Volume Two, The Demon's Game Chapter Sixty-Eight: Adding Points to Magical Artifacts

Lu Yi quickly scanned the list and soon found an item called the Magic Item Enhancement Point, priced at 10,000 exchange points for 5 points. Frowning, Lu Yi checked the attributes of the magic item once more.

"Name: Magic Rune Empowerment Core (Prototype)
Type: Demon Game Magic Item
Manufacturing Magic Runes: The holder injects energy into the magic item, and a certain amount of energy can be converted into a magic rune.
Magic Rune Empowerment: Upon contacting someone to whom you wish to grant abilities, leave a hidden magic rune on their body meant for storing energy, and randomly acquire an ability.
Please note that abilities granted by magic runes are acquired externally, not learned by oneself. The grantor can destroy them, and the recipient can request the Mist City to erase them, or use other methods to clear them. They will also be erased by strong purification effects and similar effects.
Special Tip: Clearing the magic runes by any means will not have the slightest other impact on the recipient or the grantor, nor will it affect subsequent magic rune grants. However, subsequent grants will still randomly acquire abilities and will not retain previously acquired abilities."

In addition to the above, the description also listed five enhancement aspects: "Magic Rune Quantity; Ability Strength; Number of Abilities; Recovery Speed; Synergy."

Magic Rune Quantity is related to the upper limit of stored magic runes the magic item can hold, as well as the upper limit of objects that can be empowered.

Ability Strength is related to the strength of the granted abilities, Number of Abilities is related to how many abilities the recipient can obtain, and Recovery Speed is an additionally added attribute because endurance issues do not exist in the Demon Games, or if they do, they are part of the game.

This recovery speed is designed for people like Lu Yi who acquire magic items. Enhancing it allows the magic runes to automatically absorb energy to recover, but there is a limit to this recovery.

As for Synergy, it is a buff attribute. Once activated and enhanced, the consumption of the empowered person whose ability is synergistic with the acquired ability is reduced when releasing the ability, while the ability's power and recovery speed are increased. In addition, synergy can enhance magic rune stability and provide resistance against purification.

The current upper limit for all these attributes is 3 points. Future enhancements will require participating in Demon Games or finding other methods.

Lu Yi rested his chin on his right hand with a contemplative look. Judging by the current situation, this magic item could not produce any immediate effects. First of all, it could not be used on himself. Moreover, Jade Toad and Demon Hunter had synergy; if he were to add a magic ability to Jade Toad, Demon Hunter would probably skewer him to death, so he couldn't enhance Jade Toad's abilities either.

However, from another perspective, nurturing new teammates has always been a difficult problem for every team. With this magic item, Lu Yi could additionally grant abilities to newcomers in the future beyond spending reward points. Viewed this way, he needed to take this magic item seriously.

Making up his mind, Lu Yi spent 30,000 exchange points to redeem 15 enhancement points, intending to max out all five enhancement aspects.

Lu Yi chose to upgrade the Magic Rune Quantity first. When the Magic Rune Quantity level reached 3, a pop-up window suddenly appeared before him.

"Magic Rune Quantity has reached level 3. You can choose one of the following branches as a bonus ability:
1. The energy required to manufacture each magic rune is reduced by half a percent;
2. A 2% probability of manufacturing an additional magic rune after making one."

Probability again. Lu Yi subconsciously touched the Ring of Fortune on his hand. Although this Ring of Fortune was uncontrollable and behaved rather erratically, Lu Yi certainly didn't want to waste his luck on this aspect. Besides, Lu Yi wasn't going to go around sticking magic runes on people everywhere, nor was there any rush when helping teammates. After a moment of thought, he chose option 1.

He then upgraded Ability Strength to level 3, and as expected, another prompt appeared.

"Ability Strength has reached level 3. You can choose one of the following branches as a bonus ability:
1. Strengthen magic runes, slightly increasing the power of all acquired abilities;
2. Have the opportunity to obtain enhanced skills at proficiency level or obtain advanced skills."

Basic, enhanced, advanced—advanced skills corresponded to crimson, with sublimation skills still standing between them and ultimate moves. The magic runes granted by Lu Yi could generally only randomize basic skills or enhanced skills, which was quite reasonable.

Lu Yi himself couldn't unleash ultimate moves, nor could he even release sublimation skills. If the magic runes formed by a part of his power could grant others sublimation skills or ultimate moves, then he wouldn't need any enhancements.

He could use all reward points to manufacture homunculi, then frantically farm magic runes. As long as the frequency was high enough, coupled with the Ring of Fortune, Lu Yi believed he could definitely assemble a high-end magic rune legion.

When the time came to enter trial worlds with this group of people, they could throw out advanced skills whenever needed, and Lu Yi could manually replenish energy when it ran out. Facing such a lineup, which trial taker at the Tier 1 difficulty could possibly be a match for Lu Yi's legion? But obviously, the city had already plugged this loophole.

Lu Yi tilted his head slightly and chose option 2. The reason was as stated above: he intended to use magic runes to strengthen future teammates, and there would be plenty of time to farm later. Being able to obtain stronger skills naturally meant he wouldn't care about a slight increase in power.

Immediately afterward, Lu Yi maxed out the other aspects as well and selected their respective branches.

Number of Abilities Level 3: Increases the probability of obtaining two or three abilities, and provides a chance to additionally increase one ability.
Recovery Speed Level 3: Increases the maximum recoverable energy in trial worlds by 100%, and slightly increases the speed at which magic runes automatically absorb energy.
Synergy Level 3: Opens the Magic Energy Core Space. You can invite empowered magic rune holders who are in the Mist City or the same trial world to enter the space. Once they agree, a portion of their consciousness will split off to enter the space.
After the other party accepts and the conversation concludes, they cannot be invited again for 12 hours. The magic rune holder can also send messages to the Magic Energy Core.

At this point, the Magic Rune Empowerment Core updated with the following attributes:

"Magic Rune Quantity: Current level three, can store 7 units of magic rune energy, allowing a total of 48 empowered magic rune holders to exist. In addition, the energy required to manufacture each magic rune is reduced by half a percent.
Ability Strength: Current level three, empowered magic rune holders can randomly acquire skills from basic skills, proficient basic skills, and enhanced skills, with an additional chance to obtain enhanced skills at proficiency level or advanced skills.
Number of Abilities: Current level three, empowered magic rune holders can randomly acquire one to three skills, with increased probability of obtaining two or three abilities, and a chance to additionally increase one ability.
Recovery Speed: Can recover a total of 300% energy in trial worlds, with an additional 100% recoverable energy, and a slight increase in the automatic energy absorption speed of magic runes.
Synergy: Current level three, when the empowered magic rune holder has synergy with the magic rune or random ability, their energy consumption when releasing abilities is reduced by up to 10%, ability effectiveness is increased by up to 5%, and energy recovery speed is increased by up to 5%. In addition, synergy can enhance magic rune stability and provide resistance against purification."

After finishing the stat allocations, Lu Yi immediately converted all remaining exchange points into reward points and then looked toward the host.

"Mr. Lu, don't be hasty." The host chuckled softly, "Although you have finished allocating points for the magic item, there are still a few issues that remain unresolved."

Lu Yi frowned. What did this mean? Could he finally get his item smoothly or not?

Seeing Lu Yi's expression change, the host remained unhurried and said, "Using the Magic Rune Empowerment Core in my games is naturally not a problem. Regardless of the method they wish to use to release the abilities within the magic runes, the core can quickly respond and process them.

However, things are different once the core is integrated into your body. For one thing, you do not possess the power to envelop an entire world; constantly maintaining the core to receive and process such information not only continuously consumes energy, but there is also no guarantee that in certain circumstances you and the magic rune holders might end up in different worlds, rendering the magic runes completely unable to communicate with the core."

Hearing the host's words, Lu Yi's expression changed drastically. He would end up in different worlds from the magic rune holders? Could the host know about the existence of Mist City?

Previously, the host had mentioned inviting Lu Yi to participate in the game again, which Lu Yi hadn't taken to heart because he assumed the city might have given him some special status. But now the host directly stated they would be in different worlds, which undoubtedly meant they knew Lu Yi and the others would travel to different worlds for trials.

"Don't be surprised." Seeming to be in a great mood upon seeing Lu Yi's startled expression, the host chuckled a few times and continued, "I can tell you a publicly known secret among the upper echelons: as long as we grow strong enough, we can compete on the same stage with you even in Tier 2 or Tier 3 difficulties.

Note that when I say competing on the same stage, I don't just mean individuals or teams, but also factions." The host heavily emphasized the last two words.

Lu Yi felt his body grow somewhat stiff. He remembered that when he was creating his faction, the city had told him he could not include certain native ability users in his faction. He hadn't understood at the time, guessing that perhaps the natives had friendly relationships with multiple trial takers. Now it seemed those natives were actually members of native factions themselves.

The host gave a light cough and returned to a serious demeanor. "Mr. Lu, let's get back to business. For this situation, we will add a keyword function to your magic item.

This way, even if the magic rune and the core are in two different worlds, as long as the keyword is spoken, the magic rune can be activated. However, similarly, due to your insufficient strength, you cannot generate a pseudonym recognized by the magic network, so the keyword can only be set to your name.

Do you understand and accept this?"

"Accepted." Lu Yi had no other choice.

The host nodded and continued, "Very well. In addition, does Mr. Lu require visible external features for the magic runes? Once the rune features are externalized, you can determine how many abilities the other party has obtained and what kind of abilities they are through external traits."

Lu Yi frowned. "Can't I check through the core?"

"Naturally not," the host said as a matter of course. "This is a fair game, after all. Even if occasionally needed, we can do it ourselves."

Lu Yi clicked his tongue, wanting to curse inwardly in his heart, but considering the other party's overwhelming power, Lu Yi ultimately dismissed the thought. "Required."

Soon, the host displayed a bunch of pictures to Lu Yi. Lu Yi picked out a portion of them. According to the host, once the magic runes were activated, the activator would gain some rings on their hands that did not occupy equipment slots; the number of rings corresponded to the number of abilities acquired, and a graphic corresponding to the strongest ability would appear, with the color of the gemstone inside corresponding to the level of the strongest ability.

"Mr. Lu, your magic item customization is complete. I will now demonstrate the external features you selected." As the host spoke, he waved his right hand.

Lu Yi frowned. This appearance differed somewhat from what he had imagined, but it wasn't entirely unacceptable. However, the next moment, Lu Yi thought of another problem, and he shouted loudly, "Wait a minute, I want to reset."

Yet a majestic beast head suddenly appeared and rapidly merged into Lu Yi's body, whereupon Lu Yi fell straight into a pitch-black passage.

"Mr. Lu, you have no exchange points left and cannot reset the external features. The rewards have now been issued in full, and I await your participation in future games. Goodbye, Mr. Lu."

Hearing the host's words, Lu Yi instantly cursed out loud. This was retaliation—thorough, unadulterated retaliation.

Once the pitch-black passage vanished, the host finally sneered, "Lu Yi, you made me endure the pressure and scrutiny of a big shot, so I'm going to make you suffer a bit too."