Chapter 393 - 392: Benchmark

Chapter 393: Chapter 392: Benchmark

The answer to that question was now crystal clear.

When Shatterer had used the Arena Certificate on her, it hadn’t been the first time he’d received a blessing.

And when he first received that blessing, the creature he killed was definitely not an S-Class being like the Storm Dragon.

The creature he killed for his first blessing was of a low grade, so the boosts from his subsequent uses were naturally weak as well.

Very satisfied, Seraphina Sinclair closed that page. The one at the very bottom held the true description of the Heart-piercing Grace item!

[Heart-piercing Grace (S-Class)]

[Description: Trade sincere pain and life force for a power, transient yet sufficient to reverse fate. While Grace is active, your pain becomes your source of strength. The deeper your anguish and the firmer your conviction, the greater the power of Grace you can wield. The benchmark slain with your first Grace becomes the eternal yardstick for measuring all future Graces and their costs.]

[Current Grace Benchmark: Storm Dragon (S-Class).]

[Current Grace Effects (Generated based on benchmark):

1. Based on the power difference between the owner and the benchmark, gain a temporary boost to All Attributes by a certain percentage. Current benchmark provides a one-hundred percent increase to Attributes, lasting for three minutes!

2. Increases damage dealt by 20% to targets with a life-tier or power rating equal to or greater than the benchmark.

3. Use of the "Arena Certificate" will not be broadcast in the regional channel’s announcements.]

So this was Grace...

The first effect was arguably the core of Grace. A one-hundred percent increase in attribute points for three minutes.

Staring at that line of text, Seraphina Sinclair couldn’t help but gasp.

Those three minutes were a truly divine move!

As for the second effect... it wasn’t very useful for Seraphina Sinclair right now.

After all, the Storm Dragon was an S-Class creature. The buff would only trigger when facing creatures above S-Class.

’Solo an above-S-Class creature right now?’ Seraphina Sinclair had no desire to die just yet.

As for the last effect...

It explained why there was no announcement when Shatterer used the Arena Certificate on her, but Seraphina still found the feature’s inclusion bizarre.

’Why would an item designed to give a survivor a burst of power have a function like this?’

Seraphina Sinclair continued reading.

Following the effects of Grace were the costs.

[Current Cost Effects (Generated based on benchmark):

1. Grace Tide: After Grace ends, All Attributes are temporarily reduced by ten percent for 24 hours. This period is accompanied by intense mental and physical exhaustion and a sense of emptiness, severely reducing combat effectiveness.

2. Pain Brand: When enduring immense pain, there is a chance to trigger flashbacks of the extreme agony experienced while Grace was active.

3. Blood and Flesh Joy: If no creature is killed while Grace is active, the effects of "Grace Tide" and "Pain Brand" will be multiplied!]

After reading these three lines, Seraphina’s excitement over Grace’s effects immediately cooled.

’The negative effects are huge. No wonder the buffs are so powerful.’

"Grace Tide... a ten-percent reduction in Attributes, plus severe exhaustion and emptiness. Those twenty-four hours will be an extremely dangerous period of weakness."

"I have to make sure to end the fight completely within the three minutes Grace is active, and then immediately and safely retreat or find a secure location."

"Otherwise, I’d be a sitting duck."

Seraphina Sinclair’s voice echoed in her own ears, and with every word, her heart sank lower.

The first time one paid the price, what they received was a boon. Subsequent uses were what was called Grace.

Boon and Grace... they seemed to have no difference, but one had no negative effects, while the other had such huge downsides.

And that wasn’t all. Two more notes followed below.

[Note: The higher the benchmark’s level, the stronger the effects of Grace, but the heavier the corresponding cost. Over-reliance on or frequent use of Grace may lead to the costs becoming permanent.]

’Permanent...?’

’This item... you really can’t use it carelessly.’

[Note: When an enemy is killed using Grace, Grace will inscribe their Name! For every enemy killed, the power of Grace will be strengthened.]

A glint appeared in Seraphina Sinclair’s eyes. She finally understood the meaning of Grace’s third effect.

’This is encouraging...’

’It’s encouraging those who have obtained Grace to use it frequently to kill enemies and thus strengthen its power.’

’Shatterer was clearly deceived by this rule. He killed so many people, and then he even came after me.’

Seraphina Sinclair suppressed these chaotic thoughts and noticed a line of small text after this line. She clicked it open and saw it was densely packed with the Names of monsters or humans who had died to Grace.

The first few names sounded like they belonged to monsters, though Seraphina Sinclair didn’t recognize any of them. After that, Xenos names with an Epic feel began to appear intermittently.

Then, the style changed, and names that were clearly human IDs came into view: LovesLambChops, Saury, FirstTime...

Further down, there was a familiar name—

Frostleaf.

’So she died at Shatterer’s hands too.’

’By killing Shatterer, I guess I’ve avenged her in a way.’

She closed the last panel and checked the unread private messages.

Many people had messaged her: Chrona, Mountainwind, and also Cloudmute.

’It made sense for Chrona to message me, but Mountainwind and Cloudmute...’

’I don’t know them well at all. It’s one thing for them to message me, but did they do it at the same time?’

She was about to tap open Chrona’s chat window, but her finger paused just before it touched the screen. As if guided by some unseen force, she opened the group chat Chrona had created instead.

’I didn’t see anything unusual on the regional channel just now. For all of them to contact me at once, it must mean there’s new information in the group chat.’

After opening the group chat, Seraphina scrolled up without hesitation.

Messages scrolled up like a waterfall until Seraphina’s gaze landed on a message from Cloudmute, sent at two in the afternoon.

Seraphina paused, trying to recall what she had been doing at that time.

’I was either fighting the Storm Dragon or had passed out from my injuries.’

Seraphina sighed, took out another Advanced Medical Kit, and started treating her wounds while checking the group chat messages.

After reading only two messages, Seraphina realized what had happened.

The monopoly, which had originally been led by Seaview and was later taken over by Artemis, had collapsed due to infighting this afternoon!

Not only was there infighting, but Cloudmute had also gone and exposed the whole affair in Chrona’s group chat.

Because of their monopoly, the top players in the group chat hadn’t been able to buy any Expansion Crystals for days. Now that they knew who the masterminds were, they naturally wouldn’t let it go.

The chat log was practically explosive.

"Who? Artemis?! The great Artemis was involved in this too? Isn’t she... isn’t she? For real? @Cloudmute, have you forgotten what happened to Seaview? How dare you come out and spout such nonsense?"