Chapter 262: Arcane Law
On Sterl's panel, an additional attribute had appeared.
[Arcane (Incomplete)]
[Effect: You have gained the ability to control various spells and a deeper understanding of the essence of magic.]
[Related Platinum Skills: None]
[Law Power Growth Status: 0/1000]
...
At the same time, the effects of Arcane Law began to manifest.
[All spell-based skills receive a 30% power boost.]
[When an opponent uses a skill, you can activate the ability of Arcane Law to steal that skill.]
[You can actively unleash the power of Arcane Law; if the opponent uses the skill you have stolen, you can forcibly interrupt it and inflict backlash damage.]
[You can actively activate the power of Law to enhance a particular skill, with a maximum power increase of 200%.]
[The stamina and energy consumption of all your skills is reduced by 30%.]
[The speed at which your skills' proficiency increases is boosted by 60% due to the legendary ability of Law.]
"Yes!" Sterl's eyes lit up. Although he had a rough idea of Law's effects after comprehending it, the information displayed on the panel was much clearer and more comprehensive. Naturally, he was very satisfied with the effects of Arcane Law.
Law itself is more auxiliary and lacks the strong control effects of Moon Law, and it certainly doesn't have the offensive capabilities of Flowing Water Law. But that doesn't mean Arcane Law is weak; it provides a significant enhancement that adds considerable value.
The first benefit is a 30% increase in the power of all skills, and on top of that, you can further enhance a skill's power, making it double. Just from the boosts provided by Arcane Law alone, the output increase is 2.6 times.
Isn't that impressive?
This benefit alone was enough to satisfy Sterl, especially since Arcane Law also reduced his energy and stamina consumption, which delighted him even more.
As for the ability to quickly improve proficiency, it could be considered optional; it's not that the effect isn't strong, but with the blood force enhancement, Sterl would likely find leveling up by defeating monsters more efficient than merely grinding for proficiency.
Finally, the ability to steal opponents' skills and interrupt their skills didn't seem particularly significant. This is mainly because Sterl had been challenging opponents beyond his level, relying on the superior quality of his skills to crush them. Stealing others' skills was of little use, and the interruption effect somewhat overlapped with the Flowing Water Law.
However…
Even disregarding the skill-stealing and interrupting functions, the strength of Arcane Law was still considerable. If other demigods knew that Sterl had managed to acquire this, they would likely be infuriated and curse him out loud.
For them, obtaining a Law was a grueling process—they had to serve various deities and toil away in the Hall of Valor.
And here was Sterl with an Arcane Law, having only used a single Law comprehension exchange voucher. What more could he possibly want?
Of course, for Sterl, the most important thing was that, with the comprehension of Arcane Law, his platinum-level skill [Silent Domain] was finally unlocked!
He glanced at the panel; as a special skill granted by the Hall of Valor, this skill couldn't be leveled up, but it was inherently one of the stronger skills among platinum-level abilities.
It far surpassed [Rain Curtain Sword]!
Moreover, it possessed an incredibly terrifying suppression capability, rendering all abilities within its vicinity completely silent.
At this initial stage, Sterl could achieve [Silent Night]. The effect was that all opponents within the area could not activate any talents, traits, blessings, or skill from their equipment…
Additionally, he could suppress one type of elemental power. After suppressing an elemental power, any legendary abilities or Law Powers associated with that attribute would also become unusable.
In summary, it was incredibly powerful! With [Silent Domain], Sterl could easily eliminate some demigods. Many demigods, even in a place like the Hall of Valor, where geniuses were abundant, only mastered one Law.
If luck was on his side and it happened to be related to a certain element, Sterl could turn his opponent into a blank slate devoid of attributes with just one move.
Then, with the power of Law, he could easily take down that unfortunate demigod!
So—
Snap!
Sterl snapped his fingers, deciding to test [Silent Domain].
Without any warning, the sky suddenly darkened. Everything appeared somewhat dim under the black radiance, but somehow, in this darkness, it felt as if all vitality had vanished.
The next moment, [Silent Domain] dissipated.
"What the hell, what kind of consumption is this?!"
Sterl gasped for breath, speechless. If it weren't for just having obtained Arcane Law, which provided a 30% reduction in energy consumption, he wouldn't have been able to maintain [Silent Domain] for even a second.
"This feeling… On normal days, just using the golden quality version of [Silent Domain] would be enough; it's sufficient for crowd control."
"There's no need to use the platinum version unless facing a strong enemy."
Sterl shook his head helplessly, but he knew that once he advanced to third class, he should see another wave of improvement, which would likely alleviate the mana consumption issue a bit. However, as long as he continued to use his abilities against opponents beyond his level, energy would always be in short supply.
...
As Sterl quietly contemplated the various methods and techniques for utilizing the platinum-level [Silent Domain], he swiftly made his way to the conference room hall. Before reaching Heavenly Curtain Canyon, he decided to casually check if there were any tasks he could take on.
However, just at that moment…
Multiple private messages suddenly popped up in front of him.
[Master, something big has happened!]
[All our guild members are trapped in the safety zone; as soon as they step out, they'll be captured immediately.]
Sterl was taken aback, and then he saw a barrage of messages, images, and video recordings sent by Sosia and Sonis. His anger flared immediately—
Sterl opened one of the videos, which showed several players from the Twilight Guild who had passed the extreme trials, preparing to venture out into the wilds near the Hall of Valor to grind monsters. However, a few legendary figures were closely tailing them.
"What do you want?"
"What do we want? Nothing much, just thought we'd have a chat with your guild leader and the forces behind them about selling this 3S guild."
"Don't rush off now; isn't it all about negotiation? Let's talk about the price first."
These legendary figures didn't make a move; they simply followed along. The Twilight Guild members were alright while within the safety zone, but as soon as they stepped outside into the free PK grinding spots, several legendary players would strike simultaneously, quickly subduing any third-class player they targeted.
The other Twilight Guild members standing at the edge of the safety zone were left dumbfounded. Shortly after, those who had been knocked down were taken away…
As Sterl opened more videos and images, he discovered that this scene was occurring repeatedly.
"This is absolutely not something a single guild should be capable of!"
He spat out each word in fury. Then, he saw the detailed information sent by the sister duo, revealing that at least a dozen demigod guilds were acting at the same time. They were skirting the edges of the Hall of Valor's rules.
They had completely blocked every route for the Twilight Guild players to venture out for leveling and questing, effectively cutting off the guild's avenues for accumulating contribution points and leveling up.
They boasted that if the Twilight Guild refused to hand over their guild, such harassment would continue for years, even decades!
They aimed to drag Twilight down to its knees. And this was just the appetizer; if the Twilight Guild remained obstinate, those demigods would directly invoke their Honorable Kill authority and wipe out the guild members even within the safety zone.
[What should the master do? The situation is still relatively stable, but if this continues for a while, I'm afraid the guild members' morale will start to deteriorate.]
[Moreover, all the defeated third-class players have been forcibly signed into slave contracts. We can keep this under wraps for now, but not for much longer.]
[Out of self-preservation, the guild members will eventually choose to withdraw. You don't have to hand over "Twilight," but in that case, the guild itself will be ruined.]
Sosia and Sonis dutifully reported, but they didn't even suggest that Sterl take action. After all, what would happen if their master faced trouble against demigods?
If it weren't for the fact that this situation had blown up so much that it couldn't be hidden, they wouldn't have wanted to report it at all.
"Good! Good! Good!"
Sterl laughed in anger.
At this moment, he truly felt that his approach of maintaining a low profile had been completely correct. After finally going high profile and showcasing a top-tier guild with demigods backing it, he found himself in a situation akin to a piece of meat thrown into a pack of hungry wolves, continuously attracting competition! Those peak legendaries were merely the appetizer!
Now, he quickly began to contemplate...
Was he afraid of demigods? Not really. The beings within the Trial of the Brave were already exceptionally powerful. The combat strength of regular demigods couldn't even compare to that of the vertical pupil.
Moreover, due to the existence of the Law of Roles, most people acquired Law Powers that were elementally related. Once Sterl activated [Silent Domain], there was a significant chance he could slay a demigod.
"But the problem is, these guilds have banded together against me. Won't their demigods unite as well?"
Sterl felt a bit of a headache. If he were to consider the guild leaders of those factions, it was clear they would undoubtedly ally. The Twilight Guild had a demigod backing them too; what if he couldn't win in a one-on-one fight?
In a worst-case scenario, it would be two against one, or even three against one—much safer, right?
With that thought, Sterl gradually calmed down. He realized that going back to trouble those demigods would be pointless. With over a dozen guilds involved, not to mention facing off against demigods, Sterl himself would be at risk of falling.
Those demigods wouldn't give him the chance to take them down one by one; at most, they would manage to assassinate or ambush him, killing one or two at the very best.
"I have to find a way to heavily injure or kill these dozen demigods all at once."
A glint of cold light flickered in Sterl's eyes.
However, he wasn't in a rush. Drawing from his experiences with the vertical pupil, he realized that if he wanted to confront those demigods head-on, he would need two things—