CHAPTER 342: CHAPTER342-A GREAT LEAP FORWARD

For Daniel, the damage to his soul carried immense risk.

If it had not been absolutely necessary, he would never have chosen to use that special effect.

Yet deep inside, he also understood a truth—that as his strength increased, the power of these effects would grow stronger as well.

Perhaps, when he advanced further and reached the level of a demigod, he would no longer need to sacrifice pieces of his soul.

By then, he might be able to replace it with other materials.

After leveling up, Daniel instinctively turned his gaze to the collection of God Rank Skills he possessed.

And just as he had predicted, every single one of them had undergone massive improvement.

The first skill he examined was the dagger of the God of Thieves.

This was his priority, because the need for more clones had become increasingly urgent.

With only a limited number of avatars, he often found himself stretched thin.

If he could gain more clones, he could be in more places, accomplish more, and carry out more plans simultaneously.

He scanned through the description of the skill and noticed something new.

[Current maximum multiplier: 64]

Seeing the number 64 appear before him, Daniel narrowed his eyes slightly.

It was just as he had expected—the effect had doubled.

And with that, his overall strength had effectively doubled as well.

But when he thought deeper about it, he realized that the increase in clones meant far more than simply doubling his power.

With a greater number of selves working in unison, the impact was exponential, creating possibilities that went beyond sheer strength.

For a brief moment, Daniel even considered returning to the Sea of Storms to explore that world once again. With his new army of clones, he might discover resources and materials that had previously been out of his reach.

As for the rest of his skills, most had simply undergone enhancements in their attributes and damage output.

Yet even those improvements were staggering—the boosts reached several dozen times their former potency.

This did not mean his combat strength had increased by tenfold exactly, but five or six times at the very least was already a safe estimate.

His eyes then fell on the Divine Thunder Shield. What he discovered left him stunned.

The God Rank Skill had gained the ability to deal critical damage.

This was remarkable, for God Rank Skills were not ordinary skills.

Under normal circumstances, they were far too stable and absolute to be affected by chance mechanics such as critical hits.

Yet the Divine Thunder Shield had transformed.

Not only could it now strike with a critical hit, but when it did, the damage multiplied by a hundred.

In an instant, what had once been a passive, dust-collecting defensive skill leapt into the ranks of his most lethal offensive abilities.

Daniel’s lips curved in satisfaction. He nodded slightly, already imagining how to incorporate it into future battles.

Then his attention shifted again. Flashback had also changed.

Its alteration was simple but revolutionary.

Previously, it had only allowed him to reposition himself alone.

Now, after the enhancement, the skill could carry along all allied units within a hundred kilometers.

This meant he now had the power to perform mass teleportation.

When combined with the Tree of Faith, the range of applications expanded even further.

He could transport groups, move armies, even shift entire forces across dimensions.

He even realized that, theoretically, he could retrieve exiled creatures from their banishment planes and bring them back into reality.

But Daniel quickly dismissed the idea.

Those creatures were unpredictable, and he could not yet distinguish whether they would emerge as allies or enemies.

Bringing back the wrong one could cause more problems than it solved.

Just as that thought passed, Daniel became aware of something he had long overlooked—the Mist.

This skill, too, had grown stronger after the upgrade.

Its effect was simple yet profound: it could completely hide his fate.

For someone like Daniel, who was intimately familiar with the concept of destiny, this was an extraordinary advantage.

He had always felt the vague, elusive pull of fate as something both mysterious and dangerous.

And he had always understood the importance of concealing it.

Until now, he had possessed no real means to do so. But with the Mist’s evolution, that weakness had finally been covered.

It was a gift that could prove decisive in battles yet to come.

Finally, his gaze landed on Time Stream.

This skill had changed in ways more complex than the others.

The simplest way to describe it was that, as the Time River flowed, it branched into countless tributaries.

Each branch represented a different possibility.

In the past, when Daniel activated Time Stream, he could only travel back to a single chosen moment in time.

But now things were different.

Now, he could traverse multiple timelines.

In one timeline, he might have been killed by Goddess of Gold & Silver Aurelia.

In another, he and Aurelia might be drinking together, exchanging laughter and words of alliance.

The new version of Time Stream allowed him to choose freely between these possibilities.

There were still limitations, of course. He could only travel within the stretch of time after he had first acquired the skill.

Even so, the implications were staggering.

And though Daniel could not be certain, he strongly suspected that in at least some of these timelines, the gods had not yet realized that he possessed the ability to manipulate time.

Here, however, in his current worldline, Aurelia already knew.

She had become aware that he held this forbidden power.

Daniel drew a slow breath and steadied his mind. He shifted his focus back to his collection of God Rank Skills.

The conclusion was simple.

They were all strong. Terrifyingly strong. Each one had been enhanced in ways that left him awed.

Humanity’s northern frontier, Winterhold Castle, stood against the howling winds of snow.

The Human Emperor was there.

When he saw his friend list update and noticed that Daniel’s level had reached two hundred, he finally exhaled a long, weary sigh of relief.

At last, the crushing weight of responsibility he had carried for so long could be set down.

He had waited for this moment for what felt like an eternity.

Without hesitation, he sent Daniel a message, speaking of the succession ceremony. The time had come.

The position of Human Emperor would soon be Daniel’s. And for the first time, the current emperor would be free to rest.

On the other side, Daniel picked up his communicator.

Before he could open the message from the Human Emperor, another one arrived.

It was from Milla.

Her words were simple but world-shaking: the Sun, Apollo, had been completely destroyed.

Soon, the Dark Star Jarvan would rise to take Apollo’s place in the heavens.

How soon, exactly? That detail was uncertain. Daniel did not know.

But Apollo’s fall was, for him, undeniably good news.

It meant one less threat looming over the world. What he had to consider next was the problem of the abyss and the lingering Filth of God.

Dark Star Jarvan had already cleansed much of it. Yet not all. Some still remained deep in the abyss.

For now, at least, Daniel decided not to worry.

He lowered his communicator and lifted his eyes to the sky.

Was it truly time now, to inherit the mantle of Human Emperor?

Though it had only been two days since his awakening, those two days had stretched out like years.

Now, finally, he could breathe.

Once he stepped into the role of Human Emperor, his actions would no longer be constrained. His movements would be smoother, his plans easier to carry out.

Far away, the current emperor stepped into the Anygate.

"It is time," he whispered, "for me to personally crown the new Human Emperor."

His lips curved into a rare smile.

"Daniel... good luck."