Chapter 305: The Man Who Can Be Both Saint and Demon
The Ghost Gauntlet lost its template armament characteristic and became a proper piece of equipment, occupying Cheng Tian's glove equipment slot, with all other attributes unchanged.
As a unique skill in the Black Angel form, 'Phantom Sword' was enchanted onto Cheng Tian's strawberry underwear. Under the linked influence of Phantom Sword, the 'Knight/Arthur' template, which could originally only be used within the Makaimura dungeon, was also indirectly activated. However, the selectable blueprints for thrown weapons were limited to 'sword-type' armaments.
For Cheng Tian, who owns many swords, this had no impact.
Due to a perfect clear, and achieving it by creating new scenarios from scratch and defeating the final hidden boss, the mission completion and scenario exploration rates skyrocketed, far exceeding the original dungeon's maximum potential, reaching an extremely rare double S rating.
Unfortunately, because he switched factions midway and abandoned the main questline of the Dark Clan, the attribute points and skill points rewards were also lost.
Of course, from another perspective, if Cheng Tian had remained a member of the Dark Clan and captured the Twin Goddesses to steal the Black Pearl, he might have obtained the attribute points and skill points, but achieving an SS-rank evaluation would have been impossible.
Because without the Twin Goddesses' wholehearted help, Cheng Tian wouldn't have been able to indirectly gain control of the Black Pearl, nor suggest building the Twin White Towers. The Black Pearl and the Source of Magic would have remained the prized possessions of Dalles or Caine, completely out of Cheng Tian's reach, thus preventing him from creating the new Twin Towers Clash mode out of thin air.
The Dark Clan faction is an extreme alignment that seeks power at the cost of falling into the demonic path and abandoning their human identity, so the rewards provided were the most direct attribute points and skill points.
The Twin Goddesses faction is a balanced alignment that maintains freedom within order, so the final reward for Cheng Tian was an additional fixed skill slot.
The former boosts immediate combat power, while the latter expands future potential.
It's just a pity that choosing one side means giving up the other; there's no way to truly have the best of both worlds.
Cheng Mouren, after a brief sigh, completely dismissed it from his mind and opened his character panel. Although there were no attribute points or skill points in the settlement rewards, Cheng Tian's panel data had undergone a significant change.
The reason was that he had successfully transitioned into a profession called 'Heart Priest.'
[You have successfully transitioned to the S-rank profession 'Heart Priest.']
[Heart Priest: S-rank profession, a composite profession of Priest and Magician. The head of the Six Priests of Ys Kingdom, originally just a position representing status, but under the long-term personal influence of Caine Fact, Heart Priest has become a label representing the leader of the Fact family. While incorporating the style of a priest, it has also inevitably mixed in some characteristics from Caine Fact himself, making it a special profession where light and darkness coexist.
Your Spirit attribute is permanently +10, and your Charm attribute is permanently +5.
An additional fixed skill slot has been added, for a total of 6 (settlement reward +1), with 3 currently in use.
The Strength-HP ratio has changed to 1:15, current HP = 565; the Spirit-MP ratio has changed to 1:25, current MP = 1250.
You have gained exclusive professional skills that do not occupy a fixed skill slot — 'Heart of Saint and Demon,' 'Holy Spear Yug / Demonic Spear Thor,' 'Heart Barrier.'
The special item 'Crystal Eye' is highly compatible with your professional characteristics and has been permanently consumed and converted into the exclusive professional skill 'Crystal Imagery.'
Your inherent skills 'Ten Commandments' and 'Hundred Demons' Night Parade' have both produced partial effect linkages.]
For Chosen Players, there are theoretically only two ways to change the Strength-HP ratio and Spirit-MP ratio: one is to change race or bloodline, and the other is to undergo a profession change.
Heart Priest is indeed a spellcaster profession, but because Caine Fact believed that 'a good physique is necessary to support powerful spellcasting,' in addition to greatly increasing the Spirit-MP ratio, the Strength-HP ratio also increased somewhat.
Successful profession change also came with a permanent increase in both Spirit and Charm attributes, an additional fixed skill slot, and a whole set of extra skills.
It's probably due to it being an S-rank profession that there are so many exclusive professional skills.
After a quick review, Cheng Tian realized that the core skill of this profession was 'Heart of Saint and Demon,' which had a mechanism effect.
[Heart of Saint and Demon: S-rank Skill / Lv-, Professional Skill, Composite Skill. A single thought can sanctify, a single thought can demonize. The traits of saint and demon coexist within you, and you can interfere with the manifestation of saint and demon on your body through certain actions, thereby acquiring different combat forms.
Based on Heart of Saint and Demon, you have gained new energy bars — Holy Radiance Purification and Demonic Nightmare Corrosion.
When you use Holy Radiance-type skills/spells or Demonic Nightmare-type skills/spells, the purification and corrosion percentages of the energy bar will change accordingly. The increase and decrease of Holy Radiance Purification and Demonic Nightmare Corrosion will mutually influence each other. The current percentages of Holy Radiance Purification and Demonic Nightmare Corrosion will affect the amplification bonus of the corresponding form.
Based on Heart of Saint and Demon, you have gained two forms that can be switched between at any time without extra cost — 'Heart of Holy Radiance Form' and 'Heart of Demonic Nightmare Form.'
In different forms, your panel values, passive characteristics, professional skills, and inherent skill effects will undergo corresponding changes.
In Heart of Holy Radiance Form —
The effects of your Holy Radiance-type skills are fully amplified up to 100%. All your non-Demonic Nightmare-type skills will change to 'Holy Radiance + original attribute' mode. When engaging in spell duels, you can use Spirit + Charm for resistance; however, damage taken from Demonic Nightmare-type attacks is fixed to increase by 100%.
In Heart of Demonic Nightmare Form —
The effects of your Demonic Nightmare-type skills are fully amplified up to 100%. All your non-Holy Radiance-type skills will change to 'Demonic Nightmare + original attribute' mode. When engaging in physical duels, you can use Strength + Agility for resistance; however, damage taken from Holy Radiance-type attacks is fixed to increase by 100%.
Once per dungeon, you can enter the 'Heart of Saint and Demon Form,' which overlaps both forms, by bursting your magic power. At that time, you will simultaneously gain the amplifications of both forms and cancel the negative effects of both forms. The maximum duration is 100 seconds (Spirit attribute * 2).]
[Additional Evaluation: A variant of the Priest's Holy Light Form and Shadow Form.]
Just as the evaluation stated, the core of the Heart Priest is this 'Heart of Saint and Demon' passive, similar to a World of Warcraft Priest. Both the Holy Radiance Form and Demonic Nightmare Form offer gains but also carry a certain level of risk. If countered, it could be very dangerous... but as long as you can defeat the opponent first, the so-called risks become irrelevant.
With the activation of the Heart of Saint and Demon passive, all of Cheng Tian's inherent skills and equipment-added skills also gained 'Holy Radiance' or 'Demonic Nightmare' tags.
Among the inherent skills, Ten Commandments and Hundred Demons' Night Parade, and the Phantom Sword attached to his underwear, all conformed to the 'Demonic Nightmare' tag.
Conversely, the Sun Punch brought by his talent blessing and the various skills attached to the sunfire mask mostly carried the 'Holy Radiance' tag.
When any tagged skill was activated, Cheng Tian's new energy bar would fluctuate.
Light and darkness, saint and demon—two types of spell fluctuations alternately emerged from Cheng Tian, and his entire being switched back and forth between glowing and darkening, playing with great enjoyment.
But in the eyes of others, these perfectly opposite spell fluctuations appeared on him with a naturalness, as if a shadow must exist wherever sunlight shines...