“Oh la la! Guoguo’s Cottage, Guoguo’s Cottage — it’s a house named after cute little Guoguo’s cute little name! Oh la… Master, you’re so good to Guoguo!” Guoguo went whirling off like an excited butterfly, hollering, roaming through and inspecting every corner of the new home named after her. Ye Tianxie, meanwhile, stood rooted in place for a long, silent moment, seized by an urge to weep and finding no tears available.
Courtyard, loft, garden, pond, storehouse, even an orchard — the place had everything. And the three-story circular building at its center, lavishly and grandly appointed while still managing a fresh, understated elegance, was flatly stunning. Even in the real world it would have been hard to find a residence more luxurious than this, and few people could afford to live in one.
And a super-mansion like this had just been christened Guoguo’s Cottage.
Was he supposed to bring people here in the future and introduce it with a completely straight face: “This is my Guoguo’s Cottage”?
Well… the deed was done, and there was no point stewing over it. Having a home like this in this world was the sort of thing that would make a man laugh out loud in his sleep. What was there to complain about? Ye Tianxie shook his head with a helpless smile and followed after Guoguo, touring what was now his home in this world. When he’d finished, his conclusion came to two words:
Absolutely flawless.
Thinking it over, this obscenely luxurious new home had essentially dropped out of the sky… given that the Blood Phoenix hadn’t died by his hand in the first place.
The ground floor was a magnificent, brightly-lit hall — that hall alone was larger than his entire house in the real world. Ye Tianxie sat down beside a table of costly sandalwood, took hold of the shrunken Hour of Fate hanging at his chest, and watched it become the true Hour of Fate in his hand. With his other hand, he picked up the crimson feather… the Blood Feather.
“Guoguo. How do I put a Fate Core back into the Hour of Fate?” he asked, the weapon in one hand and the feather in the other.
“Mm… let me think.” Guoguo bit her finger, and then her eyes lit up. “I remember! It’s easy, you just touch the Blood Feather to the hollow that belongs to it. Wooow, Guoguo is so clever!”
Ye Tianxie ignored the last part entirely, then, testing, lifted the Blood Feather toward the topmost hollow on the Hour of Fate… the feather-shaped hollow that reflected a faint red light.
Sssss…
The instant the Blood Feather touched the hollow, a surge of power flung his hand back. A glow as thick and dark as blood blazed up from the point of contact, flashing so brightly that he flinched his head aside on reflex to spare his eyes. And at the same moment, an overwhelming stench of fresh blood drowned his sense of smell, and his brow knotted hard.
But both the crimson light and the smell of blood came suddenly and vanished just as suddenly. Before he could react properly, neither could be felt at all.
“Oh la! Master, look, it worked, it worked! Oh la la la… Guoguo really is the cleverest, the very cleverest!” Guoguo was so pleased with herself she practically floated into the ceiling. As a reward for her own cleverness, she plopped down onto Ye Tianxie’s shoulder, humming la-la-la, and generously produced a lollipop for herself.
Ye Tianxie turned back and looked. At the head of the Hour of Fate, the feather-shaped hollow had vanished, and in its place sat the Blood Feather, radiating its eerie crimson glow. The light wasn’t strong, and yet stare at it long enough and it began to hurt the eyes — and a strange, oppressive tightness would rise in the chest.
“Ding… Due to the infusion of new power, your Hour of Eternal Fate’s attributes have changed. The skill ‘Blood Sacrifice of Fate’ has been unlocked. The first kill of the ‘Seven Kills of Fate,’ ‘Blood Reaper,’ has been unlocked.”
The Hour of Fate, which had lost every one of its Fate Cores, had at last reclaimed one — and with the Blood Feather’s return, its power and its attributes changed accordingly.
Hour of Eternal Fate (Broken): Requirements: none. Grade: Immortal Spirit. The power-core of the World of Fate, of unknown, mysterious origin and unknown, mysterious power. Currently in a broken state due to the loss of its Fate Cores. Master-bound by force. Master: Xietian. Cannot be traded, dropped, stolen, or discarded.
Attributes: Attack +150. Attack +10%. All four basic attributes +20. Normal attacks deal damage to all targets within attack range simultaneously. 2% chance on attack to absorb the damage dealt as HP.
Skill — Gift of Fate: The master of the Hour of Eternal Fate receives the blessing of fate, raising the fixed talent attributes: Luck +15, Comprehension +15, Charm +15. (Forcibly applied; effect cannot be disabled. Unless the Hour of Eternal Fate leaves your person, the effect persists even while unequipped.)
Blood Sacrifice of Fate: Taking dwindling blood as an offering, it rouses a frenzy of energy. When HP is below 10%, attack power +100%. When HP is below 5%, attack power +200%. When HP is below 3%, attack power +300%. When HP is below 1%, attack power +400%. Forcibly triggered; cannot be canceled.
Seven Kills of Fate: Uses the judgment-power of the Hour of Eternal Fate to inflict seven successive and distinct judgments of fate upon a target. Judgment effects cannot be resisted and cannot be stacked. Attack range unknown. Cooldown unknown.
First Kill — Judgment of Life: Blood Reaper. Uses the judgment-power of the Hour of Eternal Fate to inflict a judgment of life upon a single target. Ignores level and grade, ignores any form of defense, and forcibly strips 10% of the target’s HP, with additional damage equal to a normal attack. Cannot be stacked on a single target. Costs 100 MP when triggered as part of “Seven Kills of Fate”; may also be used individually. When used individually, costs no MP and has no cooldown.
Second Kill — Judgment of Magic: Mana Reaper. Effect unknown. Costs 200 MP. Fate Core missing; cannot be used.
Third Kill — Judgment of Heaven’s Might: Divine Collapse. Effect unknown. Costs 400 MP. Fate Core missing; cannot be used.
Fourth Kill — Judgment of Guardianship: Venom Blight. Effect unknown. Costs 800 MP. Fate Core missing; cannot be used.
Fifth Kill — Judgment of Life and Death: Departed Soul. Effect unknown. Costs 1600 MP. Fate Core missing; cannot be used.
Sixth Kill — Judgment of Yin and Yang: Slain Spirit. Effect unknown. Costs 3200 MP. Fate Core missing; cannot be used.
Seventh Kill — Judgment of Heaven’s Mandate: Heaven’s Execution. Effect unknown. Costs 9999 MP. Fate Core missing; cannot be used.
Forbidden Technique — Fate’s Forbidden Sin: Heaven Slaughter. Effect unknown. Fate Core missing; cannot be used.
With the addition of a single Blood Feather, the Hour of Eternal Fate’s bonus attributes and its fixed attributes — the kind that ordinary equipment almost never grants — had both risen sharply, and it had gained a potent 2% lifesteal besides. And two skills had unlocked with the feather’s return… two skills, each of whose effects shook Ye Tianxie deeply. One was a berserk attack multiplier that scaled as his HP fell. The other was a forced strip of 10% of a target’s life, ignoring any defense and any grade.
Power granted by a Fate Core indeed. Either one of those skills, laid out in front of anyone, would have been enough to drain the color from their face. Especially Blood Sacrifice of Fate — on Ye Tianxie, of all people, that skill was going to be a genuine nightmare. And if its effect stacked with Frenzied Battle Intent, the horror of it hardly needed spelling out.
Gripping the Hour of Eternal Fate — one hollow fewer, one Blood Feather more, reborn as if new — Ye Tianxie’s hunger to find the remaining Fate Cores burned hotter still. He wanted to know every secret the Hour of Fate held, and above all the secrets concerning her. And he wanted to see just how mighty it would become once every core was gathered.
“Guoguo. The other Fate Cores — where are they scattered? You really don’t know?” Ye Tianxie tilted his gaze toward the thoroughly self-satisfied Guoguo.
“Nope!” Guoguo said thickly around her lollipop.
“Aren’t you the cleverest Guoguo in the world? How can you not know?” Ye Tianxie said with a wicked look. He’d finally found an opening to needle her.
“Of course I’m the cleverest, the very cleverest and cutest little loli in the world. But you’re the master! If Guoguo knew everything, what would we need a master for?”
That left him stewing in silence for a long moment, unable to produce a single word in rebuttal. Defeated, he gave up questioning her, thought for a bit, and unhurriedly drew a few pieces of equipment out of his pack. Now that he had a class — and a class that could wear the gear of any class at that — he could finally shed the novice clothes he’d been wearing since day one and put on something respectable.
The four pieces he took out were oddly uniform in color. They were all from the same set, dropped over several days of grinding Little Raccoons, all level 15 bronze gear. Even their names and stat lines followed the same template.
Resilient Pauldrons: Level 15 bronze equipment. Requirements: level 15, melee class. Defense +20. Strength +6. Constitution +5. A pauldron that feels quite hard to the touch; it ought to have decent defensive capability.
Resilient Legguards: Level 15 bronze equipment. Requirements: level 15, melee class. Defense +15. Strength +5. Constitution +5. A legguard that feels quite hard to the touch; it ought to have decent defensive capability.
Resilient Helm: Level 15 bronze equipment. Requirements: level 15, melee class. Defense +10. Strength +4. Constitution +4. A helm that feels quite hard to the touch; it ought to have decent defensive capability.
Resilient Boots: Level 15 bronze equipment. Requirements: level 15, melee class. Defense +10. Strength +3. Constitution +3. Movement speed +8. A boot that feels quite hard to the touch; it ought to have decent defensive capability.
He put on all four pieces from the raccoons and, full of anticipation, opened his attribute panel to look at where he now stood:
Character: Xietian
Level: 15
Class: Rebel-Boned Evil Dragon
Renown: 520 | Money: 1,453 gold
Hunger: 30/195
Basic attributes — Strength: 183. Constitution: 104. Agility: 74. Spirit: 74.
Fixed attributes — Luck: 17. Comprehension: 17. Charm: 27.
HP: 2,550
MP: 2,040
Physical attack: 679
Magic attack: 148
Physical defense: 245
Accuracy: 74
Evasion: 74
Reaction: 72
Perception: 53
Focus: 42
Attack speed: 100
Movement speed: 108
HP regen: 5 (automatically restores 5 HP per second). MP regen: 0.
Resistances — Fire: 23%. Water: 23%. Wind: 23%. Lightning: 28%. Earth: 23%. Light: 73%. Dark: 73%.
Skills: Frenzied Battle Intent, Netherfog, Dragon Rend Strike, Dragon Shadow Strike, Dragon Tornado Sevenfold Rend.
(End of Chapter 120)