Sterl looked at the newly popped-up objective and immediately frowned.


    Although the rewards for the main storyline and hidden quests in the Divine Mountain Empire were no longer too precious for him, losing out on them would still be a huge waste.


    "Whoever is meddling and affecting my rewards deserves to die!" he muttered angrily.


    Then, Sterl thought for a moment and, maintaining his soldier disguise, started walking towards the barracks.


    Along the way, he quickly tapped a few times on his panel.


    "Initiate the second ss change ceremony."


    After resting for two days, Sterl hade to the capital of the Divine Mountain Empire, ready to start striving again.


    He anticipated that there would be no shortage of battles and explorations in the capital, which might even help him fulfill some of the ceremony''s requirements. So he initiated it on a whim.


    By the way, therge amount of resources Sterl had previously handed over to Teresa had mostly been exchanged, resulting in four pieces of diamond-grade equipment usable for levels 60-70 second ss.


    Since Sterl had broken through to second ss, his remaining experience, with the support of arcane skills, would probably get him to around level 70. However, he couldn''t use the equipment just yet...


    Soon, after some waiting, a light screen appeared before Sterl''s eyes, just like during his first ss change. Detailed andplex information surfaced.


    [You have initiated the second ss change ceremony. You need toplete the following tasks to ss change.]


    [Upon ss change, you will receive the following bonuses: ss rank attribute enhancement, one-tier increase in free attribute points (current rank has reached potential limit SSS, cannot be increased further).]


    [Your Celestial Stars and Stardust skills will be upgraded to gold quality.]


    [You need toplete the following tasks—]


    [① Obtain Star Crystals (0/500). Each time you kill an enemy, Star Crystals will condense based on the opponent''s level. A level 60 unit condenses one piece, a level 80 unit condenses two pieces, a level 100 unit condenses four pieces...]


    [② Transcendence Challenge: You need toplete a strong enemy kill. The quality and potential of the first skill you gain after the ss change will be determined by this kill (maximum value is 10,000 points).]


    [③ SSS-ss Exclusive: You need to invest 5 points of legendary reputation toplete the second ss change.]


    [④ You need to spend 100 purple gold coins.]


    [⑤ Confrontation with the World''s Malice (1/1)]


    ...


    Reading through the ss change ceremony requirements, Sterl fell silent.


    For someone with his abilities,pleting it wasn''t difficult, but objectively evaluating the ss change ceremony, the requirements were a bit too high.


    First, obtaining 500 Star Crystals meant Sterl had to kill 500 units above second ss. Moreover, the number of Star Crystals collected only doubled for every 20-level increase in the enemy''s level.


    Even if Sterl were to massacre level 100 units, he''d still need to kill over a hundred of them! The killing itself wasn''t the hard part. The challenge was finding that many people.


    The strong enemy challenge was another unknown. Sterl wasn''t sure of the specific scoring rules yet, but judging by the difficulty disyed by the ss change ceremony, finding an opponent that would max out the 10,000-point rating seemed incredibly difficult.


    Then there was the requirement for legendary reputation points. Since when did a second ss change ceremony start demanding such high-value items?


    Could othersplete it? It seemed... they could. After all, yers who managed to obtain an SSS-ss profession might indeed have a chance to acquire legendary reputation points for their second ss change.


    As for the 100 purple gold coins, that was probably the easiest condition. Unfortunately, Sterl had spent most of his liquid funds on acquiring equipment, so he didn''t have that much on hand.


    However, he could resolve this by farming monsters and selling materials.


    Thest requirement of the ceremony actually surprised Sterl. It was automaticallypleted. But what exactly did "Confrontation with the World''s Malice" mean? Could it be referring to the abomination he had killed in the Netherworld?


    But what truly frustrated Sterl wasn''t the difficulty of the ss change ceremony—it was the seemingly minimal benefits after the ss change.


    A high-quality skill, the evolution of Celestial Stars and Stardust to gold quality, and that was it?


    Other yers would get to improve their ss rank, gain additional attributes, and receive free attribute points. But not him!


    And the reason given was that his potential had reached its limit??


    This felt like such a rip-off. Didn''t this mean that SSS-ss yers were actually at a disadvantage in the second ss change ceremony?


    Sterl felt that his second ss change enhancements were simr to what others would get in their third ss change.


    The third ss change was more about umting the foundation to ascend to legendary status. The enhancement post-change wasn''t significant. It was mainly about learning new skills, especially the legendary gold skills.


    But the second ss change was supposed to signify that yers had fully developed their profession, leading to a significant power boost for everyone whopleted it.


    For Sterl...


    Getting a few extra skills was hardly an enhancement!


    It felt like the [Transcendence] system was specifically discriminating against SSS-ss yers! As if it didn''t want such yers to exist at all!


    However, just as Sterl was feeling extremely dissatisfied, he sensed something—his golden finger was inexplicably sending him a message...


    Sterl sensed that once he advanced to the second ss, his golden finger would undergo an additional transformation!


    "Moreover, it seems like the point allocation system is hinting that my true benefits from the second ss can be retrieved through a special method."


    "What does this mean? Does it imply that the original benefits have been withheld?"


    He was full of confusion, but at this moment, Sterl felt a sense of relief. Given that the benefits of the second ss change weren''t that significant to begin with, ifpleting the ceremony could enhance his golden finger, that would be a genuinely massive gain.


    His golden finger was already incredibly powerful. Another enhancement would be phenomenal. "Now, let''s see what''s really happening in the Divine Mountain Empire."Sterl thought, his expression tinged with anticipation.


    His logic was simple: this was the capital of an empire, and something major seemed to be unfolding!


    Previously, in the Divine Mountain Empire''s consciousness space, Sterl had encountered elite soldiers from the Antic Empire, all of whom had second ss or above strength. The capital of the Divine Mountain Empire should have a batch of Imperial Guards, who were also likely to be second ss.


    If there truly was internal turmoil within the empire, Sterl could join the weaker side and potentially rack up kills of second ss units, rapidly advancing the progress of his ss change ceremony.


    At this moment, disguised as a soldier, he decisively headed toward the nearest barracks.


    What further corroborated Sterl''s spection was the highly vignt state of the barracks.


    There were sentries every few steps, and guards every few more.


    Everyone was in a state of high alert, and Sterl noticed that many soldiers'' des, glinting coldly, were stained with blood.


    Clearly, they had recently been inbat.


    Sterl took a brief nce into the distance before immediately activating his Shadow Stealth ability, swiftly infiltrating the tallest and most ornate main tent in the military camp, adorned with four-colored gemstones.


    Using the passive ability of Shadow Stealth, he reduced his own presence and hid in a corner filled with supplies.


    Sterl didn''t have to wait long before someone familiar walked in—it was a civil officer he had met in the consciousness space of the Divine Mountain Empire.


    But Sterl couldn''t remember the officer''s name.


    The officer was apanied by a slightly chubby but clearly muscr middle-aged man.


    The middle-aged man wore heavy armor and plopped down on the main seat in the tent, causing a minor earthquake with the sheer weight of his armor.


    It was evident that this was an extraordinarily heavy, specialized set of armor.


    Using Star Insight, Sterl discovered that the man himself was at the third ss change level, and the heavy armor was a piece of diamond-grade third ss equipment.


    "Such high-grade items, there probably aren''t many even in the treasury of the Divine Mountain Empire! And look at this general, with his alert, battle-ready expression—something big has definitely happened!" Sterl silently assessed.


    In the tent, the civil officer and the general exchanged some pleasantries before getting to the main topic.


    "So, how goes the search for the remaining princes? The Fourth Prince has already been cornered in the Crown Prince''s pce."


    "Most of the princes and princesses not in the capital have been captured. Only a few got wind of the plot early. Instead of fleeing, they pretended to be unaware of the Emperor''s scheme and came to the capital voluntarily, then hid in the Crown Prince''s residence."


    "They are now resisting along with the Fourth Prince." At this point, a hint of disdain shed in the general''s eyes. "Soon they will understand the true meaning of an absolute power gap. Any maneuver before that is meaningless.!"


    "Thanks to the Fourth Prince, we can round up the remaining princes and princesses in one fell swoop."


    "As expected of General Leopold!" the civil officer ttered enthusiastically.


    The more Sterl listened, the more puzzled he became.


    The civil officer and the general mentioned terms like "His Majesty" and "Fourth Prince." ording to their conversation, it seemed the Emperor was trying to capture all his descendants.


    What was going on? Had all the princes and princessesmitted crimes?


    Moreover, Sterl recalled that this civil officer was originally aligned with the Fourth Prince when they were in the consciousness space. Why had he betrayed them now?


    "Was the prince pretending all along when he interacted with me?" Sterl wondered. "Or are the princes banding together to force the Emperor to abdicate prematurely?"


    Sterl spected based on stories of political intrigue he had read in his previous life.


    The current situation didn''t make much sense. What was the Emperor aiming for? Last time, he heard in the consciousness space that the Emperor was already gravely ill and about to abdicate.


    If the Emperor just went with the flow and abdicated, would his descendants have made things difficult for him?


    With the external pressure from the Antic Empire, the Emperor should understand that internal strife would shake the empire''s foundation and invite enemy invasion. Why go through such trouble?