Chapter 2809 - Half a Step Away

Chapter 2809 – Half a Step Away
Sabrid had dropped a total of six items. Aside from the Fragmented Legendary Greatsword Demonic Shadow, the five remaining items looked very ordinary. In fact, they looked so normal that Shi Feng was confused when he first stored them in his bag. This was because the five items appeared to be a set. Of the five items, four were mirrors made entirely of crystal. However, unlike the Fragmented Legendary Greatsword, these four mirrors did not radiate a frightening aura. More precisely, they did not even have a hint of aura. They looked ordinary beyond ordinary.
As for the fifth item, it was an ink-black crystal the size of a basketball. Like the four crystalline mirrors, this crystal ball was similarly indescribably ordinary. It did not radiate even a whiff of Mana.
Interesting! Realization flashed in Shi Feng’s eyes as he looked at the ink-black crystal ball and four crystalline mirrors placed before him. If I didn’t take a closer look at them, I would never have thought these five items actually had a Magic Disguise. The standard of this disguise is also absurdly high. It is definitely at the Half-step Grandmaster standard.
In God’s Domain, apart from special items, players needed to use the Appraisal Skill on most items to inspect their information. However, there was also another type of item that was outside of this category, and that was magically disguised items. Items that had Magic Disguise used on them would have their information concealed. Using the Appraisal Skill on these items would show that they were no different from ordinary garbage.
However, applying a Magic Disguise on an item was a complicated process, and even a Master Magician would need several hours just to complete a Master Magic Disguise’s magic array. Needless to say, placing a Half-step Grandmaster Magic Disguise would be even more tedious. And worse, the disguise would disappear whenever the disguised item was used. One would have to apply a new Magic Disguise to disguise the item again.
Thus, magically disguised items were incredibly rare in God’s Domain. Most players wouldn’t even come across one throughout their career in God’s Domain. And if players did come across such an item, they would often treat it as garbage and dispose of it.
However, Sabrid was both the vice commander of Dragonheart City’s City Defense Knight Legion and a Level 160, Tier 4 NPC. In God’s Domain, Dragonheart City could be considered a kingdom. In terms of status, the neutral city rivaled imperial capitals. Hence, despite being only the vice commander of one of Dragonheart City’s knight legions, Sabrid’s status was higher than even that of Magistrates that managed the various kingdoms’ Main Cities.
In addition, Sabrid was also an executive of the Secret Hand Association, the strongest NPC force on Dragonheart Island.
If one were to say that an NPC like Sabrid had dropped a bunch of odds and ends, let alone Shi Feng, even ordinary players wouldn’t believe it.
Of course, perceiving such a high-level disguise wasn’t an easy task. Let alone the standard Appraisal Skill, even Shi Feng’s Omniscient Eyes would allow him to see only the cover information of a disguised item. Only those with great mastery over magic arrays would notice that an item was magically disguised.
The five items placed before Shi Feng were precisely magically disguised items.
On the surface, these five items looked ordinary and unremarkable. If not for Shi Feng’s in-depth understanding of the operating principles of Mana, he wouldn’t have noticed anything wrong at all.
Thank goodness I’m already an Advanced Master Magician. Otherwise, I really wouldn’t have noticed such an exquisite disguise.
Looking at the five items, Shi Feng couldn’t contain his elation as he studied the disguise.
While it was possible for one to remove a Magic Disguise forcibly, that option should only be a last resort because doing so would damage the disguised item.
Not to mention, the removal of a Magic Disguise was a process favored by all Magicians.
The removal of a Magic Disguise was an opportunity for a Magician to improve their knowledge since the removal process tested a person’s knowledge and control over magic arrays. One would have to locate the fixed Mana routes and identify the manipulation method of the magic array to remove the disguise.
This was why players seeking to improve their knowledge of magic arrays would usually purchase disguised items from Magic Shops.
Only, the more profound a Magic Disguise was, the greater their price and rarity. Magic Disguises at the Master rank and above were especially rare.
This was partly because Master Magicians could earn much more money through selling other magic arrays. Moreover, creating these other magic arrays took much less time than the Master Magic Disguise’s magic array did. Creating Master Magic Disguises simply wasn’t cost-effective.
Subsequently, the seconds and minutes passed by rapidly. While Shi Feng attempted to undo the disguise, three hours elapsed in the blink of an eye.
He had started with manipulating six independent strands of Mana simultaneously to trigger the magic array’s Mana nodes, then gradually increased that number to 12.
Shi Feng had to admit that a Half-step Grandmaster Magic Disguise was truly profound. Even after he had switched to manipulating 16 strands of Mana simultaneously, he managed to trigger only 60% of the magic array’s Mana nodes.
This isn’t right. There are over a thousand Mana nodes on this thing. If I merely follow the predetermined Mana routes, I doubt I can trigger every Mana node even if I control 32 strands of Mana simultaneously.
The more Shi Feng studied the Half-step Grandmaster Magic Disguise, the more he found it to be amazing. The creation of this thing had already exceeded the limits of the human mind.
Although it was only simple Mana manipulation, the degree of multitasking required to fully activate it put him in a huge bind. He simply couldn’t get all of the magic array’s 1,000-plus Mana nodes running simultaneously with his current standard. Afterward, Shi Feng earnestly inspected the Magic Disguise once more. He had a vague feeling that he had found a pattern, but he couldn’t tell what it was exactly. Immediately, he took out a Crystal of Souls from his bag and consumed it to calm and empty his mind.
One hour… Two hours… Four hours…
Before Shi Feng realized it, he had already spent half a day scrutinizing the magic array’s Mana nodes.
I see! Every several dozen of these nodes form a small magic array, and some of the nodes on these small magic arrays connect with other small magic arrays. If I start my attack from the crucial nodes, I should be able to save myself a lot of trouble.
After thinking up to this point, Shi Feng began manipulating the magic array’s Mana once more. This time, though, he started with the Mana nodes with the highest repetition rate.
Completion Rate 20%…
40%…
60%…
80%…
When the disguise magic array lit up, Shi Feng grew ecstatic. However, his joy wasn’t just from cracking the magic array. It was also because his understanding of magic arrays had further improved and he finally grasped the difference between Advanced Master Magicians and Half-step Grandmaster Magicians.
The sound of glass shattering echoed in the room. Subsequently, the undisguised crystalline mirror made the space within the room incomparably cold and heavy.
What powerful Mana!
Even for Shi Feng, this was the first time he had felt such strange and heavy Mana. It felt as if the object before him wasn’t an item but an Ancient God instead.
In fact, he even had the misconception that the energy flowing around him was no longer Mana but a more terrifying energy that carried great destructive power.
If not for him having reached Tier 4 already, he might’ve lost consciousness just from being subjected to this oppressive energy.
Crap! Who was this Sabrid?!
Shi Feng was dumbfounded when the crystalline mirror’s statistics appeared in front of him.