On Starcrest 23, in the year 1850 AC (Arbiter Calendar), a significant ceremony took place yesterday to honor the fallen soldiers and knights who fought bravely in the unexpected battle against the Snowy Mountain King. It also served as a promotion ceremony for the survivors who faced such brutal challenges. Alistair, sitting in his wheelchair, gazed at the Whisperpine Expanse, appreciating the clear view as the unnatural winter storms finally subsided, giving way to a typical snowy winter.
"System, I have many unclaimed gifts," Alistair said. "Opening them one by one would be quite difficult. Can you at least open the most useful ones and store the rest in my inventory?"
"Of course, Alistair," the system responded. "In just a moment, you will receive the gifts that I recommend." A thumbs-up appeared on the blue screen.
After a few moments had passed, the system displayed the number of recommended gifts, while the remaining items were placed in Alistair's inventory. He was shocked to see that there were about 20 to 25 recommended gifts, and the system began explaining the purpose of each one.
The system said, "The first gift I recommend is called 'Gift Synthesis.' This item allows you to combine items of the same rank to increase their rank by one. This only works if you have the same rank and the same item name. When you combine items, the rank will increase by one, but the higher the rank of the items being combined, the lower the chance of a successful combination. The success rate starts to decrease when you reach the Normal Rank Items. When two Normal Rank Items are combined, the success rate is 80%. It then decreases to 50%, 25%, and finally 10%."
"The second gift is called the 'Leadership Banner.' This item has unlimited uses but comes with a cooldown of 24 hours and is active for 4 hours. The Leadership Banner is a Standard Rank Item that prevents your allies or team from experiencing a decrease in morale. They will maintain high morale for the entire 4-hour duration. If their morale has already decreased, the low morale will vanish. If they already have high morale, they will be temporarily granted resistance against mental attacks."
"The third gift is called the 'Call of Knights Cavalry.' This item has unlimited uses but comes with a cooldown of 12 hours. In order to summon the Knights Cavalry again, all of them must be eliminated to activate the cooldown. The Call of Knights Cavalry summons a group of spiritual entities that even an Early-Stage Aura Empowerment Realm practitioner cannot determine if they are human. Each Knight in this Cavalry possesses the strength of a Late-Stage Aura Transformation Realm warrior. You will receive a blue whistle; simply blow the whistle to summon them. This item is classified as a Normal Rank Item and can be upgraded up to Exceptional Rank."
"The fourth gift is called the 'Call of Sharpshooters.' Similar to the Knights Cavalry, this item also has unlimited uses but comes with a 12-hour cooldown. To summon them again, all the Sharpshooters must be eliminated first. The Sharpshooters are spiritual entities without faces or names, comprised of 12 individuals equipped with rifles that have scopes. All their ammunition is filled with aura bullets. You will be given a green whistle; just blow the whistle to summon them. This item is also classified as a Normal Rank Item and can be upgraded up to Exceptional Rank."
Alistair interrupts the system, "Wait, are you saying that those spiritual entities can remain by my side indefinitely until they are all eliminated, and only then will the cooldown period begin?"
"Yes, Alistair. The cooldown does not start until every one of them is eliminated, even if four or five have already been defeated. Due to their rank, you cannot command them; they will act only if hostile forces attempt to attack you or if the spiritual entities themselves are attacked—they will fight back to the death."
"Wait, won't that be dangerous?"
"Not exactly, Alistair. They will only attack if they take damage or if you are harmed. They only consider foes to be hostile if there is a clear intention to harm you or if they are harmed in the process."
"If you say so."
"The fifth gift is called the 'Book of Upgrade.' This is a Standard Rank item that temporarily increases one learned skill by one level for one hour. The Book of Upgrade has unlimited uses, but it has a cooldown period of 6 hours. It can be upgraded only until it reaches Excellent Rank. Once it reaches that rank, the Book of Upgrade will become a one-time-use item that grants a permanent upgrade to one chosen learned ability."
"The sixth gift is called the 'Kinetic Debt Ledger.' This is a flawed Rank learned ability that allows you to store 10% of damage taken for 10 seconds and then release it in a devastating burst. This burst is strong enough to break a standard iron wall."
"The seventh gift is called the 'Fortress Deployment Beacon.' This is a Standard Rank item that allows you to summon a defensive structure equipped with a long-barreled cannon. This cannon is capable of firing aura cannonballs powerful enough to eliminate Mid-Stage Aura Transformation Realm practitioners. The item has unlimited uses, with a cooldown of 6 hours. The defensive structure deploys a barrier that protects it from damage dealt by Early-Stage Aura Transformation Realm practitioners and below. However, the barrier can be destroyed by those above Early-Stage, and only a Late-Stage practitioner can successfully destroy the fortress."
"If the fortress is not activated within 6 hours of being summoned, it will disappear, and the cooldown period will begin. The fortress can be moved to a desired location, but each time it is moved, the cooldown will increase by an additional 6 hours temporarily."
"The eighth gift is known as the 'Backfire Guard Parry,' a flawed learned ability that enables you to reflect damage back at your opponents while also inflicting a small portion of that damage upon yourself. However, when you are in guard mode, instead of taking damage, the reflected damage is doubled, enhancing your defensive capabilities."
"The ninth gift is the 'Fortress Momentum,' a standard learned ability that increases the strength and speed of your next attack as you sustain more damage. While using this ability, you will keenly feel the effects of any heavy physical attacks and minor aura strikes you've endured."
"The tenth gift is termed 'Artillery Support: Rain of Fire.' This ability summons a relentless barrage of artillery fire at a designated location, unleashing aura explosive rounds for a continuous five minutes. It can easily eliminate opponents at the Peak-Stage Aura Transformation Realm, severely injure those at the Early-Stage Aura Empowerment Realm, and lightly wound individuals at the Mid-Stage Empowerment Realm. The attack covers an area comparable to that of a large city, boasts unlimited uses, and has a cooldown period of 72 hours. This item is classified as an Excellent Rank Item and can be upgraded to an Exceptional Rank Item."