[Divine Selection Quest: "The Glory of Sigmar" – Phase Two Completed]
[Quest Evaluation: Outstanding!]
[You saved the Empire's hope and preserved its last spark!]
[You gained 70,000 experience, plus an extra 40,000 experience. Level increased to 34. Specialization Points +3, Attribute Points +3]
[Inquisitor level reached 30. Advancement quest route unlocked.]
[Your deeds have drawn the attention of the Empire's gods. You will receive their extra rewards!]
[Randomly gained blessing of an Imperial god +1]
[Favorability with the God of Carnage +50]
[Divine Selection Quest: "The Glory of Sigmar" – Phase Three Activated]
[Quest Objective: Work with the Emperor, reclaim the throne of legitimacy!]
[The tides of the era surge forward, but kingship remains eternal.]
After quietly reading the system prompts before him, Duanmu Huai only wanted to say one thing—what shamelessness.
Blessing? This was clearly just them trying to cozy up to him!
Is the Empire really that poor? Can't they find anyone else? Out of all the chosen, why do they keep squeezing wool off me?!
What, do I look like I don't need payment? Or am I giving them a discount? At the very least, if you want me to do your dirty work, show some sincerity. Look at novels, games, anime, movies—whenever gods ask someone to do something, they at least offer gold or beautiful women. But me? They just toss me some stingy blessing? Couldn't you send a saintess, a priestess, a nun, or the Lady of the Lake herself to serve me?
Speaking of the Lady of the Lake, Duanmu Huai couldn't help but fume again. He had just learned that every Grail Knight came with a standard "Lady of the Lake" companion, who traveled and shared affection with them. Why didn't he get one?
Are you really that petty, Lady of the Lake? All I did was swipe one little Grail—holding grudges like this is too much.
But never mind that…
Staring at the prompt [Advancement Quest Route Available], Duanmu Huai clenched his fist tightly.
Finally, it was here!
Advancement quests looked simple. Once a starting class reached its limit, a player could transfer to a higher class. For example, advancing into roles like Archivist or High Inquisitor—normal advanced classes. But aside from these, there were hidden advancement classes as well. And what Duanmu Huai had his eyes on were precisely those hidden ones.
The reason he was so obsessed came entirely from being burned by the game. Starsea Online was infamous for its cruelty.
The player growth path went like this: collect relics to unlock construction points for upgrading the space station, complete quests to gain experience and level up. But often, a player's level progression didn't match their relic collection speed. For instance, some lucky players could achieve warp travel before level 20.
Others weren't so lucky—reaching level 40 and still stuck with a pitiful excuse for a space station.
Normally, advancement quests should unlock only when reaching the level cap. But Starsea Online pulled a dirty trick—it made the advancement available at level 30, not 40.
At first, players were confused. Still, advancement meant power, so most dove in immediately. After all, stronger was always better.
Yet once they ventured into warp travel and explored other planets, they realized there were far more advancement classes out there—and each was far superior to the basic ones.
By then, it was too late. Already advanced players were told they couldn't advance again until level 60—unless they obtained an item called the "Rewind Crystal" to reset their character back to pre-advancement.
And the worst part? The "Rewind Crystal" wasn't even for sale. It was only given as a bonus to players who topped up 50,000 points or more—and it was account-bound.
When players realized this, they exploded in rage.
At first, they hadn't understood why such a strange item was part of the recharge rewards. Resetting to pre-advancement didn't look valuable. Nobody thought much of it.
But once they entered the cosmos, they found out—this was the trap waiting for them!
Damn dog company!!!
Players cursed, while the company played deaf. In the end, there was nothing they could do. Some rerolled new accounts. Others resigned themselves to misery, waiting until level 60 for the second advancement. A few wealthy whales, however, grinned smugly, flaunting their "Rewind Crystals." For a time, having one became a status symbol—even if unused. Some elite guilds outright barred players who didn't have one.
Duanmu Huai had been one of the unlucky second type. By the time he figured it out, he had already advanced to Archivist. And since he relied on the game to make money, he wasn't about to burn 50,000 points just to reset.
What sense does it make to lose money playing a game?!
Besides, many cosmic advancement quests were one-time only. Once someone completed them, they were gone forever. Under such pressure, players either threw money at the problem or rerolled—this chaos was one of the root causes of the Cataclysm. With most players rushing into space for hidden classes, nobody was left in the starter zones, which promptly collapsed.
That was why Duanmu Huai had always focused on securing an energy core—specifically, the Old Ones' energy core. To conduct safe warp travel, their technology was essential. Only with safe warp travel could he reach his ideal advancement site.
As for timing, Duanmu Huai had already decided.
Once this Divine Selection Quest was complete, and after he seized the relics from those three unfilial sons, he could upgrade the Inquisition Library to level 10. That would grant him 100% research acceleration and one point of "Superintelligence," instantly finishing any ongoing research. With that, he should be able to build an antimatter reactor and a transdimensional warp engine, launching his journey into warp travel.
He wasn't planning to just abandon this world. He knew the Cataclysm, though it seemed like a short event, actually stretched across nearly a decade. Staying here was useless—at this planet's technological level, no matter what he did, he couldn't prevent it.
Only by venturing into space and successfully advancing could he face the Chaos Gods on equal terms.
As for that favorability with the God of Carnage… Duanmu Huai simply ignored it. Not like it mattered.
For now… he wanted to test his luck.
Rubbing his hands, Duanmu Huai eyed the system prompt.
The Empire had many gods. Sigmar was foremost, of course, but that didn't mean the others were irrelevant. Among them, the most powerful was Ulric—after all, even the Empire's founder had been his follower. Still, if Duanmu Huai could choose, he'd prefer the blessing of Shallya, the goddess of healing and mercy. She was the arch-enemy of the Plague God, and her power countered pestilence and disease.
To Duanmu Huai, trickery magic, brute force, or seduction were all manageable. But plague and virus? That was troublesome.
So, let's see.
He extended his hand and tapped the prompt.
[Randomly gained divine blessing +1]
[You gained the blessing of Morr, the God of Death.]
[Gained additional class: Death Warden (Attack damage vs. Undead +30%)]
"Damn it!!!"
Reading that, Duanmu Huai nearly coughed up blood.
Death Warden, seriously?!
Morr was the Empire's god of death, said to shepherd all souls of the dead. If Duanmu Huai had any connection to him, it was just that Morr's knights also used a skull as their emblem… But his skull wasn't the same thing!
My skull doesn't stand for death, alright?!
If Morr were here, Duanmu Huai would definitely sit him down and explain the difference. Too bad he didn't have the god's phone number.
Forget it, so be it.
He quietly assigned his new points, boosting Strength, Constitution, and Intelligence by one each. He poured all his specialization points into [Psionic Combat Training]. Then he turned his attention to the next quest.
Still… something bothered him.
The quest seemed to reveal something strange.
According to the description after finishing the second phase, if not for him, Emperor Kevin would have certainly died. And indeed, without Duanmu Huai's defense against the Death Lord and his bombardment of the undead army, Kevin would have had no chance of survival.
So… in the original history, was Kevin destined to die?
Duanmu Huai rubbed his chin. He wasn't very familiar with the Empire's storylines. His game birth had been in Cathay, and in the Cataclysm's late stages, Cathay's Dragon Emperor had built a massive fleet like Zheng He's treasure voyages, sailing into another dimension with his entire people to escape. The Empire's side of the story, he only knew vaguely.
If Kevin lived now, what kind of impact would that have on this world?
"Knock knock."
As Duanmu Huai pondered, a knock came at the door. Anne poked her head inside.
"Ah, Sir Knight, they're asking for you. They said it's time to discuss the next course of action."
"I'll be right there."
Hearing her words, Duanmu Huai rose to his feet.
Now, he would see just what plan this Emperor truly had.
(End of Chapter)