Chapter 72: The Gap
Su Xiao put down the [Sacred Traveler] pendant in his hand. If it were just a normal transaction, exchanging [Sacred Traveler] for [Team Rank Promotion Scroll] would be fine, but the Divine Emperor Adventure Group was a large adventure group, and their need for [Team Rank Promotion Scroll] was well-known. Conversely, Divine Emperor and his people didn't know that Su Xiao also needed [Sacred Traveler].
"Plus two Epic-grade pieces of equipment."
Su Xiao stopped looking at [Sacred Traveler]. His current demeanor was that he liked the item but didn't value it highly.
"That's a bit difficult."
Divine Emperor was clearly not someone to be easily exploited. He began to look at [Team Rank Promotion Scroll] with hesitation as well.
"At most, add 500,000 Paradise Coins. That's the highest price we can offer."
"At least 4 million."
Su Xiao no longer looked at the two Epic-grade pieces of equipment. Obviously, after Divine Emperor brought out a growth-type piece of equipment, he wouldn't offer two more Epic-grade items.
"At most 800,000."
"1 million."
"..."
Divine Emperor was silent for a moment before finally extending his hand. "Deal."
"Deal."
[You have received a 1,000,000 Paradise Coin Savings Card.]
[You have received Sacred Traveler.]
This wasn't their first transaction, so the process went smoothly. Declining Divine Emperor's invitation, Su Xiao returned to his Exclusive Room.
Neither Beini nor Bubu Wang was there. Only Amu was lying on the carpet, snoring loudly. This guy lived a carefree life in Reincarnation Paradise—eating when hungry, sleeping when tired, and following Bubu Wang or Beini around when bored to tag along.
Beini, on the other hand, was keen on financial management and had recently seen some improvement. Don't think she was making Paradise Coins; she had merely evolved from losing everything to making small losses.
Bubu Wang was out wandering around, more familiar with the facilities in Reincarnation Paradise than Su Xiao, especially when it came to eating, drinking, and having fun.
Su Xiao contacted Bubu Wang. In less than half an hour, Bubu Wang returned to the Exclusive Room with a huge paper bag in its mouth. Seeing it come back, Amu immediately got up, looking expectant. Sure enough, the huge paper bag contained snacks that Bubu Wang had brought back for Amu.
"Test the effect. If it's not ideal enough, we can still return it."
Su Xiao handed [Sacred Traveler] to Bubu Wang. After Bubu Wang checked the attributes of [Sacred Traveler], it put the pendant around its neck. Perhaps for aesthetic reasons, it changed the black metal chain to silver-white. Since it wasn't an equipment-based change, the required Paradise Coins were minimal.
After putting on Sacred Traveler, Bubu Wang blended into the environment and lightly bumped its head against Su Xiao, allowing Su Xiao to see it.
Bubu Wang shook its smooth fur, its gaze gradually becoming serious. It looked at the wall in front of it and prepared to charge forward.
"Woof."
"Wait..."
Bang!
Bubu Wang slammed headfirst into the wall. It hit so hard that it immediately sat down on the ground.
"That's the wall at the edge of the Exclusive Room. Theoretically, it can't be penetrated. Try a different wall."
"?"
Bubu Wang was still dazed, only recovering after a moment. It glared angrily at the wall, as if to say, "Just you wait. I have a great renovation plan."
Turning its dog head around, Bubu Wang slowly approached another wall. As it touched the wall, ripples appeared on the surface. Bubu Wang passed through the wall without any obstruction, entering the Alchemy Laboratory. After a moment, it came back out through the wall.
After doing all this, Bubu Wang was like it had discovered a new continent. It started passing through walls one after another, becoming more skilled and faster.
Bang!
The continuous effect of Travel (Active) ended, and Su Xiao heard another crash against the wall. The Travel effect lasted 10 seconds with a 30-second cooldown and no cost—a very powerful ability.
As for the promotion conditions of Sacred Traveler, they were activated as soon as Bubu Wang bound the equipment. It didn't require consuming Soul Crystals or devouring similar equipment. Sacred Traveler only needed one thing to improve its quality: completing one "Travel."
Not to mention Bubu Wang, even Su Xiao didn't understand what "Travel" represented. Wandering around the world? Eating, drinking, and having fun? Obviously not.
This was a growth-type piece of equipment bound to Bubu Wang. Su Xiao hadn't experienced it firsthand, so how to complete the Travel was something Bubu Wang would have to figure out on its own.
Don't think that not needing to consume resources for promotion was a good thing. In most cases, such prerequisites were very harsh, and achieving them was no less difficult than consuming resources.
Even so, for Bubu Wang, the Light Gold growth-type equipment Sacred Traveler was far superior to Epic-grade equipment. It was too suitable for it.
Ignoring Bubu Wang, who was darting around and occasionally crashing into walls, Su Xiao left the Exclusive Room and headed straight for the Skill Upgrade Hall. He was going to upgrade his Aura Release ability. As this ability improved, the power of Blood Beast would become increasingly formidable.
With a special method to enhance Aura Release, the resources required for this ability were minimal. The only issue was that it reduced Charm every time. However, as the level of Aura Release increased, the lethality of Blood Beast became more terrifying. Without Blood Beast, Su Xiao wouldn't have been able to defeat Sin earlier, so he had completely given up on treating his Charm attribute. The rescue attempts from a few worlds ago were clearly ineffective.
Arriving at the Skill Upgrade Hall, Su Xiao found an unused Skill Upgrade Pod.
Pfft~
Steam quickly dissipated inside the pod, which was now locked. Su Xiao attempted to upgrade his Aura Release ability, which had already reached Lv.42.
[Selection complete. To upgrade 'Aura Release Lv.42,' you need to pay 150,000 Paradise Coins + Soul Crystal (Large) ×1. Yes/No to pay?]
The cost was acceptable. Su Xiao wasn't upgrading Aura Release level by level. After paying the fee for one level, he could at least raise it by 5 to 10 levels—a huge gain. If his body could withstand it, he could raise Blood Qi Release to a terrifying level in a short time.
After paying the Paradise Coins, a teleportation sensation came over him. When his vision cleared, Su Xiao was already in the Ancient Battlefield.
The ground was dark red, with giant beasts and powerful corpses scattered everywhere. Crimson blood mist drifted across the Ancient Battlefield, seemingly never to dissipate.
Su Xiao looked around, confirmed there were no anomalies, and began constructing a temporary Devouring Core. This process couldn't be rushed; he had to ensure the absorbed blood energy was pure enough, without any impurities.
The temporary Devouring Core was quickly completed. The blood energy within half a kilometer of Su Xiao began to converge toward him. He sat cross-legged on the ground, using his own aura to absorb the purified, filtered blood energy.
As soon as he started absorbing the blood energy, Su Xiao noticed a difference. In the past, absorbing blood energy put a considerable burden on his spirit, and his entire body felt heavy. This time was different. He felt very relaxed, as if absorbing all the surrounding blood energy wouldn't put too much strain on him.
Su Xiao increased the absorption speed of the temporary Devouring Core. The blood energy within several kilometers began to surge toward him.
Meanwhile, in the central area of the Ancient Battlefield, there was a large stretch of ruins. At the very center stood a statue with its head smashed off. One hand of the statue rested on the hilt of a sword at its waist, while the other hand held a severed head.
Beneath the statue, a handsome man draped in a black feathered cloak sat on the ground. He held a bottle of wine in his hand, with a large pile of empty bottles nearby.
"Those old immortals, they can't handle it themselves and still interfere with my enjoyment. This is jealousy."
The man in the black feathered cloak tilted his head back and took a big gulp of wine, completely unfazed by the erosion of the Ancient Battlefield's blood energy. From his appearance, he was a member of the Feather Race—a carefree, easygoing Feather Race member.
"Hmm? Over there?"
The black-feathered man looked into the distance. After watching for a while, he continued drinking. Strange changes in the Ancient Battlefield were normal. As long as it wasn't too exaggerated, he couldn't be bothered to deal with it, even if he was the temporary guardian here.
However, just a few minutes later, a massive blood energy vortex appeared in the sky. The black-feathered man stood up. This was something he couldn't ignore.
"Could it be... that guy is back?"
The black-feathered man swallowed his saliva. Out of caution, he chose to contact the Feather Race and Arcane Eternal Star. It wasn't that he was a coward, but the Blade Demon had stayed in the Ancient Battlefield for many years. The title of Ancient Battlefield Guardian sounded impressive, but the black-feathered man knew that if the Blade Demon really returned, the guy could kill him with one hand. That was an enemy that required the entire Feather Race army to subdue, and even then, it was uncertain whether they could win.
Just as the black-feathered man finished contacting the Feather Race and Arcane Eternal Star, a rumbling sound came from behind him. It was a stone coffin.
Crack!
The lid of the stone coffin shattered, and a bloodstained hand gripped the edge of the coffin. Seeing this, the black-feathered man's body stiffened. The remains inside the stone coffin belonged to the previous Ancient Battlefield Guardian!
"Blade... Demon."
A hoarse voice came from inside the stone coffin. The next moment, a cloud of gray dust exploded within it.
Just as the black-feathered man was preparing for a strategic retreat, the blood energy vortex in the sky gradually dissipated. Seeing this, he breathed a sigh of relief.
Rumble!
The surrounding space began to tremble. A hand pierced through the space, forcibly tearing open a spatial rift.
A man in tattered clothes, with disheveled black hair and a long sword hanging at his waist, stepped out of the spatial rift. His eyes were blood red.
"Spare..."
Pfft!
Blood splattered. The black-feathered man's head flew high into the air, a stream of blood spraying from his severed neck. His body fell straight to the ground, and the next moment, it exploded into a mass of minced flesh. It was too fast—the black-feathered man didn't even have a chance to react.
The figure with blood-red eyes stood within the spatial rift, seemingly searching for something. Finding nothing, he turned back and disappeared into the rift filled with spatial turbulence.
...
Inside the Skill Upgrade Pod, Su Xiao appeared out of nowhere. He stood with his eyes closed, gradually adapting to the blood energy around him. This time, he had hit the jackpot.
When he first tried to absorb the blood energy of the Ancient Battlefield, he was surprised to find that the burden of absorbing it had become much lighter. He quickly understood why. After raising Blade Grandmaster to Lv.20, he had awakened the Soul Blade ability, which significantly reduced the burden of absorbing blood energy.
Su Xiao immediately decided to go big. The Ancient Battlefield wasn't his personal backyard. He had experienced all kinds of strange situations there, and the fewer times he went, the lower the risk.
So, he maxed out the power of the temporary Devouring Core. In the end, the Devouring Core actually exploded, and he returned to Reincarnation Paradise.
[Aura Release has been upgraded to Lv.56.]
[Aura Release Lv.56 (Active/Passive)]
Skill Effect (Active/Passive): Continuously release aura within a range of 69 meters. All enemy units within this area undergo a Willpower check. If the enemy fails the check, they enter a state of terror. The terror state can be dispelled by using Mind Purification-type skills.
Tip: If an enemy enters the terror state, Stamina consumption speed +46%, physical defense -50 points. When the enemy releases a skill, there is a 15% chance of failure.
Tip: As this skill is upgraded, aura intensity will increase, and Willpower will be slightly enhanced.
Tip: Due to absorbing a large amount of pure blood energy, Willpower +41 points.
Tip: Due to absorbing a large amount of pure blood energy, Willpower check rank +2.
Tip: Due to absorbing a large amount of pure blood energy, aura can deal Willpower ×12 soul damage to 'foreign entity' type enemies.
...
Aura Release had been upgraded by a full 14 levels. Su Xiao didn't plan to enter the Ancient Battlefield again anytime soon. Going there frequently could easily be discovered by Void races. If the Spellcasters set up an ambush there, he would surely die without a chance.
Compared to the upgrade of Aura Release, Su Xiao was more curious about how much the power of Blood Beast had increased.
Talent Ability: Blood Beast
Category: Growth Talent
Rank: SSS
Talent Effect (Active): Generate a Blood Beast using your own aura. The Blood Beast can be instantly generated and directly pounce on the enemy (requires the enemy to be within 10 meters). It deals 2,630 points of base damage (increased by 530 points) + Strength attribute × 4.5 (490 points of damage) + Agility attribute × 3.7 (399 points of damage) + Stamina attribute × 6.8 (727 points of damage) as damage that ignores physical defense, and causes the target to lose focus or become stunned for 0.3 to 7.5 seconds.
Total Damage: 2,630 points of base damage + 1,617 points of damage that ignores physical defense (total damage intensity of 4,246 points).