96: Chapter 96 Negative Effects

Lin Muyang focused his gaze on the [Super Speed Growth] that had been enhanced by "Yamas Fate Alteration."

The basic effect of this Aura was originally very simple: upon activation, the experience points gained from killing monsters were increased tenfold.

At this moment, as the brand-new description text came into view, a look of surprise and delight could not help but appear on Lin Muyang's face.

【Super Speed Growth (God-Tier Aura · Yamas Fate Alteration): Upon activation, the experience points gained by you and all your summons increase from 10 times → 35 times!】

【Negative Effect (Highlighted in Red): While this Aura is active, you will automatically become the "center of attention in the crowd," and your Stealth Level will be -12.】

Its positive effect, the experience gain multiplier, had leaped from ten times to a staggering thirty-five times!

What did this mean?

It meant that from this moment on, the efficiency of Lin Muyang and the young ladies in grinding monsters for levels would be more than three times faster than before!

Originally, after combining it with Elena's special skill, he could enjoy a twenty-fold experience bonus.

And now... this number would skyrocket to seventy times!

"Doesn't this mean that clearing a suitable secret realm might allow me to level up directly?" Lin Muyang felt a wave of exhilaration.

Originally, starting from level 50, the experience points required for leveling up had increased significantly again, basically requiring three to four secret realm runs to gain a single level.

Now, however, the efficiency was even higher than when he was pushing from level 40 to 50!

However, amidst his joy, Lin Muyang also noticed the negative effect attached to the Aura after "Yamas Fate Alteration."

This description looked a bit unserious no matter how he looked at it.

"The most handsome guy in the crowd? Stealth level minus twelve?" Lin Muyang was somewhat speechless.

To be fair, if this negative effect were placed on other Class Transferees who relied on stealth and concealment abilities, it would be absolutely fatal.

Let alone a negative twelve stealth level, even a negative one could mean the difference between life and death at a critical moment.

But for Lin Muyang, this negative impact was almost negligible!

If he didn't actively use stealth, with his already outstanding appearance, coupled with the fact that he was always followed by several young ladies of peerless beauty, it would be hard not to be the center of attention.

And when he activated the Divine Concealment Aura, that high bonus of 100 levels of stealth, even after deducting twelve levels, still left him with 88 levels!

100-level stealth could not be seen through by anyone, and 88-level stealth was equally impossible for anyone on this Blue Star to detect!

"It seems this 'Yamas Fate Alteration' ability is indeed excessively powerful," Lin Muyang marveled internally.

"However, this randomly appearing negative effect is still a bit off-putting... If I had an endless supply of boss souls, I would have to make her modify it repeatedly until I rolled a result with absolutely no negative effects, or at least negligible ones."

He thought about it again; collecting boss souls was not easy either.

The fastest way, naturally, was to kill powerful bosses of epic-grade, legendary-grade, or even mythic grade.

Killing bosses of these grades could yield three, six, or ten souls respectively.

"Right, there's also the seabed." Lin Muyang recalled that vast and perilous region.

"Countless powerful monster bosses sleep on the seabed, and because of the unique environment, few people go there. That is the true treasure trove for collecting souls quickly... However, at my current level, while I can handle it, the killing efficiency might not be high enough, and traveling there is time-consuming."

Lin Muyang temporarily suppressed the urge to head to the seabed immediately.

What was most important right now was still to level up as quickly as possible.

Of course, after obtaining Gui Wanwan, the young lady with the "Yamas Fate Alteration" ability, Lin Muyang had a clearer outlook on the future.

This ability was almost equivalent to allowing one's innate potential to break through to a huge new level beyond the original foundation!

However, because his own talent was a more unique God-Tier talent composed of multiple independent Auras, each Aura needed to be individually enhanced through "Fate Alteration."

Wanting to enhance all the God-Tier Auras was undoubtedly a long and massive project, appearing somewhat out of reach.

But Lin Muyang could prioritize enhancing the most commonly used and core Auras, such as those providing key bonuses like ten-fold attack, ten-fold defense, and ten-fold speed.

"The effect is very good." Lin Muyang was in a pleasant mood; he tightened his grip slightly on the slim shoulders of the Yama Maiden in his arms and praised her with a smile.

"That's only natural." Gui Wanwan was not shy at all; instead, she leaned further into Lin Muyang's embrace, lifted her pale yet exquisite little face, and with a hint of slyness in her grey eyes, asked, "How about it, Master, how do you plan to reward me?"

"You claim to be over level 70,000, and I'm just a 'small fry' at level 50; what kind of decent reward could I possibly give you?" Lin Muyang shook his head and said half-jokingly, "I'm afraid you wouldn't even look twice at anything I could offer."

"That's not true." Hearing this, a faint, bitter smile that didn't quite match her usual eccentric self flashed across Gui Wanwan's face.

"Actually... I'm very poor. When I was summoned here, I was almost completely empty-handed, with nothing at all..."

As she spoke, her expression appeared somewhat dejected.

Under Lin Muyang's questioning, she finally recounted some things about herself, albeit in fragments.

It turned out that this young lady was originally a gifted genius of the Ghost Race.

But she also had an older sister who was equally brilliant and naturally had a superior affinity and control over the power of the Underworld.

Their Ghost Race possessed a special constitution, allowing them to cultivate and improve their strength by absorbing the energy of the Underworld, and even, at specific spacetime nodes, use the power of the Underworld to perform limited world travel.

Calculated according to the leveling system of her original world, Gui Wanwan's strength did indeed correspond to the staggering number of "over 70,000 levels."

But the key was that her relationship with her sister had never been harmonious since childhood.

After a fierce conflict, she was sealed away by her sister, who possessed deeper strength and used even greater power...

It wasn't that her talent was inferior to her sister's; it was purely because her sister was older, had cultivated for longer, and had accumulated a cultivation base that far exceeded her own, which led to her being no match at all.

"In other words..." Lin Muyang organized his thoughts and summarized, "Even though you currently bear the title of 'over 70,000 levels,' because of the seal, the strength you can actually exert is far less than that?"

"And after being summoned to this world by me, you can gradually impact and break the seal by leveling up and becoming stronger in this world?"

Gui Wanwan nodded, tacitly accepting this statement.

Lin Muyang was speechless for a moment.

What was going on?

Why was the background of every young lady he summoned more "extraordinary" than the last?

Previously, there was the Succubus Maiden Elabess who had been suppressed in the Dark Abyss, there was the dragon girl Ao Qingyan born in the Age of Dharma Decline where the world's vital energy was exhausted, and now here came a genius young lady of the Ghost Race sealed by her own sister?

When Lin Muyang curiously asked what irreconcilable conflict she had with her sister, the young lady pursed her lips tightly, her eyes shifting, clearly unwilling to talk more about it.

If Lin Muyang had forcefully ordered her as her master, she might have spoken, but after thinking about it, Lin Muyang decided not to do so in the end.

After all, to be able to seal a genius like her at "over 70,000 levels," her sister's strength was likely even more unfathomable.

Knowing about this matter currently didn't have much practical use and might even add unnecessary trouble.

It was better to wait until they had spent more time together and their relationship was closer, then let her decide whether to confide in him.

After all, she had just been summoned, and they couldn't yet claim to have a very deep bond.

Next, Lin Muyang took this newly arrived Yama Maiden to the villa's basement to check on the phoenix egg that was quietly undergoing Nirvana and accumulating power within a golden cocoon of light.

"How come... you have such rare races here?" Gui Wanwan looked at the giant egg swirling with mysterious light, unable to help but widen her eyes, her tone filled with surprise.

"Dragon girl, Phoenix Heavenly Maiden... these beings, even in the dozens of different worlds I have traveled through, almost only exist in legends; I have never seen them with my own eyes~"

"Who told me I'm lucky and am a Friend of Beautiful Girls?" Lin Muyang made a joke, then, thinking of something, asked with a touch of curiosity, "By the way, when you first saw me, did you feel an inexplicable sense of familiarity?"

"Hmm... if I recall carefully, it seems there really was a little bit." Gui Wanwan tilted her head and thought for a moment, giving an affirmative answer that surprised Lin Muyang, but then she immediately showed a somewhat helpless expression.

"But this feeling is very vague, and I can't explain why."

"That's strange." Lin Muyang rubbed his chin, somewhat puzzled.

"Then why does that girl Lilia always seem to be 'at odds' with me?"

"Is this even considered being at odds?" Hearing this, Gui Wanwan couldn't help but cover her mouth and giggle.

"Master, your standards are a bit high. In the worlds I've been to, two of them also had the Elf Race. As far as I know, the Elf Race generally holds considerable wariness or even malice toward humans, and their long-standing hatred is very high!"

"Like Lilia, just throwing little tantrums and getting angry with you, already belongs to the extremely rare type among elves whose attitude can be considered very 'friendly'~"

"There's such a thing?" Lin Muyang suddenly realized.

No wonder the Elf Princess Lilia's attitude toward him was always awkward, sometimes good and sometimes "bad."

It turned out that this involved deep-seated racial estrangement.

This made him curious; if there were a chance in the future to go with Lilia to the Elf world she originally came from, would the scene be such that everywhere they went, they would be watched by countless elves with hostile gazes?

"By the way, regarding the world travel you mentioned, how exactly does it work?" Lin Muyang brought the topic back, continuing to ask for advice from the "knowledgeable" young lady in front of him.

He couldn't say much about other aspects, but when it came to world travel and seeing the multiverse, asking her was definitely the right choice.

"The specific method varies from person to person, and from race to race and ability to ability..." Gui Wanwan organized her thoughts and replied.

"However, in my own case, as long as I can restore my strength to a level equivalent to '100 levels' in this world, I should be able to reconnect and use the unique power of the 'Other Shore' of the Underworld to perform relatively stable world travel."

100 levels? Lin Muyang calculated in his heart.

According to the exaggerated experience multiplier he currently possessed, grinding to 100 levels didn't seem like it would take too long.

By then, perhaps he could really take the young ladies to "revisit" their former worlds, or explore brand new, unknown worlds.

"However, when I truly reach level 100 in this world, I'm afraid I'll basically be invincible on Blue Star, right?" Lin Muyang smiled lightly, his tone carrying a hint of confidence.

"Isn't it enough now?" Gui Wanwan asked with some curiosity.

"I just briefly asked Elabess and the others, and the Aura abilities you possess are inconceivable individually, and even more terrifying when combined."

"If the level isn't high enough, it's ultimately not secure enough." Lin Muyang shook his head, his expression becoming more serious.

"The water in this world is very deep, and quite a few top experts have already mastered ultimate destruction spells known as Forbidden Spells."

"That is a terrifying power capable of triggering natural disasters and altering terrain."

"If someone locks onto me from afar and throws a Forbidden Spell, with my current defensive capabilities, it would be very difficult to resist it head-on."

"Although I have life-saving Auras like the 'Holy Hourglass' that can create short periods of invincibility, I can't rely on those few seconds of invincibility for my whole life, right?"

"If I always have to dodge threats of that level, I will never be able to focus on developing and becoming stronger quickly."

Having been in this world for eighteen years, Lin Muyang had gained some understanding of the world's true top-tier power through various channels.

Forbidden Spells were currently one of the greatest threats to him.

Only when he could rely on his own attributes and Aura buffs to withstand a Forbidden Spell head-on without being harmed could he be considered truly invincible.

By his own estimation, according to his current development speed, perhaps he wouldn't even need to reach level 100 to possess strong enough physical attributes; combined with numerous defensive God-Tier Auras, he could reach a truly "invincible" level.

But now, it was indeed still lacking a bit.

Even with the God-Tier defensive Aura activated, the combined defensive power of him and the young ladies had not yet reached the level where they could ignore the bombardment of a Forbidden Spell.

Just as Lin Muyang and Gui Wanwan were chatting in the basement, in the distant Jingdu City, someone was traveling thousands of miles to find him.

The Old Sword Saint Liu Qingtian's most beloved granddaughter—Liu Hongyuan, carrying an urgent and important mission, arrived in Zhongnan City by private plane.

Through family connections, she contacted Shen Yanshan, who had considerable influence in Zhongnan City, and under his personal guidance, arrived at the office with a great view on the top floor of the Tianqi Tower.

She didn't know how to directly contact that peerless genius who had risen like a comet but was also mysterious and low-key.

However, now the upper echelons of the Xia Kingdom, or rather, her grandfather, the Old Sword Saint, believed that there was another matter of great importance that might require that genius's power to step forward and assist in solving once again.