Chapter 1 The Cursed Hand of the Sage

System: Player has discovered the Cursed Hand of the Sage.

System: Triggered Epic Main Quest "The Sage's Wish." Quest objective: Use the Hand of the Sage to find the World Tree and open the Gate to Another World. Reward: The Hand of the Sage.

"A Legendary item?" Shi Feng muttered, a wave of excitement washing over him as he read the system notification.

He never imagined he would have the chance to obtain the Hand of the Sage in this life!

Any alchemist in God's Domain would be intimately familiar with the Hand of the Sage.

Like the Philosopher's Stone, the Hand of the Sage was a supreme treasure of the alchemy world. Moreover, Shi Feng knew more about the Hand of the Sage; it was a genuine Legendary item. Unlike the Philosopher's Stone, the Hand of the Sage was complete and undamaged, possessing abilities that countless lifestyle players dreamed of.

If the Philosopher's Stone focused on the refinement of materials, the Hand of the Sage enhanced the player's own abilities, allowing them to easily break through bottlenecks and continuously advance.

In his previous life, the Hand of the Sage appeared in the hands of the first-rate guild, Sword of the Kingdom, causing the skill levels of Sword of the Kingdom's lifestyle players to skyrocket. This shook the entire Dark Night Empire, and Sword of the Kingdom's guild merchant quickly squeezed into the top three merchants in the Dark Night Empire, making the major first-rate guilds envious.

The Dark Night Empire was a powerful empire, even more so than the Black Dragon Empire. Four super forces vied for control there, and the result was predictable.

The four super forces demanded that Sword of the Kingdom hand over the Hand of the Sage in exchange for a trade. Although it was called a trade, it was nothing more than a forced sale dressed up nicely. However, Sword of the Kingdom's strength was also considerable at the time; they were a top-tier first-rate guild with many experts, on the verge of breaking into the super-first-rate ranks.

Naturally, they refused such a deal.

After all, having strong financial resources and resources was a prerequisite for becoming a super-first-rate guild.

Handing it over would undoubtedly cut off their path to becoming a super-first-rate guild.

The outcome was predictable. Originally, it was already quite a headache for a super force to deal with a top-tier first-rate guild like Sword of the Kingdom, but unexpectedly, the four super forces joined forces...

Thus, Sword of the Kingdom became history.

However, the guild leader of Sword of the Kingdom was also ruthless, never handing over the Hand of the Sage even in death. None of the four super forces obtained the Hand of the Sage, and its whereabouts disappeared, never to be seen again.

Now, the Hand of the Sage was right in front of him, making Shi Feng feel extremely surprised.

If Sword of the Kingdom hadn't been targeted by the four super forces, becoming a super-first-rate guild would have been a sure thing. After all, the further God's Domain progressed, the more important lifestyle players became to the guild. The creation of many weapons, equipment, and items relied on lifestyle players; simply relying on dropped items was not enough.

Looking at the Hand of the Sage in his hand, many thoughts ran through Shi Feng's mind.

Currently, Silverwing Town seemed to have no problems, but the impending crisis was very large, requiring sufficient strength to ensure the safety of Silverwing Town.

Although he had obtained the Design of Bronze Defensive Puppet, he couldn't create it at all.

Ordinary Defensive Puppets were easy enough, as the creators didn't all need to be Master-rank. However, the creation of Bronze Defensive Puppets required at least four Vice Grandmasters: Blacksmithing, Alchemy, Engineering, and Enchanting. In addition, each category needed a minimum of two Masters, and a maximum of four Masters, to work together.

Only by reaching this level could they even attempt to create a Bronze Defensive Puppet, and even then, the success rate was very low. To truly create one, they needed even higher levels, such as Intermediate Masters or Advanced Masters. Relying on Beginner Masters was unreliable.

Such conditions were simply wishful thinking for Zero Wing in its current state.

Lifestyle Masters were not something one could become at will. Even ten years later in God's Domain, Beginner Masters were still highly respected and rare among the major guilds, let alone Intermediate and Advanced Masters.

But if he obtained a treasure like the Hand of the Sage, he could cultivate some Beginner Masters, or even Intermediate Masters, in a short period of time. Then, he could start creating Bronze Defensive Puppets.

Bronze Defensive Puppets!

Shi Feng was excited just thinking about it.

They had the combat power of Tier 3 peak experts, and were completely controlled by players, making them easier to control than summoned beasts. Like experts in the Realm of Vacuum, no matter how they controlled summoned beasts, they couldn't make them reach the Micron Realm. But they could do that with Defensive Puppets.

Most importantly, they could be used permanently, and their destructive power against buildings and magic arrays was doubled.

Whether for attacking or defending cities, they were the best tools. Countless first-rate guilds couldn't even obtain them, and some individual first-rate guilds could even challenge super forces with Defensive Puppets, leaving the super forces helpless.

If he could create dozens of them now, who could shake Silverwing Town?

Even if ten Mythic monsters charged at them, only forty Bronze Defensive Puppets would be enough to easily resist them. After all, the defense of Defensive Puppets was very high, comparable to Tier 4 monsters.

If he had a hundred Bronze Defensive Puppets, he would even dare to destroy the Evil God's branch temple in Ancient Rock City right now.

Of course, that was just wishful thinking.

However, such an idea was entirely possible with the Hand of the Sage.

Thinking of this, Shi Feng checked the stats of the Hand of the Sage.

Cursed Hand of the Sage: Due to the unfulfilled wish of its former creator, their spirit became attached to it, causing the Hand of the Sage to lose all its power due to the curse. Only by dispelling the curse can its original abilities be restored. Within the curse is the creator's soul, which requires the use of twenty Soul-Melding Flowers to open a Soul Guidance and dispel the curse.

"Soul-Melding Flowers?" Shi Feng frowned after reading the introduction. "This is really ruthless!"

In God's Domain, anything related to the soul was extremely precious.

Shi Feng knew a little about Soul-Melding Flowers. They were rare Epic-grade materials, the main ingredient for refining Grandmaster-level Meditation Potions, and a rare potion that could help players learn combat techniques.

After drinking a Grandmaster-level Meditation Potion, the potion would guide the player's learning, helping them quickly master the combat technique. It could be said that it was an item highly sought after by major forces.

After all, combat techniques were not like magic skills, which required players to learn on their own. They required painstaking practice to master. Even expert players found it difficult to learn basic combat techniques, let alone advanced combat techniques, or even Bronze-grade combat techniques.

One could imagine how high the value of Soul-Melding Flowers was.

A single Soul-Melding Flower could sell for 300 gold on the market, and even then, no one was willing to sell them, keeping them as treasures. Even the major super forces didn't have many of them.

This was all because Soul-Melding Flowers did not exist on the main continent of God's Domain, but only in Otherworlds and Higher Planes, making them very difficult to obtain...

And this quest was just great.

It required twenty of them in one go. This was simply highway robbery.

At this point, Shi Feng finally understood why the Hand of the Sage appeared so late. At that time, the level of mainstream players had already reached level 80, and some of the Otherworld passages had been opened.

Probably only at that time did Sword of the Kingdom obtain twenty Soul-Melding Flowers.

"It seems necessary to go to the Ice Crystal World," Shi Feng thought. The only place he could freely enter and exit was the Ice Crystal World. Although he could also go to Higher Planes, it would take him an unknown amount of time to collect Soul-Melding Flowers alone. Conversely, there were many players in the Ice Crystal World, making it easier to collect Soul-Melding Flowers.

Thinking of this, Shi Feng immediately contacted Jing Wu Ming and the others. After gathering in White River City, they would go directly to the Ice Crystal World.