Chapter 272: Void Lord Lufas, Bai Fu Transformed into the Dark Master
For Bai Fu, who had a player panel, no matter how complicated the usage method of the Void Resonance Consciousness was, it was nothing more than following the instructions and watching a few more progress bars.
Ding!
【You have successfully awakened the consciousness of Scarlet Leaf’s elder sister [Jin Lu]】
A pleasant notification sound rang out.
Following that was Scarlet Leaf’s joyful exclamation.
“Elder sister?”
Bai Fu had really done it!
In the rush of overwhelming joy, Scarlet Leaf suddenly hugged Bai Fu and, instinctively, gave her a lip-to-lip kiss.
Jin Lu: “……”
Bai Fu: “……”
Your elder sister is still watching, you know.
Even if she can’t feel it, she can still perceive it!
After calming down, Scarlet Leaf also realized this problem.
“It was an accident, just an accident.
I was too excited just now.”
She lightly coughed twice, masking her embarrassment.
Bai Fu did not dwell on this issue, instead letting the sisters catch up and figure out the current situation, before she would ask about Lufas.
Scarlet Leaf deliberately spent half a day telling Jin Lu everything that had happened recently.
The Jin Lu who had been sleeping within Scarlet Leaf was not entirely unaware of the outside world.
Whenever Scarlet Leaf used the power of the void, Jin Lu could passively absorb outside information, so with Scarlet Leaf’s brief explanation, she quickly understood everything.
Night fell, in Scarlet Leaf’s bedroom.
“You want to ask what Lufas did?”
Jin Lu’s voice sounded in the room.
This was the sound she made by borrowing the vibration of void power.
Although Jin Lu and Scarlet Leaf were twin sisters, whether in personality or in tone of voice, she seemed far more mature than the silly Scarlet Leaf.
Bai Fu nodded.
“Only by figuring out what exactly he wants to do can we deal with him better.
He has too many secrets — at first glance, he looks even more dangerous than the Ten Saints Council.”
“You’re right to be so concerned.
I don’t know Lufas’ true purpose in contacting the Saints, but his entanglement with the void — that I can try to reconstruct.”
Jin Lu paused, then began speaking about the time when Lufas guided void lifeforms to invade her hometown.
When the disaster first happened, she was just like Scarlet Leaf, completely unaware of where the void had come from.
Everything changed when she was about to step into death.
Normally, for an ordinary person like her, once infected by the void, her consciousness would sooner or later be completely swallowed by it.
However, her luck was extraordinarily good.
At that moment, due to a series of coincidences she still couldn’t explain to this day, her consciousness entered her younger sister Scarlet Leaf’s body.
Not only was she not submerged by the void, she perfectly fused with it instead.
She became a true Void Ghost!
Extraordinarily lucky?
Indeed!
Bai Fu glanced at the 【Strong Luck】 in Jin Lu’s talent column.
“Though, because of my severe injuries, I soon fell asleep within Scarlet Leaf’s body, but in that brief time before I slept, I successfully linked to the Void Dimension and saw many void secrets completely unknown to ordinary people.”
“Lufas attacked my hometown to test the void power he had just mastered.”
“The reason Lufas could master void power was because he stole the void core of a Void Lord — and successfully killed that Void Lord.”
“Lufas’ true strength is far from as simple as it appears.
He just doesn’t dare to fully reveal it.”
“Based on the intelligence you and Scarlet Leaf gave me, I suspect Lufas contacted the Ten Saints Council and tried to guide the arrival of the Apostles of the Ethereal Realm partly to use the Crystal Orb of Insight to break through his bottleneck, and partly because his fusion with the Void Lord’s core had some problem — so he wanted to use the Apostles’ power to balance himself.”
“Lufas has a secret research base, and that base is located in the Edge World.”
As Jin Lu spoke, Bai Fu successively received system prompts for a completed quest and a newly triggered one.
【You have completed the hidden quest [Another Dimension], and received 1 billion EXP, Random Void Talent *1, Edge World Story Exploration +1.5%, Seeker of the Origin Title Fragment *1】
【You have triggered the hidden quest [Hidden Void Lord]】
【Quest Description: ……】
【Quest Objective: Investigate the secret research base Jin Lu mentioned (Investigation Progress: 0.00%)】
【Reward: Reward depends on investigation progress】
【Note: Investigation progress over 70% will trigger the next quest stage】
Goodness!
Bai Fu was shocked.
Although she had already learned from Frank that Lufas was connected to the void, she had never imagined the connection was this deep.
To not only get hold of a Void Lord’s core, but also kill that Void Lord?
Wasn’t that a bit too outrageous?
With that kind of setup, he was clearly meant to be a late-game major BOSS!
“Good thing I found out about this in advance.
Otherwise, I would definitely have ignored him like everyone else, and focused on the Ten Saints Council and Shadow Storm Corona, who attacked me.”
Bai Fu’s mind began to spin.
She speculated that if she hadn’t intervened in the story, Lufas would most likely have gotten the real True Spirit Pillar.
The plot would probably have gone like this——
【Lufas cooperates with the Ten Saints Council and the Apostle Holy City, deliberately lending them the True Spirit Pillar.
He pretends to use it to exchange with the Saints for the right to use the Crystal Orb of Insight, but in fact pushes the Saints and the Apostle Holy City into the spotlight, hiding himself behind the scenes, using them to summon the Apostle’s descent.
When the Apostle truly descends, all eyes focus on the Apostle, the Ten Saints Council, and the Apostle Holy City.
At that moment, Lufas secretly makes a deal with the Apostle, relying on the Apostle’s power to completely master the Void Lord’s core he stole — thus becoming a true Void Lord, his power leaping to a new level.
By the time the Three Major Interstellar Civilizations finally deal with the Ten Saints Council and the Apostle Holy City, they look back — oh no, an even harder-to-handle Lufas has appeared.】
“There might be other forces or characters appearing in the middle of this.
Maybe the ultimate victor wouldn’t be the Three Major Interstellar Civilizations, but the Apostle Holy City.
But the main plot should be as I guessed.”
Bai Fu gave a cold hum.
That bastard, Lufas, schemed well — but unfortunately for him, he had met her.
Now that the True Spirit Pillar was in Yulia’s body, she would never let Yulia be captured by Lufas.
Without the True Spirit Pillar to summon the Apostle, Lufas would have to find another way, and that was no easy task.
“Should I just secretly expose Lufas’ true identity?”
If she exposed Lufas’ true identity now, she wouldn’t even need the Three Major Interstellar Civilizations to act — the Ten Saints Council and the Apostle Holy City would cause him trouble.
Who wouldn’t be furious at being used like that?
Maybe even the blame for repeated location leaks would get pinned on Lufas by the Saints.
But…
Bai Fu felt this wasn’t the safest approach.
With Lufas’ strength, exposing him temporarily wouldn’t make it easy to kill him.
After all, he had void power.
Bai Fu, who also wielded void power, knew very well how hard it was to capture a void lifeform.
If he escaped, things would get troublesome.
Once he went into hiding, it would be hard to track him — and what if he got lucky and found some chance to fully master the Void Lord’s core?
Better to keep him right under her eyes.
“This way I can also farm quests from him and earn rewards to improve my own strength.”
Bai Fu gradually sorted her thoughts.
She opened the game map.
A brand-new red question mark appeared — indicating Lufas’ secret research base.
Next to it was a recommended level: 201–250.
That recommendation was basically saying: if you don’t have ultra-class power, don’t you dare touch this quest, or you’ll just die in vain.
Bai Fu took the advice to heart.
Her current strength was considered upper-mid among Dominations, but compared to ultra-class — especially to Lufas, whose true strength was probably not weaker than Annihilation, Chong Xiao, or Olsen — she still didn’t measure up.
Rashly investigating Lufas’ secret research base could easily get her killed with the slightest mistake.
Unlike players, she couldn’t just revive.
Still, this intel could be useful at a critical moment.
Bai Fu quietly closed the game map and expressed her thanks to Jin Lu.
“The information you’ve given me is extremely important — you’ve been a great help.
I’ll find a way to help you restore your body.”
Jin Lu declined politely: “No need to go through all that trouble.
Right now, I’m already a void lifeform, so whether I have a physical body or not doesn’t matter.
You’ll continue dealing with Lufas next, right?
Take me with you — with my current abilities in the void, I can help… wait a second.”
Mid-sentence, she suddenly realized a problem.
She had indeed awakened, but right now she still couldn’t leave Scarlet Leaf’s body.
That caused an issue — anything she wanted to do had to be done by having Scarlet Leaf take her there.
For example, if she wanted to help Bai Fu, Scarlet Leaf would have to follow Bai Fu around.
But Scarlet Leaf was, both in name and in fact, a member of the Star Pact.
Scarlet Leaf suggested: “How about I go apply with the Lord of the Oath to temporarily follow Bai Fu’s actions?
The Lord of the Oath is easy to talk to, so he shouldn’t refuse.”
“This works.”
Bai Fu nodded.
She also hoped to keep Scarlet Leaf and Jin Lu by her side, making it easier for the Silent Court to carry out upcoming operations.
But constantly borrowing people from the Star Pact made her feel a little embarrassed.
It would be better to use this opportunity to pull the Star Pact, Arcane Library, and Origin Consortium together, sign some sort of cooperation agreement, and make a fortune together in the upcoming Dark Domain exploration plan.
That way, she could justifiably have Scarlet Leaf and Jin Lu seconded to her, while also returning some of their previous investment.
She decided to act immediately.
Bai Fu promptly contacted Silver Vermilion and expressed her intention.
Silver Vermilion said she had recently received separate contacts from the Three Major Interstellar Civilizations, but the specific course of action still had to be checked with the Lord of the Oath.
“I’ll reply to you as soon as possible.”
“No problem.”
Bai Fu then contacted the Arcane Library.
As the most senior and most powerful Ultra-class in the Edge World, Yuan Yi had long since been approached privately by the Three Major Interstellar Civilizations.
He hadn’t leaned toward any one side, but he was very interested in striking the Ten Saints Council and the Apostle Holy City.
If those two forces weren’t suppressed early, the Edge World would sooner or later become the front line of the conflict.
“Good — next is to discuss the specific details of cooperation.”
Bai Fu felt relieved.
If the Arcane Library and Star Pact were willing to cooperate, the upcoming exploration missions would be much easier for her.
Although she would have to give up part of the profits, with two Ultra-classes covering her, her safety when facing the Ten Saints Council would be greatly improved.
Bai Fu hung up the communicator and turned to look at Scarlet Leaf.
“What were you two whispering about just now?”
She was just asking casually, but unexpectedly Scarlet Leaf suddenly panicked, blushing and waving her hands.
“Nothing, just talking about some family trivialities, nothing important.”
Bai Fu: “?”
Do I look like I’m about to eat someone?
Scarlet Leaf felt incredibly guilty.
She had suddenly thought of a problem — her elder sister was now sharing her body.
If she got close to Bai Fu, wouldn’t that mean…
The moment she had that thought, Jin Lu saw right through it.
“If you really can’t hold back, I’ll temporarily shut down my perception, and you can call me when you’re done.”
What do you mean, “can’t hold back”?
I can totally hold back, okay!
Bai Fu didn’t press further — if Scarlet Leaf didn’t want to say, asking would be pointless.
Back in her room, she began taking stock of this mission’s gains.
1 billion EXP wasn’t much, but it was more than enough to upgrade Blessing Specialization.
After raising Blessing Specialization to Lv10, the duration of Blessing Prayer could be extended by 150%, which meant that from now on, her use of Mental Blessing could last 7 and a half minutes.
This was no small boost to her combat power.
“Next time, I’ll go find Olsen’s daughter again!”
What’s a quality fan?
This is what you call a quality fan!
Aside from the experience, what Bai Fu valued most now was that random void talent.
Her luck wasn’t bad — she got 【Void Adaptation】.
This talent allowed her to adapt to the Void Dimension, preventing her from going mad from straying into it, while greatly increasing her mental resistance and void energy affinity.
On top of that, it had a synergy effect.
Thanks to the great boost from Void Adaptation, Bai Fu no longer needed to worry about being eroded by the void, so the number of uses for the 【Void Shuttle】 skill greatly increased — from a maximum of three consecutive uses to over a dozen.
The reason it wasn’t unlimited was because the skill consumed a lot of stamina, and Bai Fu’s stamina couldn’t withstand unlimited strain.
She wasn’t a perpetual motion girl — if she were, Yulia and the others would be in tears.
“Not bad.
With this, I won’t have to worry about Lufas using void power against me if we clash in the future.”
Bai Fu happily closed her stat panel.
In the following days, she browsed the player forum for any news on the new version while actively communicating with the Lord of the Oath and Yuan Yi.
Before the Three Major Interstellar Civilizations reached an agreement, they had already formed a joint plan to explore the Dark Domain.
The top forces of the Edge World, thanks to the small schemes of the Ten Saints Council and Lufas, were more united than ever before.
On the day the cooperation agreement was officially signed, Bai Fu finally received news that Version 2.2 was about to open.
The scale of the 2.2 update was far greater than she or most players had imagined.
From 2.0 to 2.1, the official level cap had only been increased by 5 levels.
But this time, it was raised by 15 levels in one go — all the way to level 70.
“Could it be because I disrupted the original plot, causing the Taim Civilization’s civil war to end quickly, while the Apostle Holy City appeared ahead of schedule, forcing the officials to adjust their original version plans?”
Bai Fu thought about it and felt it was indeed possible.
If she hadn’t intervened, the Taim Civilization’s civil war would have lasted at least from Version 2.1 to Version 2.3.
Then the officials could introduce the Ten Saints Council in Version 2.4, leading right into the big Version 3.0.
She spread her hands.
Blame her?
She only wanted to provide players with a better gaming experience.
What was wrong with that?
Fighting a civil war wasn’t nearly as engaging as exploring the Dark Domain.
Whether it was because the officials resented her or because of time constraints, the Version 2.2 promotional video didn’t feature many shots of her — far fewer than the Lord of the Oath, Yuan Yi, Lufas, the Saints, and people from the Three Major Interstellar Civilizations.
It didn’t matter.
By now, she had long since become a pivotal NPC in the game.
Even without special promotion from the officials, her presence was something players could not ignore.
The popularity she missed out on from the promo would be made up by Zeff!
Things went just as Bai Fu had guessed.
When players happily logged into the game, they received two explosive pieces of news.
News one: The Three Major Interstellar Civilizations were actively negotiating, and the Taim Civilization’s civil war was likely to end.
News two: The newly ascended Domination Bai Fu had, at an offline meeting of the Ethereal Realm Research Society, beaten up veteran Domination Zeff, shocking all sides and earning herself a new nickname — 【Dark Master】.
For the first news, players were baffled.
What?
The civil war ended?
What about our quests?
Who stole our quests?
For the second news, players were equally baffled.
What?
Sure, everyone knew Fufu used to be the Master of the Night, but how could you, the moment you returned to the Domination rank, beat up an old Domination?
How strong was your real power?
【Is it possible that the “Master of the Night” title doesn’t mean “Master” as in rank, but that “Night” and “Master” are inseparable — a complete title — and Fufu’s real power is actually far beyond Domination, into Ultra-class?】
Excavator Girl, in her newly posted thread, directly gave Bai Fu’s strength a fresh patch.
Many players agreed with this theory.
Reasonable.
Otherwise, Fufu’s leveling speed was just too absurd.
And unlike them, Fufu didn’t have a stat panel to level up through EXP.
While players actively discussed this, Bai Fu gathered the Silent Court’s players together to announce its next direction.
From the Dark Domain we came, to the Dark Domain we go!
The Rebirth Empire had already decided: regardless of whether negotiations with the other Two Major Interstellar Civilizations about the Taim Civilization went smoothly, the Dark Domain exploration plan would proceed.
They must find the Apostle Holy City.
According to Whitney, the Empire was so determined because it feared the Apostle Holy City would sabotage the Heroic Soul Plan, so they wanted to quickly ascertain the city’s true state.
“For this exploration plan, I’ve prepared a huge number of ships.”
Bai Fu turned around, and the virtual large screen behind her began to pull the camera upward.
A dozen seconds later, the camera stopped moving, and every player present stared, motionless, at the scene on the screen——
On the vast land, tens of thousands of ships were docked neatly in rows!
【Whoa!】
In an instant, every player watching was stunned by Bai Fu’s extravagance.