Reincarnation of the Strongest Sword God - Side Stories Chapter 389 - Tier 6 Concentration

When Shi Feng saw no damage done to the illusory chain, surprise and consternation filled him.

In God's Domain, items constructed by the mind would more or less wear each other out when struck together. After all, mental objects were merely bodies of energy, and collision between two mental objects would result in both sides expending parts of their energy to mitigate the impact.

It was just that most players in God's Domain did not know how to mold their Concentration into weapons. Hence, most players were unable to do anything about Divine Might Seals.

However, so long as players could mold their Concentration into an object, it was only a matter of time before they could break a Divine Might Seal. They wouldn't even need to find the seal's mental nodes to break it. Of course, the process would naturally be faster if they could target the mental nodes.

Hence, the current situation confounded Shi Feng a little.

A collision between mental objects would have definitely resulted in a loss of mental energy to a certain extent. Could these chains not be made up of mental energy? Shi Feng wondered as he scrutinized the illusory metal spheres responsible for linking the illusory chains with one another.

Currently, there were over a thousand such metal spheres in his mental sea. Although all of these metal spheres looked to be mental nodes at first glance, only eight of them were actually responsible for holding up the foundation of the Divine Might Seal.

However, no matter how Shi Feng looked at these eight metal spheres, they were undoubtedly mental objects. In other words, so long as they were struck by a foreign mass of mental energy, they should lose some of their own mental energy. Yet, that did not seem to have happened…

Is it because my Concentration standard is lacking? Is that why these metal spheres can ignore my attack?

This was the only explanation Shi Feng could come up with after racking his mind. However, upon coming to this conclusion, he couldn't help but have a headache.

Currently, there was no doubt that he had already pushed the boundaries of a Tier 4 player, his Concentration reaching the Tier 5 Peak standard. Moreover, he had only reached this standard after becoming a Great Grandmaster Magician. Otherwise, he would only be at the Tier 5 Advanced standard.

It should be known that most Tier 5 players didn't even have Tier 5 Advanced Concentration. Instead, they would be stuck at the Tier 5 Basic standard. This was because, unlike levels, players could not develop their Concentration by simply killing monsters or completing quests.

Normally, if players wished to improve their Concentration standard, they would have to continuously sharpen their mental will and learn how to control it.

Apart from that, players could also improve their Concentration standard by raising their tiers. After players reached a higher tier and gained a stronger Physique, the stronger Physique would subtly influence the improvement of their Concentration. For players who got promoted to Tier 5, their Physique could help to develop their Concentration until the Tier 5 Basic standard.

However, this method of raising one's tier to develop one's Concentration could only be used up till Tier 5, which was why most Tier 5 players' Concentration would only be at the Tier 5 Basic standard.

As for why this method couldn't be used up to Tier 6, it was because of the requirements to get promoted to Tier 6.

In God's Domain, players seeking to reach Tier 6 would face three major problems.

The first and second problems were related to the Divine Body. Firstly, players needed to gather the 100,000 units of Seven Luminaries Crystal[1] required to construct a Divine Body. Secondly, players needed to know how to construct a Divine Body.

As for the third problem, it was the requirement of having Tier 6 Concentration!

If players couldn't raise their Concentration standard to Tier 6, they would be incapable of getting promoted to Tier 6. This was why many Tier 5 experts would get stuck at the cusp of Tier 6.

As for individuals like Shi Feng, who possessed Tier 5 Peak Concentration as a Tier 4 player, they were exceedingly rare in God's Domain. The only reason Shi Feng could achieve such a standard was that he had already sharpened his mental will to its limits and could not only materialize it but also materialize it into a mental object.

It was also because he had such control over his mental will that he could remain undeterred by Tier 6 Divine Might.

Currently, though, if Shi Feng wished to further develop his Concentration and push it to the Tier 6 standard, he would need to receive a qualitative improvement to the essence of his life, which would, in turn, allow his mental energy to achieve a qualitative leap. Otherwise, there was no way he could push his Concentration to the Tier 6 standard as a Tier 4 player. After all, reaching Tier 6 in Concentration meant going beyond the realm of mortals and entering the rank of Gods. If he had Tier 6 Concentration, he could make mortals kneel with nothing but a thought, which was also the so-called Divine Might.

Although Shi Feng could upgrade the Winter of Eternal Night to the Legendary rank to elevate his Physique to the Tier 5 standard, that would not change his Life Rating. He would still be incapable of pushing his Concentration to Tier 6.

No, there is a way! Shi Feng smiled as a sudden flash of inspiration hit him. Then, he took out the damaged Sacred Armor from his bag space. I didn't think that Thunderstorm would come to my aid one day.

…

System: You are attempting to equip a suit of Sacred Armor. To wield its effects, you will need to fully grasp the Sacred Armor's foundational mana. Do you still wish to equip it?

…

"Equip it!" Shi Feng answered without hesitation.

Although the Blazing Flame Set he currently used was excellent, it was still vastly inferior to a damaged suit of Fragmented Legendary Sacred Armor. Not to mention, the Sacred Armor possessed a hidden ability that the Blazing Flame Set did not!

There was a fundamental difference between Mana Equipment and Sacred Armor in God's Domain. Mana Equipment was made of magic arrays and magic patterns that drew on mana from the surrounding environment to enable players to exhibit strength far beyond what they possessed. On the other hand, Sacred Armor was the exact opposite.

Sacred Armor on its own was a mana source, and players could gain greater strength by manipulating this mana source. Simply put, Sacred Armor offered players access to a second mana source. So, the more skilled players were at manipulating mana, the more benefits they could get from a suit of Sacred Armor. Eventually, players could even evolve a suit of Fragmented Legendary Sacred Armor into a Legendary Equipment Set that was fully compatible with them.

However, apart from having the basic properties of a mana source, Sacred Armor also came with a hidden ability—the ability to substitute the Mana Body of its wearer!

In short, Sacred Armor could be modified to become a new Mana Body for players.

Only, nobody would do such a thing under normal circumstances.

Firstly, it was unnecessary. If players wanted a strong Mana Body, they could create one when getting promoted to Tier 5. If they failed to create a Mana Body with satisfactory standards, there was always the option of starting a new account. After all, Sacred Armor could only ever be a substitute. Unless players had no desire to ascend to Tier 6, they would still need to use their own Tier 5 Mana Body when constructing their Divine Body.

Secondly, the process of using Sacred Armor as a replacement for one's primary mana source was completely different from manipulating Sacred Armor as a secondary mana source. This was because the mana source of Sacred Armor had different operating principles than the Mana Body of players. Trying to use Sacred Armor as a replacement for the Mana Body was akin to manipulating a puppet to manipulate another puppet.

However, Shi Feng did not need to concern himself with these problems. This was because he only aimed to have the Sacred Armor replace his Mana Body so that it could change his Life Rating.

I must succeed!

After taking a deep breath, Shi Feng promptly started to merge the Tier 5 Mana Body he created in the Hundred Refinement Building into the Sacred Armor.

…

TL Notes:

[1]100,000 units of Seven Luminaries Crystal:

In the main story, an ordinary Divine Body only costs 50,000 units for each construction attempt, whereas a Superior Divine Body costs 100,000 units for each attempt. However, I'm not sure if the author still remembers the ordinary version.