“Oh la la! See, see? The cutest little loli Guoguo wasn’t lying, was she?” Guoguo’s smug laughter rang out — undeniably clear and pleasing to the ear, yet somehow, at the very same time, it stirred an urge to clap a hand over her mouth.
Ye Tianxie paid her no mind. His gaze fell, almost tangibly, on the massive thing his most precious possession had transformed into, his fairly calm expression masking a shock that ran deeper and deeper.
He could actually see its attributes — and its name, incredibly, was…
The Hour of Eternal Fate!
“This world’s energy core — the Hour of Eternal Fate — has vanished, drifted off to who knows where. Without the power of the Hour of Eternal Fate, the sealing force of the Tower of Fate has finally crumbled apart, and the Eight Demon Kings have all escaped. The demonic energy spilling out has begun to affect every land, until even the gentlest of animals has turned savage…”
Those words the leg-petrified old woman had murmured to herself echoed through his mind. The very first thing she’d named was this — the Hour of Eternal Fate — this world’s power core?
And what shocked him even more was that this thing called the world’s power core turned out to be… a weapon!
The Hour of Eternal Fate (Broken) — Use Requirement: None. Grade: Immortal Spirit.
The power core of the World of Fate, of unknown, mysterious origin and unknown, mysterious power. Currently in a broken, incomplete state, its entire Fate Core lost. Has been forcibly bound to a master. Master: Xietian. Cannot be traded, cannot be dropped, cannot be stolen, cannot be discarded.
Attributes: Attack +50; Attack +5%; all four basic attributes +10. Normal attacks deal damage to all targets within attack range simultaneously.
Skill — Blessing of Fate: Passive. The master of the Hour of Eternal Fate receives Fate’s blessing, raising the innate fixed attributes: Luck +10, Comprehension +10, Charm +10. (Forcibly applied; effect cannot be turned off. Unless the Hour of Eternal Fate leaves the body, the effect will not vanish even when unequipped.)
Skill — The Seven Kills of Fate: Using the sanctioning power of the Hour of Eternal Fate, delivers seven consecutive, differing Judgments of Fate upon the target. The Judgment effects cannot be resisted and cannot be stacked. Attack range unknown. Skill cooldown unknown.
First Kill: Life Judgment — Blood Reaver. Effect unknown. Costs 100 MP. Fate Core missing — unusable.
Second Kill: Mana Judgment — Mana Reaver. Effect unknown. Costs 200 MP. Fate Core missing — unusable.
Third Kill: Heavenstar Judgment — God Rend. Effect unknown. Costs 400 MP. Fate Core missing — unusable.
Fourth Kill: Guardian Judgment — Venom Corrosion. Effect unknown. Costs 800 MP. Fate Core missing — unusable.
Fifth Kill: Life-and-Death Judgment — Lost Soul. Effect unknown. Costs 1600 MP. Fate Core missing — unusable.
Sixth Kill: Yin-Yang Judgment — Soul Slayer. Effect unknown. Costs 3200 MP. Fate Core missing — unusable.
Seventh Kill: Destiny Judgment — Heaven’s Execution. Effect unknown. Costs 9999 MP. Fate Core missing — unusable.
Forbidden Skill — Fate’s Forbidden Sin · Heaven-Slaughter: Effect unknown. Fate Core missing — unusable.
Ye Tianxie: “!!!!”
Gripping this strange weapon named the Hour of Eternal Fate — the one that had bound him as its master by force, without his consent — his hand actually trembled faintly. The attack power it granted surpassed that of an ordinary Level 20 weapon, and it added a flat 40 points across the four basic attributes — each level gave 5 free attribute points, so the 40 it tacked on was the equivalent of jumping 8 levels straight! More formidable still was that special attribute noted at the end: it could turn a normal attack into an area-of-effect attack, striking every target within range. He’d never seen an attribute like that even among the strongest weapons of Skyholder or Slaying Gods. And its grade — Immortal Spirit! Ye Tianxie wasn’t the least bit surprised. The full 30 points of fixed attributes granted by Blessing of Fate alone made it wholly worthy of an Immortal Spirit rating! One had to understand that raising fixed attributes was extraordinarily difficult, and equipment that came with fixed attributes was rarer still. Take Skyholder: even a legendary-grade accessory added no more than 3 points of fixed attributes at the very most.
And this Hour of Eternal Fate granted an unbelievable 30!
Pale, Steel, Bronze, Silver, and Gold made up the low-to-high grading of equipment in the World of Fate, with Gold serving as a watershed in that ladder. Beyond it came, each rarer than the last, Immortal Spirit, Heavenly Radiance, Divine Mystery, Holy Annihilation, and Forbidden. These ten names made up the full grade-ladder of every piece of gear in the World of Fate.
From Gold onward, beginning with Immortal Spirit, most gear started to possess uniqueness — proof enough of how precious anything above Gold truly was. A single Immortal Spirit item was the yearning countless players dreamed of; owning a single Heavenly Radiance item was enough to run rampant across the world; a Divine Mystery item was a balance-shattering existence, its odds of appearing minuscule; a Holy Annihilation item was the stuff of legend, seen by precious few. And a Forbidden item… that could only be a misty, illusory legend. Those two words — “Forbidden” — meant it shouldn’t appear at all, lest it throw this world’s balance into disorder.
And yet, at the very earliest stage of the game’s earliest days, his hand held an Immortal Spirit item. He could well imagine the violent tremor it would send through the world if word ever got out that someone had already obtained an Immortal Spirit item.
But even so, none of that was what he cared about most. What weighed on him more was this… Why would the thing she left behind show up here — and out of it come a bizarre little girl, and this Hour of Eternal Fate that had lost its power core?
“Oh la la! Master, isn’t it super cool? Hehe, this is my gift to master. Does master like it?”
Guoguo’s voice startled Ye Tianxie out of his daze. The corner of his mouth twitched faintly… Inconceivable as this all is, this was my thing to begin with — since when did it become a gift from you!
“Master, can you give me a lollipop to eat now? I really want one… I really, really want one…”
Little Guoguo swayed her body lightly, and it had to be said, her petite figure gave off a breath-stealing loveliness when it swayed, her voice enough to melt the very bones in one’s body. Ye Tianxie nearly caved. This little girl clearly didn’t actually want the lollipop she’d heard about from who-knows-where — she wanted to satisfy her bizarre pride as a loli by eating one…
“What’s the Fate Core?” Ye Tianxie asked.
“The Fate Core, hmm… Yee-yaa! Master won’t give me a lollipop, so I won’t tell master!” Guoguo’s lips pushed out in a slight pout, and the body that had been all giggles a moment ago switched in a flash to a puffed-up, indignant pose.
“…You call me master, so you have to do as I say!”
“Yee-yaa? Why do I have to do as you say just because I call you master?”
“…Do you even know what ‘master’ means?”
“Nope!”
“…Then why do you call me master?!”
“Nope, dunno!”
“!@#$%…”
(End of Chapter 11)