Chapter 291

: The Beginning of Greatness
Translator: 
Hellscythe_ 
 Editor: 
Hellscythe_
In order to increase the Abyssal Blade’s potential, Shi Feng had intended to gather ten Level 15 Fine-Gold Weapons to serve as a sacrifice. Hence, he had deliberately kept the Abyssal Blade at Level 10 all this time.
Now, however, he no longer had the leeway to do so.
The Abyssal Blade started exuding a dark fog, which immediately charged at the sacrificial weapons Shi Feng had prepared.
Within three seconds, even the incomparably hard Demonbane, a Dark-Gold ranked one-handed sword, had been turned into dark fog and was absorbed by the Abyssal Blade.
After the Abyssal Blade had finished devouring the sacrificial weapons, the weapon was no longer completely pitch-black in appearance. Golden divine runes appeared on the blade of the sword, giving off a faint golden glow. Meanwhile, the entire blade itself had also become silvery gray.
When Shi Feng casually brandished the Abyssal Blade, slashing it through the air, the feeling he got was like he was cutting a transparent sheet of paper.

Sharp!
Shi Feng looked at the Abyssal Blade in his hand, astonishment filling his eyes.
If he combined such sharpness with the Basic Destructive Power passive skill, even without the Ice-Blue Devil Flame, he could still easily destroy Mysterious-Iron ranked weapons and equipment. Secret-Silver ranked items would also last only a while longer.
[Abyssal Blade] (One-handed Sword, Magic Weapon)
Attack Power +211
All Attributes +25
Attack Speed +8
Ignore Levels +8
Attacks have:
35% chance to cause 200% damage.
10% chance to cause 300% damage.
20% chance to induce Doom Curse, reducing all Attributes by 40% for 30 seconds.
If wielder belongs to any Swordsman-related class, all Skill Levels +3.
Increase Free Ability Points received for every increase in Level by 2 points.
Equipment Level 15. Can be upgraded. (Devour ten Level 20 Mysterious-Iron Weapons and one Level 20 Secret-Silver Weapon to upgrade to Level 20). Can be evolved (Unknown).
Additional Skill 1: Phantom Kill. Instantly creates a doppelganger. You can control this doppelganger. Doppelganger will have 55% of original body’s Attributes and all Skills. At the same time, doppelganger and the original body can be swapped.
Duration: 40 seconds
Cooldown: 5 minutes
Additional Skill 2: Abyssal Bind. Binds enemies and prevents movement, reducing Defense by 100%.
Duration: 3 seconds
Cooldown: 1 minute
Additional Skill 3: Nine Dragons Slash. Instantly creates nine phantoms of the Abyssal Blade for wielder to use; each phantom sword is capable of dealing up to 30% damage.
Duration: 30 seconds
Cooldown: 5 minutes
Additional Skill 4: Dark Violent Dance. 45% of the total damage dealt to the target spreads in a cone-shaped area towards targets within a distance of 12 yards.
Duration: 30 seconds
Cooldown: 1 minute
The Abyssal Blade was personally created by master smith Olysses using the Black Dragon King’s fangs as material. It is one of thirty-six famed swords, and it is ranked 31st. However, this sword has been cursed by the Black Dragon King. Aside from providing the wielder with immense strength, there will be a Backlash every period of time. However, after being remodeled by Jack using a Star Crystal, the strength of the Backlash has been greatly reduced. If the wielder is unable to suppress the Backlash, the wielder will receive the curse of the Black Dragon King, permanently reducing All Attributes by 50%.
Unable to be dropped.
Unable to be traded.
_As expected of a Magic Weapon. Even though only ten Mysterious-Iron Weapons and one Dark-Gold Weapon were used as its sacrifice, its new Attack Power is even higher than a Dark-Gold Weapon of the same level. This Attack Power could already rival a Dark-Gold ranked two-handed sword._ Shi Feng smiled in satisfaction.
The Level 15 Dark-Gold ranked Demonbane only had 183 Attack Power. Meanwhile, the Abyssal Blade had 211 Attack Power; it was far stronger than the Demonbane. Not to mention, the other Attributes and Skills of the Abyssal Blade had also received a significant improvement from the upgrade this time around.
Unfortunately, the Abyssal Blade was still far from being a match for the
Purgatory’s Shadow, a Level 20 Dark-Gold ranked one-handed sword.
[Purgatory’s Shadow] (One-handed Sword, Dark-Gold Rank)
Level 20 (Can be upgraded twice)
Attack Power +273
Strength+30, Agility +25, Endurance +22
Attack Speed +2
Attacks have:
20% chance to cause 300% damage.
10% chance to reduce damage dealt by target by 20%. Effect not stackable.
Additional Skill-
Purgatory Power: When activated, increases Attack Speed by 100% and damage dealt by 30% for 15 seconds.
Cooldown: 2 minutes
However, this could not be helped. Level 20 weapons and equipment were essentially more powerful than Level 15 ones.
At Level 20, players could take the promotion to become a Tier 1 class. Hence, Level 20 weapons and equipment would all be significantly stronger.
_Although the Attack Power has improved greatly, it won’t be enough to get me through the 6th trial._
Shi Feng knew that a player’s combat power could not simply be measured through their Attack Power alone. An increase in Attack Power only meant that the damage players dealt would be higher than before. Meanwhile, combat power was the synthesis of various other factors such as Strength, Agility, Endurance, and other Basic Attributes. Skill Level was also a factor to consider.
Even if Shi Feng multiplied his current Attack Power by three to four times, his HP would still be tens of times lower than the monster in the 6th trial. If he could not dodge the monster’s attacks, he would still lose his life after taking a few hits. So, an increase in Attack Power would not bring too great an increase to his overall combat power.
A player was just like a wooden bucket that was used to collect water[1]. How strong they were depended not on their strengths but their weaknesses.
Shi Feng called out the system interface. As Ucarus had already opened up the Exchange System of the War God’s Temple’s treasury for Shi Feng, he could now directly exchange his Merit Points through the system. Shi Feng immediately used 1,500 Merit Points to exchange for a Level 20 Dark-Gold Weapon. He then took out another ten Level 20 Mysterious-Iron Weapons from his bag.
There were plenty of Mysterious-Iron Weapons stored inside the Guild Warehouse. Moreover, during the past few days, while Shi Feng, Aqua Rose, and Fire Dance were trapped within the Forgotten Lands, Blackie and the others had kept themselves busy raiding Level 20, 5-man Party Dungeons to level up and obtain materials and equipment. They were making preparations to challenge the Level 20, 10-man Great Dungeon. During this process, they had obtained plenty of Level 20 Mysterious-Iron ranked weapons and equipment. Currently, Zero Wing possessed the most Level 20 weapons and equipment out of all the Guilds in White River City.
With such a large supply, Shi Feng had set aside some of the Level 20 Mysterious-Iron ranked weapons and equipment with the weakest performance for future use. However, he had never thought he would get to put them to good use so quickly.
Following which, Shi Feng chose to upgrade the Abyssal Blade once more.
In God’s Domain, Level 20 was considered a large threshold. Just like the time the Abyssal Blade had risen to Level 10, it would receive a large improvement when it was upgraded to Level 20. Now, whether or not Shi Feng could clear the next trial would rely solely on the performance of the Level 20 Abyssal Blade.
The devouring process this time was clearly different from when the Abyssal Blade got upgraded to Level 15.
After devouring the offerings, the Abyssal Blade erupted and let loose a dragon’s roar. The sky and earth trembled in the face of this mighty roar. Immediately after, the Abyssal Blade broke free from Shi Feng’s grasp and floated in mid-air.
_Boom!_
The Abyssal Blade exploded, transforming into a black tornado. The surroundings went deathly still as if with bated breath.
As the black tornado dissipated, a gigantic figure emerged in its place. This figure was none other than the phantom of the Black Dragon King that Shi Feng had previously seen. However, compared to the first time Shi Feng had seen it, the phantom that appeared this time was much more vivid. Moreover, the destructive aura it emitted was far stronger than before. Even when he was faced with the apex powerhouses back at the Eternal Throne, Shi Feng had not been so scared.
Of course, this disparity was also due to the fact that those big shots had been intentionally suppressing their auras.
At this moment, the Black Dragon King’s phantom, which was several hundred meters in height, actually turned to look at Shi Feng and revealed a human-like sneer. Soon after, the phantom dissipated and transformed back into the Abyssal Blade. As the sword landed, its blade stabbed deep into the earth before Shi Feng, with only its hilt remaining aboveground.
Some time passed before Shi Feng gradually recovered from his stupor. He then slowly extended his hand and pulled out the Abyssal Blade.
The appearance of the Abyssal Blade had greatly changed after being upgraded. The entire sword was now silvery gray in color, and it exuded a faint, black aura of death. The image of a black dragon could also be seen fading in and out of existence on the blade of the sword. Meanwhile, the image of a dragon had also been carved out of the hilt of the Abyssal Blade. There were small black chains wrapped around the hilt as well, seemingly acting as a seal for the dragon.

Have I just done something I shouldn’t have?
Shi Feng wondered, laughing bitterly as he looked at the lifelike dragon sculpture.
Everything was playing out just as Faust, the legendary character Shi Feng had met back at the Star River Valley, had said.
A Magic Weapon was a double-edged sword. As one allowed the Magic Weapon to grow in strength, the curse contained within it would also grow stronger. Meanwhile, the wielder would sooner or later be devoured by the strength of the Magic Weapon.
TL Notes:
[1]
This is the bucket that’s being used as description.
https://gss1.bdstatic.com/-vo3dSag_xI4khGkpoWK1HF6hhy/baike/c0%3Dbaike92%2C5%2C5%2C92%2C30/sign=e09bcf35d3c8a786aa27425c0660a258/4d086e061d950a7bc78c210b08d162d9f3d3c940.jpg
How much water the bucket can hold relies not on the longest plank used to make the bucket, but the shortest plank instead.