Free Web NovelChapter 404: Chapter 334: Target: Profound Mysterious Divine Techniques
In "Messenger," there are all sorts of incredible abilities like powers, divine techniques, characteristics, and metal attributes. But essentially, they’re just skills in an online game. Calling them ’Fireball Skill’, ’Hypnosis’, or ’Time Stop’ wouldn’t be out of place. But why so many categories?
Apart from their values and display, the most important distinction is priority, or in "Messenger" terms, the [rank].
The Foundation Establishment isn’t drastically different from mortals in terms of numerical values. On paper, ten Third Transformations could match a Foundation Establishment, but both in-game and in reality, a Foundation Establishment can handle ten Third Transformations effortlessly. Why is that? Simply because the [rank] is one level higher. In code terms, all Foundation Establishment skills are prioritized, effective immediately, and immune to resistance. If a mortal’s skills conflict with those of Foundation Establishment, they’re rendered ineffective.
How do you play? You can’t.
When the True Man of Locking Dragon restrained the Rabbit Heroine, her defense barrier was still there. Later, Yan Qing tried to have the Rabbit Heroine activate the Heaven-Covering of Bingzi Pepper Forest, but it was all futile. The divine technique of the Dragon-locking Well suppresses everything!
If the game is like a painting, then the Mortal Messenger uses the resources within the painting, while the Foundation Establishment directly paints over it. Even if you find the best sword, best armor, or best mount in the painting, I can blot you out with just a stroke of ink. What can you do then?
Even if a Third Transformation matches a Fourth Transformation in terms of value and performance, the Fourth Transformation will easily crush the Third Transformation if there’s even a one rank difference.
That’s why Yan Qing couldn’t believe the reward he saw.
In the mortal stage, gaining divine techniques—though limited in use—is almost invincible! A level 10 messenger having divine techniques could instantaneously kill a level 39 Third Transformation Great Perfection isn’t just a dream! Isn’t this a bit absurd, just like those ’hidden professions’, ’divine pets’, or ’unique treasures’ in old online game novels, where only the protagonist truly experiences the game while everyone else is just a backdrop.
But after calming down, Yan Qing realized it’s not a big deal.
The mortal stage is indeed invincible, but in "Messenger," it’s just the novice phase, akin to kindergarten, while Foundation Establishment is like elementary, middle, and university education. The mortal stage only covers one-tenth of the game’s content. Any experienced player could reach Foundation Establishment within a day, so who’d stay in the mortal phase just to show off?
After Foundation Establishment, gaining an additional divine technique is definitely powerful, but since it’s a reward from the game, it’s usually just one of three options, and may not align with one’s future development path, acting at best as an adornment. Compared to other players’ well-coordinated divine technique combinations, it really doesn’t offer a massive advantage. Comparatively, it’s like having an extra skill point or summoner skill in League of Legends at the start; powerful early on, but the difference diminishes after reaching levels six or eleven.
Additionally, only one player can obtain this reward per year from the Demon Gathering Land. Even if "Messenger" operates for ten years, that’s just ten players, having minimal impact on game balance, but their accounts would be extremely valuable.
Despite calming down, Yan Qing was determined to obtain this reward, and it couldn’t be Ye Si who claimed it; it had to be him personally because only by personally defeating the character Heavenly Demon of Transfiguration and Freedom could he obtain the Profound Mysterious Divine Techniques. Other characters on the same account could only receive Sub-Life Illusion Divine Techniques.
In "Messenger," divine techniques are divided into four levels: Illusion, Profound Mysterious, Transcendental, and Ginseng Gold. Based on strength-focused posts Yan Qing had read, apart from ’Ginseng Gold’ being the best, the other three levels had no hierarchical difference, only lateral.
’Illusion’ is the most specific, greatly boosting capabilities in particular fields. For instance, the Locking Dragon Well provides the strongest boost in restraint capabilities, but it’s quite useless in fields like attack, defense, healing, and mobility.
’Profound Mysterious’ is a bit more obscure than Illusion. It doesn’t provide as much individual field enhancement, but its advantage lies in offering special boosts across various fields. For example, one of the top ten Profound Mysterious techniques most praised in the strength-focused posts, [Tombstone Inscription], provides special boosts in the three major fields of attack, reconnaissance, and healing, and is core to many powerful builds.
’Transcendental’ is the most profound and diverse. It has particularly extraordinary upper and lower limits. It can strengthen nearly all fields. Unfortunately, the enhancement strength is somewhat unimpressive, but if paired with exclusive powers, Transcendental divine techniques might even outperform Illusion divine techniques. However, these exclusive powers...
Let’s just say, players focused on strength fight tooth and nail over the top ten Profound Mysterious and twenty-eight Illusion techniques, but when it comes to Transcendental, it’s generally agreed only five are playable because the exclusive powers applicable to the rest are too niche.
Take the Transcendental divine technique [Yin Celestial Monarch] for example, which, when paired with dominion powers, can permanently seize control of a Resentful Soul Zombie, including level 69 Demon King Yama Daoist Lord. Impressive?
It’s uniquely so across the game.
But is it practical?
No, it’s not.
Unless you have a group Teleportation Token, the Yama Daoist Lord is bound to travel by foot! These Demon Kings, for balance, have unmatched strength but weak mobility, otherwise, how could players compete? Therefore, players can only leave the Yama Daoist Lord in a Sixth-Turn Secret Realm, constantly farming resources.
Is it feasible? Of course, it is.
But the issue is, if you have resources to build the [Yin Celestial Monarch] Transcendental, you can surely create strong builds that can break through levels as well; they fight more spectacularly and without needing to babysit the Yama Daoist Lord’s short legs.
In terms of acquisition difficulty, ’Transcendental’ surpasses ’Profound Mysterious’, and ’Profound Mysterious’ surpasses ’Illusion,’ but harder to obtain isn’t always better. Strong builds usually consist of two Illusions and one Profound Mysterious. Even two Profound Mysterious and one Illusion is hard to form, taking at least several months to prepare, let alone two Profound Mysterious and one Transcendental ... If you have the ability to create that, spending the same time you’d be ascended by then.
The final ’Ginseng Gold’ is a matter of no choice. Normally, no player would want Ginseng Gold divine techniques during regular gameplay, so we won’t discuss it further.
Yan Qing currently doesn’t have many ideas about future divine technique combinations. After all, resources are scarce in this broken place, and he won’t waste his time gathering resources for the ’most powerful’ choice; ascending early is most beneficial.
Therefore, he favors Profound Mysterious over Illusion, as it can enhance at least three fields, ensuring usefulness somewhere.
More importantly, Ye Si might die or delete his account at any time, making it wasteful if he got the Profound Mysterious divine techniques!
But the current issue is: Can he defeat the Heavenly Demon of Transfiguration and Freedom?
This boss was obviously designed for all players in Demon Gathering Land to tackle together, and now he’s the sole player. The good news is no one will compete with him, but the bad news is even at the maximum potential, he might not defeat this boss.
Yan Qing suddenly thought of the weird race series of puppet cards, whose puppets often have the [Soul Scattering] feature. Though their attack and health are low, touching them once means instant death. If he used the weird race against a True Demon...
Impossible. Yan Qing quickly dismissed the naive thought. The game "Messenger" does have exploitable gaps, but True Demon is the annual limited-time dungeon’s main boss, offering rewards that let players access Profound Mysterious divine techniques in the mortal phase. Even if there are loopholes, they wouldn’t be so apparent that someone like Yan Qing, playing for merely three days, could spot them.
True Demon most likely has a defensive barrier. Maybe only when it has between ten to one percent health can it be instant-killed by [Soul Scattering]. But the weird race has generally low health, likely being wiped out by True Demon’s area damage before then.
The best method would be constructing an absolutely phenomenal lineup to counter True Demon.
But just like [Steam Master] and [Steam Supreme Ancestor Master], the genuinely core activating cards seem to be of the Fourth-Turn, and Yan Qing only has one opportunity today to defeat a Fourth-Turn Demon Fiend squad, with at most one or two Fourth-Turn Demon Fiends.
If he doesn’t find a suitable core activation card, today’s efforts would be wasted.
Passing through the Teleportation Gate, they reached the southwest of the Demon Gathering Land.
As Yan Qing was lost in thought, he accidentally bumped into Ying Rushi, who turned around and looked up at him curiously: "What are you thinking?"
It was the first time Yan Qing saw Ying Rushi from this perspective, as if she was in his arms. But at this moment, Murong Hui squeezed in, exclaiming:
"Ahead is the carousel, to the right is the Poop Bomb Pillar, where to?"
Yan Qing’s heart stirred: "Is the Eight Demon nearby?"
"One is relatively close," Murong Hui pointed left: "Do you want to take it on?"
"Do you think it’s feasible?" Yan Qing asked in return.
