"Clang!!!"
A colossal sound, reverberating through the clouds, echoed continuously above the nameless valley, and a thick, pure silver lightning bolt struck down from the sky, hitting its mark. The power unleashed in that instant felt as if it could pierce through heaven and earth simultaneously.
And this was the scene Shalltear, trembling in fear from a distance, witnessed. At the exact moment the lightning struck, Shalltear had to admit... she had peed her pants, and it was for real.
As the fierce sonic boom spread, it formed rows of tsunami-like airwaves, pressing outward from the point where the lightning struck. Even Shalltear, who was quite far away, was almost thrown off her feet. It wasn't until nearly half a minute later that the surroundings gradually returned to calm. The lightning's impact point in the distance had sunken into a large depression, like a meteorite crater.
However, just as Shalltear thought the matter was finally over, the architectural debris floating in the air due to anti-gravity suddenly lost its support and rapidly fell, creating a sudden shower of stones. After another minute, the entire valley finally quieted down, and a faint call finally reached Shalltear's ears, "Come here..."
"Yes, My Lord!" Hearing Alan's voice again, the worry that had been weighing on Shalltear's heart finally lifted. However, just as she was about to take a step, she suddenly tripped and fell flat on her face. When she struggled to get up, she realized that she had already been trembling all over from the terrifying commotion. It took a while of heavy breathing before she slowly stabilized.
After regaining her ability to move, Shalltear scrambled and rolled, carrying her suitcase, toward the meteorite crater. As Shalltear finally reached the deep pit with great difficulty, two figures, one gold and one red, descended from the sky: the panting young Thunderbird Thor and the Phoenix Irene.
The tragic scene at the bottom of the deep pit was shocking to Shalltear. In the very center of the depression was a sword, Eclipse, still flickering with electric light. Strung below the longsword was a charred corpse, so blackened by electricity that its humanoid shape was barely discernible. About a meter away from the corpse, Alan was slumped, looking to be in extremely poor condition.
Alan's upper body clothes were completely shredded. A gentle breeze turned the remnants of his tactical vest into charred fragments, revealing his bare, muscular torso. However, Alan's body was glowing with an eerie red hue, and large patches of skin were cracked and peeling, as if he had just been severely burned by high temperatures. Shalltear carefully watched Alan. His eyes were tightly closed, as if he had completely lost consciousness, and she could only barely detect a faint gasp.
"Caw!"
Irene, circling in mid-air, looked at the miserable-looking Alan with heartache. She then slowly descended closer, flattened her head, and slowly closed her eyes. Immediately after, several tears slid from her eyelids and dripped onto Alan's body.
"Sizzle!"
The falling tears seemed to meet a red-hot iron, rapidly evaporating with a sizzling sound as they touched Alan's body. Fortunately, the Phoenix's tears were indeed extraordinary. Although some evaporated, a considerable amount still seeped into his body. Immediately after, Shalltear, Irene, and Thor saw Alan's skin gradually return to its normal color. Beneath the cracked and peeling old skin, new skin, as delicate as a baby's, slowly began to grow.
"Cough cough!!"
Alan suddenly coughed violently a few times, then opened his mouth and spat out a large mouthful of clotted blood, followed by heavy gasping.
"Thank goodness!" Shalltear, who had been observing his condition, understood that Alan had recovered. She immediately took out several bottles of high-grade tonics from her person and carefully brought them to his mouth. Alan at this moment was like someone who had traveled for days in the desert without a drop of water. As soon as he touched the potion, he immediately guzzled it down. After drinking a full five large bottles of tonic, he slowly raised his hand, signaling Shalltear that it was enough.
"Phew..." Alan finally recovered some strength, letting out a deep breath. "I didn't expect the side effects of casting a full-power God Slaying Slash under the overload modified state to be so severe. Thankfully, you all were here to assist me, otherwise, I might have perished with the Rune Serpent."
After speaking, Alan looked at Shalltear, Thor, and Irene beside him with a hint of gratitude. If it weren't for their help in this tough battle today, the outcome might have been rewritten.
"My Lord, is that guy the Rune Serpent? Did we really kill her?" Shalltear, seeing Alan regain consciousness, turned her head to look at the charred corpse beside them.
"That's right. This person possesses a magic shield of astonishing strength. Ordinary attacks simply cannot penetrate it. I forcibly amplified the magic power within my body to over two thousand units by absorbing the charges from the thunderstorm, then concentrated all that magic power into a single point. Only then was I able to forcibly break through the threshold of her shield and directly wound her main body. The power unleashed in that instant probably exceeded fifteen hundred points."
The power value Alan referred to here was different from the magic power value used to measure magic reserves. It didn't mean that higher magic power values resulted in higher damage. The key factors influencing damage were the instantaneous output of magic power, as well as the amplification from willpower and emotions.
Originally, he had tested it with a specially made humanoid target. Alan himself could unleash a maximum instantaneous damage of just over six hundred points, less than seven hundred points of power. This was basically the extreme for a normal wizard, because his body had been tempered by lightning, his physique far surpassed ordinary people, and with his firm willpower, the instantaneous damage he could unleash was very considerable.
In fact, from a physiological perspective, the magic output channels within a wizard's body have limits, and this point, unlike magic power values, does not widen with age. In fact, if one is too old, the magic channels may even experience a certain degree of atrophy, leading to a decrease in instantaneous magic output. This also causes some wizards, after growing old, to have several times more magic power than younger people, yet their strength seems to have declined.
So, Alan was actually the type with extremely high attack power but poor endurance. After all, his age was a factor. If it weren't for the support of Phoenix tears, he wouldn't have lasted that long. This time, Alan's overload modified form almost semi-energized his body, allowing his instantaneous magic output to break through to its extreme. Coupled with the temporary increase in total magic power value from absorbing electric charges, and his determination for a desperate strike, he finally more than doubled his lethality!
He looked at the Rune Serpent with lingering fear. "And this old woman's body strength is also incredibly absurd. If a normal person had suffered this level of attack, they would probably have been vaporized instantly. Yet, she still managed to leave a body behind; it's simply unbelievable."
Just then, the Eclipse longsword, plunged into the Rune Serpent, suddenly burst forth with a strong fluctuation. Its entire blade seemed to undergo a complete transformation, shedding a layer of metallic impurities. Now, Eclipse looked as if it hadn't changed, yet somehow it was different. The entire sword exuded a calm and harmonious aura. The spiritual light and electric sparks flickering on its surface were slightly less sharp, replaced by a hint of gentleness, but the manifested pressure was truly and undeniably powerful!
"It seems that after absorbing the magic power within the Rune Serpent, Eclipse has also undergone a metamorphosis. I can feel that it is very excited right now. I'm afraid Eclipse has now become a true Holy Artifact! Just for this, our battle was not in vain."
Alan looked at Eclipse with joy. This great battle with the Rune Serpent was exceptionally difficult. The Rune Serpent's absolute strength completely crushed his own. His victory was more due to strategy, the assistance of Irene and Thor, and the fact that the person's brain wasn't quite right. If their positions were swapped, Alan estimated he would have been killed several times already. One could only say it was thanks to many years of ease that this former duelist had also grown somewhat rusty in combat.
After a sigh, Alan struggled to sit up and slowly reached forward to grasp Eclipse's hilt. But as soon as he touched Eclipse, Alan felt a powerful energy burst forth from within it, surging into Alan's body along the hilt.
"Oh..." This immense energy did not harm Alan; instead, it made him groan in comfort. He now felt as if he were bathing in a comfortable hot spring, warm all over. At the same time, Alan could feel the energy gathering from within Eclipse. Besides a large amount of magic power, there was also a considerable amount of pure life energy.
This caused his whole body to crackle, and his internal injuries almost instantly recovered to their peak. Alan even felt that, in addition to recovering completely, his body was slowly being strengthened in an all-around way! In other words, as his physique changed, Alan's health bar, mana bar, and stamina bar limits were gradually breaking through their extremes.
This feedback-style strengthening lasted for over a minute. The few intelligent creatures around could only stare blankly at everything happening. They didn't understand what was going on, but at least they knew it wasn't a bad thing for Alan.
"Phew..." After more than a minute of feedback, Alan finally let out a comfortable sigh, then took the time to quietly feel the benefits this strengthening brought him.
First, in terms of physical ability, Alan felt that he had become much stronger. His speed, strength, and endurance had all increased by about 20%. Moreover, with the growth of his physique, his magic output channels had also widened slightly, roughly by 10%. This was equivalent to his magic strength directly increasing by 10%!
Secondly, Alan's magic reserve limit also saw a certain degree of improvement. After a simple test, he found that his magic power value had broken through 1000 points, reaching 1083 points. Alan could guarantee that among humans his age, he was probably the only one with such a magic power value.