The instant Shi Feng finished clicking the curse-lifting option, the crystalline hand bone suddenly burst forth with a purple-gold radiance that lit the entire room to brilliant clarity.
The ambient mana concentration began condensing at a rate visible to the naked eye.
"Incredible! Is this really the power of the Sage's Hand?" Shi Feng watched as misty mana formed all around him. His mind had never felt so clear and lucid, giving rise to an illusion of omnipotence.
As the misty mana gradually turned liquid, a sphere of water-like mana soon coalesced right before Shi Feng's eyes.
Within the mana sphere, a scene began to play out.
It was a world engulfed in flame. Thick black clouds blanketed the sky, and the roaring fire caused the air to crack and shatter at intervals. At the center flowed streams of magma, all glowing a searing white, giving off white-hot flames whose temperature seemed to warp even space itself.
Yet through the haze, one could just make out an enormous gate standing in the midst of the white-hot flames.
And amid those scorching white flames, a massive crimson figure moved about, wielding a trident. All the surrounding fire seemed to bow in submission before that weapon.
The scene lasted for roughly a minute before abruptly vanishing, and the room gradually returned to its original state. Only the Sage's Hand remained, floating silently in midair — but now adorned with several inscribed divine runes.
The attributes displayed by the Sage's Hand had undergone a significant change.
Cursed Sage's Hand — Legendary-grade item. Because the creator's dying wish went unfulfilled, it lingered after death, afflicting the Sage's Hand with a curse that stripped away all its power. Only by lifting the curse could its original abilities be restored. Having offered the Soul-merging Flower and received the Soul's Guidance, the curse had been weakened somewhat.
Skill: Soul of the Sage — assists the user in crafting items through guidance. Duration: one hour. Cooldown: three hours.
"What an absurd skill! Even just this initial stage of curse removal yields such heaven-defying abilities. No wonder it's called the ultimate treasure of alchemy." Shi Feng clicked his tongue softly as he examined the Sage's Hand's updated attributes.
The effect of the Soul of the Sage was likely no less valuable than the exceedingly rare Meditation Potion. The materials for Meditation Potions were incredibly precious, and only a very limited quantity could be produced. But the Soul of the Sage was a skill — it could be used indefinitely. While it only applied to Life players crafting items, if the outside world learned of it, people would fight tooth and nail to get their hands on it.
In the Divine Realm, if a player wanted to become a master-crafter, they relied on creating new items. But item creation was like wading through a river by feel — progress was painfully slow. With even a degree of guidance, however, the process became far easier, potentially allowing a player who was just a hair's breadth away from mastery to achieve it outright.
Right now, only a fraction of the Sage's Hand's abilities had been unlocked, yet the effect was already this remarkable. If it could be fully restored, it was no wonder that in his previous life, the Kingdom Sword's trading house had risen to the top ranks of the Dark Night Empire in such a short time. Master-crafters were, after all, the core competitive advantage of any trading house.
This made Shi Feng all the more eager to complete this epic main quest and obtain the complete Sage's Hand.
"However, the location of the World Forest is a serious problem." Shi Feng recalled the scene that had been displayed, and his brows furrowed.
The world of flames depicted would likely be unfamiliar to most players, requiring a great deal of exploration to locate. But for Shi Feng, who knew the Divine Realm well, seeing that fiery world — combined with the colossal monster and the trident within the flames — he immediately recognized where it was.
The Valley of Flame Demons!
It was a neutral map where Flame Demons resided — a world entirely of fire. The enormous creature in the vision was the Flame Demon King of the Valley, the final boss that ruled over the entire zone.
Because the Valley of Flame Demons was rich in Source Fire Ore and Magic Crystals, it had drawn the attention of every major guild. The Flame Demon King in particular — as one of the few World-class bosses that existed at the time — offered a Legendary-grade item fragment and a Guild Promotion Token as first-kill rewards. Every superpower sent massive armies to attempt the conquest, but in the end, all had returned in failure.
Back then, the Flame Demon King had been only Level 83. The raid teams from the major superpowers were generally Level 80 or above, uniformly second-tier Classes, yet none could withstand the Flame Demon King's overwhelming power. Without exception, every party was annihilated. It was not until players reached Level 100 and advanced to third-tier Classes that the Flame Demon King was finally defeated.
The main reason was not that the boss was unbeatable at the 80-odd level range. It was the environment — especially the area around the Flame Demon King. The scorching heat made it impossible for players to get close. Even with a full set of fire-resistance gear and high-grade fire-resistance potions, fighting there would cause HP to plummet. Constant group-wide healing from healers was essential.
Once players reached the third tier, not only did their stats and constitution improve dramatically, but their elemental resistances underwent a qualitative leap as well. This was the greatest difference between third-tier and second-tier Classes.
Only then had it been possible to slay the Flame Demon King.
Of course, Shi Feng only needed to reach the World Forest and open the World Gate — he didn't have to defeat the Flame Demon King. But the flames there were no joke. Even with high-grade fire-resistance potions, without someone continuously healing him, he wouldn't survive more than twenty seconds inside, let alone with a lively Flame Demon King running around.
In that scenario, he probably wouldn't last seven or eight seconds. How could he possibly open any World Gate?
"It seems the only way is to boost fire resistance."
After mulling it over, Shi Feng concluded that the fastest approach to opening the World Gate was to find a way to raise fire resistance. And not just for himself — he needed to raise it for an entire twenty-man team. Otherwise, with the Flame Demon King causing havoc, he wouldn't be able to do anything. He needed people who could hold the Flame Demon King off for at least a short while while he opened the World Gate.
There were essentially three methods for massively boosting a player's fire resistance.
The first was fire-resistance equipment. The second was fire-resistance potions. The third was advancing to a higher tier. The third was clearly unrealistic, so only the first and second remained.
High-grade fire-resistance potions posed no problem for the Candlelight Trading House. The real issue was acquiring large quantities of fire-resistance equipment — and not just any equipment, but gear that provided significant fire resistance. Without that, completing the mission would be impossible.
But obtaining a large stock of quality fire-resistance equipment in a short time was simply unrealistic. The vast majority of players had only just entered the Level 50 range. Team dungeons that dropped resistance gear were extremely scarce, making resistance equipment at this level incredibly rare — let alone good resistance equipment, which even the major guilds lacked in sufficient quantities.
Only when mainstream players reached Level 70 or above would resistance gear truly become more available.
"There's no other way. I'll have to go back for now and have Waterfall Rose and Bai Qingxue prioritize team dungeons that drop resistance gear." Shi Feng sighed.
He then put away the Sage's Hand and recalled Yan Ya, arranging the work that Yan Ya and the others would handle in Icebound City after his departure. After that, he took the Ice Resistance +6 gems, the sixty-odd thousand Magic Crystals he had obtained, and the massive haul of rare materials collected from both Icebound City and Cold Wind City — an entire Epic-grade spatial backpack's worth — and used a Guild Return Scroll to teleport directly back to the Divine Realm continent.