Chapter 173: A Bold Assumption
Especially since his point allocation system had upgraded after his second class change, now allowing him to enhance things that were previously unenhanceable!
Sterl thought that this might be a method to break through the Forbidden Poison.
Moreover, he recalled that before he upgraded to his second class, his cheat had somehow hinted that there was a way to reclaim the original benefits of the second class.
Perhaps, reclaiming those benefits meant truly awakening the SSS-level profession.
So, even if the white mist didn't help with the Forbidden Poison, he might have other ways to overcome it.
This was certified by his cheat! There was no way his Authority Heart would be stuck at the SSS level but remain unawakened.
After some contemplation, Sterl regained his ambition and no longer worried about the disappointing second-class rewards.
At this moment, he quickly organized the remaining benefits he had on hand.
First, there was the skill book he looted from Octavius, [Blood Sacrifice Technique].
Sterl opened the skill book to examine its details.
[Blood Sacrifice Technique (Special)]
[Description: This is an extremely unusual technique, containing not just the mysteries of blood sacrifice, but also an epic tale of how a once-great race forged their future, using life as fuel to break through worldly barriers...]
[Effect: After using the Blood Sacrifice Technique, you can sacrifice descendants directly related to you by blood. The stronger the talents and abilities of your sacrificed descendants, the more talent bonuses, skill grade improvements, authority heart enhancements, and lifespan extensions you will receive...]
[Note: You can sacrifice up to three generations of blood-related individuals.]
[Note: This ability can be used on other target units.]
Sterl skimmed through it and was left speechless.
The current Blood Sacrifice Technique was of no use to him.
Not to mention direct descendants...
Sterl had no descendants. Even if Earth humans had a racial advantage of being able to produce a large number of offspring, producing thousands wouldn't be an issue.
Using them for blood sacrifice would definitely be more convenient than Octavius, maxing out various attributes with ease.
But Sterl couldn't use it. The range of enhancement the Blood Sacrifice Technique could provide was too narrow.
His own talents and skill qualities were already maxed out. Even without learning this skill, he was quite certain in his mind that if the Blood Sacrifice Technique could elevate skill quality, it would merely be a degraded version of his point allocation cheat—
Forcibly filling the original limits of skills and professions through blood energy.
Anyone who used this method to enhance their skills would forever bear the mark of the Blood Sacrifice Technique.
Take Octavius, for instance. His [Mountain Shatter] was originally a secret technique of the Divine Mountain Empire, designed to resonate with Mountain arcane skills, emphasizing explosive power from earth and stone.
However, the final effect he produced was a terrifying storm of blood energy!
His legendary abilities had all become related to manipulating blood energy, clearly as a result of the Blood Sacrifice Technique's influence.
People who enhanced their abilities with this skill would be centered around blood energy, merely wearing different skins of various skills and professions...
Such an enhancement was fundamentally unacceptable!
However, Sterl hesitated because, among the myriad of worlds, Earth humans might be the most suitable race for this skill!
The [Blood Sacrifice Technique] could potentially lead to the rapid rise of Earth humans.
Octavius, despite being an esteemed emperor with many children—over 30—was left with only four after his sacrifices, yet his talents were already maxed out.
Earth humans, on the other hand, could extract genes from slightly talented individuals or even those without talent and mass-produce offspring!
And they could produce thousands in one batch!
The Blood Sacrifice Technique alone would take years just for the blood sacrifices!
Even if those descendants had little talent, the accumulated bonuses would be terrifyingly significant!
Wouldn't that mean...
With enough real-world resources, even a pig could be elevated to at least a third-class, if not a legendary powerhouse?
Sterl was horrified by his own terrifying assumption!!
"Holy crap!"
"Isn't this a bit too insane?"
He could abandon all morality to become stronger, even though he had already confirmed in his last venture into the real world—
The likelihood that the NPCs in the [Transcendence] game were AI simulations was low. They were most likely real living beings.
But this time, for his second class quest, Sterl had ruthlessly severed the Divine Mountain Empire's path to ascension. After all, it was clear that the nation would prosper more under the old emperor's leadership.
It wasn't like in typical novels where emperors using blood sacrifices were pure villains. Octavius might harm his descendants, but he would still lead the Divine Mountain Empire to prosperity.
Sterl could say he destroyed everything for his own selfish reasons, yet he felt no regret...
However, from the perspective of a Reincarnator, it was still difficult for him to accept such a method of desecrating descendants.
Could those people... still be considered human?
It's practically like producing alchemical pills...
Sterl's face showed hesitation. He wasn't sure if he should bring the Blood Sacrifice Technique to the human race on Earth. It could open Pandora's box!
The main issue was that after opening the box, he wouldn't benefit from it—that was the key point.
Instead, it would further erode the moral baseline of the Earth humans living in [Transcendence]. Sterl did not like this prospect.
He was a normal person, inherently repulsed by various anti-humanitarian acts. Especially when such acts brought him no benefit, Sterl detested them even more.
"I won't sell this skill book. I'll keep it in my backpack for now." he pondered.
Next, Sterl opened his panel and chose to claim the rewards for the rebel path quest.
Swipe!
Swipe!
Swipe!
Instantly, the prompts flooded the screen, triggering a massive burst of rewards.
Sterl was extremely delighted as he looked at the various items that appeared before him.
[You have completed the special quest line: Divine Mountain Empire Rebel Path.]
[Current task assessment in progress—Divine Mountain Empire princes and princesses are alive, you may claim rewards.]
[Calculating your task score now...]
[Your score has significantly increased for saving the princes and princesses.]
[Your score increased for killing Black Armor Army members.]
[You killed the Black Armor Army General, significantly increasing your score.]
[You killed the Divine Mountain Empire Emperor Octavius, drastically increasing your score!]
[Your final task rating is: SSS!]
[You have received the highest limit rewards and additional rewards.]
...
The above series of messages were just the prelude to the rewards Sterl was about to receive, but each one indicated that the upcoming task benefits would be extraordinarily high.
[You have gained 30 legend points.]
[You have acquired 150 purple gold coins.]
[Your reputation in the Divine Mountain Empire is permanently locked as: [Worshipped One]]
[You have gained 100,000 contribution points from the Divine Mountain Empire.]
[You have obtained [Mastery: Journey of the Mountain]]
[You have received [Blood Sacrifice Technique (Special)]]
[You have acquired the flawless Legendary Crystal [Blood Energy Manipulation]]
[You have gained a massive amount of experience.]
"Damn..."
"So ruthless??" Sterl was stunned after reading the description of his rewards, unable to react immediately.
The task rewards this time did indeed live up to the terrifying difficulty, with extremely high returns.
Firstly, the 30 legend points—forget about average players, even some legendary powerhouses collect only around thirty or forty legend points in their entire lifetime.
Then there were the massive amounts of purple gold coins.
The number was beyond Sterl's imagination. He had never even heard of a single task rewarding so much money!
Purple gold coins were the highest tier within the [Transcendence] currency system. Even in the Hall of Valor, they still held value.
And from the previous second-class ceremony that required spending purple gold coins, it was clear that these system-issued currencies had some intrinsic esoteric significance.
One hundred and fifty purple gold coins were undoubtedly a fortune!
Following that were the massive contribution points from the Divine Mountain Empire and a reputation locked at a level Sterl had never seen before: [Worshipped One].
"What is this situation?"
"Did I just become the Grand Emperor??"
"Do Divine Mountain Empire NPCs have to kneel when they see me??"
Sterl couldn't help but recall stories from his pre-transmigrate country about their troops stationed abroad...
With a new reputation level that didn't originally exist in the system, he figured he could probably exchange for some excellent items.
By the way, Sterl didn't need to worry about his high reputation level and contribution points raising suspicion.
The contribution shops of various countries and factions were controlled by the [Transcendence] system, allowing Sterl to make exchanges and purchases under his real identity. Meanwhile, the NPCs' attitudes towards him would be directed at his disguised identity, "Nathan."
Lastly, there was a Mastery skill, whose name likely related to Mountain arcane skills.
To Sterl's surprise, there was another [Blood Sacrifice Technique] book!
After some hesitation, he stashed the skill book back into his backpack, still not planning to use it.
Sterl then held the Legendary Crystal named [Blood Energy Manipulation] in his hand, feeling reluctant to use it.
"By advancing to legendary status through blood sacrifices, my legendary ability would definitely be this [Blood Energy Manipulation]."
"It feels like there's a conspiracy hidden in this..."
He felt something was off...
Based on novels he had read before, it seemed possible that some powerful figure needed to mass-produce legends with blood energy manipulation, only to refine and absorb them to nourish themselves.
This could be why the Blood Sacrifice Technique ended up in Octavius's hands.
If he added points to or absorbed [Blood Energy Manipulation], it might attract the attention of an 'unknown powerhouse,' unnecessarily bringing trouble to himself.
Moreover, the most important issue was that this legendary ability did not fit Sterl's current system...