Chapter 55: Equipment Strength Cap
The gem inlaying process went smoothly. Su Xiao checked the gem effects on Dragon-Slaying Flash. The inlaid gems were:
- Spirit Cat +13 (Legendary Gem): Ignores 45 points of enemy body defense, reduces healing effects on slashed targets by 20% for 30 seconds. This gem shatters upon removal and cannot be enhanced a second time.
- Soul Severing Shadow Stone·Incomplete (Legendary Gem): Sharpness +28.
- Soul Severing Shadow Stone·Incomplete (Legendary Gem): Sharpness +29.
- Soul Severing Shadow Stone·Incomplete (Legendary Gem): Sharpness +28.
- Mad Knight (Legendary Gem): Attacks deal additional true agility attribute × 0.9 damage that ignores physical defense (97 points).
- Elegy (Legendary Gem): If enhancement causes the weapon to shatter, Elegy will replace the inlaid weapon and shatter instead.
- Moon's Grace (Epic Gem): After each slash, gain the blessing of the Moon Goddess, temporarily granting the weapon a Haste effect, increasing slash speed by 6%. This effect can stack up to 3 times, lasting 12 seconds. Each stack resets the duration of the Haste effect. (If agility attribute is below 90 points, this effect is greatly reduced. If stamina attribute is below 100 points, this buff cannot be triggered.)
...
Su Xiao drew Dragon-Slaying Flash and attempted a forward slash. A blade arc appeared in midair. Not only that, silver moonlight clung to the surface of Dragon-Slaying Flash, slowly dissipating into silver light particles.
Zheng, zheng, zheng...
Dense silver slash marks appeared before Su Xiao. After over a dozen consecutive slashes, the effect of 'Moon's Grace' was fully triggered, increasing slash speed by a total of 18%.
Su Xiao could clearly feel a pure energy clinging to his right arm. This energy only adhered to his body surface, temporarily boosting his slash speed.
Before obtaining the Moon's Grace gem, Su Xiao had tried many methods to increase his sword-drawing speed. However, he found that most equipment below Legendary rank could not enhance his slash speed at all—not even by a fraction.
Equipment of different qualities naturally had different enhancement caps. Su Xiao had once seen a Light Gold quality ring that could increase slash speed by 50%. He was immediately tempted, but the moment he held the ring in his hand, a notification appeared.
[Hunter's slash intensity has severely exceeded the cap of this equipment. Using it carries high risk and provides no bonus effect.]
That Light Gold quality ring was expensive, so Su Xiao didn't buy it for testing. However, he did purchase a glove that could increase sword-drawing speed. That equipment was Blue quality, several times more expensive than similar items.
After Su Xiao wore that leather glove, not only did it fail to increase his slash speed, but after three slashes, the glove exploded—shattered into pieces.
It was through that experiment that Su Xiao learned equipment had strength caps. Some equipment seemed to offer high bonuses, but in reality, they were not even one percent as effective as high-rank equipment.
Before inlaying Moon's Grace, Su Xiao had worried that this gem's cap might not be high enough. Now, it seemed there was no need for concern. An 18% increase in slash speed was far from insignificant in actual combat.
During battle, even being a fraction faster could directly sever an enemy's head. At his level, let alone an 18% slash speed boost, even if it were only 5%, he would be willing to spend millions of Paradise Coins to obtain it.
"Very good."
Dragon-Slaying Flash spun in Su Xiao's hand before the long blade returned to its sheath.
With the gem inlaying complete, Su Xiao had other matters to attend to. He walked to the sofa, stripped off his upper garment, and placed his left hand flat on the coffee table.
"Amu, go to Laboratory Section C and retrieve Storage Box 15."
Hearing this, Amu stood up. To enemies, Amu was a brutal, bloodthirsty combat creature. But when facing Su Xiao, Amu was a reliable helper always at his beck and call.
Soon, Amu carried out a metal box two meters in diameter from the Alchemy Laboratory and gently set it down beside the coffee table.
With a puff, steam sprayed from the gaps in the metal box. The entire box opened, revealing various tools before Su Xiao.
Su Xiao picked up a micro particle cutter and began cutting the [King's Sovereign] bracer on his left arm. He had worn this item for a long time. As the enemies he faced grew stronger, several worlds ago, [King's Sovereign] had frequently suffered damage. Each time Lide repaired it, it was a headache, and removing it was very difficult.
By now, the durability cap of [King's Sovereign] was only 46 points. If not for Lide's exceptional repair skills, this item would have been permanently destroyed long ago. Now, to remove this bracer, Su Xiao had to cut it off piece by piece. Removing it intact was extremely difficult.
Sparks flew, and with a click, [King's Sovereign] was cut open from the center. Su Xiao hooked his fingers into the gap.
Click, click, click...
Metal twisted as [King's Sovereign] was pried apart. Su Xiao shook his left arm, and the now-useless bracer fell onto the coffee table.
Looking at the uneven scars on the surface of [King's Sovereign], Su Xiao suspected that even Lide wouldn't accept this item. It was severely metal-fatigued. As for selling it to other contractors, unless it was some clueless newbie, no one would buy it. Su Xiao had no interest in wasting time scamming newcomers.
He placed over a dozen tools and the discarded [King's Sovereign] into the metal box, then took out [Black·King's Fall Sacrifice] from his storage space. This was a pitch-black bracer. Su Xiao opened the entire bracer and fastened it onto his left arm.
[Black·King's Fall Sacrifice] shrank slightly to fit Su Xiao's left arm. After a moment of hesitation, he spent 15,000 Paradise Coins to change its appearance to a crimson red. His previous [King's Sovereign] had also been changed to this color. This wasn't about aesthetics.
If Su Xiao's left arm wasn't too severely injured, blood flowing onto his right hand would be inconspicuous, helping to conceal his wounds.
Su Xiao tried moving his fingers, now encased in the metal bracer. They were very flexible, with no sense of restriction or sluggishness.
Just as he finished putting on his shirt, news came from Beini. Except for the Ring of Silence, all other items had been sold, totaling 1.73 million Paradise Coins.
If it were just six unappraised Demon Fruits, they absolutely wouldn't fetch this price. The appraisal fee for Demon Fruits was almost close to their value. For example, buying an unappraised fruit for 300,000 Paradise Coins would require at least 250,000 Paradise Coins for appraisal.
Ordinary contractors wouldn't buy unappraised Demon Fruits. Such fruits could only be sold to merchants. Appraising them felt somewhat like opening treasure chests. An expensive Paramecia type might be worth millions of Paradise Coins, while a useless one wouldn't sell for even tens of thousands. Not only were they weak in combat and required long-term development, but they also added weaknesses. After all, this wasn't the One Piece world; it was the Reincarnation Paradise, where all kinds of abilities could appear.
With a large sum of Paradise Coins in hand, Su Xiao prepared to enhance his existing equipment. First was Dragon-Slaying Flash. He didn't plan to raise its enhancement level through conventional means. Instead, he would directly use [Steel's Trial] to boost Dragon-Slaying Flash to +13. This was related to the Elegy gem on it.
This was an insurance policy for Dragon-Slaying Flash. Unless absolutely necessary, Su Xiao wouldn't sacrifice this rare gem. For Dragon-Slaying Flash, Elegy's value was even higher than the Epic gem Moon's Grace. It could prevent losses from failed enhancements. If an enhancement caused Dragon-Slaying Flash to shatter, Su Xiao's combat power would plummet.
If Dragon-Slaying Flash could break through to Epic rank, subsequent enhancement level increases would still rely on Elegy.
[Yes/No to use 'Steel's Trial' on growth-type weapon·Dragon-Slaying Flash (Epic).]
Su Xiao confirmed directly. The highest quality Steel's Trial could enhance was Epic rank. Using it on Dragon-Slaying Flash was very worthwhile. Dragon-Slaying Flash, still in its sheath, was wrapped by chains.
[Estimated time required: 16 minutes, 57 seconds.]