Chosen Evolution: I can load the protagonist template

Chapter 272 Every Man's Dream of Flying Swords
【奇修迦尔（魔人化）：首领模板。魔人、魔法剑士。HP=4887/5000（魔人化、血量翻倍）、MP=920/1140。力量50、敏捷45、精神38、魅力25。】

[Unit Traits - Demon Transformation, Frost Magic, Berserker Asura, Asura Battle Axe]

【萨乌尔托霸（守护者之灵/灵魂具象化）：守护者之灵/类首领模板。神殿骑士团团长、魔法骑士。HP=-/-、MP=760/800。力量49、敏捷36、精神40、魅力42。】

[Guardian Spirit Traits - Magic Burst, Blazing Magic Path, Oath of Power, Crimson Greatsword]

Judging from the attributes alone, it was not unjust for the axe-wielding man Qishugal, who had not yet undergone deep demonization, to lose to Saul. As the leader of the Temple Knights, Saul's so-called weakness was only that he was slightly inferior in agility.

This is actually more a problem caused by aging and the accumulation of old wounds; it is the tragedy of time that treats everything in the world equally.

As a magic knight and a member of the lineage of power priests, Saul can also cast many spells to assist himself and make up for his physical shortcomings.

However, after slaying thousands upon thousands of demons, even the strongest body would inevitably fall into exhaustion. Furthermore, Kishugal, who had returned for the third time, had undergone a deep demonic transformation. With this shift in power, Saul fell to the enemy's battle axe.

At this moment, Saul Toba, who appeared as Cheng Tian's guardian spirit, clearly had his physical attributes fixed according to his state before death, rather than his peak period. However, the word "exhausted" no longer appeared on Saul's soul form.

He is no longer human, but his combat power may be even higher than when he was alive. Those behaviors such as breathing and pausing to catch his breath are actually just instincts from his previous life that are imprinted in his soul. Now, Saul has gradually realized that he no longer needs biological behaviors such as breathing.

This astonished the Demon Axe Man, but also made him even more excited.

Of course, the price is that Saul no longer has normal health. His survival time and health depend entirely on Cheng Tian's soul reserves. In the best-case scenario, he can only survive for 100 seconds. This is under the condition that he cannot be attacked at all and is in a damage-free state. This is very disadvantageous for some boss battles with limited scene range or that require long battles.

However, Cheng Tian immediately noticed a bug in the duration of the system, which he didn't know whether it could be called a bug or not.

Since maintaining Saul's existence requires the continuous consumption of innocent souls, why not just keep killing monsters to obtain their souls?
Normally, the drop rate of innocent souls is not high, but Cheng Tian is equipped with special equipment such as the "Demon Gauntlets". As long as he and his subordinates kill monster units, they will inevitably drop more or less soul fragments. The soul fragments will be given to Cheng Tian to absorb the corresponding innocent souls at a ratio of 10:1.

This effectively increases the chance of innocent souls being dropped to 100%.

In other words, how long the guild leader can fight the axe-wielding man depends entirely on how many monsters are in the entire Blazing Fire Domain that Cheng Tian can kill.

However, if Cheng Tian and his group could easily defeat the monsters in the first level of the Black Tower, the Cangku Domain, and the monsters in the second level, the Shuiji Domain, were relatively easy to deal with once they found the mechanics, then after reaching the third level, the difficulty returned to the standard level of a C-rank dungeon, meaning that a certain price had to be paid to conquer it.

Within the Blazing Fire Domain, there are countless monsters that are inherently fire-attribute, essentially miniature fire-coated creatures, making them quite troublesome for melee characters.

There are monsters like "Kailasken," a firebird-like creature engulfed in flames and constantly giving birth to offspring; "Nuzu," a creature whose name is actually a fire-attribute slime; "Kiamopur," a frog-like monster that hops around throwing cross-shaped darts; and "Bodity," a giant oni wielding a wolf-tooth hammer who enjoys torturing the living. Then there are many variant monsters that appeared in the first two levels—just change their armor, color, and add a fire attribute, and they're all set.

Without the fire-resistant rune, Bazett's physical body might not be seriously injured, but his hair and eyebrows would definitely be lost.

Previously, it would have been very difficult for Cheng Tian to quickly deal with these monster units, since all his skills were geared towards control and summoning. He only had one damage skill that could be used continuously: Judgment Arrow, which was severely lacking in damage.

However, Cheng Tian has now acquired the power of three Ys artifacts and obtained three exclusive derivative demon weapons: Gale Blade, Thunder Halberd, and Flame Dragon Sword. These weapons come with no cooldown equipment skills, and when combined with the hidden attribute of the Demon Gauntlet which increases the corresponding soul drop rate based on the user's current status, Cheng Tian can complete a virtuous cycle without needing to replenish his supplies. His status is almost fully restored after each battle.

More importantly, Cheng Tian learned to exploit a bug by using the +1 charge effect from the Goddess's blessing, or more accurately, to release skills for free.

The charging effect brought by the Goddess's Blessing allows the charge to be released without MP or other conditions. Cheng Tian's Crystal Eye consumes additional resources based on the cost of the released skill. That is, when the charge skill consumes 0 resources, the additional cost of Crystal Eye for skill replication is also 0 resources!

Cheng Tian's main target for freebies was naturally the Silver Guard summoning from the Prince's Sword.

Combining henchmen, cannon fodder, and trailblazers, there's no better way to get something for free!
Incidentally, Cheng Tian also unexpectedly discovered a shortcoming of the Goddess's Blessing: the "charge +1" effect only applies to skills with cooldowns, while equipment skills with no cooldowns, such as those attached to Ghost Armor, do not receive additional charges.

The Silver Guards charged ahead, clearing the way, while Cheng Tian, ​​at the rear, held the Flame Dragon Sword to his chest.

With a thought, the Flame Dragon Sword instantly split into seven arrow-shaped fragments, which then scattered like exploding winged floating cannons, racing wildly in the enemy's area before finally returning to Cheng Tian's hilt to reassemble into a complete greatsword.

[Flame Dragon Sword: Lv1, Greatsword + Magic Sword, Template Armament. Equipment Requirements: Onimusha Template/Oni Gauntlet Holder. (Omitted)]

Damage 35-35 (half of Strength + Spirit combined), Fire damage. Has a small chance to inflict burn upon hitting the target; the chance increases with each hit and resets after one application. Durability -/-.

The blade of the Flame Dragon Sword can split into up to seven pieces, which can be used to whip like a soft whip, or split apart to use mental power to drive fire elements to achieve the attack effect of a small flying sword, with a maximum control distance of 40 meters.

Tactical Shell Flame Array – Split Blades: Using fire element as a propulsion, this skill transforms each fragment of the Flame Dragon Sword into a small flying sword, continuously striking targets within a 5-meter radius. The Flame Dragon Sword fragments will continuously strike all enemy targets within the area, each fragment dealing 10 base fire damage. If struck consecutively by fragments, the damage increases by 5 points with each subsequent strike, up to a maximum of 175 points. If struck 7 times consecutively, the target will inevitably enter the "Flame Dragon's Embrace" state, taking 10 fire damage per second for 7 seconds, and any current spellcasting will be interrupted. Casting Flame Array consumes 25 MP and has no cooldown. [(Tactical Shell skill buff)]

[Additional comment: Compared to Jack Brown's Flame Serpent Sword in the original work and Ivy's Whip Sword in Soul Force, the Flame Dragon Sword is closer to Riselle Gent's magic sword in Trails in the Sky 3rd.]

(End of this chapter)