Online Game: Starting with an SSS-Level Plundering Talent

241  Chapter 241: Rebuilding the Body, Leveling Up

"Sini, stop! You're about to fall into a demonic state!" John shouted sternly, effortlessly deflecting her attack. With a wave of his hand, he severed her connection to The Immortals' Inheritance.

"Cough!" Sini suddenly coughed up blood, looking disoriented. "John, did something happen just now?"

She had no memory of what had occurred, as if she had been under someone else's control.

John shook his head in confusion and asked, "What did you sense from The Immortals' Inheritance?"

Sini frowned, trying to recall. "It was a powerful, tempting force. It felt like it wanted me to abandon everything and give in completely..."

At this, she swallowed nervously, fear creeping into her heart. That force had made her forget everything, even John. It was something she could never accept.

John's expression grew serious as he glanced at the giant sword.

The Immortals' Inheritance shouldn't harbor such strange, malevolent energy. Could someone have tampered with it?

"Sini," he said, "don't attempt to comprehend The Immortals' Inheritance anymore. I'll find another way to help you improve your strength."

He thought about the two Talent Copy Stones he had recently acquired. If necessary, he could copy his Plunder and Undying and Immortal talents for Sini.

The Plunder talent would allow her to continuously grow stronger, and the Undying and Immortal talent would enhance her survival abilities.

However, doing so would cause irreversible damage to his soul. With his Soul Technique still at a relatively low level, John decided to wait until he had slain the remaining four Hunter Queens before considering this option. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Sini nodded and cast a wary glance at The Immortals' Inheritance, clearly shaken by the experience.

She sighed in frustration, glancing at John and Jean with a teasing look. "I'll go outside and level up so I won't interrupt the two of you."

With that, she quickly ran off.

John was left speechless. Clearly, Sini had implied something else entirely. Did she think he was that kind of person? He had serious business to take care of with Jean.

The two of them made their way to The Tree of Life.

Jean immediately communicated with The Tree of Life, explaining that John wanted to create three avatars.

Rustle, rustle...

The leaves and branches of The Tree of Life swayed as if trying to convey something, though John couldn't understand.

Jean turned to him and explained, "Big brother, The Tree of Life wants to know if your avatars have any special traits. She can absorb the energy of various items, like elemental Spirit Stones or bloodline awakening stones, and use them to create avatars with different attributes or even different races."

"It can do that?" John asked in surprise.

Excitement welled up inside him. The avatars could train separately, which meant they could also fuse with treasures from other races.

In that case, it made sense for his three avatars to be of different races.

After all, he had mastered four supreme techniques, each corresponding to different attributes aside from Soul Technique.

The Immortal Sword Technique was a top-tier technique from The Immortals, and it represented John's true self.

Divine Path was a technique from the gods, while Overwhelming Battle Energy came from the Beast Clan.

His avatars could each embody one of these: one for the Beast Clan, and one for the gods.

As for the third choice, John was uncertain. Both the demon race and the Skyline Continent humans were strong contenders.

In the end, he chose the Skyline Continent humans.

The gods and demon race were somewhat similar, so with a gods avatar already in place, there was no need for a demon race avatar.

John explained his plan to The Tree of Life.

Jean continued, "Big brother, do you have elemental Spirit Stones, bloodline awakening stones, or other items? The more, the better."

John's mind raced as he pulled out the elemental Spirit Stones, bloodline awakening stones, and other items he had obtained from slaying the Hunter Queens.

He also had over 20,000 artifacts, enhancement stones, embedded gems, and various other materials.

He looked at Jean and asked, "Can all of these be used?"

The Tree of Life swayed gently once again.

Jean's eyes lit up with excitement. "Yes! Especially the artifacts—they can help The Tree of Life create even stronger avatars, perhaps even stronger than your original self."

"Really?" John glanced at The Tree of Life, momentarily tempted by the idea of breaking down and rebuilding his own body from scratch.

But he dismissed the thought—it was too extreme.

Focusing his mind, he split his soul, manifesting the Heaven, Earth, and Man souls.

Each soul received 10,000 points of his Soul Technique.

With his Soul Technique reduced to just over 13,000 points, he felt significantly weakened and uncomfortable.

Whoosh!

The branches of The Tree of Life gently descended, carefully wrapping around John's three souls.

Then, the soil near its roots began to churn, swallowing up all the materials John had provided—artifacts, stones, and other items—refining and absorbing them to help the Heaven, Earth, and Man souls form their new bodies.

The auras surrounding the three souls were distinctly different.

The Heaven Soul was imbued with the opposing forces of light and darkness.

The Earth Soul emanated immense bloodline power.

The Man Soul was infused with the basic elements: wind, fire, water, and earth, each representing a law of nature.

Jean spoke up, "Big brother, The Tree of Life says it will take seven days to complete the formation of the avatars. If the Vein of the Earth and Dark Sea were still available, it could be done faster, and the avatars would be even more powerful."

"Hmm. Don't worry."John nodded. He could wait for seven days.

He knew that eventually, he would reclaim both the Vein of the Earth and the Dark Sea, as well as the Elven Spring from the Void Area.

"Master!" Elsa suddenly rushed in, her face filled with panic. "Why has your soul weakened again?"

John smiled and reassured her, "It's fine. This is just part of a new technique I've learned."

"Master, weakening your soul is no small matter," Elsa said, still worried. She could sense that while John's soul had been weakened, its core remained intact, which reassured her somewhat.

John nodded but didn't elaborate further.

One Breath, Three Purities was another one of John's trump cards, and he didn't want too many people to know about it.

Of course, he trusted Elsa.

"You two should focus on increasing your strength. I have a few things to take care of," John said, dismissing Elsa and Jean as he pulled out his skill stones to refine them.

With over five million skill points at his disposal, it was enough to raise the Immortal Sword Technique to level 10,000. The sword technique would then grant 100% true damage, and he felt there was a high chance he could comprehend a new skill.

[Consume 1,000 skill points, Immortal Sword Technique upgraded to level 5,429, Sword Mastery +1]

...

[Consume 1,000 skill points, Immortal Sword Technique upgraded to level 6,000, Sword Mastery +1]

[Sword Law comprehension: 60%, sword skills and attacks now deal 60% true damage]

...

[Consume 1,000 skill points, Immortal Sword Technique upgraded to level 9,999, Sword Mastery +1]

[Immortal Sword Technique has reached the current level cap and cannot be further upgraded]

The notifications blinked before him.

John had consumed a massive number of skill points, raising the Immortal Sword Technique to level 9,999, only to find it could no longer be upgraded.

"What's going on?" John was confused and puzzled.

The last time he upgraded his Soul Technique, there had been no such limitation.

He attempted to level it up again, but it still wouldn't go any further.

"The Immortals' Inheritance!" he realized. The limitation wasn't coming from the skill itself but from The Immortals' Inheritance.

Could it be because his level was too low?

John furrowed his brows. He had been eager to upgrade the Immortal Sword Technique to level 10,000 to see if he could unlock a new skill.

The last time he had hit level 1,000, he had gained the ultimate skill Return of Ten Thousand Swords.

Reaching level 10,000 held a strong likelihood of unlocking an even more powerful skill.

But now, there was this unexpected restriction.

"Forget it, I'll focus on leveling up first," John muttered to himself. Although he had over 700,000 skill points left, it wasn't nearly enough to cover the immense cost of further improvements.

Divine Path Technique and Overwhelming Battle Energy were also available for upgrades, but neither offered significant power boosts at the moment, so he decided not to prioritize them.

John glanced at the three souls wrapped by The Tree of Life, still slowly forming into avatars.

With seven days before their completion, he resolved to focus on reaching level 2,000 and completing his eighth advancement.

He left the cave and found Sini. "Sini, let me help you level up."

"Alright!" Sini agreed eagerly. Not having received The Immortals' Inheritance, she had been feeling somewhat down.

"Old man, I'm coming too!" Tracy chimed in, stepping forward.

John nodded in agreement and added both women to his party.

At this point, Sini had reached level 1,455, and Tracy was at level 1,501. Both had made significant progress in their levels.

John decided that during these seven days, he would help the two of them reach level 2,000 and achieve their eighth advancement, which would greatly increase their strength.

He avoided killing Hunters near the cave, as his immense power and rapid killing pace would leave few Hunters for others to fight.

Instead, he led Sini and Tracy on a journey through the Ancient Battlefield Ruins.

Due to the hatred mark from the Hunters, they didn't need to search for enemies—Hunters swarmed toward them without any effort on their part.

With John leading the way, they faced no real pressure, as he continued to decimate the Hunters with ease.

...

Four days passed quickly. During that time, John and his team returned to the cave twice to rest, spending the rest of their time slaughtering Hunters relentlessly.

[You have reached level 2,000. The advancement quest has been unlocked. You may now continue to level up after completing the advancement.]

[Wrath of the Gods Mage 8th Advancement Quest: Kill 100 Legendary-level 8th-tier creatures]

[Nightmare Assassin 8th Advancement Quest: Kill 100 Legendary-level 8th-tier creatures]

[Sword Immortal 8th Advancement Quest: Kill 100 Legendary-level 8th-tier creatures]

John had finally reached level 2,000, unlocking the quest for his eighth class advancement.

To complete the quest, he needed to slay 100 legendary-level, 8th-tier creatures.

Given that nearly all the Hunters in the Ancient Battlefield Ruins were at least 7th tier, with billions of them around, finding and killing 8th-tier legends would be a simple task.

At the same time, Sini and Tracy had both reached level 1,900. They would soon hit level 2,000 as well.

John continued his relentless slaughter of the surrounding Hunters.

Buzz!

Sword intent filled the air as the Immortal Sword flew out. He unleashed his ultimate skill, Return of Ten Thousand Swords.

The oppressive aura spread wide, and countless sword beams filled the sky, cutting down all the Hunters within several hundred meters.

In an instant, the area around him was cleared of Hunters, and John easily completed his advancement quest, successfully reaching the 8th tier.

He attempted to raise the level of the Immortal Sword Technique once again, but it still refused to budge.

"Does it want me to reach the 9th tier first?" John wondered in frustration.

To advance to the 9th tier, he needed to hit level 5,000. While there were plenty of Hunters here, it would still take at least a month to reach that level, even with constant grinding.