Chapter 103: Apocalypse!

The Healer—Paladin, Harbinger, Mindseer.

They are warriors of magic blessed by the divine light, a group of holy soldiers who have received celestial favor at the Grand Cathedral of Belmar! Bearing the heavy cross upon their backs, they harness the power of the sacred light granted by their faith, aiding their comrades in the fight against evil.

At times, they channel the holy light to directly punish their enemies.

When necessary, they do not hesitate to sacrifice themselves to save the lives of their teammates...

They are a revered and welcomed group, noble in character.

(Experienced healer, 2 million power, contact if interested.)

The Orb of Revelation is a paladin’s awakening skill—a signature ability that grants even a fully stripped healer direct access to group dungeons.

If the level 51 Blessing of Honor doubles the main damage dealer’s output, then a high-level Orb of Revelation will triple it!

And that’s a conservative estimate, revealing its immense power.

Among the general public, this skill is famously nicknamed: The Sun!

Yet veteran healers devoutly call it by its reverent title—“Ah! Po! Ke! Lie!”

Luke stared in disbelief at the golden, radiant skill book in his hands.

[Skill Book: Orb of Revelation]

He had never dreamed he would draw another awakening skill so soon.

The true strength of an awakening skill manifests in the real world—it is no exaggeration to say these are the ultimate signature techniques of each class, aside from second awakenings.

The Warlord, for instance, is the female Mechanic’s awakening skill.

Its power is unquestioned. So how mighty would the Orb of Revelation be?

Unable to contain his trembling hands, Luke nervously flipped open the pages of the skill book, his face glowing with pilgrim-like reverence as he carefully read...

“Creates a miniature artificial sun imbued with divine power. An artificial sun? Complete with construction blueprints... Beneath its radiance, friendly creatures rapidly regain vitality... bodily functions greatly enhanced... the orb can be transformed into a Dark Orb? When attacking, it releases a powerful dark beam causing immense damage to enemies...”

The silence in the room stretched on for a full ten minutes.

Finally, Luke closed the dazzling golden skill book. As the pages snapped shut, most of the radiant light was concealed, though some still leaked out. Even an outsider would recognize this tome as no ordinary artifact.

Luke frowned deeply.

“Blueprints for building a permanent artificial sun! The effect is just like the Orb of Revelation in DNF, with the ability to convert into a Dark Orb. But the cost... without tens of billions of dollars, this can’t be built…”

Poverty—damned poverty!

No longer hesitating, Luke clapped both hands onto the golden book, which instantly dissolved into a golden stream that sank into his body.

With a sudden clarity in his heart, he slowly sat cross-legged on the bed and closed his eyes.

Within a few breaths, golden flames of holy light began to pour out with each inhale and exhale—a sign that the sacred light was escaping from within him.

The phenomenon intensified. The holy light seemed to resist merging with Luke.

No wonder—after all, he lacked the faith of a true paladin. By all rights, he did not deserve the protection of the holy light. Perhaps the patronage of a god of destruction would be more fitting...

Yet he could feel an unparalleled power forcibly suppressing the holy light within him.

Though the sacred light seemed sentient, constantly trying to flee, this immense force inside him was like a bottomless black hole, pulling the escaping golden flames back with every breath, over and over.

The entire process resembled a tug-of-war, stretching on endlessly.

Luke sat steadily as if in deep meditation, breathing calm and steady.

“It’s the system,” he thought.

This was not the first time such a thing had happened. When he first learned the Force Barrier, his body suddenly gained an aura of force energy. Later, when he mastered the Asura’s Dark Slash, he gained the Asura’s wave power. Both had exhibited leakage phenomena.

These powers, not originally his, were forcibly implanted, each wild and unruly. He had been using them by force but couldn’t truly integrate them as a genuine qi master or Asura would.

He knew he was merely borrowing these powers.

The system forcibly suppressed these disparate energies within him, holding them like a black hole, so they could not escape and must remain tools at his command.

The difference now was that this reaction was far stronger than before. After all, this was a paladin’s awakening skill, and the holy light contained within was probably overwhelmingly vast.

Without the system and the true paladin’s legacy, Luke guessed that simply forcing such immense holy light into his body would have blown him apart.

But with the system, no matter how massive the power, no matter how many conflicting energies, even those naturally repelling each other, they would ultimately coexist peacefully within him, ready for his use.

This was the system’s true power!

Sometimes Luke was filled with wonder about the being who created this system.

He was even more curious about the purpose behind its creation. Was his transmigration and rebirth merely a meaningless whim of some capricious cosmic entity?

He doubted it...

In fact, he had long harbored some suspicions based on subtle clues revealed by Lotus.

But he knew all too well: thinking about it was useless!

For now, he was bound to the system. Their fates were intertwined—shared glory and shared ruin. He was lucky not to have been reborn as a slime. Their interests aligned: to spread the apostles’ glory, which coincided with his iron rule of “survival first.”

As long as that alignment lasted, he would continue to support the system. It was his guarantee of greatness; he was a vested beneficiary.

Even if one day the system asked him to do something outrageous, as long as he maintained his moral bottom line, Luke believed he would not hesitate.

The matter of Lotus obsessively wanting to blow up Stark Tower... from Luke’s perspective, it wasn’t entirely impossible...

It wasn’t that he was unwilling; the rewards just weren’t big enough.

His own standards were low, after all...

Without warning, Luke, sitting quietly on his bed, suddenly opened his eyes.

Two golden lights flashed briefly in his eyes. For a fleeting moment, his entire eyes shone like the sun—brilliant gold light that gradually faded and retracted, leaving his pupils glowing faintly golden for about half a minute.

Then, with another blink, his eyes returned to normal, the black depths like ink.

Lowering his gaze, Luke turned his right hand palm-up. A golden light seemed to surge from beneath his skin like a flickering flame. Clenching his fist, the light vanished, absorbed back into his body.

“Holy light power already occupies nearly four-fifths of my internal energy... No wonder it’s called Ah Po Ke Lie. The cost though... ugh, nuclear materials? An artificial sun, albeit miniaturized, is essentially nuclear fusion... and it’s a one-time launch for permanent use—the true everlasting sun...”

“‘Everlasting sun’ is the holy grail for many healers. It means continuously releasing several, even a dozen or more, Orbs of Revelation. Each orb creates a golden sun in the sky. Multiple releases form a vast, unending cluster of golden suns—a breathtaking spectacle.”

“The first problem to solve is money. Then, where to get nuclear material? That stuff can’t be bought, no matter how rich you are.”

Scratching his head in thought, Luke lit up another cigarette.

But his previously calm breathing soon quickened again.

“Damn! What’s going on?! Could I really be insanely lucky? How did I never realize this before?!”

[Colorless Small Crystal*3]

[Colorless Small Crystal*10]

[Seria’s Special Cool Drink*1]

[Resurrection Coin*5]

[Demonstone*3]

[Colorless Small Crystal*26]

[Data Chip*1]

[Data Chip*1]

[Skill Book: Black Rose Special Forces]

[Demonstone*2]