Templar Lightblade

As the system's voice faded, the entire island began to tremble slightly, then slowly sank.

Lin Yuan floated on the sea, watching the scene, and suddenly had a strange feeling.

It seemed that this enormous island-ship possessed a will of its own, rising from unknown depths at the system's call.

Now that its mission was complete, it would return to the lightless, endless Deep Sea.

Perhaps every time the game began, these enormous ships would rise from the seabed, then sink back down, repeating the cycle without ever stopping.

Just like Sisyphus in the myth, endlessly pushing his boulder, unable to rest.

As this thought arose, Lin Yuan suddenly heard a faint, intermittent voice.

"Save..."

"Save... save..."

"Who's there!" Lin Yuan startled, then realized something was wrong.

The voice seemed to be coming from the sinking island.

"No way. Is this island-ship really alive?" Lin Yuan's scalp prickled.

Was it calling for help?

Did it hope someone could rescue it and free it from this endless cycle?

Had the game system forced it to become an instance?

Many guesses immediately flashed through Lin Yuan's mind.

But a moment later, his guesses were disproved.

"Save... this world!"

After leaving those final words, the island sank completely, vanishing without a trace.

Only Lin Yuan remained there, dumbfounded.

"Wait, save this world? Isn't this island giving me way too much credit?"

"I'm just a poor guy who doesn't even have a boat and can only swim freestyle in the sea. How about this world saves me first?"

Of course, those words received no response.

No, someone did respond after all.

"Wow, so you're a hero, Captain Boss? Are you going to save this world? Count me in!" Lilia sat on the coffin lid beside him, her eyes shining, seemingly very interested in saving the world.

"I'm not, I didn't, don't make things up." Lin Yuan immediately delivered three denials, hastily distancing himself from it.

What had happened at the end was truly rather inexplicable. It was better not to get involved.

Lin Yuan shook his head and put the matter out of his mind, then sensed some activity in the system interface in his mind.

He focused his attention on it and discovered that the Regional Chat Channel had erupted, with messages coming one after another. Clearly, everyone was very excited after clearing the instance.

When he opened it, the most active people were still those same familiar faces.

Never Skunked: "That instance was such a thrill! The final boss was so strong. Almost as strong as me, haha!"

Wind-Ear: "Looks like you had a good haul, Air Force Bro?"

"I keep telling you, I'm Never Skunked. Of course I scored big this time!"

As he spoke, Air Force Bro posted a picture showing a tall, deeply tanned man standing in front of a row of loot.

Most of the loot consisted of weapons such as swords and sabers, along with a piece of black metal Arm Armor engraved with silver patterns.

"Oh? This Arm Armor looks interesting. It's no ordinary item, is it?" Wind-Ear immediately pointed out.

Every word Air Force Bro typed brimmed with pride.

"You've got a good eye! This thing is a Transcendent weapon! A fine piece I found after raiding those fishmen's armory! If you want it, you can trade other Transcendent equipment for it!"

"Something that good, and you're not keeping it for yourself?"

"Haha, it doesn't suit me. Yeah, doesn't suit me."

Wind-Ear did not reply. Whether he disbelieved him or had seen through something was unclear.

Reading their conversation, Lin Yuan found himself interested in the Arm Armor.

"Isn't that Arm Armor? Why call it a Transcendent weapon?" he typed directly.

"Brother Zero! You cleared it too!" Air Force Bro was quite warm toward Lin Yuan. "This thing can summon a Light Blade. Ever played StarCraft? It's like those Protoss zealots' psi blades!"

"This Light Blade is something else. Sharp enough to split a hair blown against it. I even used it to kill a Water Elemental summoned by a fishman!"

"A Water Elemental?"

"Yeah, a big mass of moving water. Ordinary weapons did nothing when I slashed it. Luckily, I'd gotten this, or I really would've died in the instance!"

Lin Yuan was immediately tempted. A weapon capable of attacking something incorporeal like that was exactly what he needed right now.

But why did Air Force Bro want to sell something so good?

As though guessing what Lin Yuan was thinking, Air Force Bro sent him a private message.

"Brother Zero, do you really want this Arm Armor?"

"Of course. If it's as powerful as you say, I can trade this for it."

Lin Yuan sent over a screenshot of the stats for the jade fishing rod he had obtained.

The skeletons had found it in a treasure chest on the island earlier. It was also an E-rank Transcendent Item and could use jade as bait to catch Transcendent fish.

Moreover, any fish that took the bait would lose most of its Transcendent power, so there was no need to worry about being killed by a fish after reeling it in.

Although it was Transcendent equipment, it was of little use to Lin Yuan, making it perfect to trade now.

Judging by Air Force Bro's name, he ought to be very interested in a fishing rod.

Sure enough, a message came from the other side a second later.

"Great, Brother Zero, you're generous! I won't hide anything from you either. This Arm Armor really is powerful, but it has some problems too. Take a look yourself."

The Arm Armor's detailed information was then sent over.

[Templar Apprentice Lightblade]

[E-rank Transcendent Item]

[For humanoid creatures only]

[Not biologically active]

[Description: A wondrous piece of Arm Armor that can continuously convert life force into light and condense it into a Light Blade. The more health it drains per second, the stronger the Light Blade.]

[Tip: The minimum interval between activating and deactivating this item is 10 seconds. The minimum health drain is 8 points/second.]

Seeing this, Lin Yuan immediately understood why Air Force Bro wanted to get rid of it.

For an ordinary player, activating this thing meant losing most of their health!

And that was at its lowest output.

Under those conditions, the Arm Armor's Light Blade presumably had very limited power as well.

Increasing its power meant increasing the rate of health drain. How many lives would an ordinary player need to squander like that?

As for its ability to attack incorporeal things, Lin Yuan guessed that some of the other weapons in Air Force Bro's pile could probably do that too.

Presumably because Lin Yuan had not replied, Air Force Bro sent another message, sounding a little embarrassed himself.

"Sorry, this thing is a bit of a trap. How about I throw in another 200 units of steel?"

"Sure," Lin Yuan agreed directly. "Then it's settled. Let's trade."

Air Force Bro clearly had not expected Lin Yuan to agree so readily, so he immediately completed the trade, afraid the other party might change his mind a moment later.

He had used the thing himself and knew how severe its side effects were.

After the trade was complete, Air Force Bro began to piece a few things together.

"Brother Zero, your health is probably quite a bit higher than an ordinary player's, right?"

"You guessed right. My health really is a tiny bit higher than yours," Lin Yuan freely admitted.

"Just as I thought. Then this thing really does suit you. Though I wonder how much health you have?" Having unloaded a hot potato and obtained a prized fishing rod, Air Force Bro was clearly much more talkative.

"To tell you the truth, I've caught fish that increase health too. I have 150 health now, but I still can't handle using this Light Blade at all. From the looks of it, don't tell me your health is already over 200?"

"Something like that." Naturally, Lin Yuan would not tell him his actual stats, so he gave a casual, noncommittal answer.

Then he fitted the Arm Armor onto his right arm and tried swinging it a couple of times.

A weapon whose output increased the faster it drained health.

There was just one question Lin Yuan was curious about now-

How much power could this apprentice-level Light Blade put out at its maximum?