The existence of the Armor of Ruin gave Shi Feng quite a headache.
Since he wasn't at the World Peak, there was no suppressive force from the World Peak to help purge the sinister energy. Although the armor had recovered somewhat and the Ruin Domain had grown stronger, a new problem had emerged.
The suppression from the power of ruin on Shi Feng himself had intensified.
It had originally suppressed his basic attributes by fifty percent, but now it suppressed them by a full sixty percent. He no longer dared to raise it carelessly. If he continued purging the sinister energy inside, the suppression might grow even stronger, and that would leave him in tears.
To be safe, he decided to have Ceruola take a look first.
When he arrived at Ceruola's forge, it was the same as always — a quiet little wooden cabin with no visitors, the sound of hammering ringing out from within. Nothing remarkable on the outside.
But stepping through the door revealed an entirely different world. The mana density inside the cabin was so thick that even Zero Wing City couldn't compare. Ceruola was currently at the furnace, smelting materials.
One had to admit that a Grandmaster Blacksmith was on a completely different level from a Master Blacksmith. Master Blacksmiths used controlled flames to continuously refine materials, but Ceruola directly manipulated three layered magic arrays to first pour in a massive amount of mana, then used flames to separate and purify — the quality of the resulting materials was so exceptional they could serve as auxiliary components on their own.
Spotting Shi Feng walk in, Ceruola glanced at him. Even though Ceruola wasn't a combat-oriented NPC, Shi Feng felt as though his very soul was being laid bare.
"It's been a while. Looks like you finally found some divine power that can cleanse that sinister force. Pity you didn't get enough to fully purify it." Ceruola shook her head slightly at Shi Feng, then asked, "So, what brings you here? If you're looking to resolve the ruin power's suppression on you, I'm afraid there's nothing I can do. Your best bet is to collect as much divine power as you can and purge the sinister energy inside as soon as possible. Otherwise, this thing will attract even more beastmen, and even hiding inside a city won't be enough to stop them from coveting this power."
"Even a city can't hold them off if enough time passes?" Shi Feng's heart skipped a beat.
He hadn't expected that partially cleansing the sinister energy from the Armor of Ruin could produce such a terrifying result. If that was really the case, he would have nowhere left to hide.
"Respected Lady Ceruola, are you saying that once I gather enough divine power, I can escape this predicament?" Shi Feng asked curiously.
The reason he had prioritized the Armor of Ruin was that it attracted beastmen to hunt him down, preventing him from moving freely in the wild. Many of his plans had been stifled, leaving him feeling trapped and frustrated.
If this problem couldn't be solved, he wouldn't be able to do anything going forward.
"Probably. The power of ruin is spreading because the guiding effect within the armor itself was lost. If the materials can be restored, it should be possible to contain the ruin power." Even Ceruola sounded uncertain.
Hearing this, Shi Feng let out a sigh of relief. He then took out the Armor of Ruin and clicked on it to begin absorbing the Divine Crystals from his inventory.
The moment he activated it, one High-Tier Divine Crystal and one ordinary Divine Crystal in his bag shattered instantly, transforming into wisps of golden mist that flowed into the Armor of Ruin.
Once all the golden mist had been absorbed, billowing streams of pitch-black energy erupted from the armor. As the dark energy began to corrode everything around it, Ceruola started in alarm and hastily activated the magic arrays within the cabin.
The corrosive black energy was immediately compressed and forced to stop eating away at the surroundings.
Although the corrosion had ceased, the black energy showed no signs of dissipating. Instead, it began to condense. In less than five seconds, the mist-like dark energy had coalesced into a solid black energy sphere that hovered silently in midair, radiating a pressure that made one's heart quake.
"What in the world is this?" Shi Feng stared fixedly at the black sphere, a shock he couldn't put into words surging through him.
The pressure it exuded felt like standing before a colossal beast with its maw wide open — the slightest movement might cause him to be swallowed whole. Even he found himself frozen in place, utterly powerless to do anything but watch.
Beyond the hovering black sphere, the Armor of Ruin resting on the stone table seemed to have come alive. Shi Feng could clearly sense a faint pulse of life emanating from it, as though the armor before him wasn't some lifeless object but a living, breathing being.
With the sinister energy gone, the magic runes on the Armor of Ruin blazed with brilliant radiance, illuminating the entire cabin. The mana inside seemed to freeze solid, with not the slightest hint of flow.
But this effect lasted only a few brief seconds before the cabin returned to normal. The Armor of Ruin, however, had been completely transformed — its appearance and aura had undergone a dramatic change. Even simply resting on the stone table, it radiated a terrifying power so immense that the rock-hard table couldn't withstand it and began to crumble.
"Is this the true power of the Armor of Ruin?" Shi Feng watched the stone table disintegrate at a speed visible to the naked eye, at a loss for words.
Ceruola was a genuine Grandmaster Blacksmith!
Everything inside the cabin might have looked plain and simple, but not a single item was ordinary. Even the stone table before them was extraordinary — crafted entirely from Fire Essence Stone, not only incredibly hard but also one of the finest anti-mana materials in existence. Yet it couldn't even hold the Armor of Ruin without breaking apart. It was simply unbelievable.
As the Fire Essence Stone table continued to disintegrate, Ceruola finally took action.
Streams of golden divine runes formed before her eyes. What would be extraordinarily difficult incantations for players came effortlessly to Ceruola. In an instant, a quadruple-layered magic array materialized beside the Armor of Ruin.
The appearance of the array finally halted the armor's destruction of the stone table, but the array itself crackled and popped violently, as though the Armor of Ruin was furiously tearing it apart.
"Interesting." Ceruola's eyes lit up as she watched the gradually collapsing array, her gaze fixed on the armor like an explorer discovering a new continent. "Remarkable! Truly remarkable! Even a quadruple void magic array can't contain it. The Beastman Emperor truly poured his heart and soul into forging this nation-protecting divine artifact back then."
Shi Feng was equally stunned watching the quadruple magic array collapse.
A quadruple magic array!
Those were formations that even Legendary monsters couldn't break. Yet a single piece of equipment had shattered one so easily. No wonder the Ruin set was known as a Legendary Set.
And this was the armor in its damaged state. One could only imagine how powerful the founding Beastman Emperor had been when wearing it in its prime. The rumors of him clashing with gods didn't seem like empty boasting after all.
"I can't suppress the power radiating from this Armor of Ruin anymore," Ceruola said, glancing at Shi Feng with a smile. "Would you like to take the armor with you, or would you prefer I reforge it for you right now?"
"Take it with me?" Shi Feng considered for a moment. If even Ceruola couldn't handle it, what chance did he have? "I'll trouble you with the reforging then, Lady Ceruola."