blood and most people couldn't handle the drain, he just happened to be extraordinary.

10 points per minute meant 600 per hour, which was exactly the same as his recovery rate.

Maintaining it might be a bit stressful for now, but if he leveled up a few more times, it shouldn't be an issue.

Besides, it didn't suck blood constantly; it would quiet down for a while once fed.

His primary mission on Blue Star was to eliminate the Blue Star people; even the name of this thing matched his style perfectly.

The only concern was the Saint's soul residing inside. If he sacrificed too much, would that fellow eventually resurrect?

Tang Long hesitated for a moment before immediately choosing to bind it.

Bind the damn thing first and worry later!

With resurrection, his development would surely accelerate significantly.

Ten thousand sacrifices would take thirty thousand days—over 80 years when converted. Why worry about something so far off?

The moment the binding was complete, Tang Long felt as if an awl had been driven into his brain. The pain was heart-stopping, and his vision went black.

Holy shit!

This wicked thing really packed a punch!

If he hadn't grown accustomed to pain during the Doomsday Era, he might not have been able to withstand it.

After a while, he seemed to adapt to the pain. Though it remained intense, it gradually subsided to a tolerable level.

He put away the mask, quickly dug out the spirit stone Heizi had hidden, and then returned to the cave entrance to observe.

The temperature had dropped significantly, and the dust in the wind had actually lessened quite a bit.

The slaughter inside the tower was still ongoing.

The Overseers had all fallen, and the stairs on every floor were littered with corpses. Man Hai had been forced to the top floor, yet he still stood firm.

Due to the cramped space inside the tower, it was difficult for the mine slaves to utilize their numerical advantage, and they were beginning to lose heart.

Though long-standing oppression and hatred made them desperate to kill Man Hai—their primary target—his combat prowess was formidable, and they truly couldn't break through.

With Heizi nowhere to be seen, the various cave masters began to act on their own initiative. They turned their attention toward the tower's underground warehouse, hoping to seize the weapons, food, and water stored there.

At that moment, the earth began to vibrate violently.

The heavenly change finally revealed its hideous, true face.

Chunks of earth and stone were torn from the ground and lifted into the air. The tower was shaken until it tilted, its walls fracturing in large sections.

The mine slaves stopped besieging Man Hai, each searching for a piece of earth or stone to cling to, while some fell into the pitch-black fissures.

Tang Long had already hidden in the deepest mine, but large sections of earth above him were still torn away. Part of it floated into the sky, while another part collapsed, nearly burying him.

The sky overhead turned into an abyss-like void. Many people on the floating rocks were wailing and crying for their parents, but some of the rocks began to tumble, quickly shaking them off. Objects and people began to fly upward, sucked into the void.

Watching this terrifying scene, Tang Long couldn't help but suck in a breath of cold air.

"It's actually a Shattered Domain..."

A Shattered Domain was considered the most terrifying type of heavenly change, one that even players had a love-hate relationship with.

They loved it because the scenery within the domain was too beautiful. It was like a massive asteroid belt where gravity was completely chaotic. Resources were abundant and easy to find; with a bit of luck, one could stumble upon treasures anywhere.

They hated it because the piece of earth a player stood on when entering the domain would eventually fall back to the ground, but where exactly it would land was uncertain.

Even if you didn't die during the heavenly change, you might end up on the other side of Blue Star once it ended. The travel costs to return were astronomical.

Therefore, players jokingly referred to it as the Bankruptcy Domain.

After a while, almost all the floating earth and stone had entered the void, and the heavenly change began to stabilize.

Only when the earth stopped trembling and no more rocks floated up did Tang Long crawl out from the debris.

The heavenly change at this moment was breathtakingly beautiful. Through the massive circular void in the sky, the stars beyond shimmered like fleeting light, ever-changing and unpredictable.

However, he didn't stop to admire the view, heading straight for the collapsed tower.

The underground warehouse that the slaves hadn't managed to open had suffered significant damage during the heavenly change. When Tang Long swept his Fire Eye over it, the glow was almost blinding.

As he entered the warehouse through a ruptured wall, he couldn't help but feel a bit dazed.

Stored here were over forty spirit stones and tens of thousands of spirit residue.

Granted, the people in charge probably had an inventory of everything here.

But with a heavenly change occurring, in such a chaotic scene, it was only natural for a few things to go missing, right?

[You have obtained fire spirit stone * 41!]

[You have obtained fire spirit residue * 100!]

[You have obtained fire spirit residue * 100!]

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