Chapter 280: Breakthrough

Joo Joowon glanced at the favorability rating, but he did not take it to heart.

Simply being treated as an enemy, rather than being locked in a life-or-death struggle, showed that the earth fire had at least admitted defeat in its heart. Therefore, this favorability rating did not affect Joo Joowon very much. At most, the earth fire might not put in its full effort when carrying out orders, or it might agree to something on the surface while secretly doing things its own way.

As long as he continued to remain powerful and kept the other side firmly beneath him, there would be no possibility of rebellion.

For Joo Joowon, this was enough. The skill [Intimidation] was originally meant to forcibly drive other creatures. Since it used violent methods, he naturally could not expect them to have much loyalty toward him. As long as they were willing to work, that was enough.

It was just like how, in the past, he had cursed his leaders and bosses almost every day at work. As long as he still wanted to keep that job, could he really refuse to work?

Joo Joowon was actually quite satisfied with this situation. At worst, he could place more Star Fiend on the other party in the future and leave it dormant. If the other party truly caused trouble, he could immediately detonate the Star Fiend and let them experience what it meant to choke even while drinking plain water.

Considering the overall environment of the apocalypse, simply becoming unlucky was almost equivalent to registering one’s name with the King of Hell ahead of time. Naturally, he did not need to worry about whether the other party would become a major threat to him in the future.

The earth fire’s level had directly fallen from Level 9 to Level 1 because of Joo Joowon’s actions. He had no idea when it would be able to recover.

This also made him understand why the earth fire had caused such a huge disturbance today.

In the Age of Apocalypse, every ten levels usually represented a dividing line. Although Levels 1 to 20 were all part of the beginner stage of the extraordinary realm, for many creatures, being below Level 10 and being above Level 10 were like two completely different worlds.

Unlike humans, who possessed almost no skills before reaching Level 10, these creatures seemed to be much stronger than humans. However, in reality, this meant that their potential was much weaker, which was why breaking through the extraordinary boundary was not so difficult for them.

Before Level 10, although they possessed skills, there were no earth-shaking changes. They still had many restrictions. For example, creatures such as mayflies, which naturally had very short lifespans, would not gain much additional lifespan before reaching Level 10. The instincts of animals would also continue to trouble them.

However, once they broke through the boundary of Level 10, they would be able to receive a "inheritance," which was similar to players obtaining a class.

Other aspects aside, their lifespans would at least increase greatly. Their connection with the Sea of Quanta would also deepen. Their intelligence would make considerable progress, and their instincts would gradually become more like preferences rather than something that had an enormous influence on them as before, making them easy to target.

The earth fire had attracted so many prey, clearly preparing for its own breakthrough.

Under such circumstances, its fortune was already unstable and constantly fluctuating, which naturally made it much easier for Joo Joowon to deal with.

Otherwise, if it had been in its usual condition, even if its Main Star had been weak and unsteady, it still would have been difficult to shake it easily. After all, its level was not low.

It was no wonder that the astrological prediction had turned out to be a mixture of misfortune and good fortune. For an Astral Diviner like Joo Joowon, this really was the easiest day in recent times to deal with the earth fire. One day earlier or one day later would not have worked.

One day earlier, the earth fire would still have been preparing for its breakthrough, and its fortune would have been in a vigorous upward trend. Taking action under such circumstances would only produce half the result with twice the effort.

One day later, the earth fire might already have successfully broken through. Its fortune would have stabilized, making it even more troublesome to deal with.

Fortunately, Joo Joowon had arrived at exactly the right time. It was no wonder that the earth fire had continued chasing him. Rather than simply being unwilling to let go of food that had already reached its mouth, it was more likely trying to kill him or drive him away because it did not want him to cause trouble while it was breaking through.

To Astral Diviner, they were similar to protagonists who could break through in the middle of a battle. They could always reverse an unfavorable situation at a critical moment.

However, if an enemy wanted to imitate this method, they could teach that enemy a lesson in a matter of minutes. They could interfere with the enemy’s breakthrough on the level of fate itself. Unless the enemy originally had a one-hundred-percent chance of successfully breaking through, they could always guide the result toward the worst possible path of fate.

The earth fire was, after all, a spiritual creature. Perhaps it had sensed something vaguely without even realizing it.

After looking at the earth fire’s skills, Joo Joowon found that its abilities were indeed quite impressive. They also happened to make up for the lack of firepower in his hands. Compared with Hwi, it was more suitable to serve as his main combat force.

Most of the skills carried by Hwi had some kind of negative effect. Only the Giant Form skill he had possessed from the beginning was relatively safe. However, the situations that could be handled with simple physical strength were limited, and it was far inferior to the earth fire in terms of the number of situations it could deal with.