Alex grinned as he watched the glowing reward box spin above him.
He hadn’t expected this turn of events, but he wasn’t complaining.
If anything, this was exactly what he needed.
A well-earned boost after everything he’d been through.
Whatever came next, he was ready.
The box slowed.
Its spin grew sluggish until it finally came to a halt.
A bright light burst from within.
This time, it wasn’t just one reward.
It was three.
Alex’s anticipation surged.
His gaze locked onto the first as it emerged from the light, slowly floating towards him.
After a few seconds, a skill book appeared.
It glowed faintly in his hands.
A panel materialized in front of him.
[Divine Orbs (Artifact++)]
[Effect: Unleashes ten orbs, each one delivering a devastating attack that deals damage equal to 5000% of your total Spirit. Consumes 500,000 mana per orb. 2-minute cooldown between each orb.]
Alex’s eyes widened slightly.
“This is really good.”
It wasn’t often that he was genuinely surprised by rewards, but this one?
This one was terrifyingly strong, at least for him.
He quickly ran the calculations in his head.
His Spirit attribute, combined with the bonuses from his [Staff of Hatred], currently sat at 3,602,528.
Each orb dealt damage equal to 5000% of that.
Which meant a single orb would hit for 180,126,400 damage.
And there were ten of them.
That was over 1.8 billion damage if they all connected.
Under normal circumstances, a skill like this would be weak.
It lacked a base damage value and relied purely on stats, making it ineffective for most people.
But Alex? His stats were already sky-high.
This skill wasn’t just good.
It was an absolute monster in his hands.
“I’ll need to upgrade and merge it with my other skills.”
He was still working on his [Mage Plan], incorporating spells like [Soul Flames] with his other ones.
But he needed to wait until things settled before making any big moves.
For now, this was perfect.
Without hesitation, Alex poured his mana into the book.
The knowledge of [Divine Orbs] instantly became his.
As he absorbed the new skill, the reward box trembled again.
It prepared to dispense the second item.
A second later, a shimmering object floated out of the box toward him.
Alex caught it in his palm.
His eyes quickly scanned the description.
[Ring of Eternity (Artifact++)]
[Effect: Grants the wearer immunity to time-based effects.]
“Huh.”
At first glance, it wasn’t an immediate game-changer.
In most cases, time-based effects weren’t something he had to deal with often.
But his instincts told him otherwise.
His mind immediately jumped to a certain individual.
Xyrran, the Primordial Space and Time Dragon.
Not to mention the gods of Fate, Death, and Life.
If he ever faced them, time abilities could be a problem.
An item like this could end up saving his life.
Even if it wasn’t useful now, he had no doubt it would come in handy later.
He reached up to slip the ring onto his finger.
Then something strange happened.
A notification flashed across his vision.
[The Crown of Calamity has detected an item worthy of absorption.]
“Huh?”
Before Alex could react, a tendril formed from a swirling mixture of crimson and black energy.
It shot out from the crown atop his head.
It wrapped around the [Ring of Eternity], pulling it into itself before vanishing completely.
The ring was gone.
“What the hell?”
Even Arceus looked startled.
“Your crown… it’s sentient?”
Alex blinked, still processing.
“I guess so.”
He reached up, feeling the crown on his head.
It was still there, though he couldn’t actually see it.
He’d never been able to remove it either, which made this whole situation even stranger.
Arceus narrowed his eyes and stepped closer.
“Let me try something.”
Raising his staff, he whispered a series of spells, directing them toward the crown.
Nothing happened.
Arceus then tried forcefully removing it.
Again, nothing.
“It’s completely bound to you,” the Grand Mage mused.
“Almost as if it’s fused with your very soul. You should be careful.”
Alex exhaled, “I don’t think it’s trying to harm me…”
But before he could finish that thought…
Ding! Ding! Ding!
A series of panels appeared.
[The Crown of Calamity has absorbed and processed its first item.]
[Revealing information…]
Alex focused on the text, intrigued.
[Crown of Calamity (Forbidden Item)]
[Effect: Can absorb items and directly transfer their powers to the user with a boost.]
[Current stored item: Ring of Eternity.]
His heartbeat quickened.
“Holy shit.”
He tapped the panel, opening a more detailed status window.
[Ring of Destiny (Corrupted)]
[Grants the wearer immunity to time-based effects.]
[User is now aware of time distortions and manipulations affecting them.]
“Wow.”
Not only had it absorbed the item, but it had enhanced the effect.
Now, in addition to time immunity, he would be aware whenever time was being manipulated around him.
That was an ability that no normal item could grant.
Alex’s mind raced.
This crown, whatever it truly was, had the power to absorb and fuse with items, making them even stronger.
And it wasn’t just any item, it was a [Forbidden Item].
Those were incredibly rare.
Far rarer than high-tier skills or artifacts.
From what Alex knew, there were probably only four or five [Forbidden Items] in the entirety of Universal Descent.
That meant this thing on his head… It was beyond anything comprehensible.
A final message appeared.
[The Crown of Calamity wishes to aid its host. It desires to see you conquer all of the merged worlds.]
Alex’s expression darkened slightly.
The [Heart of Calamity] and the [Crown of the Abyss God], two powerful artifacts, had fused together, creating this sentient entity that was now bound to him.
It wanted him to conquer.
How… interesting.
For now, he pushed the thought aside.
He’d deal with it later.
Right now, he still had one more reward waiting for him.
The reward box glowed one final time.
It released another skill book.
Ding!
[Healing Whispers (Artifact)]
[Effect: Use mana to heal yourself. Every point of mana restores one health. No cooldown. Mana cost scales with desired healing.]
“Hmm… useful, but not perfect.”
With his Spirit attribute, his mana pool was over 20 million.
He had at least 20 million health as well.
This skill let him heal himself instantly as long as he had mana.
But the downside was that he didn’t have an efficient regen ability.
His mana regeneration sat at 10,000 per second, which wasn’t enough to sustain constant healing.
He needed something more.
Still, it was better than nothing.
And there was still more to gain.
All the skills he acquired yet were at [Basic] tier.
With his [Skill Evolution] effect, he could make them much stronger.
Alex knew there were two more rewards left in the box.
He just had to complete one last request for Arceus to get them. Find exclusive stories on My Virtual Library Empire
The Grand Mage smirked, watching him closely.
“You’ve proven yourself strong, kid. But I have one final request for you.”
A panel appeared.
[SSS-Level Grand Mage Student Final Quest: “The Student Defeats the Teacher.”]
Alex narrowed his eyes.
“…Wait.”
Arceus grinned.
[Objective: Spar with Arceus and defeat him.]
[Reward: x2 Reward Box Items + ???]
Alex stared at the notification, then at Arceus.
“…Holy shit.”
This was about to be a fight like no other.
And he wasn’t about to back down, even in front of a Grand Mage.