CHAPTER 172: CHAPTER172-STAR UPGRADE QUEST

Thanks to the overwhelming buff effects provided by the Infinite Divine Temple, far surpassing those granted by other Divine Temples, more than half of all human awakeners rushed into the Infinite Divine Temple the moment it opened.

Even those who had previously pledged their faith to other gods found themselves being persuaded by their friends:

"Bro, stop worshiping that so-called Luck Goddess already. So stingy—doesn’t seem like a god at all!"

"Watch your mouth! With her blessing, I regenerate 20 HP every second! I’m a loyal follower of the Luck Goddess!"

"Yeah yeah, but do you even know what buff the Infinite Divine Temple gives you? It’s a super overpowered skill, man!"

"For real? You serious? Let’s go! Take me there right now!"

"Wait, weren’t you just bragging about being a devout follower of the Luck Goddess? You switching faith now to Crossbridge?"

"Devout follower of the Luck Goddess? I don’t know what you’re talking about..."

...

Scenes like this played out across every corner of the human realm.

Many awakeners experienced massive power boosts, and as a result, the strength of the entire human race surged dramatically.

All of it—every ounce of it—was thanks to Daniel.

Awakeners all believed that their talents had undergone a legendary transformation. Eager to test their newfound strength, they poured into the underground labyrinths in droves.

Labyrinths that were once notoriously difficult now seemed dull and underwhelming in the eyes of these powered-up awakeners.

"These nightmare-level labyrinths are really nothing special... I thought they’d be way harder."

"Forget nightmare—our squad just cleared a hell-level labyrinth. It had a bit of a challenge, sure, but it was totally manageable."

"Lord Crossbridge is absolutely insane. Now this is a god worth believing in!"

"I swear, from now on I’ll worship no one else but Lord Crossbridge!"

"I can’t believe how different the skill mechanics are now. My whole worldview’s been shattered!"

...

The buffs from the Infinite Divine Temple provided a transformative boost—almost like a quantum leap—for many awakeners. As a result, huge crowds gathered outside every high-difficulty labyrinth.

And if you wanted to team up with them, the first condition was always the same: you must be a follower of the Infinite Divine Temple.

Before long, followers of other gods began to abandon their old faiths in droves. Everyone was eager to reap the benefits. As for Daniel, the one responsible for all this? Gratitude toward him was deeply felt throughout the community.

Even the so-called "discarded" players—those who had awakened life-type talent skills—were suddenly transformed into cherished members of every team!

Originally thought to be useless, their abilities had now been dramatically buffed to epic levels. Even more shockingly, they had gained summoning-type skills as well.

Some, with a stroke of luck, summoned incredibly powerful creatures—strong enough to solo-clear entire labyrinths.

Even those with weaker summons still had creatures on par with elite monsters of the same level.

And here’s the kicker—most regular awakeners couldn’t even beat an elite monster at their level!

The faith in the Infinite Divine Temple spread like a virus—not just throughout human society, but across the elven races as well. Even deep within the abyss, more and more beings began to pledge their faith to the Infinite Divine Temple.

...

The Infinite Divine Temple was expanding at breakneck speed.

Awakeners from other races even crossed continents, traveling vast distances just to convert their faith.

In no time, nearly every awakener in the world was flocking to the Infinite Divine Temple.

But as all this unfolded, the man behind it all—Daniel—was off on his own Star Upgrade Quest.

[Bloodsucking Witch]

[Level: 110]

[Rank: Silver]

[Skills: ...]

Daniel didn’t even get a chance to check this boss’s skill list—his clone had already one-shot it without breaking a sweat!

Thankfully, Daniel had come prepared. Before the fight even started, he’d used the God of Thieves’ Dagger to clone the target 20 times.

So taking down this one Silver-rank boss was effectively equivalent to killing 21.

The quest required 500 Silver-rank bosses in total. Including the very first one he had slain—the Fallen Mountain Giant—he now had 499 left.

Factoring in the God of Thieves’ Dagger’s ability, he’d only need to locate and kill 24 more Silver-rank world bosses.

But there was a problem—according to the records of both the human and elven races, there were only about 20 such bosses in existence.

Even with the cloning ability, he was still short.

In the end, Daniel had to dive deep into the abyss to track down four additional Silver-rank world bosses.

Without the God of Thieves’ Dagger, this quest would’ve been literally impossible.

500 Silver-rank world bosses? The entire world doesn’t even have that many!

This quest was downright insane.

What were they expecting him to do? Travel to the other side of the abyss—to some new continent—to find more bosses?

Thank the gods Daniel had a God Rank skill on his side, or this mission would have been impossible in this lifetime.

No wonder so many awakeners were stuck at level 100.

The Star Upgrade Quest at level 100 was absolutely brutal!

As Daniel mused on this, his clones didn’t stop their rampage—they kept attacking nonstop.

In just the blink of an eye, that entire batch of Silver-rank bosses had been wiped out.

Grinding these bosses now felt like a chore, lacking any real challenge.

Daniel sighed. As the final wave of Meteor Arrow Rain came down, it marked the end of the Silver-rank world bosses’ lives.

...

After a period of intense effort, Daniel was now down to just 16 more Silver-rank bosses.

But with the God of Thieves’ Dagger in play, that really meant only one more to go.

From the time Daniel returned from the Artist’s City to the northern human frontier, only four hours had passed.

The efficiency of this grind? Absolutely maxed out.

Still, there was a reason why it took even that long.

Not all of these Silver-rank bosses could be one-shot.

At least six of them were what Daniel called "iron turtle" types—extremely high defense, minimal offense, and layered with complex mechanics.

Even for Daniel, sometimes the only option was to wait patiently and look for an opening.

These kinds of delays were what pushed the grind to nearly four hours.

"A bit too time-consuming," Daniel muttered to himself.

But if any other awakener overheard him, they’d probably keel over from rage.

We’re talking about Silver-rank world bosses here!

Beings so powerful that even thousands of high-level awakeners working together wouldn’t necessarily be able to bring one down.

And here Daniel was—complaining that killing this many in just four hours was slow?