Chapter 47 - Room for Self-Improvement

It took four adult elves to carry the muscular Feihren into the village chief's house.

"What happened back there?" Vera had a look of worry as she hurriedly asked her father what was going on.

"I am not really sure... The treasures suddenly flew towards him and equipped themselves... Then he collapsed. The treasures disappeared in a flash..."

Zow slowly enumerated the things that happened as he was trying to decipher the entire situation. 'Does that mean he really is the chosen one? The 'World Savior'?' He inwardly contemplated as he stared at the still unconscious Feihren.

The rumor of the treasures being 'absorbed' by the 'Chosen One' immediately became the talk of the village as the elven guards who were assigned in relocking the boulder entrance noticed that the [Silver Dragon Helm] had disappeared.

...

It had been a week since Feihren fainted. He was not showing any signs of waking up even though Vera had been taking care of him all this while. It was her way of asking for an apology for being rude when they had met.

It was early in the afternoon as Vera went and stripped Feihren's old clothes to replace them with fresh ones. Feihren's well-built body was displayed as her cheeks suddenly grew red. It was not common for elven people to have this type of body. Most of them were thin and ephemeral in order to help with their agility in the forests they call home. Feihren's manly chest of shook Vera's heart as it made her hands falter, making it harder for her to pull Feihren's shirt the rest of the way off.

*Cough!

A loud bark from Feihren's throat jolted the dazed Vera as she immediately noticed that his eyes were slowly opening. Realizing that her hands were still atop his body, attempting to remove the shirt, she immediately ran to the door and out of the room in quick succession.

...

'Congratulations on acquiring [Holy Messiah's Robes]'

This was the only system prompt that appeared in front of Feihren when he woke up. No signs of him losing or regenerating any HP, no acquiring or eliminating any [Special Ailment] nor a hint of an abnormal [Status Effect]... Everything that had happened was confusing to Feihren...

He checked the time at the upper right corner of his illusory game screen... 'I have been unconscious for a week? What exactly had happened?' Feihren calmly breathed as he organized his thoughts.

The last thing he remembered before fainting was the immense physical pain and him uncontrollably losing a lot of general exp... He immediately checked his status page.

'General Exp: 17,900,000'

He still had a lot remaining, although the last time he checked, after healing the snow tigers, he had over 30 million general exp, which means... Those three damnable 'treasures' absorbed tens of millions of his hard-earned exp? Feihren gasped as he muttered 'Hope this armor is worth its cost then...'

...

[Holy Messiah's Robes] (Deity)

"Description: Power and Healing!"

"Effect: Grants 20% Physical Damage Reduction (Could be improved through [Refinement])"

"Effect: Grants 20% Magical Damage Reduction (Could be improved through [Refinement])"

"Effect: Grants [Divine Strength]: 5 minutes [Absolute Invulnerability] (Cooldown: 72 hrs.)"

"Effect: Grants stackable Magical and Physical resistance for all damage taken of the same type. Increases resistance for every 100 damage taken."

...

"Oh? Deity grade equipment right off the bat? I was even preparing myself to be disappointed. Well, this made my entire week of slacking off well worth it." Feihren laughed as he further checked the new equipment.

'It can be improved huh... Unfortunately, I am reserving my general exp for skill refinement and for the demon lord new 'body'... hmmm.' The ability for the equipment to improve further through refinement definitely grabbed Feihren's attention but he was not tempted to strengthen it immediately. The current 20% was enough for someone like Feihren. Besides, why would he choose damage reduction when he could pick up something that is akin to invulnerability?

'[Pallas Skin] [10/100]'

Feihren remembered that he needed to use around 1,000 general exp to increase the progress bar of the skill to 10, which means he needed 10,000 to level it up completely. With this huge reserve of general exp, Feihren immediately spent 9,000 more general exp [Pallas Skin].

'[Pallas skin] – Immunity to piercing and blunt weapons on or below rare grade'

The name of the skill hasn't changed by a single bit... Feihren was doubtful whether it worked or not for a while before noticing the difference that appeared in the effect. It changed from 'Uncommon' grade to 'Rare' grade! A whole tier!? Feihren was so amazed that he instinctively stood from the bed in excitement. Without a second thought, he poured in another 10,000 general exp

'[Pallas Skin] [1/100]'

"Ah?" Feihren was only a little bit surprised that the amount required would increase as the tier goes higher, but what intrigued him was the number displayed was not a '10' but a '1'..."Which would mean that it needs a million general exp to level up?" Feihren only pondered for a few seconds before pouring 990,000 more general exp into the skill.

'[Pallas skin] – Immunity to piercing and blunt weapons on or below Epic grade'

'General Exp: 16,891,000'

Success! Feihren would now be invulnerable unless the enemy has a skill or a weapon that is of the Legendary tier. As for creating a [Pallas Skin] with immunity to Legendary grade weapons? Feihren had immediately dismissed the thought of doing so as he checked the skill requirement. It needed a billion general exp to level it up! Although Feihren believed that it was ridiculous, being able to nullify a Legendary weapon was about the same on the ridiculousness scale as well.

'Base HP: 50,000 (+50,000)'

'General Exp: 12,801,000'

Feihren poured a 'little' more general exp into his health pool to make it into a solid 50k. He had the [Gaia's Paradox Messiah] always active, which doubled the numerical value of his attributes, including his HP and Skill effects. He was prioritizing his HP a bit as he remembered the battle against King Louie. Back then, if the enemy had his skill ready, Feihren would definitely have been toast. It only took 7 attacks from King Louie in order to make Feihren lose most of his HP.

'[Godly Bulls Strength] – Pushes mental and physical stamina to the limit, reduces stamina consumption, reduces mental and physical fatigue'.

'[High Artemis Sense] – Pushes all basic senses to perfection. Alerts the user of upcoming dangers'

After using more than 2 million general exp, Feihren also improved both his other handy passive skills. However, unlike [Pallas Skin], both [Great Bulls Heart] and [Artemis Sense] had changed in both name and quality. Both changes were not quantitative but qualitative improvements with only a vague bit of explanation.

These improvements made Feihren immensely happy. Back when he first arrived, being a maxed out character made him feel uneasy, as he thought that he has no more room for improvement. All these changes gave Feihren hope that he could even get stronger, although a vague sense of danger followed this realization.

"This would mean that a Divine-level being in this world isn't its pinnacle?"

One name immediately appeared in Feihren's mind, the Ancient Demon Lord. This being was only a 3-part fragment currently and was technically able to wipe out 80 thousand people in one go... He has 4 parts of its consciousness at this time... Feihren wondered how strong the Ancient Demon Lord truly was when all the 13 fragments were combined... But he wouldn't dare to gather all the essences unless he was confident that he was strong enough to command the complete demon lord himself.

'General Exp: 10,601,000'

Feihren reserved a whole lot of general exp for his next project. He was finally going to create a body for the Ancient Demon Lord. As for the chances of him escaping, that is where the inconceivable amount of general exp would come in. He would use all of his considerable general exp to trap him inside the 'body'. As for him turning against Feihren, he already has a plan for that.

...

Satisfied with everything, Feihren changed into the fresh set of clothes that was mysteriously already at his feet on the bed. He stood up as he tidied himself up. Although he was still curious about one thing, "What does this new armor look like?"

'Equip>>>'[Holy Messiah's Robes]'

Pure white cloth covered Feihren from his neck to the tip of his feet. It had a striking resemblance to a white dress. The sleeves were exaggeratedly long and loose, and a thick breastplate and armor linings covered the vital areas such as the stomach and joints in the limbs. Gold and Baby Blue lined the armor, as intricate details were all over the metal plates.

"It's too... beautiful!"

Feihren was a bit shocked. This was too eye-catching, although the overall look doesn't seem to impact his 'manliness'. He was impressed enough with all this that he was planning to wear this armor for a while as to appreciate its beauty.

Feihren walked out of the village chief's house...'Eh, the door is already open?'

He was then greeted by numerous people who were already standing outside the house. Too many people actually... It looks like the entire village was actually here... 'Wait...' Feihren thought that something was amiss again, this scene seems familiar...

The eyes of everyone glimmered as they saw Feihren's glamorous look, akin to a god that has landed upon a sacred land. Within the next instant, everyone that was present kowtowed in front of him.

"It seems like you are fine Your Majesty, the Chosen One..." Even Zow bowed deeply as he saw the dazzling figure of Feihren.

"Ah... not this again..." Feihren deeply sighed as he signaled everyone to stop bowing.