Chapter 274: Battling Dozens Of Immortals

Listen While Reading: 32. Well Matched

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After fighting dozens of Immortals one after another, even if they didn’t truly have their complete original power, we became strong. My Skills leveled up, and my Martial Arts progressed as well. The more I guided my allies towards victory, the stronger their Hope towards me became, and the more my Heart of Hope was refined, and so the extension of its abilities.

[The Skills: [Thunder Queen (S): Lv3] [Warrior Princess’ Physique (S): Lv5] [Spectral Body (S): Lv4] [Steel Body (S): Lv4] [Hardened Warrior Instincts (B): Lv3] [Presence Suppression (S): Lv1] have Leveled Up!]

[Due to the constant usage of the Power of Hope and the accumulation of Hope within your Heart, you have progressed into the [Heavenly Golden Flames of Hope Arts: Tier 1]!]

[Your {Heart of Hope} Growth and the Comprehension Process of the [Heavenly Golden Flames of Hope Arts: Tier 1] have increased to 100% simultaneously.]

[The [Heavenly Golden Flames of Hope Arts: Tier 1] has reached a new Level, increasing to Tier 2!]

[Your {Heart of Hope} expands and becomes stronger and capable of holding more Hope Essence, its Tier has increased to Tier 2, and its maximum Hope Essence Storage has increased from 1.000/1.000 to 5.000/5.000!]

[You have unlocked a new Technique: [Heavenly Aura of Empowering Hope (Tier 2)]!]

[Empower yourself or your allies with the power of Hope Essence, increasing all your Physical Capabilities and Martial Arts power based on the amount of Hope Essence imbued into the body.]

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[Heavenly Golden Flames of Hope Arts: Tier 2]

[Comprehension Progress]: [1%/100%]

A Spiritual Martial Art that combines both the power of Spirituality and Martial Arts created by the Heavenly Empress of the Murim World of Bestia, Hue Xian. These Unique Martial Arts Techniques work differently than any other ever created in his world, or perhaps in any Murim Worldline ever.

By cultivating the Hope Essence that has been created by the disciple’s allies and friends after being inspired and instilled with the emotion of hope, happiness, or inspiration and combining them with Ki, it is possible to activate the power of the {Heart of Hope} and unleash this power as Golden Flames with the ability to transform into anything.

The more Hope the allies of the disciple harbor, as long as it is related to the disciple, the more Hope the disciple can harvest from them and the stronger its essence will be, growing their Heart of Hope stronger and gaining the ability to further refine the power of the Golden Flames of Hope. However, the disciples themselves cannot employ their own Hope, and will always need the one from allies, friends, and family.

This is a power that is said to be able to grow indefinitely, and it can take upon a myriad of forms and shapes depending on each Inspiration, Dream, and Hopes of those sharing their powers with the disciple. From weapons, shields, and armor to healing wounds, creating burning flames, freezing ice, bright light, platforms to move, wings to fly—as long as there’s enough output of this essence and Ki, it can take on endless forms.

Naturally, it can also be used to fight with specific, special techniques; such techniques channel the powers of Hope to their extreme and unleash devastating attacks that can even hurt a foe’s soul, shatter their defenses, disable their techniques, and even sap away their own Ki.

There’s close to nothing this Spiritual Martial Arts cannot do, but it is usually extremely hard to cultivate, and only a chosen few who have experienced true bonds and have a relentless personality capable of inspiring the masses can properly wield this power.

The way the Flames of Hope manifest will always be unique between each wielder of this Spiritual Martial Arts; even though the Master might also possess a Golden Naginata of Hope, their disciple’s Naginata might manifest completely differently than them.

These Martial Arts will only progress when the growth of your Heart of Hope aligns with your available Techniques. New Techniques will become available through both the discovery and growth of the Martial Arts. The Heart of Hold can grow as it absorbs Hope Essence and is refined.

{Heart of Hope (Tier 2)}: [Growth: 1%/100%] [Hope Essence Storage: 4.861/5.000]

Available Techniques:

[Heavenly Golden Flames of Hope Weapon Materialization (Tier 2)]

[Spiritual Healing Golden Flames of Hope (Tier 2)]

[Heavenly Aura of Empowering Hope (Tier 2)]

[???]

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Finally, it hit Tier 2!

And with it, I was able to even unlock a new technique that enhances physical power; this is most likely the technique that Master used when she was young and fought that panda psychopath.

And above all, my Hope Essence reserves were multiplied by five just like that! I was already able to do a few tricks with just one thousand reserves, but now that I have five thousand, I think I can do much more.

About the Seals, their progression increased a few digits, but it is still within the Realm of Tier 3. Unfortunately, I need to keep using this power some more.

I feel so much stronger now.

But is it even enough to fight the monsters that are the Heavenly Empress and the Heavenly Demon?

Even if this is a simulation where their true power cannot be completely imitated and they might only be cheap copies, they’re still cheap copies of the strongest beings in the world.

I’ve fought the Heavenly Demon before and won, but it was while he was in his current, weakened state.

For sure, he’s not as powerful as he was at his pinnacle in this simulation, but I have the feeling he will be much stronger than his present self.

If I could compare him to anybody or anything, he might be as strong as my brother.

Some may think that I can beat my brother, but that’s totally not right; he’s impossibly strong after his recent evolution.

My brother is just way too OP…

That’s the Protagonist for you.

I miss him a bit now that I think about it… I’ll snuggle with him once I get back home.

But right now, I have to concentrate on how to beat those behemoths.

Naturally, the best strategy would be to surprise them and then overwhelm them with myriads of attacks.

But is that even enough? They’ll use their incredible powers to overcome us anyway.

The Heavenly Demon has his impossibly powerful mastered Cursed Seals and his incredible strength and agility, unparalleled durability, and sinister, nasty fighting style that targets foes weak spots.

Meanwhile, the Heavenly Empress is an impossibly tough foe; her Heart of Hope constantly heals her entire body and makes her tougher than ten thousand mountains combined.

Above all, she can materialize anything with her powers, always having a tool for literally any situation, ever. She can create divine weapons, armor, and shields, and God knows what else.

They’re so broken! Is this even fair?!

The original intention of this floor was for us to ally either of the two and beat the other with their help.

But now? We want to beat both of them and make them submit, so they’ll stop fighting each other and cooperate instead.

An impossible feat if it would have been in real life, but this is a simulation, and as long as they’re not as powerful as their true selves.

Then “history” can be rewritten.

“There’s only three and a half hours left…” Wai Tian said, observing the skies from behind a tree. “What can we even do in this situation? Can we truly fight them both?”

“I think it’s just impossible; the more we fought, the more we realized how close to their original power these immortals were,” sighed Ying Shen. “I almost died like four times…”

"Alone, we couldn’t have hoped to win against the immortals that serve them, but together, we overwhelmed them and triumphed,” Fang Shuan said. “I say we have a shot, as long as we make a plan.”

“A plan you say… Well, I do have one,” I smiled. “It consists of several steps. The first one is… This girl over here.”

I patted Zero One’s shoulders.

“Eh? Me?” She wondered, looking around. “W-Why me? What I’m going to do?”

“You’ve been looking at their fight this entire time, right, Zero One?” I asked her. “Their movements, their attacks, their techniques. Although you cannot copy their unique powers, you’ve seen and analyzed how they move.”

“Yes, that’s right,” she nodded. “But if I don’t have a body strong enough to follow them, it’s useless to know that information… Unless you have a plan regarding that, Anna?”

“I do,” I sat down over the grass, looking at the sky with a smile. “I can make you all as strong as them, as long as you combine your powers.”

“Wait, how?” asked Wai Tian. “Is it one of your special powers again?”

“Indeed,” I smiled. “A little thing, a surprise that might even spook them over slightly. It would be enough to make all of you powerful, so powerful that you could genuinely harm them.”

“But that’s… For how long can that last?” he wondered.

“Roughly ten to twenty minutes at most,” I said. “Once the time passes, I’ll be drained of my Ki, and I won’t be able to continue.”

“So we just get boosted and fight them?” wondered Wai Tian. “What about you?”

“I’ll fight as well,” I smiled. “And at the same time, I’ll be buffing everyone.”

“H-How is that possible? What are you going to do?” wondered Zero One.

“You see…”

I explained to them my plan meticulously. As they learned of my true powers, they were rather shocked. There were some ridiculous powers I had not shown anybody yet, which I was going to use now to aim for victory.

And even after considering those, I’ll probably have to use every single skill or ability I possess, even equipment, to get a victory. Every single thing will be useful, and I’ll be forced to use everything in this battle.

A battle where we might end up dead faster than we thought, and this is why I am going to use that certain Privilege right now. And I might have to fuse Skills or Privileges, or evolve them using the items I have stashed, depending on how the battle ends up shaping to be.

I can’t believe the challenge is this hard already, and we’re just on floor 1…

Though I can’t help but feel a bit excited.

“Alright, let’s begin. This power I’ll use has no point if I don’t buff first,” I said. “So let me do this.”

My friends nodded, remaining behind me. A green-colored ring in one of my fingers shone brightly, several of my necklaces flared with Auras of power, and bracelets activated, all of them imbuing my body with several, different Auras, accumulating more and more buffs.

[You have activated the [Sylph’s Tear] Ring’s Special Ability: [Wind Spirit’s Blessing]. DEX and AGI have increased by +100% for 5 Minutes, can only be used thrice a day.]

[You have activated the [Warrior’s Necklace] Special Ability: [Warrior’s Stigma], HP, STR, and VIT Stats have increased by +30% for 10 Minutes.

[You have activated the [Seraphin’s Bracelet] Special Ability: [Seraphin’s Wings], a pair of small and beautiful wings have been created behind your back, allowing you to fly easily and increasing Movement Speed by +50% for 5 Minutes. Can be used twice per day]

[You have activated the [Valkyrie’s Ring] Special Ability: [Valkyrie’s Strength], STR and INT have increased by +20% for 5 Minutes. Can be used twice per day.]

[You have activated the [Cherubin’s Necklace] Special Ability: [Cherubin’s Benevolence], the wielder and their surroundings are covered in a brilliant, benevolent light that increases HP and MP Regeneration Speed by +500% for 5 Minutes. Can be used twice per day.]

[You have activated the [Holy Sunlight Charm] Special Ability: [Holy Sunlight Protection], If held by someone with affinity to the element of Sunlight, enhances All Stats by +5%, Sunlight Magic Damage and Effects by +20%, and decreases Sunlight Magic MP Cost by -10%.]

“So many different Auras! Are all those equipment giving you so much power?!” Wai Tian gasped.

“Incredible, is that the power of otherworldly items?” Ying Shen asked.

“Yeah, and this isn’t everything yet,” I smiled. “This is going even further beyond.”

FLASH!

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