After Shi Feng finished chanting the incantation from the Ancient God's remnant pages, a five-layered magical circle appeared beneath Kate's feet. Kate stood there in his silver chain armor, two black iron heavy swords strapped to his back.
The instant the magical circle materialized, Shi Feng felt as though time itself had ground to a halt. Everything sank into a grayish-white void, and violent mana began climbing at an unimaginable rate.
Three times... six times... ten times...
The condensed mana was so terrifying that it seemed to drain every wisp of ambient mana from the surroundings, coalescing into droplets of liquid mana around Kate's body.
Under the guidance of the magical circle, these droplets of mana essence quickly enveloped the five drops of Soul Essence and flowed directly into Kate's forehead, merging completely with his soul.
As each drop of Soul Essence merged with Kate's soul, he couldn't help but let out agonized screams—screams so full of bone-deep pain that even an ordinary person could feel it. Once all five drops of Soul Essence had fully merged into his soul, a violent shockwave of energy erupted from Kate's body.
In that moment, Shi Feng could clearly sense that some kind of fundamental change had occurred in Kate. The feeling was akin to meeting him for the first time all over again, and Kate's aura had noticeably grown far more imposing.
"Is the effect of Soul Enhancement really this powerful?" Shi Feng stared at Kate, feeling incredulous.
Previously, he had assumed that Soul Enhancement would merely boost Kate's potential. But the stats Kate was displaying now were simply staggering.
The enhancement to his soul had simultaneously improved his body as well.
Kate's potential had risen from an original 94 points to 96, and all of his basic attributes had increased by roughly five percent. A five-percent boost to all attributes might not seem significant for an ordinary player, but for an NPC guard, the difference was enormous—these were improvements to his base stats alone, without accounting for any equipment bonuses.
It was well known that obtaining equipment for NPC guards was far easier than for players. Kate was currently outfitted in a full set of Epic-grade equipment, and the two black iron heavy swords on his back were a matched set of top-tier Epic-grade weapons, providing substantial bonuses to his base stats.
In other words, a single round of Soul Enhancement had boosted Kate's combat power by at least twenty percent—on top of the potential increase. Those two extra points of potential were extremely meaningful for a Dark-Gold grade guard; with each additional point, the gap would only widen as levels increased.
Ninety-six points of potential placed Kate among the very top of all Dark-Gold grade guards. It was safe to say that across the entire Divine Realm, there were likely very few Dark-Gold grade guards who could rival him.
"If I enhance him a few more times, couldn't he potentially advance to Epic-grade?" Shi Feng's eyes lit up at the thought.
A single Soul Enhancement had raised his potential by two points. Kate was now only four points away from the critical threshold of one hundred—meaning just two more enhancements could very well push him into Epic-grade territory.
Shi Feng immediately began scanning Kate with the Ancient God's remnant pages, wanting to check how much Soul Essence the next enhancement would require.
Once the magical scan was complete, Shi Feng saw the required amount of Soul Essence and couldn't help but draw in a sharp breath.
"Ruthless!" Shi Feng couldn't help but curse under his breath.
A full fifty drops of Soul Essence!
That was a full ten times the previous amount, and the remnant pages made it perfectly clear—the stronger the soul, the more Soul Essence was consumed. In other words, the more enhancements performed, the greater the Soul Essence required each time.
Fifty drops of Soul Essence would be painful, but given enough time, it was still obtainable. However, if the next enhancement already demanded fifty, wouldn't the one after that require several hundred?
"So it really isn't easy to advance NPC guards using the Ancient God's remnant pages after all," Shi Feng said with a bitter smile.
He had previously entertained the idea of building an entire army of enhanced NPC guards, but now it seemed that plan was unlikely to pan out. Based on the escalating trend of the remnant pages' requirements, generally only two rounds of enhancement were feasible. Someone like Anna might manage only one—after that, the Soul Essence needed for further enhancements would probably reach an astronomical figure.
On the other hand, performing more rounds of enhancement on Mithril- and Gold-grade guards might be feasible, which could present its own opportunities.