Lord of the Myriad Worlds

Chapter 276: Destiny Resonance Weapons

'The second matter is settling the new freemen. Over two hundred people — that means over two hundred One-Star Profession Cards just for the initial wave. The process will require several rounds of screening and evaluation; we can't just hand them out randomly. And that means a massive number of Profession Cards. Unfortunately, the ways to obtain them are still too limited.'

'Also, the new building unlock has given no hints whatsoever. If only we could unlock the Tavern.'

'The third matter is how to concentrate our forces to take down the special boss during the Radiation Storm while still having enough left over to cover the small city base. There are hundreds of natural persons over there. Even with a solid underground base, if something goes wrong it'll be a disaster — and if the special boss happens to spawn at the small city base, that could be catastrophic.'

'We've grown too fast.'

Li Wei let out a quiet sigh. The hidden risks were piling up.

Fortunately, his hand wasn't empty. Thomas, Leon, and Zhao Xuanxuan were all genuinely strong fighters at this point — once they returned to the main base, each of them could trigger the Three-Star Lord mission on their own.

So the next step was to take them out hunting alongside Santiago, Benjamin, Xavier, and some of the more capable patrol members — to develop and grow.

No, wait —

'I should lead them personally. That way I can keep farming Universal Gold Cards while drilling the team at the same time.'

'That's the fourth matter — I need to build a squad capable of handling a mid-scale crisis before the end of the month. There are times when I simply can't be everywhere at once. And in the future, when Thomas, Leon, and Zhao Xuanxuan finish their time and leave in the settlement, and new players can't be trusted yet, it'll all fall on the freemen.'Li Wei ran the numbers in his head. He currently had three Silver Clearance Tokens and one Black Iron token. The Black Iron he planned to use on himself — upgrading the Hunter Card to Four-Star.

The remaining three Silver tokens he intended to invest entirely in developing the freemen. Three Silver tokens broken down into six Black Iron and twelve Bronze — enough to produce roughly twelve freeman soldiers with Profession Card levels of 3+2+2.

That was already very strong.

Because these men were soldiers to begin with, or at least had excellent physical conditioning, honed by fifteen years of apocalypse survival with deep combat experience.

Take Benjamin, Santiago, and Xavier as examples — what they lacked was equipment and titles. Without those, they might not beat Thomas or Leon in a bare-handed fight, but they could easily overpower Zhao Xuanxuan. In fact, if it were Zhang Jinjun, they could beat him even with his gear. In a sense, they were already a match for most mediocre Three-Star mercenaries.

Titles were a matter of personal fortune and couldn't be forced. But equipment was entirely manageable — a focused push over the next few months would sort that out, with Zhao Xuanxuan continuing to grind her Destiny Grid on the side.

'And the fifth matter is improving my own strength.'

Li Wei sighed softly. He kept finding himself caught between difficult choices.

In yesterday's battle against the Flame Duke, he could have kept all nine Five-Star Universal Gold Cards for himself without anyone having a word to say — his contribution was the highest, after all.

But that wasn't the right way to look at it.

You had to think not just about now, but about the future.

After this battle, Thomas and Leon were solidly established as the next generation of core members in the Ministry of Internal Affairs — on par with Clyde and Little John. As for Zhao Xuanxuan, she was one step away from being transferred to the Ministry's administrative staff, and Night Owl would have to be blind not to accept her.

The three of them would become his firm and loyal allies within the Ministry. That kind of backing could prove invaluable at any moment.

So yesterday, Li Wei had held back on upgrading his own title — he only upgraded the Three-Star War Bow and the Three-Star Dagger. The reason was simple: he needed better weapons.

In the final phase of yesterday's battle, the zombified Flame Duke had been nearly impenetrable.

The Three-Star War Bow's armor-piercing arrows couldn't break through its defense at all.

The bow had performed well enough before — Li Wei had even been unable to draw it to its full potential due to his lower stats — but now an upgrade was necessary.

Same with the Three-Star Dagger. Being able to pierce defenses at a critical moment was crucial.

Worth noting: he now had four Four-Star enchanted weapons.

The first was the Bloodthirsty War Spear — undeniably the most powerful armor-piercer of the bunch. In yesterday's battle, if the zombie duke's fourth life core hadn't been mobile and hard to pin down, Liang Yuzhi would have destroyed it in a single strike.

Of course, the cost was steep. After enchantment, it only had three armor-piercing uses before the enchantment was spent. Without a dedicated mage at his side going forward, it was practically unusable — and those three uses amounted to 3 points of enchantment durability.

The second was the Enchanted Heavy Sword — Four-Star with a special property. Normal attack damage +80, heavy strike +150, requiring 320 Stamina and 28 Strength to wield. Every additional point of Strength added +10% armor penetration and +10% damage — a pure stat-stacking weapon with no ceiling.

Interestingly, one of its new properties was blunt-force trauma causing internal bleeding that stacked — each hit adding +10% internal bleeding effect. Ha.

Truly, in this world, nothing beats raw weight.

Twelve and a half kilograms, heavier than even Zhao Xuanxuan's hammer. Its shape made it less suited for pure blunt strikes than a hammer, but sheer mass made up for everything.

With the Flame Baron title equipped, Li Wei's Stamina reached 390 and Strength hit 32 — translating to an additional +40% armor penetration and +40% bonus damage.

The proof was the zombie duke he had split clean in half with a single overhead cleave — and that was before he had the Rare Title.

Also worth noting: the heavier weight and unsharpened edge meant exceptional durability. Enchantment durability was a full 100 points. Splitting the zombie duke had only consumed 1 point — ordinary attacks didn't drain enchantment durability at all.

Compared to the Bloodthirsty War Spear, the advantage was enormous.

The third was the Enchanted Dagger — upgraded from the Three-Star Dagger. The name was plain, but the effects were explosive.

[Name: Enchanted Dagger (Destiny Resonance Weapon)]

[Quality: Four-Star]

[Damage +80]

[Property 1: Reinforced. Note — this is an excellent weapon, but one that was originally fragile and prone to breaking. Normally, power and durability are mutually exclusive — but enchantment has resolved that conflict. It has been granted 9 points of enchantment durability. In standard attack mode, it can strike 300 consecutive times before breaking. In forced armor-piercing mode, it can strike nine times before breaking.]

[Property 2: Heavy Armor Penetration. When the wielder's Strength exceeds 30 points, all defense from Four-Star plain chainmail, chain armor, and leather armor is ignored, or any combined defense value below 60 is ignored. Note: successful armor penetration consumes 1 point of enchantment durability.]

[Property 3: Bleed — unchanged.]

[Property 4: Maim — unchanged.]

[Property 5: Critical Strike — unchanged.]

[Property 6: Destiny Resonance. Note — when two Professions have a deep binding effect with a weapon, Destiny Resonance is formed. Because you possess the Hunter Card and Scout Card, both of which have a very high probability of using a dagger, Destiny Resonance is formed. Based on your current Hunter Destiny Grid of 52 and Scout Destiny Grid of 13, when using this weapon you have a 6.5% chance of triggering Destiny Resonance. Upon triggering, you will deal 500% lethal critical strike damage to the target.]

Exceptional. This was also one of the reasons Li Wei planned to upgrade the Hunter Card to Four-Star — the synergy was almost magical.

It also suddenly made clear to him why Liang Yuzhi clung to that Enchanted Sapper Shovel and refused to part with it no matter what. A shovel had deep synergy with the Farmer Destiny Grid — add a Mountaineer Card skilled at digging wild vegetables, and it was a guaranteed Destiny Resonance Weapon.

Not that Li Wei envied her, because he had one more of his own — the Enchanted Strong Bow, upgraded from the Three-Star War Bow. It was also a Destiny Resonance Weapon.

[Name: Enchanted Strong Bow (Destiny Resonance Weapon)]

[Quality: Four-Star]

[Requirements: 30 Strength, 300 Stamina, 25 Agility, 20 Defense. Note — without strength more than three times that of an ordinary person, without deep and sustained stamina, without harder and denser bones and muscles, this bow cannot be drawn. When equipped, Encumbrance +4 (-2 Agility).]

[Note: This is undeniably a bow of tremendous power, enhanced by magical force. Its existence and lethality are beyond what ordinary mortals can comprehend.]

[Base Damage +50]

[Property 1: Magical Protection. Although this is a ranged weapon with a low chance of taking damage, magical force has granted it exceptional durability. In most circumstances it will not be affected by rain, snow, ice, or frost. Enchantment Durability: 100 points.]

[Property 2: Overwhelming Force. Paired with specially crafted armor-piercing arrows, it can penetrate any Four-Star or lower medium enchanted armor or medium plain armor. If it simultaneously strikes a vital point, it immediately deals 300% lethal damage. In the hands of a skilled archer, targets within 300 meters can be sniped with ease. With additional support measures, enemies will be struck with dread.]

[Property 3: Accuracy +20%, Range +30%, maximum effective kill range on arcing shots: 500 meters.]

[Property 4: Triple Rapid Shot — unchanged.]

[Property 5: Destiny Resonance. Based on your current Hunter Card and Scout Card, when using this weapon you have a 6.5% chance of triggering Destiny Resonance. Upon triggering, you will deal 500% lethal critical strike damage to the target.]

—

In a sense, this Four-Star Enchanted Strong Bow was Li Wei's most satisfying weapon.

First, it was ranged. Second, the damage was substantial.

The base damage was only 50 — but any hit to a vital point dealt 300 critical damage, instantly killing any player without sufficient health.

Third, the enchantment durability was exceptional — nothing like the Bloodthirsty War Spear with its measly 3 points, or the Enchanted Dagger with only 9.

The Enchanted Heavy Sword was more durable, but that required getting into melee range.

Without question, the Enchanted Strong Bow was Li Wei's primary weapon.

Of course, Encumbrance had to be factored in.

The Bloodthirsty War Spear and Enchanted Dagger each had 0 Encumbrance. The Enchanted Heavy Sword had 4. The Enchanted Strong Bow also had 4.

Total: 8 Encumbrance. Add the Noble Crest Armor's 6 — fully equipped, that was -7 Agility.

Fortunately, the Tactical Backpack Li Yue had made for him reduced Encumbrance by 4.

And in the future, if he could push his Stamina to 400, he would unlock the third talent of the One-Star Scout Card — Weapon Mastery — which would reduce Encumbrance by 8 directly.

That meant carrying all his weapons would only cost him 1 Agility point.

Very appealing.

Extremely appealing.