Chapter 55: Upgraded Apollo
Inside an abandoned hospital, dirty syringes were scattered everywhere. A wooden sign hung from the chandelier in the hallway, on which was written... 17 minutes and 56 seconds.
Su Xiao's location was not within some derivative world, but a time-limited scene simulated by the arena. This opponent was somewhat peculiar. The match had already been going on for 13 minutes, yet Su Xiao still hadn't found where the other party was.
With a bang, Su Xiao kicked a wooden door to pieces. Fragments of broken wood flew everywhere, and he finally found his opponent for this match.
"Long time no see."
A man in sunglasses inside the hospital room spoke. The ground beneath his feet was covered in twisted patterns.
"Silence."
The man in sunglasses snapped his fingers, and the world around Su Xiao fell into dead silence. He lunged forward, rushing to the man in sunglasses, and swung his long blade down.
"Meteor Light."
The man in sunglasses snapped his fingers again, and Su Xiao's vision immediately went pitch black. Before his sight was completely sealed, Su Xiao judged from the feel of the blade that this strike had successfully hit the enemy, cutting through several ribs on the opponent's torso.
The man in sunglasses grunted, stumbling back a few steps. His eyes beneath the sunglasses were dull and lifeless. He was actually blind. It was extremely rare to encounter a blind contractor; only one situation could cause permanent blindness—class characteristics.
A large spray of blood splattered. The man in sunglasses retreated a few steps, but Su Xiao stood frozen in place. His hearing and vision were sealed off. Or rather, it wasn't that the opponent was affecting his senses, but changing the surrounding environment.
Su Xiao had been fighting in the arena for over six hours, climbing from rank 9570 to rank 128. The high number of consecutive wins caused him to match opponents within the top 100.
Everything was pitch black, the surroundings were dead silent, his vision and hearing were sealed, and his perception was greatly reduced.
Su Xiao held his long blade horizontally in front of him, his eyes tightly shut. Even with his vision and hearing sealed, he could still fight.
The man in sunglasses in the hospital room casually picked up a medical record and tossed it toward Su Xiao.
Clang.
The blade cut through. The medical record was shredded into large pieces of paper as soon as it approached within five meters of Su Xiao.
Bang, bang, bang...
Several consecutive gunshots rang out, sparks flying. A total of 15 bullets were all deflected by Su Xiao's blade. Dozens of hexagonal counter shields floated around him.
"At least Grandmaster-level swordsmanship. Bad luck."
The man in sunglasses smiled bitterly, somewhat helplessly. He was a mental control type, so he naturally understood the immunity to control abilities of a Blade Grandmaster. Several of his core abilities had little effect on Su Xiao, and maintaining the surrounding barrier consumed a large amount of mana.
"Guess I'm out of luck."
The man in sunglasses snapped his fingers. The surrounding darkness and sound seal faded away, and he chose to forfeit.
Su Xiao returned to the rest area and checked the arena data.
Arena Competitor: Su Xiao.
Status: Fatigued.
Rank: 116th (Fourth Rank).
Consecutive Wins: 77.
Top Five Rewards: Not Obtained.
...
He was about to break into the top 100 of the arena. Su Xiao did not continue matching opponents. The prolonged high-intensity combat inevitably left him mentally exhausted, and he still had other matters to handle.
Leaving the arena, Su Xiao headed straight for his Exclusive Room. When he returned to his Exclusive Room, he found that Bubu Wang, Amu, and Beini had already gone off to wander somewhere. The three of them together could even play Landlord, and with Su Xiao, they could play Mahjong.
But Su Xiao never gambled with Amu. It wasn't to protect Amu's "pure" heart, but to avoid unnecessarily losing Paradise Coins.
Once, in a derivative world, Su Xiao, Bubu Wang, and Amu had nothing to do. Bubu Wang suggested playing Landlord and spent two days teaching Amu the rules.
In two days, one man, one dog, and one cow only managed to play three rounds. The reason was simple: in those three rounds, the cards in Su Xiao's and Bubu Wang's hands combined didn't even have a card higher than J. Even more miraculously, both had scattered cards that, when combined, were unbeatable.
When Amu played out four Queens and four Kings one by one, Su Xiao and Bubu Wang were astonished to find that they couldn't beat them. This happened for several consecutive rounds. Bubu Wang was instantly traumatized, and his gambling career ended there.
Su Xiao had 507,800 Paradise Coins left. These Paradise Coins would be used to replenish supplies and manufacture a new model of Apollo.
Su Xiao had spent a long time researching conventional Alchemy Bombs in the Naruto World. There was no progress with conventional Alchemy Bombs, but there was a significant breakthrough with Apollo.
Entering the Alchemy Laboratory, Su Xiao first began manufacturing Ancient Secret Medicine. The previously made Ancient Secret Medicine had been completely consumed, mostly used by Amu, who had clashed with contractors more than once in the Real World. Su Xiao had also used some when fighting Death Omen.
This time, Su Xiao planned to make at least ten bottles, as he was about to enter a completely unfamiliar world. Based on his guess, it was either a Primordial World or a world located within the Void.
While manufacturing the Ancient Secret Medicine, Su Xiao called Bubu Wang back. He needed Bubu Wang's Snow Goddess aura to restore mana.
Time flew by. After Su Xiao produced ten bottles of Ancient Secret Medicine, Bubu Wang ran off to wander again.
In front of the test bench, Su Xiao placed a small piece of Fire Gold into a test tube and observed the reaction inside. After waiting a full hour, he poured the solution in the test tube into the waste tank. 8,000 Paradise Coins were wasted like that.
The explosive power of Apollo was indeed fierce, but Su Xiao also had to pay an equivalent value in resources and time.
Su Xiao was gradually improving Apollo, or rather, he was trying to shorten Apollo's detonation time. Thirty seconds was simply too long. Previously, when he detonated Apollo inside the wooden building of the First Division headquarters, he only killed a few Shinigami, although that detonation was to buy time for the Reishi Pulse.
With 30 seconds, given the strength of Su Xiao's current enemies, they could easily escape Apollo's explosion range, unless the environment was special.
Su Xiao took out a Soul Crystal (Medium) and exchanged 200,000 Paradise Coins worth of Fire Gold and Sun Remnants. He then began attempting to manufacture a new model of Apollo, or rather, an upgraded version of Apollo.
Once he threw himself into something, time passed quickly. Over ten hours later, Bubu Wang, Amu, and Beini returned to the Exclusive Room together. Hearing sounds from the laboratory, Bubu Wang gently pushed open the lab door to avoid disturbing Su Xiao's alchemical work.
A fireball five meters in diameter came into Bubu Wang's view. The fur on its back stood on end, and it quickly closed the door.
The fireball floated in front of Su Xiao. He clasped his hands together, and the fireball was gradually compressed by his mental energy, eventually becoming an apple-sized spherical object.
Su Xiao held the upgraded Apollo in his hand. In appearance, Apollo hadn't changed, but this thing had cost him 300,000 Paradise Coins. Of course, prototyping was different from normal production. The actual cost of this Apollo was 100,000 Paradise Coins + Soul Crystal (Medium) x1 + 1,000 mana points.
Sun God Apollo
Quality: Gold
Type: Consumable
Effect: Can be activated at any time by consuming 1 mana point (detonation range: 2 kilometers; detonation range increased to 4 kilometers for the manufacturer). Upon explosion, it instantly deals 8,000 points of True Damage (Scorch) within 2,000 meters (range increased by 1,000 meters, True Scorch Damage increased by 2,000 points), followed by 6,000 points of Flame Scorch Damage (Flame Scorch Damage increased by 4,000 points).
Note: Detonating Sun God Apollo requires 25 seconds.
Rating: 400 points
Description: The majesty of the sun is not to be challenged!