Chapter 81: Devouring
Inside the exclusive room.
Su Xiao and Bubu Wang sat on the bed, the bed's four legs having vanished without a trace. One person and one dog wore calm expressions, staring straight ahead.
Amu sat opposite Su Xiao and Bubu Wang, its large hands continuously stuffing all kinds of food into its mouth, like a starving ghost reincarnating.
Amu's offensive capabilities weren't too strong, but there was no doubt its survivability and control abilities were excellent. The frost effect that could be attached to any attack would torment enemies to the point of agony. As long as Amu entangled an enemy, the slowing effect wouldn't stop. Even forcibly removing it was useless. The frost ability had no cooldown; with a casual punch from Amu, the enemy would once again suffer the frost effect's influence.
No matter how you looked at it, Amu was a great help in battle. However, this thing was way too damn gluttonous. One meal cost Su Xiao nearly 180 Paradise Coins. What did 180 Paradise Coins worth of ordinary food mean? If loaded into trucks, it would fill at least two trucks, with some left over.
This was Amu's portion for one meal, and also the main reason it could exist for a long time. Combat-type alchemical creatures, even high-level ones, could only survive for 50 to 100 days at best. But Amu could exist for a full 256 days. As for alchemical creatures like the Wolf Butler that could live for centuries, Su Xiao couldn't create such beings yet. Maybe in the future.
"Amu, you've eaten enough, right?"
Su Xiao sat on the bed. He had already decided not to buy a new bed, even considering just getting a mattress to sleep on.
"Burp~"
Amu let out a satisfied belch and grinned foolishly.
"I'm half full."
Amu seemed a bit reluctant to stop. Su Xiao looked at Bubu Wang, who shrank back, instinctively sensing trouble.
"Bubu Wang, from now on, you control it in battle. You're responsible for its food."
Bubu Wang wore an expression of "I knew it." It sighed, silently grieving for its own little treasury.
Bubu Wang barked and walked out of the exclusive room. Amu quickly got up and followed, becoming a genuine lackey. Bubu was taking Amu out to have some fun and solve Amu's food problem. After all, Amu couldn't fight on an empty stomach. Once they entered a derivative world, Amu's food issue would be easier to handle. As Su Xiao's alchemical creature, how could Amu not inherit Su Xiao's fine traditions? In other words, looting.
Don't be fooled by Amu's current honest and simple appearance. It was Su Xiao's alchemical creature, and Su Xiao was its creator. Its personality would inevitably be influenced by Su Xiao. Perhaps in future battles, Amu would show another side. It would pierce enemies with its sharp horns, then ruthlessly trample them until they were crushed.
After Bubu Wang and Amu left, Su Xiao took out the essence of the Rebirth Dragon. He was in good condition now; devouring this thing shouldn't be a problem.
The Devouring Core within Su Xiao gradually awakened. Blue smoke enveloped his left arm. As the smoke drifted, it formed a skull. This smoke skull seemed to be sneering at Su Xiao, which was intentional on his part.
The reason for forming this smoke skull was a technique Su Xiao had developed after a long period of experimentation. This technique had no offensive or defensive capabilities; it only served as a warning.
When Su Xiao used the Devouring Core, this skull would gradually change. The larger the skull's volume, the greater the risk of him becoming the Blade Demon.
Now, the skull was only the size of a fist, indicating everything was normal. When the skull expanded to the size of a basketball, it meant Su Xiao had a high chance of turning into the Blade Demon. When the skull was as big as a washbasin, it meant Su Xiao couldn't use the Devouring Core to enhance his Azure Steel Shadow ability in the near future; otherwise, there was over an 80% chance he would lose his sanity and become the Blade Demon.
The importance of the warning skull went without saying. With this ability, the possibility of Su Xiao becoming the Blade Demon was low.
The blue smoke on Su Xiao's arm enveloped the essence of the Rebirth Dragon. Instantly, a large amount of pure life energy was extracted from the essence, surging into Su Xiao's body and heading straight for the Devouring Core.
The Devouring Core was located near Su Xiao's heart. After devouring this large surge of life energy, the Devouring Core began to operate, purifying and converting the life energy. The originally emerald-green life energy, after being transformed by the Devouring Core, became a colorless energy.
The colorless energy surged out from the Devouring Core. The Azure Steel Shadow energy within Su Xiao swarmed forward like starving wolves, devouring this colorless energy.
Su Xiao's Azure Steel Shadow was already at Lv.30. After devouring this colorless energy, the total amount of Azure Steel Shadow didn't change. The total amount of Azure Steel Shadow was determined by Su Xiao's mana value. The more mana he had, the more Azure Steel Shadow energy he could convert.
What changed was the quality of the Azure Steel Shadow. It became purer and more aggressive.
Pure life energy continuously flowed out from the essence of the Rebirth Dragon. The Devouring Core accepted everything without refusal, devouring as much as it could. The level of the Azure Steel Shadow skill began to rise rapidly.
[Due to absorbing energy converted by the Devouring Core, Azure Steel Shadow level increased.]
[Azure Steel Shadow has been raised to Lv.31.]
[Azure Steel Shadow has been raised to Lv.32.]
[Azure Steel Shadow has been raised to Lv.33.]
……
The Azure Steel Shadow ability, which was usually extremely difficult to upgrade, had now risen three consecutive levels, and the momentum showed no signs of stopping.
As the Devouring Core rapidly consumed energy, the blue smoke on Su Xiao's arm rose up, forming a phantom composed of blue smoke above his head. The phantom wore armor, red light flickered in its eyes, and a long blade was sheathed at its waist.
"Choose me..."
The phantom approached Su Xiao below. With a bang, the phantom was repelled, and the blue smoke churned.
The phantom had no subjective consciousness and wasn't a living being; it was merely a pure energy.
Su Xiao, sitting cross-legged on the ground, turned his head to look at the blue phantom. He was very calm now. As long as his will was firm enough, this phantom couldn't harm him.
"Choose me..."
The phantom moved toward Su Xiao again. Su Xiao ignored it. If this phantom merged into his body, he would immediately become the Blade Demon.
A thought arose in Su Xiao's mind: what would happen if the phantom merged into Dragon-Slaying Flash? The Blade Demon and the Shadow of Law Destruction shared the same origin; it shouldn't cause problems.
Unfortunately, Dragon-Slaying Flash wasn't yet capable of bearing this phantom. Su Xiao had to temporarily abandon the idea.
What Su Xiao didn't know was that every Shadow of Law Destruction with the Devouring Core ability would try this. Once successful, the benefits gained were astonishing.
The Shadows of Law Destruction were nearly extinct. No one could guide Su Xiao. The only one who could was a remnant soul, and they had only met a few times, each meeting very brief.
The Azure Steel Shadow energy rapidly increased. Due to the substantial enhancement, Su Xiao even felt a swelling pain inside his body. This was his body adapting to the strengthened Azure Steel Shadow.
While the devouring was underway, Su Xiao also closely monitored the smoke skull beside him. At this moment, the smoke skull was already larger than a basketball, showing signs of developing toward the size of a washbasin.
If the smoke skull reached the size of a washbasin, Su Xiao would gradually become frenzied, ultimately turning into the Blade Demon.