19 Chapter19-Epic Equipment, The New Map, Dark Mausoleum!
[Ding! Synthesis successful, you have obtained the Gold ring — Moonlight Protection!]
[Ding! Synthesis successful, you have obtained the Platinum ring — Moonlight Blessing!]
[Ding! Synthesis successful, you have obtained the Diamond ring — Blessing of the Moon Goddess!]
[Ding! Synthesis successful, you have obtained the Epic ring — Kiss of the Moon Goddess!]
[Ding! Insufficient materials for further synthesis!]
In one breath, Howard managed to synthesize the ring up to Epic-tier, depleting all the equipment materials.
He hastily examined the properties of the Kiss of the Moon Goddess.
[Kiss of the Moon Goddess]
[Level: 1]
[Tier: Epic]
[Equipment Attribute Enhancements:]
[MP +1100]
[Spirit +300]
[Recover 100 MP per second]
[Special Effects: Moonlight Mana (When mana overflows, 10% of the recovered MP is converted to the wearer's HP),]
[Moonlight Protection (When the equipment holder is in the night, all attributes increase by 30%, and can grant immunity to five attacks and three skill effects),]
[Blessing of the Moon Goddess (At night, when the wearer casts a skill, there is a 3% chance of receiving the Blessing of the Moon Goddess, recovering 100% of the wearer's HP, and receiving an additional 50% experience points).]
Upon advancing to the Epic tier, the basic attributes didn't increase substantially, however, two new special effects were added, enhancing even the original effects significantly.
From granting immunity to three attacks in one night, it now offered protection against five attacks and the effects of three skills.
What does Immunity Skill Effect mean?
Skill attacks on a person can cause damage and special effects such as dizziness, paralysis, binding, knockback, and other control effects, as well as negative statuses like bleeding and poisoning.
With this special effect, Howard no longer had to worry about being controlled and killed in a chain of consecutive attacks.
Even faced with an assassin, he could resist the initial control effects and counterattack swiftly.
Not to mention the Moonlight Mana.
Now, Howard's MP recovery rate was incredibly fast; as long as he didn't encounter a monster that was impervious to attacks, he could virtually maintain full HP and MP levels at all times.
As for the Blessing of the Moon Goddess, the chance to fully restore HP and gain additional experience acquisition speed made it an excellent piece of equipment for monster hunting and leveling up.
"Epic equipment comes with such effects, wouldn't legendary and mythical equipment be even stronger?"
"I must earn more money, buy more equipment, and upgrade all equipment to Supreme Artifact level as soon as possible!"
In Howard's eyes, there was a hue of determination.
That old bastard Headmaster Jay, aiming to send Abby into the arms of another young master, would certainly plot against him.
Otherwise, Abby would never have transferred her affections!
In this world where the law of the jungle prevails, only by growing and becoming stronger could Howard protect himself and the people he loved.
Headmaster Jay was his first target.
After synthesizing both equipment and skills, Howard chose not to use the skills in the practice room to avoid being detected by people from the Magic Guild.
Before he could grow stronger, Howard did not want too many people to be aware of his strength.
He would not pretend to be a pig to eat a tiger, but he would also not flaunt his power openly for all to see.
The more cards he held to his chest, the greater his chances of survival.
Leaving the Magic Guild, Howard didn't go to spend a romantic night with Margaret; instead, he returned to his underground rental house and spent the night there.
The next day.
In the early morning, when Howard woke up, there was already a knocking at the door.
"Hey, Howard, are you home? Headmaster Jay, having learned about the last incident, is prepared to compensate all team members.
Especially after finding out that you saved everyone, the headmaster specifically instructed Mr. Sterling to take you for leveling up alone."
"Damn it, you guy, your luck is really too good."
Hearing the shouting, Howard couldn't help but raise his eyebrows slightly. He didn't believe that Headmaster Jay would be so kind-hearted.
Clearly, that Sterling must have been instructed by Headmaster Jay to kill him!
Single-handedly leading someone to level up?
That was a treatment reserved for S-level awakened individuals!
But to others, Howard was just an F-level awakened person.
Being able to summon a dragon was merely due to the aid of the equipment.
While other students had grown wary of the forces behind Howard, altering their attitudes towards him, Jay, being a headmaster with considerable strength, naturally wouldn't care.
This was why he continued to assign people to target Howard.
After a moment of hesitation, Howard chose not to refuse.
At this juncture, it wasn't time to sever ties with Headmaster Jay.
The real time to deal with Jay would come after delivering the message to that significant figure.
Thus, Howard dressed quickly, hastily opened the door, and followed the student who had come to call him to Soulspark Academy.
Upon arriving at the academy, many students were already prepared, including Margaret and Alec.
Especially Margaret; when she saw Howard, she scrutinized him up and down for a long while, her face finally losing its worried expression.
Regardless of Howard's talents, just his handsome face alone, his robust and muscular body, coupled with his unyielding and undying dragon, had engulfed her in a state of infatuation.
Knowing that Howard was training alone in the Silent Forest and hadn't returned the night before, she even rushed into the Silent Forest searching for him for a long time.
However, given the presence of other teachers and students at this time, it wasn't appropriate for Margaret to approach and say anything to Howard.
She could only fix her beautiful eyes sternly on him, conveying an intense gaze.
Sensing Margaret's gaze, Howard remained unfazed.
Instead, he hooked a smile at the corner of his mouth, blinking at her, which accelerated Margaret's heartbeat and made her quickly divert her eyes.
"Oh, my dear Howard, it's really great that you are fine."
Alec, having witnessed Howard's ruthless and experienced battle scenes, had developed a substantial fondness for Howard and rushed over to give him a bear hug.
This scene had countless girls brimming with envy; how they wished they could hug Howard just once.
If Howard was strong-armed, they wouldn't mind embracing him for a more intimate connection.
But Headmaster Jay was with furrowed brows, his gaze somber.
He couldn't believe that a waste who had only comprehended F-level talent could receive such affection from so many!
Consequently, his disdain extended to Alec as well.
"Alright, alright, welcome back safe and sound, Howard."
"Oh, my children, I am truly sorry for what happened before, for having you face the Enchanted Boar tide, being frightened and scared. This time, to make it up to you all, I have specially invited three LV 40 awakened individuals to take you to Silent Forest for leveling up."
"Especially our hero Howard, he will have the exclusive mentorship opportunity with a LV 50 awakened — the Boxing King, Sterling."
Even though Headmaster Jay wished nothing more than Howard's early demise deep down, his face bore a radiant smile, betraying no hint of his sinister thoughts to the others.
If Howard hadn't overheard the conversation between the Jeffers trio, he might have even doubted, wondering if he was framing Jay unjustly.
But when Howard noticed Sterling's mocking gaze fixed on him, he was certain, this was absolutely a plot by Jay!
The other students were oblivious to this, cheerfully shouting long lives for "Headmaster Jay".
Subsequently, the three LV 40 awakened individuals, along with Margaret and Alec, followed the group of students and left.
Sterling, on the other hand, led Howard towards a different area.
This infuriated Howard internally; this old bastard, in order to kill him, was actually taking him to a higher-level area — the Dark Mausoleum!
The Dark Mausoleum, a burial ground housing numerous corpses.
Before the advent of the Alternate World, it was a resting place for historically renowned figures and many who were buried with them as sacrificial offerings.
Once the Alternate World descended, these corpses were resurrected, endowed with remarkable strength.
Particularly, the bodies of historical heroes received immense empowerment, to the extent that even LV 80 awakened ones could potentially meet their end there.
Of course, that was the deeper areas.
If it was just the periphery, even a LV 50 awakened could thrive there.
Just based on this, it couldn't be affirmed with certainty that Sterling intended to kill him.
Keeping this in mind, Howard refrained from reckless actions, obediently following Sterling... until they entered the region of the Dark Mausoleum.
Whoo
whoo
whoo—
Gusts of eerie winds blew, with strange sounds resembling the cries and wails of ghosts, chilling even Sterling to his spine, causing him to abruptly halt.
"Tch tch tch, I initially wanted to go deeper. However, a chap like you isn't worthy of being buried deep in the Dark Mausoleum."
With cold words falling, Sterling donned his boxing gloves, loosening his wrists while eyeing Howard with a vicious smile.
Howard had already been on guard, hence, he wasn't surprised.
But just as Howard was about to make his move, he noticed a space rift emerging behind Sterling!
