The system's advancement prompt materialized in Shi Feng's mind the moment he silently willed it, and in an instant, he felt as if a hidden door within his mana body had been flung wide open. Behind that door lay a treasury brimming with mana — not only dramatically boosting his total mana reserves, but also transforming the mana he radiated into something qualitatively different.
If his mana before had been gaseous, then the mana now flowing from that treasury was liquid — dense, profound, and utterly pure. Though both were mana, they were not remotely on the same level.
As this mana circulated through his entire body, Shi Feng felt his consciousness — which had been on the verge of slipping away — snap back to vivid clarity.
At the same time, the six magical greatswords that had only held a slight advantage within the Sword Blade Domain suddenly solidified, becoming as cold and heavy as six actual metal greatswords.
With a single thrust, the seemingly stable space was sliced open as easily as paper. The distance of over ten yards was bridged in an instant as a greatsword struck the Dark Wyrmling before it could even react, punching straight through the hard dragon scales and leaving a gory sword mark so deep it reached bone. The Dark Wyrmling let out a miserable scream.
As for the two other Dark Wyrmlings that had clashed with the greatswords using their dragon claws, two thunderous booms rang out in midair. Both were blasted back more than ten yards, the dragon claw that had made contact trembling violently. The disparity in their strength was clearly not on the same level.
"So this is what true fourth-tier power looks like?"
Shi Feng gazed at the Dark Wyrmling wounded and knocked back by the Sword Blade Domain, and his heart swelled with indescribable astonishment and excitement.
This was simply too powerful!
System: Congratulations! You have become a fourth-tier Sword Blade Saint (Sword Emperor). You have unlocked the Core of Peak Inheritance. All attributes +2,000. All magic resistance +150. Mana recovery speed increased by 100%. All physical and magical attacks below the fourth tier are weakened by 30%. All attributes increased by 100%. Constitution increased by 150%. Inheritance skill points awarded: 100.
The boost to base stats alone was something third-tier Classes could not even dream of matching, let alone the improvement to constitution. Without a terrifying set of weapons and equipment, a third-tier Class would be utterly helpless against a fourth-tier.
And that was before accounting for the horrifying transformation of his mana. The two were fundamentally no longer the same kind of being.
In the Divine Realm, mana was the foundation of all life. Without mana, one was essentially without life. His earlier battle against the Dark Wyrmlings had shown him just how much his own mana influenced magical skills and combat.
Now, with his mana approaching a liquid state — even if his stats, combat level, and constitution were identical to a third-tier Class — a third-tier would barely last a few exchanges in his hands. The power of the magical skills the two sides could unleash was simply not on the same plane.
But after repelling the three Dark Wyrmlings, Shi Feng didn't dare linger. He immediately directed the magic domain formed by his mana and flew straight toward the sky above the Bottomless Abyss, refusing to engage the three Dark Wyrmlings in any further entanglement.
Though he had now advanced to a fourth-tier Class and possessed the power to contend with the three Dark Wyrmlings, "contend" was all it was. Actually killing them was entirely out of the question. Moreover, the Sword Blade Domain had a limited duration and could not be maintained indefinitely as it could during the class advancement. Without the Sword Blade Domain, he would be forced to fight using his physical stamina, and being worn to death by the three Dark Wyrmlings would only be a matter of time.
In the Divine Realm, once a player advanced to fourth-tier and could form a passive magic domain, mana alone was enough to grant the ability of flight, without relying on any external items.
His objective had already been achieved. There was no reason to continue tangling with the three Dark Wyrmlings. Leaving this dangerous place as quickly as possible was the wisest course of action.
"Damned human — you're not getting away!"
The three Dark Wyrmlings saw through Shi Feng's intentions and, without a word, opened their mouths wide, unleashing their dragon breath at Shi Feng in midair.
Three beams of dark light fused into one, surging toward Shi Feng like an all-consuming void. The space they passed through was annihilated into nothingness, and the area they engulfed left Shi Feng with no room to evade.
"Bring it on!"
Watching the three beams of all-devouring dark light streak toward him, Shi Feng felt no fear whatsoever. Instead, his eyes blazed with indescribable excitement and exhilaration.
Having just advanced to fourth-tier as a Sword Emperor, this power was entirely new to him, and his earlier control of the magical greatswords had only involved the most basic attacks.
Just how powerful could a fourth-tier Class truly be? What heights could it reach? He was dying to find out, and the combined dragon breath of the three Dark Wyrmlings was the perfect practice target.
With a single thought from Shi Feng, the six magical greatswords surrounding him deployed the defensive martial skill Sword Trail. The six greatswords instantly began orbiting around him, forming a defensive net with a radius of a full thirty yards. They even drew in the surrounding ambient mana, causing it to shimmer like a river of stars — a breathtaking spectacle.
BOOM!
The three beams of dark light swept through midair, and the entire sky was consumed into a void, as if doomsday had arrived. The sheer grandeur of the sight would have left every player watching absolutely dumbstruck.
The three Dark Wyrmlings gazed at the sky that had been transformed into nothingness, and a hint of smug satisfaction crept onto their draconic faces.
This was their combined attack — a joint strike from three great dragons. Its power was incomparable to any single dragon breath and represented their ultimate trump card. With no invincibility skill to fall back on, even someone who had truly advanced to fourth-tier would either die or be grievously wounded if they tried to tank it head-on.
But the three Dark Wyrmlings' cold smirks lasted barely a moment before giving way to dead silence and abject terror.
Because Shi Feng, still floating in midair, was not only uninjured — not even the hem of his clothes was the slightest bit damaged. It was as if the attack before had been nothing more than a gentle breeze brushing past…
"So even high-tier martial skills have been elevated to this level?" Shi Feng looked at the surrounding void that had been carved into the sky and marveled inwardly.
He had long known that blocking the full-force attack of the three Dark Wyrmlings should be manageable — after all, his base stats were no longer comparable to his third-tier days, to say nothing of the Sword Blade Domain he had activated. But he hadn't expected it to be this easy…
He had only deployed Sword Trail in its standard form, yet the skill had acted like the core of a magic circle, automatically triggering reactions and amplifications from the surrounding mana, unleashing power and effects far beyond what it could achieve at third-tier. It was as though he had cast a genuine fourth-tier defensive spell.
With power and effects like these, Shi Feng even felt that if not for the Sword Blade Domain's limited duration, he might actually have been able to kill one of the Dark Wyrmlings.
Just as the three Dark Wyrmlings in the Bottomless Abyss were stunned into silence by Shi Feng's display, staring blankly at him, Shi Feng glanced at the dwindling duration of the Sword Blade Domain and immediately directed his mana to carry him toward the space-time vortex high above the Bottomless Abyss. He vanished from the inheritance site, leaving only the three bewildered Dark Wyrmlings behind in the abyss...