Chapter 278: Chapter 278: Enhancing The Destiny Staff, Entering The Forsaken Castle

Ding!

[You have consumed 70 Enhancement Stones and successfully enhanced your "Destiny Staff" to "Destiny Staff +3"]

"Perfect."

Leon quickly checked the panel.

---

[Destiny Staff +3 (Ascendant): +40,000 Spirit. All of your spell’s power is significantly boosted.]

[Blood Heart Blessing: The "Spirit" bonus of the staff is multiplied by 5.]

---

Leon’s grin widened instantly, "Two hundred thousand spirit..."

Because of the strengthened [Blood Heart] blessing, the bonus scaled directly with the staff itself.

Meaning the enhancement didn’t just increase the base stat. It multiplied the already ridiculous effect even further.

At this point, Leon honestly didn’t even know how powerful his spells had become anymore.

The [Spider Mother] probably would’ve died instantly if he fought her now.

Even the [Forsaken General] would likely struggle to survive direct hits from his magic.

And the craziest part was that Leon still hadn’t even checked his own [Combat Power].

Still, Leon ignored the temptation for now and moved toward the [Skill Stones].

At first, his instinct was to improve [Celestial Hand].

After all, increasing the activation chance of his drop-rate ability would be insanely useful later.

But after a few seconds of thought, Leon shook his head, "No point right now."

He needed immediate combat strength. Especially if he was about to fight the [Forsaken King].

Leon considered upgrading [Eclipse Dance] further. Or perhaps increasing [Dark Crescent Slash].

But eventually... He smiled.

"Guess we’re going back to basics."

Leon grabbed seventy-five skill stones and crushed them.

Ding!

[Which skill do you wish to upgrade?]

"The first spell I ever got."

Ding!

[You have evolved your "Powerful Fireball (Common Lv.6)" skill into "Hellish Fireball (Common Lv.10)"]

A second notification appeared almost instantly afterward.

Ding!

[Your "Hellish Fireball (Common)" skill has reached its maximum level and has grown much stronger.]

The panel around the spell suddenly began changing again.

Leon’s eyes widened slightly, "...Oh?"

Then finally—

Ding!

[Your "Hellish Fireball" skill has evolved into "Cataclysmic Fireball"]

Leon immediately checked the new description.

[Cataclysmic Fireball (Max): Focus the power of your Spirit into a cataclysmic fireball able to wipe out anything standing in your way. It burns like a miniature sun and annihilates like a ray of light.]

"Beautiful," Leon genuinely couldn’t stop smiling now.

Even though the spell had originally been common-rank, the combination of maximum evolution, his absurd spirit stat, and the [Destiny Staff] had transformed it into something monstrous.

And because fireball-type spells were naturally destructive already... This was probably his strongest pure spell now.

Leon honestly wanted to test it immediately.

But considering the fact he was currently sprinting toward the final boss of the assessment...

Maybe blowing up a street beforehand wasn’t the smartest idea.

"I’ll save it for later."

Leon kept the remaining skill stones and enhancement stones for future use before continuing his journey.

The [Forsaken Castle] gradually grew larger and larger before him with every passing minute.

The city around him also became noticeably darker the closer he approached the castle. Even the atmosphere itself felt heavier.

The buildings near the castle were far more damaged than the rest of the city, many of them covered in strange black growths resembling veins.

And above everything... Dark tendrils twisted through the air around the castle itself like living shadows.

Eventually, after roughly forty minutes of nonstop movement... Leon arrived.

He leaped onto the top of one final building before stopping completely.

In front of him stretched a massive clearing leading directly toward the [Forsaken Castle].

Leon slowly lifted his head and stared at it fully for the first time.

The castle was enormous. Far larger than any structure Leon had seen in the city.

Dark marble walls towered toward the sky while crimson lights flickered faintly from deep within the structure.

The entire place radiated oppression.

It genuinely felt less like a castle and more like some ancient creature waiting silently in the darkness.

And around it... Those enormous tendrils moved constantly.

The gigantic entrance gates stood wide open already, almost as if the castle itself had been waiting for him to arrive.

But beyond the entrance... There was only darkness. Pure pitch-black darkness.

Leon couldn’t see a single thing inside.

"...Well," Leon sighed quietly while gripping both his sword and staff tightly, "I guess there’s no turning back now."

Then slowly, Leon stepped forward toward the darkness of the [Forsaken Castle].

"Let’s end this."

Ding!

[You have entered the "Forsaken Castle."]

[You cannot leave this place unless the "Forsaken King" allows you to.]

"So Violet wasn’t exaggerating," Leon muttered while stepping deeper into the castle, his footsteps echoing against the cold stone floor. "He really did let her leave on purpose."

That single detail alone told Leon more than enough.

The [Forsaken General] had intelligence. The [Forsaken Minotaur] had some as well. They could think to a certain extent, follow commands, understand battle, and react properly instead of acting like mindless beasts.

But the [Forsaken King] was clearly different. He wasn’t just another boss guarding a zone.

He thought like a real person.

The fact he had spared Violet years ago instead of killing her immediately proved that much.

If killing players was truly all he cared about like all these other monsters, then he would have crushed her instantly back then and ended it there.

Instead, he let her leave. That meant there was something else behind his actions.

Boredom. Entertainment. Or perhaps something even worse.

Leon narrowed his eyes slightly as he continued walking through the darkness.

And then there was the fog. Why release it only now?

The king could have flooded the city with that terrifying darkness at any moment if he truly wanted every player dead. Yet he waited until nearly all the major threats in the city had already been destroyed.

The [Forsaken Legion] was gone. The spiders were wiped out. The [Forsaken Minotaur] was dead.

The players had almost reached the end of the assessment. Only then did the king finally decide to act.

"Did you get impatient?" Leon muttered quietly. "Or did you realize we might actually clear this place?"

The deeper he walked into the castle, the colder the atmosphere became.

The entrance itself had already been unsettling enough.

The moment Leon stepped through the dark veil covering the doorway, it felt as if the entire outside world had vanished behind him. The castle isolated him completely from the city.

There was no wind. No life. Only darkness.

And eventually, Leon arrived in a massive hall stretching far ahead of him.

Its structure reminded him of the hall leading toward the divine temples’ chambers, though this place felt infinitely more oppressive.

The hall was enormous, with towering pillars supporting the ceiling far above, but most of it was drowned in complete darkness. Only a faint beam of pale light descended from cracks high above, illuminating small portions of the floor.

For a normal player, both sides of the hall would have been impossible to see.

But Leon’s mutated eye slowly glowed dark as the power of [Monarch of Darkness] activated naturally.

The shadows became clearer. The darkness itself almost seemed transparent to him.

And when Leon finally looked toward the sides of the hall, he paused slightly.

"...Statues?"

Dozens upon dozens of giant statues lined both sides endlessly. The exact same statue repeated over and over again.

Each one depicted a tall man wearing a flowing robe and holding an enormous dark sword with both hands. A jagged crown rested upon his head while darkness seemed to radiate from the carved eyes themselves.

Even though they were only statues, Leon could somehow feel pressure coming from them.

It almost felt as though the castle itself worshipped this figure.

"The king," Leon concluded quietly.