Void Warp Talisman (Special): One-time use item.
Effect: Upon use, teleports the user to a random location. Teleportation can be interrupted by space-type attacks.
To put it bluntly, it was a random teleport scroll.
Liam looked at the reward, unsure how to feel. If you called it trash, it wasn’t exactly trash. But if you weighed it against the feat of slaying Valerius Geryon, the Son of the Demon King?
To be honest, Liam felt it wasn't nearly enough.
"That’s it?" Liam asked. "I just helped you kill Valerius Geryon. This reward feels a little insulting, don't you think?"
Leona rolled her eyes. "You still haven't told me what Corvus the Guide wanted with you."
"I already told you—give me the rewards, and then I’ll tell you. Stop stalling and hand it over."
Leona reached into her robes and pulled out a pale blue crystal. "This is the true ultimate reward."
Liam took the crystal, and his eyes immediately lit up.
Tears of the Life Goddess (Special)
Equip Requirement: None
Effect 1: Increases Max HP by 20%.
Effect 2: Restores 10,000 HP per second.
Durability: 100
(Note: Cannot be stolen or dropped.)
Liam stared at the item. He had originally planned to use the Everlasting Scroll on the Bloodstained Necklace, but now he hesitated. These Tears of the Life Goddess were incredible.
Although the item had the 'cannot be stolen or dropped' trait, it lacked one crucial property: Indestructible.
Which was stronger? A 20% boost to Max HP, or a 1% Life-Steal effect?
Liam clearly valued the former. He could always cobble together a set of Life-Steal gear later in the game if he really needed it. But a 20% Max HP boost, combined with his Beyond God-Tier talent? That was a match made in heaven. Not to mention the flat 10,000 HP recovery per second.
"Now, are you going to tell me what Corvus wanted?" Leona pressed.
Liam grinned. "I already did."
"What are you talking about?" Leona frowned, momentarily confused.
A second later, her eyes widened. "You mean... Corvus knows it was you who helped me kill Valerius?"
"No," Liam chuckled. "She just suspects you had help. She came to me because she wants me to go before the King and frame you."
Hearing this, Leona’s expression faltered. "You promised to support me... so, you turned her down?"
Liam shook his head. "I agreed."
Leona’s face went pale. A sudden wave of frost erupted from her, instantly freezing the grass and trees around them.
"You forgot what you promised me?! You’re going to help Corvus and scam me out of my rewards?!"
"Hold on, how is this a scam?" Liam said, his voice ringing with mock indignation. "I helped you kill Valerius. That’s a fact. I earned these rewards fairly, didn't I?"
"You—!" Leona took a step forward, her teeth gritted in rage. "I’ll kill you! No matter where you go, I’ll hunt you down and kill you over and over!"
"Ahem." Liam coughed twice. "Don't get so worked up. My agreeing to help Corvus is actually for your benefit."
"For my benefit?" Leona scoffed. "If my father and the high nobility find out that a 'vile criminal' like you assisted me, how do you think they'll look at me? This victory over Valerius—my strongest card—will be ruined."
"No, it's precisely because I'm 'framing' you that you’ll be saved." Liam’s expression turned serious. "Between you, Seraphina, and Tiana... who do you think has the best chance of taking the throne right now?"
"I don't know," Leona replied coldly. "But after killing Valerius, my chances should have skyrocketed."
Liam shook his head. "Wrong. Your chances didn't go up; you just put a massive target on your back."
"In The Astral Kingdom, you have no foundation. Slaying Valerius Geryon didn't make you a hero; it pushed you into the eye of the storm. Seraphina and Tiana are going to move against you now. Do you really think you can handle both of them at once?"
"That’s still no reason to frame me!" Leona snapped.
"Tiana has deep roots in the court. Seraphina has Queen Fiona backing her. And you? You have one dead demon. What power do you have to fight them?"
Leona bit her lip. "If you knew all this, why did you help me kill him in the first place?"
"To show the nobility your capability, while giving you the chance to grow in the shadows." Liam had lived through too much in his past life. He knew that in the War for the Throne, a single misstep meant total annihilation.
"Explain," she demanded.
"By killing Valerius, you proved your strength. By me framing you, your official 'merit' is canceled out by the 'scandal,' resulting in a wash. However, the nobility will have seen what you’re capable of. Coming back to the capital, you don't need a massive achievement that threatens the other two princesses. You need to show you are competent without being an immediate threat. If you have talent but aren't the front-runner, you can start pulling nobles to your side in secret."
As Liam spoke, Leona’s breathing began to steady. She realized his logic was sound.
"And then? What’s the plan?" she asked.
"We assist Seraphina to crush Tiana!"
Liam’s gaze sharpened. If the Queen’s secrets were exposed, Seraphina could never take the throne. Once Tiana fell, Leona would be the only logical choice left.
"And after that? How do we deal with Seraphina and the Queen?"
"Once Tiana is out of the way, I have a way to bring the Queen down myself," Liam said.
Leona was stunned. She didn't know where Liam got this level of confidence, but she found herself believing him.
"Fine. If you’re going to frame me, do you need me to do anything?"
"Just act natural. Deny everything vehemently." Liam shrugged. "Leave the rest to me."
"But what if they ask how I killed Valerius?" Leona suddenly realized a glaring problem.
"If it comes to that, just tell them: 'No comment.'"
Leona took a deep breath. She was still bitter about losing the glory of the kill, but she eventually conceded. "Fine. I’ll play my part."
With that, she turned and vanished into the night.
The Royal Palace, The Pluvius Palace.
Upon her return, Corvus the Guide immediately sought out Queen Fiona.
"My Queen, the Frost Monarch has agreed to help us frame Leona."
Fiona nodded with satisfaction. "At least he’s sensible."
"However..."
"However what?" Fiona asked.
Corvus’s expression turned grim. "The Frost Monarch knows about your... dealings with the Nether-kin."
Fiona’s face transformed instantly, her composure shattering into a mask of shock. "Frost Monarch... how could he possibly know?"
Corvus shook her head. "I'm not sure. But he’s a liability. Should we...?" She made a sharp slicing motion across her throat.
"Kill him? Can you even kill an Adventurer? If he dies, he’ll just reappear."
"Imprisonment?"
"Useless."
Fiona’s eyes darkened as she drifted into thought. Suddenly, a meaningful, predatory smile spread across her face. "I know exactly what to do."
Liam was oblivious to the Queen’s plotting.
After seeing Leona off, he went back to hunting Blood-Backed Black Turtles. According to his memories, he needed to clear the lake of these turtles eighteen times in a row before the Blood-Eyed Dragon Turtle would spawn. Defeating that boss was the only way to unlock the Black-Water Lake dungeon.
Once, twice... Liam grinded tirelessly.
His Infamy Points were slowly dropping, and his HP was creeping upward. To maximize his HP gains, he didn't even equip the Tears of the Life Goddess yet; with that 20% boost, the Elite turtles died too fast for him to milk them for stacks.
As time passed, a Warrior came running toward him, looking eager.
"Liam! I'm here!"
It was Barney. He had hidden his display name, but Liam already knew who he was.
"I'll pull you into the guild first."
Liam sent the invite for The Solitary Snow Guild.
Barney accepted, still looking awestruck. "Man, you’re a beast. To be honest, I had no idea you were the Red-Name player everyone’s talking about." Barney was mid-explanation when he checked his stat sheet. His jaw hit the floor.
"Holy sht!!"
"Liam, this... this is insane!"
The Solitary Snow Guild was currently Rank 5. The buffs provided to members were: +1% Damage, +10% Crit Rate, +20 Attack Power, +3 Movement Speed, +1 Attack Velocity, and a flat +10,000 HP.
At this stage of the game, those stats were God-tier.
But the most broken part was that these were guild-wide. A single player having these stats was strong, but a thousand or ten thousand players with an extra 10,000 HP? That would change the face of war. When the Guild Power Rankings and National Wars eventually started, these buffs would be the difference between victory and total domination.
"Stay calm. Take this Saintly Grade Awakening Stone and awaken your Innate Talent."
Barney’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. "Saintly Grade?!"
"You're just giving this to me? I saw on the forums that a Heaven Grade stone was being auctioned for five million!"
Liam waved him off. "Just take it."
"Heh, it pays to have a big brother leading the way." Barney took the stone and began the awakening process.
Liam already knew what Barney’s talent was from his past life.
Saintly Grade Innate Talent: Soul-Bind (Level 1)
Effect 1: You can bind yourself to one friendly unit, gaining 100% of their HP, Armor, and Magic Resist as a bonus to your own.
Effect 2: The bound teammate gains a 10% boost to their HP, Armor, and Magic Resist.
Mastery: 0/10
(Note: Mastery is gained by killing Bosses of your level or higher with your bound partner.)
For every level this talent gained, Barney could bind an additional person. At max level, he could bind ten people. In other words, he would possess the combined durability of eleven players. If he found ten tanky teammates, Barney would become an unkillable god.
"This talent..." Barney looked at his screen, sounding a bit disappointed. "Liam, I feel like the system trolled me. This is it? This is Saintly Grade?"
Liam grinned. "You don't realize how broken this is yet. Bind to me and see."
Ding! Player Barney has requested a Soul-Bind. Do you accept?
"Accept."
Soul-Bind didn't hurt the target; in fact, it gave Liam a 10% buff to his defensive stats. While his armor and magic resist were negligible, his HP was massive. A 10% boost meant tens of thousands of extra health points—and that would only scale higher later.
"Holy sht... what the hell... holy sht!"
As soon as the bind connected, Barney froze. He watched his health bar jump from 10,000 to over 500,000 in an instant.
"Sss...!" Barney sucked in a sharp breath. "Liam, your stats are insane! You have more HP than a world boss!"
Liam shrugged it off and checked the time.
"I’ll power-level you for a bit. Put some points into Attack Power; you’re going to kill me later."
Barney blinked. "Kill you?"
"Yeah. There’s a massive bounty on my head from Demon King Geryon. I’d rather the reward go to you than some random stranger."
"Is that okay? With your Infamy, won't you drop back to Level 1 if you die?"
"If I drop, I drop. Leveling up is easy enough if you know what you're doing." Liam didn't care. It wasn't arrogance—it was just the truth.
He sent Barney a party invite, setting the experience split to 90/10 in Barney’s favor. Since Liam was capped for now, any XP he took was a waste.
After a few rounds of clearing the Blood-Backed Black Turtles, Barney’s talent leveled up. At Level 2, he could now bind two teammates.
"Liam, you’re seriously too much," Barney muttered, still shaking his head at the speed they were clearing.
"Stay focused. Also, don't even think about a Class Change unless it's at least Saintly Grade. If you find a Divine Grade Hidden Class, take it immediately."
"Got it," Barney nodded.
Liam knew some secrets regarding Warrior Hidden Classes. There was one Divine Grade class, but it wasn't in The Astral Kingdom.
"If you can't find a high-tier one, just take a standard Warrior class and skip the Hidden Class for now. You can always upgrade to a Hidden Class later from a base class. But if you take a trash-tier Mortal Grade Hidden Class, you're stuck with it forever unless you find a very rare item."
"I see." Barney realized Liam knew this game inside and out, though he couldn't fathom how.
"Also, I've promoted you to Vice Guild Master. Start scouting for high-level players."
"On it."
As they talked, Liam continued to carry Barney through the mobs. Before long, Barney hit Level 20—the cap before his first Class Change.
"Go to the Capital City and take a standard class for now. By the time you get back, the timing should be perfect."
Corvus the Guide said she would come for him tonight. By the time he finished with the Blood-Eyed Dragon Turtle and cleared the Black-Water Lake dungeon, it would be time to meet her.
"Copy that," Barney said, heading off.