Following Chen Xu's command, Xuan Chu and the other two Black Knights stepped forward.
Each assumed a distinct pose. Xuan Chu bowed slightly, his hands cupped as if holding a tray. His soul radiated a strange, eerie tenderness, as if he were cradling some kind of pet between his palms.
The second Black Knight leaned back, one knee bent, resting his head on his right fist while crossing his legs in an arrogant, overbearing manner.
His entire being exuded absolute confidence and a majestic aura that inspired fear and utter despair.
The third Black Knight's movements were much simpler. He stood at a distance, his left hand held before him as if holding a book, while his right hand repeatedly stroked his chin, looking every bit like a scholar troubled by a difficult problem.
Once their poses were set, the phantoms of their belts reappeared, and blinding rainbow light burst forth once more.
However, the skulls at the center of the belts soon snapped their mouths shut. Their eye sockets collapsed inward in an eerie fashion, sealing themselves completely.
Then, the belts began to tremble violently. The high-frequency vibrations traveled through the Black Knights, causing them to vibrate in unison.
When the two reached the same frequency, the belts began to sink into the Black Knights' bodies bit by bit until they vanished entirely.
It appeared that the core of the identity template was the belt itself. As long as the belt remained, they could theoretically redraw cards and reload identities indefinitely.
Solidifying the identity meant fusing the belt and the card into the Black Knight's body, allowing them to obtain all the abilities of that identity template.
The rarity and strength of the identity templates were divided into several tiers: White, Blue, Purple, Gold, Orange, Red, and Rainbow.
In theory, as long as he had enough time, Chen Xu could build an entire army of Black Knights with full Rainbow-tier rarity.
Since solidifying an identity template only provided memories and the methods to forge exclusive weapons, it was a waste to use it on anything below Rainbow-tier. It was better to wait and bet on a better future.
Thus, Chen Xu did not order the other Black Knights to solidify their templates. Instead, he turned his gaze toward Xuan Chu and the other two.
"Xuan Chu, tell me about the identity you've obtained. I can feel a very complex aura coming from you."
"Despair, fear, antiquity... multiple auras are mixed together, yet they seem to float on the surface rather than originating from within."
"As you command, my Lord."
Xuan Chu moved to an open space and swept his hands across his chest. A burst of black light radiated outward.
His standard Black Knight armor vanished, replaced by a black robe—a loose, heavy, and thick black robe.
This robe enveloped Xuan Chu completely. His feet were hidden beneath the hem, and his hands were tucked away. Only a faint glimmer of his soul fire peeked out from the top.
Strange movements rippled beneath the black fabric. Sometimes they looked like sharp insect legs, sometimes like soft, nimble tongues, and occasionally, a mass of palms and human faces would bulge outward. It was truly grotesque.
"My Lord."
Xuan Chu's voice echoed from within the robe, though it sounded significantly raspier than before.
"The identity I have obtained is known as the Forbidden Breeder."
"This Eternal Rank expert was active during the ancient era and traveled across the Myriad Worlds to collect 'Forbiddens.'"
"Using his own body as a petri dish, he raised these Forbiddens within himself, eventually mastering and commanding them."
"Each Forbidden was both his pet and a part of him."
"Clad in thousands of Forbiddens, he roamed the Myriad Worlds as a top-tier expert of his era. With the various eerie abilities granted by the Forbiddens, he even had a glorious record of escaping from the hands of Dao Lords multiple times."
A Forbidden was a peculiar existence. Their predecessors were Aberrations.
When an Aberration grew to a certain point and absorbed enough world rules, it would undergo a metamorphosis and become a Forbidden.
Every Forbidden possessed certain characteristics of Dao principles, making them extremely difficult to kill. Even if their physical form was destroyed, they would slowly reform over time.
Only an Eternal Rank expert who had mastered Dao principles could completely obliterate a Forbidden.
Ordinary Mythic-tier experts could only kill a Forbidden repeatedly or seal it away.
An expert who raised Forbiddens and turned them into his own power was certainly not to be underestimated.
However, Chen Xu quickly noticed a problem. For a Forbidden Breeder, the 'Forbidden' part was the focus, but the 'Breeder' part was equally important.
Chen Xu looked at Xuan Chu and asked, "If you use your body as a petri dish to raise Forbiddens, do you actually have any on you right now?"
"Uh, my Lord, I only inherited the Forbidden Breeder's realm, abilities, and Dao principles. The Forbiddens he carried seem to have been classified as special items, so they were not inherited."
Chen Xu frowned at the news.
"In that case, isn't your strength greatly diminished?"
"Yes, my Lord. Without any Forbiddens, my current strength is at most one-third of what it was at its peak."
"However, after solidifying the identity template, I gained the Forbidden Breeder's memories."
"He once secretly raised a number of Forbiddens in a hidden location. These Forbiddens were part of a whim-driven experiment and he hadn't had the chance to retrieve them before he died from a rival's calculated revenge."
"If that secret location hasn't been discovered by others, my strength should reach eighty percent of its peak once I retrieve them."
"I see."
Chen Xu nodded and waved his hand, signaling for Xuan Chu to retrieve them as soon as possible.
"Then go. Your primary task now is to retrieve those Forbiddens. Also, if you encounter any other Forbiddens on your journey, feel free to capture them."
"I obey your will."
As Xuan Chu accepted the mission, a peculiar ripple rose from his body. His soul grew slightly stronger, and his thinking speed increased noticeably.
Seeing this, Chen Xu couldn't help but narrow his eyes.
This effect was likely brought by the third talent, Professional Butler. It cleared the mind and strengthened the soul, acting like a version of the Exquisite Heart weakened a hundred times over. Still, something was better than nothing.
After Xuan Chu left, Chen Xu turned to the other Rainbow-tier Black Knight.
Sensing Chen Xu's gaze, the knight lowered his head slightly but did not change his appearance.
"And you? What is your identity?"
"My Lord, my identity template is known as the Demon King of Despair. He was a Great Demon King who ruled over a thousand Transcendent worlds of magic and swords."
"He suppressed those worlds with absolute strength. He mastered as many as eight different Dao principles."
"However, this expert had a bit of a peculiar fetish. For some reason, he loved watching the drama of heroes challenging the demon king."
"He would select those favored by the world within his domains, nurture them into heroes, and then use his absolute power to plunge them into endless despair."
"Thus, the name of the Demon King of Despair spread throughout the Myriad Worlds."
Chen Xu was somewhat speechless after hearing the story.
Compared to this Demon King of Despair, the quirks of other Dao Lords seemed quite normal.
They say geniuses all have their eccentricities, but it shouldn't be that the weirder the fetish, the better the talent. Was there something wrong with this world? It felt far too hostile toward normal people!
Finally, Chen Xu looked at the last Rainbow-tier Black Knight.
"Your turn. What is your identity?"
The last Black Knight bowed slightly and spoke in a low voice.
"My Lord, you will certainly be very interested in my identity."
"Oh? Then I shall wait and see."
The knight placed his left hand over his heart, and his full suit of armor dissipated, revealing a simple robe of coarse cloth.
In the next moment, the Black Knight opened his arms wide. The light of wisdom shot from his eyes. At such close range, Chen Xu had the fleeting illusion that he was looking at the truth itself.
"My Lord, my identity is known as the Great Sage."
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