Chapter 32: Imperial Armament Modification Blueprint (Fourth Update, Bonus for Alliance Leader ‘Maple Wind Drift’)
Su Xiao’s eyes sharpened instantly. Akame had definitely been here.
He carefully inspected the nearby walls but found no signs of damage. Using the hilt of Dragon-Slaying Flash, he lightly tapped the floor.
Thump, thump, thump.
There was empty space beneath the floorboards; the sound indicated a considerable cavity.
He quickly reversed his grip on Dragon-Slaying Flash and stabbed downward in a backhand motion. Not stopping there, he pulled the blade out and stabbed several more times.
Withdrawing Dragon-Slaying Flash, he found no blood on the tip. Su Xiao stomped hard on the floor.
With a crack, the floor gave way, revealing a pitch-black hole beneath.
Pulling out a high-powered flashlight and shining it down, Su Xiao discovered an underground passage. Without a second thought, Akame had definitely escaped through here.
“Can the Imperial guards be any dumber? The Imperial Capital is practically becoming the Night Raid’s base camp.”
Su Xiao cursed under his breath. This was the second time Akame had fled through such a tunnel, showing just how useless the Imperial guards were—they hadn’t even noticed a tunnel dug beneath their headquarters.
Enlarging the hole, Su Xiao flipped down into the passage.
A musty odor hit him. He shone the flashlight ahead; the underground tunnel had only one path.
The tunnel wasn’t very deep, about five or six meters underground. Judging by its state of decay, it was quite old, likely built long ago and discovered by Night Raid by chance.
The whole tunnel resembled a mining shaft, supported by wooden planks on the top and sides, with occasional metal frames. Without those frames, the tunnel would have long since collapsed. It looked like it could cave in at any moment, requiring some courage to venture deep.
Despite its dilapidated appearance, the tunnel’s structural mechanics were sound. Even though most of the wooden planks had rotted, the tunnel wouldn’t collapse anytime soon. After confirming it was relatively sturdy, he began to walk forward slowly.
This pursuit of Akame wasn’t entirely fruitless; he had inadvertently developed an ability.
After his Azure Steel Shadow energy invaded an enemy’s body, he could sense their location within a certain range.
The Azure Steel Shadow energy acted like a beacon, and he was the only one who could perceive it.
This ability was excellent for tracking—once he wounded an enemy, they couldn’t escape for a while.
The reason Akame had evaded him for so long was purely because Su Xiao was unfamiliar with the Imperial Capital’s terrain.
After advancing through the underground passage for a while, Su Xiao spotted a pool of blood on the ground. Nearby was a piece of inner clothing. Examining the left side of the garment, he found a tear—this was left by Akame.
He moved quickly through the tunnel. After about ten minutes, a fork appeared before him.
This time, there were no more clues. He had to choose left or right. Picking correctly would let him catch up to Akame; picking wrong would mean losing her.
When faced with a fork, people instinctively choose the right side. This wasn’t baseless.
Most people write with their right hand and lift their right hand first for any action. Su Xiao held his blade with his right hand. Over time, people develop a habit of favoring the right.
Since it was a matter of luck anyway, he chose the right.
Entering the right fork and walking for half an hour, Su Xiao knew he had chosen wrong—it was a dead end.
It wasn’t that Su Xiao’s reasoning was flawed; rather, Akame had been in this tunnel before and knew the right side was a dead end.
A mound of collapsed earth blocked the way. Su Xiao had to turn back. Just as he did, his peripheral vision caught a faint metallic glint atop the collapsed dirt pile.
He tried stabbing at that spot with Dragon-Slaying Flash. A crisp clang rang out—why would there be a metal door in this abandoned tunnel?
Su Xiao had already been in this fork for half an hour. Even at full speed, it would take over ten minutes to return. Forty-plus minutes would be enough for Akame to vanish without a trace.
Instead, this metal door piqued Su Xiao’s curiosity. Not just curiosity—hidden locations in derivative worlds could yield good items. Some contractors even compiled data on these spots, selling it for 15,000 Paradise Coins under the name “Secret Realm Compendium.”
From his storage space, he pulled out a white-quality shield and used it as a shovel to dig at the dirt.
This shield was obtained in the Giant world, with a rating of only 3 and in a damaged state. The repair cost alone would buy a new one—it was the kind of item that was neither useful nor worth keeping.
After a few minutes, Su Xiao cleared the dirt in front of the metal door, revealing a heavily rusted iron door.
At the center of the door, a faint emblem was visible—the Imperial flag.
To open this rusted-shut door, brute force was the only option. Su Xiao gripped his blade with both hands, braced his waist, and took a deep breath before striking.
Clang.
A massive recoil jolted his hands numb, but the metal door only showed a two-centimeter-deep gash.
Given Dragon-Slaying Flash’s current sharpness, cutting through iron like mud wasn’t an exaggeration, yet it had little effect on this door. At this rate, he would need considerable effort to break through.
This didn’t discourage Su Xiao; instead, it excited him. Why build a door so sturdy? Obviously, there was treasure inside.
Killing Akame would only yield a chest, and whether it contained good loot depended on luck—and his luck had never been great.
But exploring a secret realm like this was different. The value of items in a secret realm was fixed, with no element of chance. For example, the warehouse where he obtained Dragon-Slaying Flash in the One Piece world was a small secret realm.
There were many such examples: the vertical shaft in the underground central city of the Ghoul world’s 24th Ward was a medium-sized secret realm, and the basement of Eren’s house in the Giant world was a small one.
Of course, the term “secret realm” was coined by contractors. Calling these places treasure rooms or something was fine, but “secret realm” was more widely used.
Clang, clang, clang…
Su Xiao began to wrestle with the metal door. Dragon-Slaying Flash was exceptionally durable now; this level of hacking wouldn’t damage its durability.
An hour later, drenched in sweat, Su Xiao leaned against the tunnel wall, gulping down water. Today’s experience could only be described as fantastical.
He had gone from hunting an enemy to treasure hunting—a shift in tone that was astonishing.
Finally, through his persistent effort, the metal door was breached with a hole just big enough for a person to squeeze through.
Shining the flashlight inside, he saw a long corridor beyond the door, also made of earth and wood, with planks supporting the surrounding soil.
Su Xiao crawled through the hole in the metal door. Unlike the stale air in the tunnel, the air inside was much fresher. There must be ventilation shafts here, making it habitable for long periods.
After entering, Su Xiao moved with extreme caution, gradually exploring the corridor.
At the end of the corridor was another door, this time wooden. Su Xiao kicked it open.
Bang.
Wood splinters flew as the door shattered, revealing a small room.
Click, click.
The sound of mechanisms working came from within, and a sickly green gas spewed out.
A stinging sensation spread across his skin, and his eyes burned.
Su Xiao quickly retreated a few steps, escaping the poison gas’s range.
Shining the flashlight into the room, he saw a metal workbench. On it were test tubes and other apparatus, and in front of the workbench lay a skeleton.
Not only were there numerous experimental instruments on the workbench, but at its center was a parchment-like item.
That parchment was about half a meter in size, with a beautiful purple luster occasionally flickering across it.
Su Xiao took a deep breath, then charged into the lab. The moment he stepped inside, his health points plummeted like water flowing away. He would die here within thirty seconds at most.
Rushing into the room, he grabbed the parchment without a second glance and sprinted back out.
Stinging pain radiated from all over his body. He pulled out a recovery item and downed it in one gulp, finally easing the discomfort.
“Huff… huff…”
Clutching the smooth-textured parchment, Su Xiao panted heavily.
“This time… I might have hit the jackpot.”
Seeing the notification from Reincarnation Paradise, Su Xiao’s face lit up with joy.
Imperial Armament Modification Blueprint
Origin: Akame ga Kill!
Quality: Purple
Category: Design Blueprint
Synthesis Requirements:
Main Material: One biological-type Imperial Armament + Super Dangerous Species Essence.
Sub-Material: Any five item-type Imperial Armaments.
Note: The compatibility between the main material’s “biological-type Imperial Armament” and “Dangerous Species Essence” must exceed 60%. (For example, a humanoid biological Imperial Armament cannot be synthesized with a beast-type essence.)
Note: A minimum of five “item-type Imperial Armaments” is required for the sub-material; up to seven can be added on the blueprint.
Note: The quantity of sub-material “item-type Imperial Armaments” will determine the success rate and the quality of the resulting Imperial Armament.
Rating: 89 (Note: Purple items have a rating range of 71 to 150; higher-rated items are more valuable.)
Description: This design blueprint was created by the original craftsman who forged Imperial Armaments. His dream was to forge the ultimate Imperial Armament.
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