Scourge Messenger

Chapter 362 The Art of Controlling Fate

"Life's Strings"

"Affinity: Skill 0, Defense 10, Fate 4"

Suitable items: Healing, Enhancement

"Basic effect: The target enters an unshakeable state, unaffected by any negative status effects, and takes 30% less damage. You can consume health to activate the relic instead of spiritual power."

When the target is injured, the token's power damage increases; movement speed increases; attack speed increases; and health increases. When health drops to 8%, all bonuses reach their maximum value. If the target is in a state such as [Dismemberment], [Severe Wound], or [Near Death], all bonuses will be doubled.

The target has one chance to be immune to death, lasting up to ten seconds. If the target kills an enemy while in this state, the immunity to death will be refreshed.

"Comment: Life is like a musical string; it must be stretched taut to be played well, and playing it well is enough."

/
"epitaph"

"Affinity: Skill 8, Defense 5, Fate 3"

Suitable items: Healing, Offense, Reconnaissance

"Basic effect: The target enters a state of invisibility, is unaffected by external influences, cannot influence the outside world, and cannot move. This state lasts for a maximum of 30 minutes. During this state, the target's health will recover rapidly, and most negative status effects will be cured."

"Evaluation: A single stroke settles the matter, a single word determines good and evil."

/
"Rain Weaving Net"

"Affinity: Skill 0, Defense 5, Fate 10"

Suitable tokens: for attacking and moving.

Basic effect: Passive and permanent.

Every 10 attacks you make on the same target (regardless of whether they hit or not), your next attack will always hit and deal maximum damage, triggering all probability-based effects.

Every 20 attacks you make on the same target (regardless of whether they hit or not), the enemy's next attack will inevitably cause a major mishap.

"Comment: The torrential rain is as dense as a net, as if fate is closing its needles."

Choose any of the three mysterious and divine abilities!
Finally, the harvest time arrived, and Yan Qing's hands trembled uncontrollably. Murong Hui wanted to get closer to take a look, but Ying Rushi restrained her, afraid that her restless sister might accidentally touch something.

However, they could only observe and offer no advice. Their understanding of supernatural abilities was completely vague, and they couldn't distinguish between their merits. Let alone them, even fourth-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators, if they hadn't ventured out to see the world, would likely be less knowledgeable than Yan Qing, who only observed games on forums.

Of the three great mysteries, the first one that can be ruled out is [Life String]. Although it has the most words and the effect is very powerful, its upper limit is the lowest and its applicable range is very small. In any case, you must first enter a state of low health and severe injury in order to bring out the maximum performance of this mystery.

[Epitaph] may seem like just a healing ability, but its most terrifying aspect is its ability to control through etherealization. It can be used to heal or control the battlefield. What's even more ingenious is that it's not a negative status effect. Many abilities that can remove control are ineffective against it. Only abilities that can remove all status effects can break the etherealization, but in doing so, the target will also lose their own buffs.

This is only for healing and offense; its greatest strength lies in reconnaissance. As long as it is paired with the right reconnaissance tokens, it truly lives up to its reputation as the number one in magical mystery!

Yan Qing also vaguely remembered "Rain Weaving Net." Although it wasn't among the top ten mysteries, it was probably a strong contender, which is why Yan Qing had seen it vaguely while browsing the forum. Looking at the basic effects, Yan Qing roughly understood that this Mystery of Fate didn't focus on offense, healing, defense, or movement; it only affected one thing: Fate.

In gaming terms, it's about hit rate and probability.

If mortal messengers are still more like martial arts masters, then at the Foundation Establishment level, messengers begin to possess the aura of immortals, wielding wind and thunder, altering terrain, and concealing their whereabouts. When Foundation Establishment messengers attack each other, let alone how much damage they can inflict, whether they can even hit the enemy is a question.

Yan Qing had previously encountered Si Wuxie's "Primordial Bewitching Array," which reduced the hit rate, making it impossible to hit even though the target was likely to be hit. In addition, Foundation Establishment Messengers are not lacking in mobile tokens. Unless it is close-quarters combat, as long as a certain distance is maintained, Foundation Establishment Messengers can definitely dodge directly.

【Rain Weaving Net】solves this problem. If you choose this profound technique, the messenger can become a long-range artillery turret, making any attack targeted and even uninterceptable. Some might ask, if you don't play PVP, isn't 【Rain Weaving Net】meaningless? The demons in the secret realm don't dodge, so it's a guaranteed hit. In fact, 【Rain Weaving Net】is even more terrifying in PVE. Yan Qing now remembers that the reason some players think it deserves to be among the top ten profound techniques is because it can 'trigger all probability characteristics'.

For example, if a weapon's artifact effect has a 1% chance to deal 100x damage and a 99% chance to deal 1% damage, then the expected damage from 100 attacks with this weapon is 100.99x, which is practically useless. But what if you had [Rain Weave Net]?

Yan Qing remembered that a forum player had created an ultimate probability build. The expected attack was only one-third of that of a normal fourth-tier player. However, if paired with [Rain Weaving Net], a single strike could trigger more than a dozen attack characteristics such as critical hits, lethality, aging, annihilation, and curses. A level 49 player could kill a level 69 Yama Lord with just a single divine power.

Everyone agrees that it's very powerful, but the problem is that players won't stay at the fourth job advancement. All builds related to Fate/Destiny have one issue: the setup is too long and the initial activation is too slow. The Ten Mysterious Sixth Job advancement builds can all reach their peak within three turns, while Fate/Destiny is still in the setup phase. The difference between the two is comparable to that between an adult game and a visual novel; although they can both eventually unlock similar CGs, the unlocking speed is worlds apart.

Yan Qing thought to himself that it was quite a coincidence that these three supernatural abilities could represent the three aspects of technique, control, and destiny, respectively.

Techniques are techniques for protecting the Way, that is, influencing the external world, mainly used for attack and reconnaissance. The higher the affinity of a technique, the easier it is for the supernatural power to influence enemies and the outside world.

"Yu" refers to the methods of defense, that is, the means of protecting oneself, mainly used for strengthening, healing, movement, defense, and reconnaissance. The higher the Yu affinity, the easier it is for the supernatural power to protect oneself.

Fate is the force of destiny, that is, changing the flow of luck. In addition to increasing one's own hit rate, drop rate, and various probabilities, it will also reduce the enemy's luck, and even the activation of the token's power will suffer a backlash from failure.

The supernatural abilities are: [Epitaph], [Life Strings], and [Rain Weaving Net]. Upon seeing this, Yan Qing had no further hesitation and reached out to touch it—

【epitaph】!
All three cards vanished simultaneously, except for [Epitaph], which transformed into a stream of light and merged into Yan Qing's body. Yan Qing took a deep breath, but all he inhaled was the stench of decay; his muscles rippled like flowing water, yet his soul felt so light it wanted to escape this prison of flesh and blood; everything in his vision was nothing but a bleak gray, and all things in the world began to dissolve into mud from the edges of their outlines. Death had never been so clear as it was at this moment.

He had initially thought acquiring profound supernatural powers was like gaining team skills—just a matter of having a button in his mind to activate it. But now it seemed that mastering profound supernatural powers... probably meant truly comprehending their mysteries!

In a daze, Yan Qing felt himself transform into a giant. When he opened his eyes, he saw the sun and moon; his breath was a raging wind; his sweat was a flood. His body was decaying, and countless tiny creatures devoured it, multiplying and creating civilization. The speed of decay mirrored the speed of their civilization's advancement. As his life faded into oblivion, a great civilization began its journey!
Epitaphs provide a final judgment on the deceased and a test of good and evil for the living!
Ying Rushi and Murong Hui both took a step back; they had no choice but to retreat. Behind Yan Qing, a phantom of a tombstone appeared, ancient and scarred, as if it had endured countless autumns and springs on the barren plains. The scars were the words etched by time. At this moment, Yan Qing gently stepped back, touching the tombstone. The tombstone vanished into nothingness, seemingly transforming into both his battle robe and his throne!
Yan Qing didn't fall; two hands caught his arms in time. Even with bandages, you could see how pale he was, his lips were as thin as paper, and his body was weak and powerless. Although there was still fear on his face, his eyes were brighter than ever before.

He gripped Ying Rushi's wrist tightly, so tightly that Ying Rushi felt a little pain. But when Ying Rushi met his bright, sun-like gaze, she could clearly feel his feelings from that burning grip: no need for the future, no need for what's to come, now, he had the ability to fight against Ying Le.

You no longer need to be afraid.

The first thing I do when I have power is to share this peace of mind with you.

Murong Hui looked at them, suddenly feeling a tickle in her head and a strange, unfamiliar emotion welling up inside her. She quickly shook Yan Qing's arm, suppressing the inexplicable undercurrent in her heart, and excitedly asked, "How does it feel? What's it like to master supernatural powers? I want to see how powerful your supernatural powers are!"

"I--"

As Yan Qing uttered a single word, a string in his mind was gently plucked, and the world in his pupils suddenly transformed into lines interwoven with black and white. Murong Hui's smile froze in the gap of time, her eyes sparkling with joy.

Yan Qing had never observed the little cat so closely before. Her expressions were so varied, like a surging sea, with waves of emotion crashing one after another. Only in moments of calm did Yan Qing realize that the little cat's gaze held not only expectation but also genuine joy.

"The World of the Netherworld!"
Amidst the black and white, a sharp spearhead pointed directly at Yan Qing's throat, aiming at Ying Rushi behind him! The Bingzi Jiaolin had already been retrieved from Murong Hui's hands. Yan Qing swung his sword, and the trajectory of the slash faintly revealed a passage of text, writing about life and death, and imprinting spring and autumn!
epitaph!
Then came a scene that sent chills down Yan Qing's spine: even in the extremely slowed time, his opponent was still able to change direction. Whether he sensed the aura of a mysterious supernatural power or simply didn't want to take any risks, the spear subtly twisted, thrusting towards the unprotected prey.

boom!
Yan Qing abruptly pulled Murong Hui aside, as if a cannonball had whizzed past them, and a gust of wind whipped their hair. Dozens of steps behind them, a house collapsed, and from the rubble emerged a figure that Yan Qing and the others recognized all too well: a demon mask, ferocious armor, wielding a long spear, a lone warrior! Blood flames rose from his shoulder armor, massive and murky, as if he were carrying a mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood.

Babe no Konoe!

The last of the Hundred Guards!

Murong Hui gripped Yan Qing's shoulders tightly. A huge gash appeared in her abdomen, with internal organs and bone spurs clearly visible; she had been almost severed at the waist. If she hadn't dodged, her spine would probably have been pierced as well. But even with Yan Qing in her grasp, she couldn't stand up.

"It hurts so much..." she sighed, leaning against Yan Qing's chest and closing her eyes. Surprisingly, she didn't feel much fear, as if she were just a little girl who had suffered a minor injury and wanted to act cute.

thump.

The figure of Hyakubo Konoe vanished, the killing intent overwhelming Yan Qing and the others' senses. He clearly realized that what followed was an attack too fast to catch, but he had already used "Tongyou World"!

(End of this chapter)