132: Chapter 133 Daji's Background

Through a conversation with the newly summoned Nine-tailed Fox Maiden Su Daji, Lin Muyang roughly understood her background.

It turned out that she did not live in the Demon Locking Tower voluntarily. The one initially captured and thrown into that tower, which imprisoned thousands of demons, was her mother. Su Daji was born inside the cold and dark tower and was raised by her mother. Unfortunately, when she was about seven or eight years old, her mother passed away due to the harsh environment inside the tower and the recurrence of some old injuries, leaving her alone to survive in that lonely cage.

As a member of the demon race, she was born with the ability to absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and convert it into her own energy; this was the foundation of the demon race's cultivation and growth. However, the Demon Locking Tower was designed to suppress and isolate, and the spiritual energy inside was so thin it was almost exhausted.

Su Daji could barely extract meager energy from the almost non-existent free-floating spiritual energy and her own bloodline; maintaining her life was her limit, and there was no way to speak of absorbing more spiritual energy to cultivate or raise her level. Therefore, from birth until being summoned, her level had always remained at Level 1, and her body had maintained its maiden form; time seemed to have lost its meaning inside the tower.

"In that Demon Locking Tower, besides you, are there other imprisoned... um, demons?" Lin Muyang asked with some curiosity. He knew very little about the world Su Daji originally came from.

"Daji doesn't know." Su Daji shook her head gently, her pink fox ears swaying slightly with the movement, her eyes filled with memories and a trace of confusion. "Daji always stayed on the same level as her mother. Mother said that the tower had many, many levels. However... later, it seemed like the tower experienced a few very powerful tremors, and the whole tower shook violently. Mother said the tower might have sunk very, very deep into the ground."

She paused, her voice becoming even softer: "As for the other levels, they were supposed to be locking other demons as well. But a long time ago, there were no more sounds coming from those levels. Mother guessed that they probably couldn't hold on and died."

Hearing this, Lin Muyang understood, and he also felt a sense of emotion. It seemed his guess was correct; the young ladies who were responded to and summoned by his "SSS-Rank Talent" seemed to be in difficult situations in their original worlds, or even trapped. In the heavens and myriad worlds, in the infinite time and space, there were probably countless young ladies in similar situations. And this talent might just be providing them with an opportunity to break free from the shackles of fate and gain a new life.

The Su Daji before him had the SSS-Rank Talent "Overthrowing Cities and Nations," which focused on the field of mental control. Although there was a slight gap in initial grade compared to Seraphina and Gui Wanwan, for Lin Muyang, the grade of a talent was not an insurmountable chasm.

He possessed a wonder item like "tears of the angel" that could purify and sublimate the origin of talents, and he even had Gui Wanwan's "Yamas Fate Alteration," an heaven-defying ability that could optimize or even reshape the rules of talents. Given time, Su Daji's talent could also be steadily raised to the sub-god level, and eventually stand at the same height as the other top combat forces in the team.

The only difference was that raising from SSS-Rank to a higher level required consuming a certain amount of "tears of the angel." However, for Lin Muyang now, this was not an unbearable burden. As Angel Maid Elena increased in level and deepened her control over her own power, she could now steadily produce 3 to 5 "tears of the angel" every day, which was a considerable output.

Calculating it, raising a young lady's talent from SSS-Rank to sub-god level required 6 "tears of the angel"; from sub-god level to Demigod Level, it required 10. A total of 16; at Elena's current production rate, it would take about three to five days. This time might not be considered short for Lin Muyang, who needed to quickly form combat power, but if viewed in the development process of a race or a civilization, being able to create a powerhouse whose talent undergoes a qualitative leap in just a few days was efficiency that was simply like a miracle.

"Lilia, take Daji upstairs and pick a room she likes." Lin Muyang instructed the Elf Princess, then looked at Su Daji, who was curiously looking around, and asked gently: "You shouldn't want to go back to that Demon Locking Tower now, right?"

"Of course I don't want to go back!" Su Daji answered immediately, her little mouth pouting slightly, carrying undisguised disgust. "It's dark and cold inside, there's nothing, it's boring to death~ There isn't even anyone to talk to."

As she spoke, her gaze shifted, and she looked carefully at the other young ladies in the living room again. Lilia's holy brightness, Seraphina's mysterious shadows, Elabess's lazy charm, Feng Ling's pure flames, Gui Wanwan's ethereal netherworld, Ao Qingyan's cold sharpness, Elena's gentle healing... Each one emitted a completely different, yet equally impressive Aura.

However, when she was just summoned and established a soul link with the master before her, she had already received some information—these beautiful young ladies were all like her, summoned by the same person from different worlds and different predicaments, and gathered here.

So many people... There are so many companions!

This realization made Su Daji, who had grown up in absolute loneliness since childhood, feel an indescribable excitement and joy in her heart. She had never seen so many people at once, let alone such friendly-looking beautiful young ladies who were also "companions."

"You go pick a room you like first and settle in. Come down later to eat something, and then we will set off together to take you out... um, to level up and become stronger." Lin Muyang smiled, reaching out again to gently rub the pair of fluffy pink fox ears on top of Su Daji's head. The touch was soft and smooth, with body heat, making one unable to put them down.

Su Daji also seemed to enjoy this intimate touch, having a natural fondness and closeness to Lin Muyang, this "Summoner" and "lifesaver." Her water-filled eyes curved into crescent moons, and the nine fluffy large tails behind her swayed gently unconsciously, with the tip of one tail even quietly rubbing against Lin Muyang's calf, carrying a hint of attachment and testing.

Then, she reluctantly let go of the arm she had been holding, and walked towards the stairs with light steps, following Lilia, her nine tails swaying gracefully behind her.

About an hour later, after a short rest and enjoying the exquisite snacks prepared by Elena, Lin Muyang set off with the young ladies again. To quickly raise Su Daji's level, he chose a relatively simple, monster-dense Level 72 King-rank Dungeon in a city near Zhongnan City.

Inside the Dungeon, in the dark ancient ruins, various darkness-corroded magic guards, skeleton warriors, and shadow mages swarmed in.

However, for the other young ladies who had long been battle-hardened, monsters of this level were like wheat straw.

"Black Hole Vortex!" Elabess waved her jade hand lightly, the space in front twisted, forming a dark vortex that swallowed everything, dragging large groups of monsters in and crushing them.

"Holy Punishment!" Lilia held her scepter high, and holy pillars of light descended from the sky, purifying an area.

"Blood Shadow Flying Dagger!" Seraphina's figure flickered in the shadows, blood-colored blade lights like a sudden rain, precisely sniping fish that slipped through the net or ranged units.

"Peerless Sword Formation!" Ao Qingyan pointed like a sword and gave a clear shout, sword energy rampaging around her, turning into a fierce sword rain covering the area.

the young ladies each showed their magical skills, the brilliance of their skills rising one after another, and groups of ferocious monsters fell one after another like harvested crops, turning into rich experience points.

This violent and efficient scene of clearing the field left Su Daji, who was seeing "battle" and "monsters" for the first time, dumbfounded. She was a little scared, but deep down, a hint of excitement to try it out also emerged. In the short time since being summoned, Lin Muyang had quickly brought her level to 25 and given her a few basic skill books suitable for mages to learn.

However, when truly facing those ferocious monsters roaring and charging over, Su Daji, who had grown up in a closed tower and had never even dealt with a mouse, still instinctively felt fear. She was like a frightened little fox, subconsciously shrinking towards Lin Muyang, her hands clutching his arm tightly, her little face buried behind his shoulder, only revealing a pair of watery big eyes, cautiously observing the battle situation.

Lin Muyang let her be, glad for the ease.

While monitoring the battle to ensure there were no accidents, he leisurely felt the soft sensation against his arm, and his fingers unconsciously stroked Su Daji's fluffy, large fox tails that had actively wrapped around him.

That fluffy, soft touch, the smooth fur, carrying the young lady's body heat and a faint, unique sweet scent, made what would have been a tedious leveling process incredibly pleasant.

Watching swaths of monsters vanish into dust under the skills of the young ladies, massive amounts of experience points flowed into Su Daji like specks of light, causing the white light of leveling up to flash frequently on her. Her level soared as if riding a rocket; this sense of achievement from "raising" her was truly extraordinary.

"Come to think of it, the National Treasury seems to store quite a few mage-type origin skill books?" Lin Muyang began to think about his follow-up training plan during a lull in the battle.

Previously, because the team's core damage dealer was the dark-element Elabess, he had prioritized dark-attribute skills when exchanging for skill books.

But now, with a Sorceress like Su Daji, who could learn mage skills of all elements and whose talent was extremely skewed towards control, the value of those previously ignored mage skill books from other elements—especially control, illusion, and support types—became prominent.

As more young ladies were summoned, how to reasonably allocate resources, bring out each young lady's strengths, and build a fully functional team capable of handling various situations became a problem Lin Muyang needed to carefully consider.

This was the charm and challenge of the Summoner profession—you possess not just your own strength, but the potential of an entire team.

Ordinary Summoners usually have to reach level 30 or even later, possessing a sufficient number and strength of summons to form a squad that initially has tank, damage, and support functions, before they can possibly attempt to challenge a Dungeon independently.

Moreover, because summons are difficult to cultivate and team configurations are hard to perfect, solo grinding in the early stages remains fraught with difficulties.

Many Summoners only truly begin to exert their power when they reach level 40 or 50, or even 60 or 70, having accumulated enough resources and summoned powerful partners to be considered risen.

Precisely because of this, in some high-difficulty team Dungeons that require a breakthrough, powerful Summoners are sometimes specifically recruited into the team. A single one of them is equivalent to adding a small team, allowing for an advantage in terms of headcount limitations.

However, most powerful Summoners are used to acting alone or have their own fixed teams, and the cost to hire them is usually steep.

As for those Summoners with ordinary talents and unremarkable summons, they are often in an awkward position, their combat power not even matching that of single-talent powerhouses of the same level, and naturally, few people seek them out.

In comparison, Lin Muyang's starting point was ridiculously high. From the very beginning of his class change, he possessed the ability to lead his summons to grind solo.

Now that he has reached level 70, under the terrifying amplification of various God-Tier Auras, the true combat power of him and the young ladies can no longer be measured by conventional levels.

He secretly evaluated that if all combat-oriented Auras were fully activated, purely from the perspective of attribute values, his and the main young ladies' panel attributes could likely rival top-tier powerhouses around level 150.

If it were a life-or-death struggle, relying on the comprehensiveness of his Auras and tactical coordination, it would not be impossible to defeat an SSS-Rank Talent powerhouse around level 180.

"However, according to information provided by Liu Hongyuan, for this national Summoner Competition, there are even Summoners approaching level 200 from Jingdu City who have signed up..." Lin Muyang calmly analyzed his potential opponents. "To reach this level within the age limit of 75, their talent, resources, and opportunities must be absolutely the top of the top."

"As for me now, if I set aside the 'off-field' weakening effect of my Auras and only compare the raw, frontal strength of the summons themselves, I might be slightly weaker than the opponent."

After all, the gap in base attributes brought by levels, coupled with decades or even a century of accumulation, means the opponent is likely wearing a full set of legendary-grade gear or even possessing one or two pieces of mythic grade equipment.

In terms of base attributes provided by equipment and the base damage/effect of skills, the opponent would be several times higher than the highest-level equipment Lin Muyang can currently use. With layer upon layer of stacking, the final total combat power gap could reach several dozen times over.

Of course, this is a comparison within the framework of the "competition rules." If it were an unrestricted encounter in the wild, Lin Muyang would be confident in easily reversing this attribute gap by relying on the comprehensive amplification and targeted weakening of his God-Tier Auras.

But the rules of the Summoner Competition restrict Summoners to only applying buffs to their own summons and not directly weakening opponents. This means he must ensure that his young ladies still possess sufficiently powerful frontal combat capability in a "fair" buffing environment.

From this perspective, "Origin Skill" became his most advantageous breakthrough point at the moment.

Origin Skills have an extremely high growth ceiling and are not restricted by conventional equipment levels. More importantly, under the terrifying bonuses of his Auras, the speed at which his young ladies level up their Origin Skills far exceeds that of ordinary people.

"Raising an Origin Skill to level 20 is roughly equivalent in effect to the strength of a level 100 mythic grade skill. Raising it to level 30 can rival mythic grade skills around level 150, or even be comparable to the power of a level 200 legendary-grade skill." Lin Muyang calculated in his heart, "Although raising an Origin Skill to level 40 seems unreachable, raising it to level 30 is not an impossible task for us."

"As long as the core Origin Skills of the main young ladies can reach level 30, combined with epic-grade equipment and my buffs, our frontal combat power will be enough to secure victory in the national competition." Thinking of this, Lin Muyang's goal became clearer.

Thus, he spent the entire afternoon focused on leading Su Daji to level up quickly. Under the high-efficiency Dungeon grinding rhythm, Su Daji's level soared like she was riding a rocket, shooting from level 25 all the way to level 57! By evening, everyone returned to Ziyun Mountain Villa.

After dinner, Lin Muyang logged into the National Treasury system again. This time, his goal was clear. He directly selected three spell-type origin skill books for Su Daji in the t1 level 【origin skill book】 category: one 【Soul Bewitching Curse】 to enhance group control effects, one 【Mind Capture Technique】 to increase single-target control duration and resistance penetration, and one 【Mirage Phantom】 which was more support-oriented, capable of creating illusions to interfere with the battlefield and providing teammates with a short-term evasion bonus.

After applying for these three skill books, Lin Muyang took out the six "tears of the angel" he had already prepared and integrated them into Su Daji's body. The pure power of light sublimation washed over her talent origin, pushing the "Overthrowing Cities and Nations" talent to leap toward a higher level from SSS-Rank Talent.

Soon, a faint pink halo appeared around Su Daji, and her Aura became deeper and more infectious. Her talent successfully promoted to sub-god level, the mental control effect and duration bonuses were further improved, and the penalty for halved control effects on non-flesh-and-blood units was also reduced.

Immediately after, Lin Muyang called for Gui Wanwan.

"Xiao Wan, come help out again and 'optimize' Daji's talent as well." He said to the Yama Maiden.

Gui Wanwan drifted over, her pale little face wearing her habitual laziness and a hint of mischievous, wicked-fun smile. She extended her slender fingers, gray-white nether power swirling at her fingertips, and tapped gently on Su Daji's forehead.

"Yamas Fate Alteration, activate."

Su Daji's body trembled slightly, feeling something deeper, something related to the essence of her talent, being subtly adjusted and optimized. In her naturally enchanting eyes, pink light swirled, becoming more vivid and elusive.

When everything ended, Su Daji could clearly feel that her control over mental power was more adept; certain subtle feelings of stagnation in her talent had disappeared, and its operation had become more rounded and natural. Although the base effects did not undergo earth-shattering changes, the overall potential and applicability had been improved.

A Sorceress with limitless potential, specializing in mental control, the Nine-tailed Fox Maiden Su Daji, was growing at an astonishing speed. Before long, she would become an indispensable, powerful crowd-control core in the team, complementing Lilia's violent output, Seraphina's lethal assassination, Elabess's area suppression, and Ao Qingyan's frontal breakthrough, building a more perfect and powerful combat system.