Chapter 68: Ascending to the Fourth Order

As soon as he entered the reef cave, the stench of blood hit him, as if there were a pool burning with the power of blood inside.

How many lives and treasures did this demon leader sacrifice to make this altar so full of blood energy?

Pity... you won't get to enjoy this altar.

As he pondered, Gune had already arrived at the altar at the deepest part of the reef cave.

The altar before him was about three meters high and rather crude.

Blood had soaked through every stone of the altar.

Each stone exuded an evil, bloody scent.

Above the altar, a blood-red light emitted a highly distorted pillar as thick as a bucket, piercing through the cave's ceiling and shooting into the sky.

If not for this pillar of blood energy shooting into the sky, Angel Carona might not have discovered the situation here.

Within the pillar, a terrifying presence was brewing; clearly, this was the entity to which Pius had been offering sacrifices—a dread god with immense power.

Steadying his mind, Gune stepped onto the altar.

As soon as he entered the altar,

My... faith... ful... follower, offer... the sacrifice, and I will be... stow... upon you... great... pow... er.

A murmuring like a call echoed in Gune's mind.

Even a seductive force urged Gune to produce what it needed.

Blood... life... soul... treasure!

Sacrifice required offering items of great value.

Naturally, Gune had no shortage of treasures on him.

But some things he wouldn't casually offer up.

After a moment's thought, Gune flipped his hand and produced a dragon's blood wood bottle containing exactly 1000 milliliters of life spring water.

When Gune uncorked the bottle,

Rumble...

The blood-red radiance on the altar flared up even more intensely than before.

A fine... offering! came a faint telepathic message.

Accompanied by the blood-red light, the life spring water was quickly drawn away and vanished.

Life spring water was itself a very rare item.

Apart from the elven World Tree, there was no other way to produce it.

And the elven World Tree, even across many transcendent worlds, was extremely scarce.

As a superior offering, this life spring water was certainly qualified.

But after all 1000 milliliters of life spring water were offered, no power descended upon the altar.

Is the offering still insufficient? Gune thought to himself.

Then, without further delay, Gune quickly brought out another 2000 milliliters of life spring water, preparing more in reserve.

After all, no one knew when that demon might return.

Thus, after Gune consecutively offered 2000 milliliters of life spring water seven times,

Finally, something stirred on the altar.

Whoosh...

A heart-stopping energy descended from the heavens.

As soon as this energy descended, Gune immediately felt his soul strength rapidly increase.

And the rate of increase was astonishing.

In just two or three breaths, Gune's mental strength directly broke through the third-order peak barrier and ascended to the fourth order.

Hum!

Gune's soul underwent a transformation.

At the same time, his physical body and source energy also began to transform along with the soul.

Ascending to the fourth order. Gune felt a slight joy in his heart.

No wonder these fellows, when unable to break through, use the power of sacrifice to help themselves advance. Though there is a risk of contamination, being able to break through is already quite good.

Fortunately, even if this evil power contaminates me, so what?

After a reincarnation, all evil powers will become my transcendent potential.

After helping Gune ascend to the fourth order, this strange power clearly still had plenty left.

Gune's soul strength continued to increase, and the power from the sacrifice also rapidly helped accelerate the transformation of his body and source energy.

After a moment, the soul stabilized at the early fourth order and began advancing toward the mid fourth order.

A dozen breaths later, the soul reached the mid fourth order, stabilized, and then advanced toward the late fourth order.

Finally, Gune's soul strength stabilized at the late transcendent fourth order.

In just about thirty breaths, Gune had completed the transformation from the late third-order peak to the late fourth order.

A sudden surge of an entire rank in a short time made even Gunie feel a bit unreal.

“No wonder those evil beings all love sacrifices; this power comes far too quickly.”

Soon Gunie suppressed this unusual thought.

Gunie had his own principles; there were some things he would not easily touch.

“Late fourth rank, and both my physical body and source power have steadily risen to the late fourth rank level.”

Feeling the vigor and strength of his soul, the solidity of his body, and the surging source power, Gunie couldn't help but marvel.

“The effect of this sacrifice is indeed good.”

“Unfortunately… I can already feel that my soul, body, and source power have been lightly permeated by that barely detectable evil power.”

“But there’s no need to worry; once I get the demon leader’s soul, I can reincarnate once.”

“Also…”

Gunie sensed deep within his body.

“My Blood Curse Master transcendent profession seems about to undergo its second awakening.”

Earlier, Gunie had felt that the second awakening was coming.

And with the absorption of that mysterious power, Gunie’s second Blood Curse Master awakening had reached a critical point.

“This awakening will probably take a lot of time; with battle imminent, I won’t awaken for now.”

“It won’t be too late to awaken after returning.”

“The higher the blood pool level, the more powerful the awakened blood curse ability.”

“Back then, a level four blood pool could awaken the ‘Blood Source Ability’; my blood pool is now level seven, so once I awaken, I’ll likely obtain a top-tier Blood Source Ability, or even a ‘Blood Source Divine Power’.”

“Only by mastering a divine power can one be considered a true lord.”

Feeling the rapidly enhanced strength, Gunie stepped down from the altar and walked out.

As soon as he left the reef cave, the angel Carona looked at Gunie with solemn eyes.

She had sensed the dissipation of the blood-colored radiance and guessed that this Captain Jack might have used the power of sacrifice.

And indeed, the surging source power aura on Gunie was now at the late fourth-rank transcendent level.

Before, Gunie had only been at the peak of the late third rank.

“You’ve been tainted by some kind of evil power,” Carona said in a low voice.

Gunie waved his hand and said, “Just a small matter; I’ll soon get rid of these things clinging to me.”

Seeing Gunie say this, Carona said no more.

“When will that demon leader come?” Looking around at the oppressive night and deep mist, Gunie turned to Carona.

“It will probably take some time.”

“Mm.” Gunie nodded lightly.

“Then let’s set up first, and when that guy comes, we’ll proceed according to our plan.”

“I know,” Carona replied with a nod.

Then, Gunie found a relatively secluded and hidden stone pit in the reef area and jumped straight in.

With the release of an invisibility scroll, Gunie entered a concealed state.

“I often need to use invisibility; it seems I need to learn a concealment spell.”

“Otherwise, using scrolls all the time—that’s money!”

Once concealed, Gunie sat cross-legged, following the fluctuations of the Dark Essence, and silently merged perfectly with the surrounding reef environment.

“Hmm?” Carona, over thirty meters away, raised an eyebrow slightly.

“That guy has completely disappeared from my perception; his concealment ability is so impressive.”

“He has already gained entry into both the World Essence and Dark Essence, and his World Essence is particularly excellent.”

“Even among super casters, not everyone has such a level.”

Carona pondered silently in her mind.

Sitting cross-legged, Gunie rested with his eyes closed, carefully sensing the changes after this promotion.

“The biggest changes are in the soul’s strength and carrying capacity.”

“Now, casting low-level secret-pattern spells should put much less pressure on my soul.”

“I should be able to withstand the burst of over a hundred low-level secret-pattern spells.”

“At the same time, the number of secret-transit runes should be able to increase by three to five, enough to achieve instant casting of low-level secret-pattern spells.”

“My source power has also transformed, greatly increasing its might. Now my source power’s power is probably close to that of a sixth-rank spellcaster!” Gunie thought to himself.

“Combined with my burst of about thirty spells per second,”

“high-level spells are also extremely formidable. And the sustained burst lasts far longer than low-level secret spells.”

“Mm… when that demon lord comes later, first ten cannon blasts, then three hundred small Thunderflame Bombs. Don’t ask; it’s saturation bombing.”

“After this wave of attacks, that demon lord will be either dead or heavily crippled.”

Before, when dealing with the demon leader, Gunie needed to gauge the opponent’s strength.

But now, against this demon lord, Gunie needed to maximize the power of his spells, crippling the opponent first, preferably killing him outright.

A spellcaster’s instant-cast ability should be used precisely at such critical moments.