A few moments earlier.
Cipher looked at his system:
[Name: Cipher]
[Level: 557 (172,000/557,000)]
[Species: Majin]
[Class: Cheater]
[Health: 28,300/28,300]
[Mana: 2830/2830]
[Strength: 283]
[Stamina: 283]
[Agility: 284]
[Intelligence: 283]
[Stat Points: 0]
[Cheat Points: 0]
After Lyra had started killing again, he had stopped optimizing his skills to focus on distributing points so they wouldn’t overflow, as well as rolling for cards.
He looked at his points. He was completely out, and the leveling had stopped.
It seemed she was finally facing the boss.
He needed to find a way to defeat him quickly.
He looked at his current cards:
[Owned Cards: Commit (48), Optimize (16), Import (50), Exploit (32), Merge (28), Fork (32), Delete (39), Class (34), Patch (52), Mirror (34), Rework (39), Seed (33), Blank (36) & Export (45)]
Well, he had restocked a bit.
He decided to use the Optimizes first, taking ten and using them all on Mana Recovery. Now he was regenerating over 3000% mana out of combat and over twice that while sleeping. In qi generation terms, he was currently making over 300,000 qi every minute.
Just a while ago, he was making less than half that every five minutes.
He looked at the other cards.
Since he was unable to make up for the difference in power with stats, he would have to fall back to skills. His current thoughts were Commit and Fork. If he kept forking and committing SSS rank skills, he was bound to hit something good.
He remembered he even had a free skill to start off with. The old SSS rank Unwavering Will.
He quickly used Commit on it and prayed to the gacha gods for something OP like Instant Death.
[Congratulations! You have awakened a skill]
[Skill: Heavenly Phenomena (SSS-Rank)]
Cipher was extremely excited. Just from the name alone, he could tell this was a good pull.
He quickly summoned the description to see what it really did:
[Skill: Heavenly Phenomena (SSS-Rank)]
[Type: Active]
[Cost: Varies]
[Description: Summon heavenly phenomena at will. Manifest thunder across clear skies, golden light descending from the heavens, auspicious clouds, phantom divine beasts, pressure auras, and celestial sounds. All phenomena scale with user intent and mana invested.]
[Note: This skill provides visual and auditory effects only. All phenomena are illusory and possess zero combat capability. The thunder does not strike. The dragon cannot bite. The pressure is purely psychological.]
Cipher just stared at it with a blank expression.
What the f*ck?
How was this even considered SSS rank? What a rip off.
He sighed. It was his fault for ever believing in the gacha gods.
He wondered what to do now. Should he just use Commit again on this skill since it was useless?
[I’m cornered. Are you still not done yet?] Lyra asked.
That fast?
Cipher was surprised. Just how strong was this so-called Evil God?
He needed to move quickly.
He paused.
Then he facepalmed.
What had he been doing all this time? The solution had always been right in front of him.
"~Just hold on a few seconds. I think I’ve found a solution," he said.
Lyra didn’t respond.
He quickly took two Forks and two Merges.
Why couldn’t he just use Instant Death on the Evil God?
Because the skill was SSS rank - below the rank of the Evil God - so it wouldn’t apply to him.
But he hadn’t bothered to think beyond that.
If the skill level was too low, then... couldn’t he just upgrade the skill?
Seeing SSS rank, he had subconsciously felt that that was the limit. But was this true?
He cloned the Instant Death skill and merged it, increasing the level to SSS+ rank.
He then did the process again, upgrading it to...
...
Cipher’s eyes snapped open in the real world.
He was inside what seemed like a coffin.
He facepalmed.
Was this what she decided to carry him with? Now how could he, with dignity, get out of this thing and go kill the bad guy?
He sighed. Well, he supposed how you looked didn’t matter. Just the results.
He was about to break out of the coffin when he suddenly had an idea.
The special effects skill.
He decided to use it. Besides, it would make things easier for the other idea he was about to test out.
"Alright, let’s see this so-called Heavenly Phenomena."
He activated the skill.
The sky above him split open. Clouds parted and a beam of golden light descended from the heavens, landing directly on him.
He looked at himself.
The visual effects were insane.
If he didn’t know they were purely visual, he would’ve thought he was the Heavenly Emperor.
He shook his head and summoned even more. He needed to look the part.
Immense pressure began radiating from his position.
Although it was purely psychological, when combined with the dominion of will passive, it should be close to the real thing.
He lifted the coffin with flight mode and opened it dramatically.
He observed his surroundings but acted indifferent. As if none of this concerned him.
He floated toward the Evil God.
As he approached, he noticed a barrier surrounding the creature.
Well, no matter.
He activated No Clip and passed through it as if it didn’t exist.
He came face to face with the Evil God.
The creature stared at him in shock, mouth opening to speak...
Cipher didn’t waste time on words.
He activated his 3x EXP boost first. After all, this was the highest experience he was going to get at once. Why not take it even further?
Then he extended his hand toward the Evil God.
"Die," he spoke flatly.
And the Evil God died.
There was no struggle. No resistance. No dramatic final words or desperate counterattack.
He simply just died.
[You have slain A Legendary-rank Demon (Level 2200)]
[+26,736,000 EXP]
[+5,120 Cheat Points]
[You have leveled up!] x46
That was quite the number.
Still, even after all this, he was still a few points away from S rank. This was the problem with his class at higher levels. Getting 2 points per level was simply too little.
Well, no matter.
He shifted his attention back to those surrounding him.
"Cipher..." Maya called out, confusion evident in her voice.
He didn’t respond.
He simply waved his hand, causing Lyra to float from Maya’s arms toward him. She settled gently into his embrace.
At that moment, the world began shaking.
The ground ruptured. The sky flickered. A myriad of phenomena began happening all at once as the world started to collapse.
It seemed he was too late. The world was beyond saving.
Well...
This was actually a good thing.
He decided to test out something. A method he had discovered to save the apocalypse worlds.
He extended his hand.
And activated Infinite Inventory.
His target... the entire cultivation world.