Chapter 111: The Power of Time

Chu Cheng’s hero specialization, "Eternal Sovereign," did not provide any increase to his raw stat sheet, yet its effects were outrageously powerful. Beyond the comprehensive purification buff that triggered every 30 seconds, the passive effect—which functioned like a resurrection skill but technically wasn't—was unparalleled.

It was far superior to the Stone of the True Realm. While the Stone of the True Realm offered a perfect resurrection complete with powerful buffs, it still meant one had died, inevitably leaving some lingering impact. "Eternal Life," however, effectively reverted the user to a state before death; it wasn't a resurrection because, in essence, death had never occurred.

With this, Chu Cheng’s class advancement concluded. He had successfully ascended from an intermediate class to an Immortal-grade hero class, resulting in a qualitative leap in both his current strength and future potential.

Yun Dingge did not inquire about the specifics of his advancement. Once he confirmed that Chu Cheng had successfully obtained the hero inheritance, he led him away from the Altar of Stars. However, upon returning to his Mage Tower, he asked Chu Cheng to wait for a moment, disappeared briefly, and returned with a crystal card, which he handed over, saying, "This contains data on the Trans-Dimensional Traveler and over a dozen legendary hero classes, including various secrets regarding Elite and Transcendental tiers, as well as the path to ascending to Legend. Take it for your reference."

Chu Cheng quickly expressed his gratitude: "Thank you, Mentor!"

"Prepare well. There will be an assessment for new students within this semester."

"I will do my best."

After bidding farewell to his mentor, Chu Cheng did not return to his dormitory. Instead, he headed to the training grounds, eager to test the potency of his new hero skills. He opened a private room and summoned a Level 20 Elite Orc.

As the Orc materialized, it immediately spotted Chu Cheng. It let out a roar, hammered its war club against the ground, and charged forward.

"Time Wander!"

Chu Cheng lowered his eyelids and extended his right hand. Invisible power flowed through his palm as he reached out and made a grasping motion. The formless energy of time surged through his body, and in an instant, he saw an infinite river of temporal power rushing toward him from ahead, with currents of time flowing turbulently in every direction. He realized he had stepped into the River of Time.

Inside the training hall, the Elite Orc, which had been mid-charge, suddenly lost all sense of Chu Cheng. Although it could see him standing there, it couldn't perceive him; it couldn't even lock onto him with its skills. The peculiar, jarring sense of displacement was deeply unsettling.

Chu Cheng stood motionless for several seconds before raising his head. He took a single step—while his physical body remained in place, another version of him appeared directly in front of the Orc. Bizarrely, even though he was standing right before the beast, the Orc acted as if he didn't exist, continuing its charge toward the original Chu Cheng and passing through the new figure as if it were a mere phantom.

"Six seconds."
"Seven seconds."

Chu Cheng counted silently, gauging the maximum duration he could linger within the River of Time. After fifteen seconds, he knew he had reached the limit; staying any longer would require expending excessive amounts of temporal energy just to shield himself from the erosion of the river.

Furthermore, Chu Cheng understood that while within the River of Time, all damage-over-time effects and negative debuffs were washed away by the temporal flow. Beneficial buffs remained suspended, only resuming their duration once he exited. For instance, if he had a five-second healing buff and entered the river at the fourth second, the buff would remain active for the duration of his stay; the final second would only tick away after he emerged.

As Chu Cheng stepped out of the Time Wander, he materialized in the air, one meter above the Orc’s head. The invisible temporal power manifested as a transparent, humanoid phantom that pressed downward. The air within a five-meter radius visibly buckled, and the Elite Orc was instantly reduced to a mass of blood mist.

"Hiss!"

Chu Cheng immediately opened his interface to review the logs.

"Based on your perception, the following detailed combat statistics are provided."
"Combat replay initiated."
"You emerged from Time Wander and dealt a defense-ignoring temporal impact to the Elite Orc."
"Your base attack of 593 dealt 300% critical damage. Your attack triggered a 'Crush,' adding an additional 200% physical damage. Your attack triggered 'Dismember,' adding 50% extra damage. Your attack carried 30 points of frost damage."
"Your attack dealt a total of 8,005 points of temporal damage and 30 points of frost damage. Your damage type is True Damage, ignoring target defense. The target sustained 8,005 points of True Damage."
"Your damage exceeded the target’s remaining health; target eliminated!"

"Hmm!" Chu Cheng mused. "A normal professional's critical hit is double damage; a hero class's critical hit is triple. My strength exceeds 200 points, while a Level 20 Elite Orc’s strength is likely around 50, so a double-strength gap is sufficient to trigger the 'Crush' effect."

"Additionally, since I wield a sharp weapon, the 'Dismember' effect triggered. There is also a 'Culling' effect, though the damage was already overkill—had it not been, that would have triggered as well. If I were using a blunt weapon, 'Dismember' and 'Culling' wouldn't trigger; instead, it would be a 'Pulverize' effect."

This was not even the limit of Time Wander’s burst potential. If he stacked the Centaur’s Blood for +30 Strength and activated the Wild Power of the Orc Warlord’s Strength Pendant for +100 Attack, he could potentially unleash a staggering 9,760 points of True Damage.

These triggered effects did not stack linearly; they stacked geometrically. The base attack’s triple-critical damage, followed by the 200% bonus from the Crush—which applied to the critical damage—meant the total was effectively nine times the base attack. Because each effect built upon the previous one, the resulting burst was akin to a chain reaction, becoming incredibly exaggerated. With further buffs, he could potentially output over ten thousand damage in a short window.

"Now, I need to fill out my skills."

He had wiped four skills during his re-specialization, leaving him with only three. This was no longer enough to form a proper combat system. He had pondered this before, and now that his hero class was settled, he had a clear plan. He still had ten skill slots, excluding hero skills. He planned to reserve three of those for ranged abilities. Although he had ways to deal with ranged enemies now, he still lacked a way to handle aerial units. Time Wander allowed him to move into the air, but since he couldn't fly, he would plummet immediately upon exiting the river.

Returning to his dormitory, Chu Cheng opened his skill panel to begin his upgrades.

First was the "Body of the Blood God." He decided to raise this passive skill to Level 5. Upgrading a top-tier skill before Level 5 cost 10 skill points per level; to go from Level 1 to Level 5 would require 40 points. Without hesitation, he clicked the upgrade.

Body of the Blood God (Level 5, Top-tier)
Attribute/Passive: The Body of the Blood God can withstand more damage, reducing all incoming damage by 18%, and increasing health regeneration by 30.
Trait: Blood God.
Blood God: Every enemy killed increases health regeneration by 3 per stack, lasting 50 seconds. Consecutive kills refresh the duration.
Note: Blood God effects can stack up to a maximum of 50 layers.
Note: Effect is dispellable; priority: Authoritative.