Chapter 13: The Book of Sacrifice

In the dim underground vault, a huge amount of ten thousand Responding elements formed a green light stream, constantly wandering.

Erend held the Black Furnace Demon Sword in its active state, closed his eyes, and bathed in the red light released by the clean crystal, which looked particularly strange.

The ten thousand Responding elements that formed a green light stream slowly wandered around Erend within the fluctuations of the red light and gradually injected into his body.

During this process, Erend could clearly feel his strength rising.

His physical ability was increasing, and the star power in his body was constantly growing, making Erend exude a powerful aura he had never possessed before.

Around him, there were still many green ten thousand Responding Mines, and it was foreseeable that this process of becoming stronger would continue.

If there was no accident...

"Hmm?"

Suddenly, Erend frowned slightly and quickly opened his eyes.

"Stop for a while, Black Furnace."

He halted the Black Furnace Demon Sword, letting it retract the brilliance of the clean crystal.

The green light stream disappeared immediately, making ten thousand Responding elements blend into the surrounding space like air.

Erend raised his hand and clenched it a few times.

"My power is increasing too fast. If I continue like this, I will not be able to control my body and star power."

That was the problem.

The rapid increase in power caused Erend's control over his star power and even his body to decline rapidly. If he continued to increase blindly, he might lose control of both.

"I have to adapt to it before I can continue to increase it."

Realizing this, Erend did not linger too long on the feeling of rapid power growth and decisively gave up continuing the process.

"Emima!"

The power of the Black Furnace Demon Sword was suddenly activated, forming a pure white sword body.

Just like last time, Erend injected star power into the Black Furnace Demon Sword, causing pitch-black lines to float around the pure white sword body, circling all the way until they sank into the red clean crystal. Only then was the true power of the magic sword released, turning the pure white sword body into an ultimate pitch-black.

Feeling the consumption of star power, Erend smiled faintly.

"Now, even if I increase the output of the Black Furnace Demon Sword to the maximum, it can last for tens of seconds."

Previously, if he had increased the output power of the Black Furnace Demon Sword to the maximum, it would have only lasted for a few attacks.

Now, being able to maintain it for tens of seconds was already a significant improvement.

"However, tens of seconds is still too short. There's no need to maintain such strong power all the time."

After thinking about it, Erend reduced the injection of star power and lowered the output of the Black Furnace Demon Sword.

Instantly, the pitch-black sword body of the Black Furnace Demon Sword faded at a speed visible to the naked eye until it turned purple-black and stopped.

"Is this the power of Black Furnace in its normal state?"

Looking at the purple-black Black Furnace Sword, Erend muttered to himself.

In the original novel, after the protagonist obtained the Black Furnace Sword, it had the same power and appearance. The only difference was that the protagonist could not control the size of the Black Furnace Sword, which meant it could only be wielded as a large sword in the early stages, greatly limiting its use.

Now, although Erend had adjusted the output of the Black Furnace Sword to the same specifications, he could fully control the sword. As a result, it remained the size of a normal sword instead of turning into a large sword.

"Although it is only a normal output level, not everyone can stop Black Furnace in this state."

The Black Furnace Sword was said to be able to burn everything. If it exerted its true power, almost nothing could withstand its light slash.

Even at this normal output level, ordinary heavy colour weapons would break if touched. Only pure heavy colour weapons of the same level could block its slash.

"That's enough."

Erend nodded in satisfaction.

"If it's the Black Furnace in this state, with my current star power, I can probably use it continuously for more than an hour."

That duration was quite long, more than enough for Erend to wield the Black Furnace Demon Sword effectively in battle.

"With my current ability, it should be enough to be included in the famous sacrifice book, right?"

Erend thought about it.

At Durmstrang, all academies had a ranking system.

Although the detailed regulations differed, each academy had a ranking list that clearly distinguished the strength of students.

The ranking list of Beauxbaton Academy was called the famous sacrifice book. There were a total of 72 places on the list, with the top 12 known as the "First Page Twelve" because they were recorded on the first page of the famous sacrifice book.

This ranking could only be won through dueling. As long as a student defeated someone on the list, they could take their ranking, be listed in the famous sacrifice book, and even join the First Page Twelve.

Originally, Erend's ability at Beauxbaton Academy was only average. Not only was he unranked in the top 72, but he also wasn't even among the strongest ordinary students.

After all, there were already hundreds of students in the senior department of Beauxbaton Academy. When including the middle and university departments, the number of students was even greater. Even if Erend had average abilities among them, he would still rank outside the top 100, possibly even in the top 200 or 300.

But now, considering only his physical ability and star power, Erend felt he could rank among the top 72 and enter the famous sacrifice book.

"If I add the power of the Black Furnace, even the First Page Twelve might not be impossible to challenge, right?"

Thinking of this, Erend was eager to test his current strength.

"Speaking of which, the official ranking battle this month is coming up, right?"

Erend recalled the schedule.

At Durmstrang, anyone could challenge others to a fair duel, even on campus.

However, under normal circumstances, a duel required the consent of both parties. If one party refused, the duel would not be established.

Because of this, students who earned a ranking in the famous sacrifice book rarely agreed to battles. Losing meant forfeiting their rank.

To prevent students from avoiding battles to protect their ranking, the academy organized an official ranking battle every month.

In this battle, students with lower rankings could challenge those ranked above them, and the challenge could not be refused.

This event was what Erend referred to as the official ranking battle.

"Let me see..."

Erend raised his hand, opening the space window on his mobile device and browsing the official ranking battle details.

He quickly confirmed that this month's ranking battle would be held in three days.

One day before the battle, all students could register online and specify their challenge targets.

"Isn't this a coincidence?"

Erend smiled.

In three days, he would have time to adapt to his newfound strength and participate in the official ranking battle.

"So... who should I challenge?"

Erend opened the famous sacrifice book and browsed the list.

Challenges had restrictions.

Students were divided into three levels:

The First Page Twelve

Students ranked in the famous sacrifice book

Students not ranked

A student could only challenge those one level above them.

Since Erend was currently unranked, he could only challenge someone from the famous sacrifice book below the First Page Twelve.

In that case...

"Let's go for it!"

Erend's eyes locked onto the first name on the second page of the famous sacrifice book.

Without hesitation, he reached out and clicked the challenge button...