Act Thirty: Heroic Deck

Summoning the Sacred Sword? Vonder had many swords known by the name "Sacred Sword," such as the Crown of Wind, Nordasis, the Sword of Endless Azure, the Sacred Sword of Mountains, "Extreme," and the only Sacred Sword ever obtained by a player – Amber. But Brando felt that none of these legendary names had anything to do with him.

Was this a spell? He did know that priests had a low-level light-element spell called Sacred Sword Technique, but that spell had a string of purely offensive incantations, clearly having nothing to do with summoning or calling. In the game, magical words were very serious and couldn't be arbitrarily changed or combined.

However, regardless of what this "Summon Sacred Sword" was, Brando knew that any spell available for players in the game had no significant negative side effects – the worst consequence was usually excessive mental energy expenditure, but it wouldn't cause splitting headaches, just a feeling of mental fatigue.

With this thought, he calmed himself and mentally issued the command to agree to summon the Sacred Sword. After all, anyone would do business that wasn't a loss, and besides, he harbored a sliver of hope, like trying to revive a dead horse.

Brando hesitated for a moment, and the treant on the other side whipped two vine tendrils at him. But he immediately ducked and swung his sword upwards. A silver arc flashed, and the two foul-smelling tendrils flew into the air and turned to ash.

Then, without losing momentum, the protagonist pushed off the ground with one hand, accelerating into the treant's close-combat range. However, just as he was about to take further action, the faint light screen projected onto his retina changed:

"Warrior's Path, Unlocked."

"Heroic Deck, Chapter II, Knight – Sacred Sword."

"Considering this is the character's first time opening the Destiny Deck, guiding system loading."

Lines of ghostly text appeared and quickly vanished.

"Sacred Sword, the sword symbolizing a knight's devotion and purity—"

"Effect: Pay 6 Earth Element from the Elemental Pool to summon the Sacred Sword onto the field. Summoning conditions met. Please display the card, press your thumb onto the center of the Destiny Holy Seal, and ignite the Sacred Sword with the magic triangle formed by your index finger and thumb—"

Brando immediately found himself so distracted by this chaotic nonsense that he could barely attack. His hand movements faltered slightly, and he was forced back by the treant's retracted vines. He cursed inwardly, but knew that even without the distraction, his chances weren't great. He couldn't help but catch his breath and glance back at Freya – the girl was struggling to climb towards the massive rock, not far now. The way her light brown ponytail bobbed behind her made Brando pause.

His attention then subtly shifted to another direction. The other young treants below were a step slower, so it seemed the future Valkyrie should be fine. However, Romane's situation wasn't optimistic; she could no longer climb and was panting heavily below.

Meanwhile, Brando and the treant had exchanged blows, neither gaining much advantage. The offspring of the Golden Demon Tree had discovered that the human before it wasn't as formidable as imagined, only fearing the elven sword in his hand.

Brando was well aware of this.

He gripped his sword again, and it was at this moment that the last prompt flashed across his retina: Display the card? Brando froze, but being an old player, he immediately thought of the card in his bosom. As if guided by inspiration, he fumbled it out.

So this holy seal was called the Destiny Holy Seal, though he'd never heard of it before. Brando couldn't help but feel a bit puzzled, but his confusion aside, he pressed his thumb onto it.

"Heroic Deck, Chapter II, Knight – Sacred Sword, Lock successful."

A blinding black light shot out.

The penetrating magic wave pierced the minds of every nearby creature like a sharp sword, causing not only the adult treant to howl but also stopping Freya and Romane in their tracks, both turning their heads to look at Brando.

They both saw the card Brando held aloft disappear after a ripple of black energy.

"Brando, your card, it's gone!" the merchant girl shouted nervously. Her eyesight was truly good, as she was at least fifty meters away from Brando.

But Brando was deaf to the merchant girl's words at that moment, as he could only stare blankly at the new information appearing on his retina:

"Sacred Sword, the sword symbolizing a knight's devotion and purity—"

"While it is on the field, pay 1 Earth Element to attack enemies, or pay 1 Earth Element to dispel diseases, curses, and dark effects."

"For every 10 minutes the Sacred Sword remains, the character needs to support it with 2 Earth Element and 2 Mental Power."

"The Sacred Sword's influence range is one thousand meters."

Huh?

What kind of vicious sorcery was this? Brando had never heard of a magical item that required the player to continuously pay power to use. Mental power was self-explanatory, related only to willpower capacity. But this elemental pool, he recognized it. In his memory, only a few professions like Elementalist, Spellblade, and Sun Knight had elemental pools, as they needed to draw upon the power of elements to cast spells.

But no magical item had ever required the use of a player's elemental pool. Did that mean players without an elemental pool couldn't use it?

And most importantly, it was a continuous consumption. This meant that if he wanted to draw upon the card's power like he did this time by charging it with a Soul Crystal, he would need to ensure he had enough Soul Crystals.

But having enough Soul Crystals was easier said than done; they weren't guaranteed drops from every monster.

Of course, although his doubts flashed through his mind, the power of this magical item was undeniable. It was indeed an item of 40Oz power level or higher, its effects absolutely uncompromised.

Brando swept his hand from top to bottom—

A sword of light suddenly manifested behind him. The sword was two people tall and one person wide. Its hilt was a shining golden cross. A pair of wings unfolded from the sides of the hilt, making Brando appear to have a pair of snow-white wings extending from his back.

The merchant girl was stunned. Seeing this scene from below, her eyes immediately filled with adoration and excitement. Brando was so cool!

Freya was also mesmerized, but she remembered her mission. Gritting her teeth, she grabbed the rock and continued to climb higher. The wound on her hand seemed to have reopened during the night, and the stinging sensation made her frown.

Brando, on the other hand, felt his own status. The Sacred Sword had cleared both of his negative statuses as soon as it appeared. Corpse Poison and Paralysis Toxin vanished like melting snow, and with every movement, he could feel the holy power filling his body.

40Oz, Level 2 Power. This was at least the level of a quasi-priest. This meant that after entering the Sacred Sword state, Brando was at least on par with a formal priest in terms of dispelling abilities. If one ignored his attire and background, anyone sensing his aura would believe Brando to be a quasi-priest.

It was truly strange. This card, summoned by Earth Element, could simulate the power of Light Element so realistically. He couldn't help but wonder who the creator of this card was.

But what Brando didn't know was that under his suddenly enhanced aura, the treant before him was already becoming restless. Even the offspring of an adult Golden Demon Tree was only Level 22, and a 40Oz power level was close to Level 30. Under such a powerful aura, a not-so-intelligent creature would find it hard to control its fear.

It shrieked and finally couldn't help but attack. The vine-covered monster suddenly grew in size, and all its vines flew out, stabbing towards Brando.

"Brando, be careful!" the merchant girl warned from below.

Brando frowned.

Because he lacked an elemental pool, he wasn't sure how much Earth Element he could draw upon. However, generally speaking, Soul Crystals converted into experience for the elemental pool at a one-to-one ratio. So, based on the remaining energy, this card should have originally contained 20 points of Earth Element. After using 6 points to summon the Sacred Sword, there should have been 14 points left—

Calculating this way, he still had plenty. He then swept his right hand forward, paying 1 point of Earth Element to use the Sacred Sword's "Attack" skill. It was like a golden blade of light shooting from his fingertips—

Wherever the light passed, the vines ignited and burned into ashes.

This was Sacred Sword Technique. Brando immediately recognized it as a low-level priest attack spell, but with the increased power level, its attack power was equally terrifying.

The treant wailed and retreated. With a single blow, Brando had almost stripped away a third of its vines. The treant relied on the magic provided by the Golden Demon Tree for nourishment, and it would take many years for these vines to slowly grow back.

But our protagonist didn't give it that chance. He attacked with both hands, piercing the adult demon tree's body with three golden swords in quick succession, then delivered a chop. With a loud bang, the offspring of the Golden Demon Tree exploded from its center, turning into a pile of ashes.

Meanwhile, Freya also activated the Wind Queen Ring. She aimed slightly off, but the force of the wind blast still sent the giant rock flying. With a rumbling sound, the mountain-sized boulder tumbled down, crushing sharp rocks and demon trees alike into dust as it went.

In an instant, over ten demon trees were killed simultaneously. Even the Golden Demon Tree couldn't withstand such a loss. It let out a terrifying wail, its shriek nearly piercing the entire Xavier Valley.

However, Brando had heard this sound in the game at least eight hundred times, so he was already accustomed to it. Hearing it now even brought a sense of nostalgia. Freya and Romane, on the other hand, were startled and exchanged glances.

"Wh-what was that, Brando?" the ponytail girl asked from the mountaintop below.

"Don't worry, we won't have to deal with it." Brando finally relaxed, relieved that the fight was over. With this patrol squad dealt with, the rest would be much easier. He estimated the time; the Sacred Sword could remain active for another hour and a half, which wasn't enough time to leave the valley. If he deactivated the Sacred Sword now, he might even be able to summon it one more time.

With that thought, he decisively recalled the card. Just then, the merchant lady, out of breath, climbed up from below and immediately asked, "Brando, what was that just now?"

"It was the power of that card. I didn't expect it to be a magic item too." He answered vaguely, seeing the stars in Romane's eyes.

"Magic item?" Freya was secretly surprised by this answer. Brando had given her that ring, and the Empress of Wind Half-Plate too, but how could an ordinary person know so much about magic? Magic, in her eyes, was as mysterious and legendary as something from stories.

She couldn't help but take a closer look at the young man below, as if trying to see through his true identity.

He said he was a militiaman from Brags, but Freya was increasingly convinced that this was just a perfunctory answer. However, she didn't expect that in the world she couldn't see, an even more spectacular scene was unfolding:

Because Brando looked up and saw waves of golden light flying towards him—

Fighting monsters above your level really is a good thing.