Chapter 83: The Truly Perfect Puzzle! |
Jiang He had already reached the peak of E-rank. After obtaining an enhancement from 「The World」, his strength had stepped into the level of D-rank.
In this way, the Word-Spirits and Tarot Divination skills he used could also provide high-value buffs to Transcendents at the peak of C-rank, such as Du Lingwei and Yunyang.
At this moment, with Du Lingwei’s cooperation, he locked onto her with his spiritual power and successfully saw her 「future」.
As expected, she had a second outcome.
Jiang He drew a card while activating skill enhancements.
【Upright Temperance】
This Tarot represented moderation, adjustment, and balance. Its effect was to greatly reduce the consumption of all talents and skills.
It allowed Du Lingwei to use various skills freely, even treating explosive ultimate moves as ordinary techniques. It was an extremely powerful combat boost!
Du Lingwei sensed the changes in herself, her expression filled with delight.
She spoke eagerly, just about to set off.
But Jiang He stopped her: “There’s more.”
Du Lingwei’s mission was to hold back five B-rank exotic beasts, and reducing consumption alone was not enough.
Jiang He brought out his trump card, activating the Words Carved into Bone skill, and spoke:
「Revelation」「God’s Gift」「Spirit Heal」「Spirit Heal」……
Indeed, Du Lingwei also possessed the Sunflame Wielder Path. She even had other advanced professions, and under Zhong Honglian’s guidance, combined them into effective pairings. Only then had she achieved a battle power ratio of 100 with her A-rank talent.
This also meant that the “Near-Death Flow” skill combination Jiang He called out could take effect on her as well!
To maximize the buff, Jiang He even used several of the ultimate Spell Words White Crane had left behind, causing their power to skyrocket!
As the Spell Words carved into her body, Du Lingwei felt these marks continuously providing her with power. The overall enhancement they brought was likely several times greater—perhaps even tenfold!
Du Lingwei’s expression froze.
So this was the terrifying buff Jiang He always fought under?!
This was Word-Spirit?!
With the final Spell Word, Jiang He’s spiritual power was completely drained. A wave of dizziness washed over him, but he forced himself to remain steady and said:
“You’ve been strengthened—go!”
Was it finally over?
Du Lingwei even let out a breath of relief.
She summoned her flames. Though she had used only a tiny portion of her power, she flew out like a meteor straight toward the beast horde, so fast she was barely visible!
As she crossed a boundary and entered the beasts’ domain—
The exotic beasts, which had been “slowly” running, suddenly accelerated a hundredfold.
Du Lingwei didn’t even need to provoke them. The five B-rank exotic beasts, at speeds far beyond the rest, trampled through the air as they rushed at her.
Among them, the two Dark Sky Hounds were the fastest. Wrapped in darkness, their bodies seemed to swell with the shadows. They opened their massive black maws, devouring the light as they bit down on the flame, as though to swallow the sun.
Seeing this, the surrounding students all grew tense.
The higher Transcendent power rose, the greater the disparity between ranks became, making “fighting across ranks” nearly impossible.
The same was true for exotic beasts. Since they had been classified as B-rank, it meant they possessed strength comparable to B-rank Transcendents.
There was no such thing as same-rank Transcendents easily crushing same-rank beasts—otherwise, they would simply be evaluated as C-rank, wouldn’t they?
Therefore, even though Du Lingwei displayed incredible strength, the others still felt nervous watching her clash with B-rank beasts.
However—
The Dark Sky Hounds’ teeth fell upon the flame, only to be held back by a blazing thread of fire that resisted and held them in place.
At that moment, flames gathered in Du Lingwei’s hand, forming a long spear. She swung it in a great arc, like a blazing sun, and slammed it onto the hound’s dark shell.
In an instant, the darkness burned away by half. The flaming spear struck the hound’s head, swatting it into the air!
In this clash of power, Du Lingwei had the upper hand!
She had actually repelled a B-rank exotic beast head-on!!
She was far too strong!
“As expected of an S-rank Word-Spirit, able to elevate an A-rank talent to this level.”
The crowd was awestruck by Du Lingwei, but Yunyang alone kept his eyes fixed on Jiang He.
His gaze blazed with intensity, urging him: “Come on, Jiang He! If we combine our double S-ranks, we’ll be absolutely unstoppable!”
“…Wait a bit first,” Jiang He said.
The gap between E-rank and C-rank was still too great. He had already exhausted all his spiritual power by empowering Du Lingwei with Spell Words.
Luckily, Chi Zhilei was nearby. Her 【Fragrant Body】 could release 「Refreshing Aroma」, and when paired with spiritual potions, it could help others recover spiritual power.
At this moment, she was like a power bank, straining to channel her talent to replenish Jiang He’s strength.
As a D-rank Transcendent, her combat ability might have been average, but her spiritual endurance was quite decent.
Jiang He quickly returned to full capacity. Locking onto Yunyang with spiritual power, he peered into his future.
The card was 「The Fool」.
The orientation was upright.
Jiang He raised his brows.
This Tarot Divination was interesting—it truly wasn’t entirely random.
Not to mention himself, but Du Lingwei, with her disciplined and self-controlled lifestyle, had drawn 「Temperance」.
And Yunyang, meanwhile, was 「The Fool」… he really didn’t look very clever.
Of course, whether this was wisdom disguised as foolishness, or foolishness mistaken for wisdom, remained uncertain.
“Hurry up!” Yunyang urged.
Jiang He no longer hesitated and drew the Tarot card.
The upright Fool represented innocence, simplicity, straightforward courage, and wisdom hidden in folly. Its effect was to greatly boost basic attributes.
As the card shattered, Yunyang’s body, spirit, and energy intensity all surged, tripling instantly!
This was Tarot Divination: difficult to control, but yielding extraordinary returns!
“Ohhh, such powerful strength!!” Yunyang exclaimed in excitement.
Tarot Divination was only the beginning. Jiang He continued to use Spell Words to empower him.
Although Words Carved into Bone had already been used on Du Lingwei, the Spell Words like Revelation and God’s Gift still lingered for a short while, and their potency wasn’t much weaker.
Moreover, since Yunyang’s 【Sole Law of Self】 talent was rule-based and not boosted by basic attributes, Jiang He’s 「Revelation」 Spell Word became the sole skill that could enhance it.
Feeling the transformation of his talent, Yunyang became completely ecstatic.
“I knew it—you’re my final puzzle piece!”
With that, he could no longer hold back, charging headlong toward the beast horde.
Meanwhile, Du Lingwei had followed the plan, using her 【Flame Body】’s high-speed flight to lure the five B-rank exotic beasts away.
Yunyang, stepping on air, rushed to the center of the beast horde and thrust his palm downward.
“Domain Expansion!”
As his talent power burst forth, all exotic beasts below C-rank instantly lost their abilities, their very physiques reduced to those of ordinary wild animals.
In that instant, they even forgot their hatred, panicking as they tried to halt their charge…
A stampede ensued. Beasts’ bones shattered as they were trampled into pulp, and many flying beasts crashed helplessly to the ground, unable to withstand their own weight.
Only the C-rank beasts remained, each weakened to varying degrees depending on their individual strength.
Yunyang’s face turned pale, his forehead drenched in sweat. Controlling his trembling voice, he forced out the words:
“It’s your turn now.”
The distant students, upon seeing this, grew equally excited.
Since the instructors had said this was real combat training, their performance and achievements would surely determine their future resource rewards.
With the beast horde suppressed, if they didn’t seize the moment to rack up kills now, when else would they?
At this point, Jiang He’s earlier talk of tactics and entry order was completely forgotten by them.
The students ran or flew, each rushing headlong at the beasts, afraid that if they were too slow, they’d miss out on achievements.
At this time, only Shaojun’s heart grew heavier.
“Slow down! Leave some alive—these are my family’s beasts…”
Watching this, Jiang He remained calm.
That was the way of group battles. No matter how perfect a plan was, someone had to carry it out.
Fortunately, this time he had played the support role, performing flawlessly. There was no need to worry about his evaluation—he was guaranteed at least a 13.0.
And as for Yunyang saying he was his final puzzle piece…
That was overthinking it.
A support like Jiang He, no matter where he was placed, was always the truly perfect puzzle piece!