Chapter 51: Breaking the Limit
The soul crystals (complete) placed beside Su Xiao shattered one by one, and a large amount of soul crystal fragments floated around him, creating a spectacular sight. To obtain these soul crystals, Su Xiao had risked danger countless times. Now, it was time to reap the rewards.
The light before Su Xiao's eyes gradually faded. When his vision returned, he was standing atop a snow-covered mountain.
A blizzard raged, and fierce winds howled. Dozens of meters ahead of Su Xiao stood six figures, their bodies entirely composed of soul crystals.
Without any visible movement from these transparent figures, they appeared around Su Xiao.
‘World…’
‘Annihilation!’
With a crashing sound, the six figures made of soul crystals shattered and surged toward Su Xiao. Streaks of slashing light cut through the flying snow, tearing through the sky.
A massive ice dragon fell from the sky. As it crashed to the ground, meteors rained down from above.
Boom, boom, boom…
The earth shattered. Su Xiao felt a pulling force from behind. When he opened his eyes again, he was back in his exclusive room, still sitting cross-legged on the bed.
“World… Annihilation.”
Su Xiao muttered under his breath, his right hand unconsciously gripping the hilt of Dragon-Slaying Flash.
“Woof awooo~!”
Bubu Wang’s somewhat strained howl came through. The dog had fully recovered and was now cowering in the corner, with Beini crouched on its head, also pressed tightly against the wall.
Su Xiao let out a long breath, suppressing the urge to slash out with his blade. If he did, there would hardly be any intact furniture left in the exclusive room.
Su Xiao had seen many things just now, including the lifelong insights of six blade masters. One of them had slain a dragon, another had cut through the world he lived in, and the remaining four each had their own formidable feats.
Although Su Xiao didn’t acquire the blade techniques of those masters, the insights he gained were enough to raise his own blade skill level.
[Blade Grandmaster has been upgraded to Lv.32.]
[Blade Grandmaster has awakened a new ultimate ability: Extreme Blade.]
[Blade Grandmaster: Lv.32 (Passive Skill)]
Skill Effect: Increases blade-type weapon attack power by 517% (increase of 54%), neural reflex speed +139% (increase of 30%), immunity to mental-type control, immunity to mind-type seduction, inducement, etc.
Initial Additional Ability: Rhythm of All Things X++ (broke through the upper limit by two ranks).
Lv.10 Ultimate Ability: Phantom Flash (self-developing, nature has changed; upon completion, this ability will become independent, 95% developed).
Lv.20 Ultimate Ability: Soul Blade (Passive), immune to 50% soul damage, negates one fatal slashing effect that threatens life.
Lv.30 Ultimate Ability: Extreme Blade (Passive/Active), when using any blade-type technique, this ability can be activated. The power of the executed blade technique will be significantly enhanced (power increase between 16% and 35%, varying by technique).
Tip: If this ability is actively activated, physical stamina consumption will greatly increase when using blade techniques.
Tip: During combat, the Extreme Blade ability has a chance to be passively triggered. Passive triggering has no cost and permanently enhances the hunter’s blade technique insights.
…
After reviewing the improvements to his blade skill, Su Xiao was very satisfied. Just the basic effect enhancement alone meant that even if he were given a white-quality long blade, he could unleash the power of a dark purple or even light gold blade.
As for the newly acquired ability, Extreme Blade, it was quite formidable and had two modes.
First, when Su Xiao executed a blade technique, he could activate this ability. For example, just before using “Blade Dao Sword: Blood Blade,” he could activate Extreme Blade to boost its power, with the enhancement effect being “technique power increase between 16% and 35%.”
Based on Su Xiao’s estimation, after activating Extreme Blade 5 to 8 times, he might become exhausted.
As for the second effect, it was even stronger. This was the passive triggering of the Extreme Blade effect, with no cost. When Su Xiao used a blade technique, there would be a flash of inspiration—that was Extreme Blade triggering. In layman’s terms, the blade technique used this time would be enhanced.
After upgrading his blade skill, Su Xiao began to consider which ability to enhance with the 2 golden skill points.
After much thought, he felt that upgrading “Slaughter Shadow” would yield the highest returns. It would not only increase the power of Banishment but also enhance the strength of the Azure Steel Shadow’s defensive form.
Initially, the defensive form of Azure Steel Shadow wasn’t very strong because Su Xiao had been using Azure Steel Shadow energy to form a shield wall, which lacked concentrated defense.
It wasn’t until Su Xiao developed the crystal layer form, which could cling to his body surface, that the defensive power became several times greater than the energy shield wall. It had already saved him from countless fatal attacks.
Therefore, Su Xiao decided to upgrade “Slaughter Shadow.”
[Yes/No to consume golden skill points to upgrade Slaughter Shadow.]
After Su Xiao confirmed, a burning sensation surged within him. This feeling was exactly the same as when he first obtained “Slaughter Shadow.”
Within just a few seconds, most of Su Xiao’s body went numb, and he nearly fell off the bed.
Although the upgrade process only took over ten minutes, it felt very long to Su Xiao. By the time the Slaughter Shadow ability was fully upgraded, his face was covered in cold sweat.
[Slaughter Shadow, X++ (Exclusive Growth Ability)]
Skill Effect: Increases the intensity of the Proud Song state by 230%. Allows Azure Steel Shadow energy to be transformed into a solid state for external release and controlled within a 75-meter range.
Tip: The strength, lethality, speed, elemental penetration, and controllability of the solidified Azure Steel Shadow energy depend on the intelligence attribute (current true intelligence attribute is 120 points).
Tip: The overall strength of this ability can increase as Azure Steel Shadow energy improves.
…
Under Su Xiao’s control, the Banishment attached to his sleeve detached and circled around him. Based on combat experience, he no longer used Banishment as a regular weapon, as that would greatly reduce its combat value.
Banishment was better suited for delivering a fatal blow at a critical moment. If Su Xiao fought an enemy to the point of exhaustion, a sudden thrust from Banishment could be decisive. Otherwise, it could only be used to restrain the enemy.
For example, when dealing with Aokiji, Kizaru, and Akainu, Su Xiao had used Banishment as a regular weapon. The result was obvious: initially, the three were caught off guard, but they quickly found ways to counter it, reducing Banishment’s effectiveness by more than half.
After completing the attribute upgrade, blade skill upgrade, and Slaughter Shadow upgrade, Su Xiao planned to enhance his close combat abilities.
Once all four were done, his strength would undergo a earth-shaking change. As for where to test it, the arena was the perfect choice.
Su Xiao left his exclusive room. Having upgraded his blade skill and Slaughter Shadow, he had roughly adapted to his current physical condition, at least enough not to bump into low-rank contractors.
Once he completed the enhancement of his close combat abilities, he would fully adapt to his current physical state.
In less than half an hour, Su Xiao arrived at the trial ground and activated the “Close Combat Grandmaster Trial Token.”
[Tip: Trial permission has been activated.]
[Drafting…]
[Soul mirror images constructed: 109.]
[The hunter will undergo an overload trial lasting 10 to 15 hours. Completing the overload trial will raise the close combat basic ability to Grandmaster level Lv.12 to Lv.20.]
[Checking hunter’s pain tolerance…]
[Check complete. The basic standard for the overload trial has been met.]
[Teleportation begins.]
…
“Pain tolerance…”
Su Xiao had just spoken when the space-time force enveloped him, and a very ominous feeling surged in his heart.