I Don't Agree to the Terms

"I can't believe there's only 1 point left, so the remaining 9 points must have been chipped in by Little White and the Five Elements Sect... Wait, it shouldn't be Little White, the majority must have come from the Five Elements Sect."

Gu Shanhai felt the enhancement of the Prosperous Peony, and because a recognition system was installed, what was originally 10 points of luck at this stage had, due to insufficient funds, dwindled to just 1 point, a significant reduction indeed.

But the good news was that there was no need to worry about harming his own people.

Later on, when he was in a crowded place, he should be able to achieve the current stage's 10 points of luck, but it was very likely that trouble would arise.

Gu Shanhai wouldn't keep it running all the time; this thing indeed damaged the harmony of heaven and was likely to offend the world.

After all, this was illegal, not a legitimate tactic, so Gu Shanhai only used it as a Mana aura, which was quite normal during a fight when it was a matter of life and death; otherwise, he would just turn it off when idle.

"Little White, stop the boat..." Gu Shanhai shouted.

He planned to make a divine offering, as he had finished dealing with other matters and it was time to handle things related to the Divine.

Little White also stopped abruptly with a hoof, looking at Gu Shanhai in puzzlement; it was having too much fun speeding.

"Stop for a moment, I have some things to take care of."

After saying that, Gu Shanhai packed up his things and headed out to the sea surface.

This time, the Divine he intended to pay tribute to was the Ten-Winged Sea Demon Dragon, a being with characteristics of sea, land, and sky, although the land and sky aspects were minor, making up less than one percent, with the rest being oceanic properties.

Its preferred offering was Red Sea Beef, so Gu Shanhai cut a large chunk; this Red Sea cow was of overlord level, too big in its entirety, otherwise, Gu Shanhai would have considered offering the whole thing.

After some babbling, the Red Sea Beef instantly transformed into a point of light.

Gu Shanhai immediately investigated what received this Red Sea Beef, only to find that it had simply disintegrated and wasn't received by anything.

The next instant, the point of light dispersed and formed a huge Divine virtual shadow of a dragon covered in scales, with ten wings on its back.

The shadow's wings beat gently, casting a mass of radiance into Gu Shanhai's body before the figure vanished.

"Sea Demon Dragon's Scale? Is this thing really given out so generously?"

Gu Shanhai discovered from the intercepted light that this thing, quantified, was about reducing all damage by 10%, with defense and magic resistance both increased by 10%, and on top of that, the ability to breathe underwater—at level 1. If he continued to offer Overlord level Red Sea Beef, it could be upgraded.

The only downside seemed to be that it was only effective at sea.

In non-oceanic areas, it still had an effect, just not as strong, reduced from 10%, which was a bit of a letdown.

"The Sea Demon Dragon's Scale must be one of the top Transcendent abilities obtainable by the Ten-Winged Sea Demon Dragon."

"But that shouldn't be right. The native sea folks don't have this issue, do they?"

Gu Shanhai discovered the aquatic ability would weaken outside the ocean from the feedback data, but that wasn't the case in reality—sea folks didn't suffer from this negative effect.

Indeed, players did, which is why not many people came to this world—it was just a business district. Otherwise, if one could simply pay tribute and obtain skills, talents, and items, it would have become a popular world long ago.

This was just the reduction of top-tier Transcendent abilities. Standard Transcendent abilities faced even harsher reductions.

"Could it be a compatibility issue?"

"That's impossible, players don't have compatibility problems."

Gu Shanhai was puzzled; he could understand his own incompatibility, but if players were incompatible, that presented a significant issue.

Of course, it was also possible that the "First Era" had deliberately imposed these limitations, as nurturing wasn't about hand-feeding; the Transcendent abilities in this world were far too easy for players to obtain.

"So, I'll need to get a sea folk for dissection."

As for the Ten-Winged Sea Demon Dragon, Gu Shanhai couldn't discern much. Even the virtual shadow just now was essentially a special effect and transformation device; the true essence lay in the radiance that housed the Sea Demon Dragon's Scale Transcendent ability.

"However, I can confirm that these Divine beings have quite peculiar states, existing yet not existing."

If you say they exist, they indeed do; otherwise, how could they appear?

The reason for their non-existence is simple: They're likely just projections similar to virtual shadows, not truly complete beings.

It's probably similar to the Goddess system in Hero World, which produces various images according to the needs of poor, doomed heroes assigned to do cleanup tasks and generate XP.

Such is the case with the Divine entities in this world.

Gu Shanhai guessed that if he had chosen a Divine identity back then, he probably would have been sent to fill gaps.

The Divine might belong to virtual shadows, but if he entered, that might not be the case; after all, he still had the divine properties from another world.

"No wonder it's sold so cheaply, or not... that's too unscrupulous, having to pay for working."

Gu Shanhai realized that if he spent his lifespan on such an identity, not only would there be no benefits, but he would also be trapped.

"Indeed, Daoist Soldier World is the best. Although they like bundled sales, at least they deliver on their promises, and are fair to all." Gu Shanhai sighed. After mingling among many worlds, Daoist Soldier World still treated him the kindest; the other worlds were more or less pitfalls.

After packing up, Gu Shanhai returned to the island to start researching the Sea Demon Dragon's Scale.