LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 41 The Master Among SS Stars!
41 The Master Among SS Stars!
"Don't play dead." Sterl, seeing no initial reaction from Teresa, directly grabbed her hair. Fear and submission were all that remained in the eyes of this female player.
Although Teresa was in a state of blurred consciousness, she only heard Sterl's voice and began to take action. Following her master's instructions, she took cleaning supplies from her inventory and cleaned Sterl up.
After Sterl had changed back into his clothes and equipment, Teresa remained kneeling on the ground, daring not to make any move.
"Good, you've worked hard."
"You should tidy yourself up too." Sterl suddenly spoke in a much gentler tone than his previous outburst of desires.
This sudden kindness startled Teresa, making her quickly nod and say, "Thank you, Master."
She hurried to clean herself up, removing all the sticky substances from her body... As for the liquids that had been forced down her throat, Teresa had already swallowed them, so no further cleaning was needed.
She changed into her clothes and took a set of spare equipment from her backpack to wear.
In just a few minutes, Teresa was back to being the dazzling 59th-level powerhouse she was before, although her gaze remained incredibly submissive.
And Sterl, seeing her expression, knew that his manipulation had essentially succeeded.
It seemed he had harshly oppressed Teresa. But in fact, at this moment, not only did the female player harbor no thoughts of resistance against Sterl, she even felt a sense of gratitude and submission.
Having been oppressed for so long, a slightly kind gesture from Sterl was enough to deeply move Teresa.
Now, commanding Teresa to do anything would be much easier for Sterl.
"Controlling a deputy star isn't omnipotent... I still have to figure out ways to increase my subordinates' loyalty. Life isn't easy for me." Sterl reflected internally, also settling on a principle.
To increase the reliability of his deputy stars, he didn't mind enduring some hardships himself. However, he decided it would be better to primarily recruit individuals of the opposite sex as deputy and main stars in the future...
Otherwise, Sterl might not be able to bear it.
After a great battle and the time spent on class changing, the dungeon was nearing its end. Sterl's evolution count had also completed its charging.
Thinking it over, he gestured to Teresa, "Come here."
The female player, who stood with an air of pride and coldness, immediately changed her expression to one of docility upon Sterl's command, her face melting into a smile like ice and snow under the sun.
Sterl calmly said, "This is for you."
He handed a B+ grade pet egg, previously belonging to Philip Waldo, to Teresa.
This pet egg had not been dropped before.
Sterl had only found it while searching his inventory, presumably because of the dungeon's mechanics, where a player's pet egg automatically transfers to the inventory of the player who killed them upon their death.
Also, due to the dungeon's mechanics, the life force of Philip Waldo, along with the bloody power stored in his bloody offerings, had all been absorbed by the remaining three pet eggs in the Starfall Wasteland.
Sterl discovered that his pet egg now showed [Life Force Absorbed to Maximum Limit]. So he decided not to destroy the remaining two B+ grade pet eggs (one of which was with the boss) but to keep them instead.
He had it all planned out. After evolving a pet egg to its limit, he would give it to Linna and Rayna. It can hatch at least one A-level pet, more than enough to protect the two beautiful girls.
As for the remaining egg from Philip Waldo, it was perfect for Teresa. Sterl knew well that taming a person, much like taming an animal, required more than just brute forcer. Ewards were essential too.
Indeed, Teresa was thrilled upon receiving and checking the attributes of the pet egg!
The human race of Earth was indeed too impoverished, even for someone like her who came from the Sequence Base, acquiring a B+ grade pet egg was quite difficult.
Teresa could never have imagined... Sterl would casually give her something so precious!
She even speculated that Philip Waldo's goal for entering this dungeon might have been this egg!
Yet now, the Blood God Priest had met a grisly end at the hands of her master, and the final reward had gone to Teresa herself.
The girl's expression went through several changes.
Previously, she had been forcibly subdued under fear after a violent indoctrination.
Now, Teresa's eyes gradually lit up with hope, as if seeing a new path in life. She looked over to see Sterl standing there, calm and composed.
The more Teresa looked at him, the more heroic and extraordinary his posture seemed. Her perception of Sterl underwent a transformative uplift in just a moment!
The pain and anger Teresa initially felt were minimized under the influence of being a deputy star, and now they were completely overshadowed by the joy of receiving a B+ grade pet egg!
Even if she were still in the Sequence Base, accepting high-reward missions... she would never have been able to acquire such an item.
It was priceless!
Without even realizing it, Teresa no longer harbored any resistance or dissatisfaction towards Sterl. She even began to feel from the bottom of her heart...
Having such a master wasn't so bad after all!
Teresa felt a bit smug, thinking that coming to the dungeon was the right choice.
She felt like she hadn't suffered any significant loss, except for being...
As Teresa recalled the scene of Sterl's violent desecration, she couldn't help but feel her body heat up, her legs clench together, her cheeks flush, and a warm current surge through her.
"The final gain is so great. It was worth it!" Teresa consoled herself. Even though she would rather die than let a man touch her lightly on a normal day. Now, Teresa brought up some examples from her memory to convince herself—
In the Sequence Base, some female players would sleep with others for a piece of equipment.
Moreover, her chastity was still intact!
Teresa thoughrt she got this b+level pet egg... it's a bit too easy
Sterl, witnessing Teresa's entire transformation from the sidelines, simply smiled lightly in his heart.
He knew that this marked the preliminary completion of Teresa's indoctrination, making her reliable for any tasks he might have for her.
The physical shackles of being a deputy star were certainly reliable. But as with any rule, there could always be loopholes.
However, the shackles Teresa set for herself were utterly insurmountable!
Of course, beyond that, Sterl was in a great mood.
Who wouldn't enjoy being adored by a beautiful girl?
...
In the final period of the dungeon, Sterl was anything but idle.
He casually added a point to his Profession Heart.
The leap from S to SS grade in professions, similar to the talent upgrade from S to SS, wasn't too significant.
It merely granted Sterl the ability to increase all attributes by 2.5 with each level-up, along with a 2.5x effect when adding points to any attribute... and an unknown skill of blue quality was added to the skill tree of the Starlord at level thirty.
Sterl surmised that the jump from S to SS grade might lean more towards benefiting later stages and wouldn't show immediate results.
But he was indifferent.
Because Sterl noticed a plus sign behind the Profession Heart... His Starlord profession could still be upgraded!
Another point would elevate it to an SSS-grade Profession Heart.
That was a qualitative change!
Sterl felt completely uninterested in anything else, eagerly awaiting the refresh of the evolution point the next afternoon.
Later, Sterl and Teresa arrived at the last yellow dot marked on the map, located in a dense jungle. There, Sterl encountered the boss that had previously pursued him once again.
"Master, shall we challenge this boss together?" Teresa asked obediently, though with a hint of concern in her voice.
"It might be difficult. I used up almost all my supplies when I was being chased earlier."
"This boss might have attributes similar to Philip Waldo, but it has more health and higher attack power. Can we win?"
Teresa had completely adopted a mindset of considering Sterl's best interest.
A level 20 boss was hard for a level 50 player to solo defeat!
Because bosses are powerful and hardy but are constrained by the fundamental logic of "Transcendence," easily attracting the aggro of tank warriors. Unless through special mechanics, they don't flee.
Players form teams that can apply buffs, debuff the boss, hold aggro, deal damage, and provide continuous healing, making it easier to defeat the boss.
Generally, it requires collaboration among over twelve class-changed players.
Higher-level players facing a lower-level boss might reduce the team size accordingly, but there still needs to be roles for aggro, healing, and DPS.
Sterl and Teresa, both lacking healing and aggro-pulling capabilities and being DPS-focused, couldn't likely defeat the boss despite not being in danger of losing their lives.
However, Sterl just shook his head with a peculiar expression: "Us? Challenge the boss? There's no need for us. I can handle it alone."
"What?" Teresa blinked in surprise.