Chapter 45: Origin
Inside the rest room, Su Xiao spent a total of 21,700 Paradise Coins to remove the metalization of his body. His injuries rapidly healed, and sensation returned to various parts of his body.
Two minutes later, Su Xiao tried moving his fingers, finding them as flexible as before. His entire body felt as if layers of shackles had been broken, becoming very relaxed.
Gu Shengyi's ability was quite troublesome. If not for the arena, her 'Rustification' ability would cause nearly irreversible damage to enemies, impossible to recover through conventional means unless one obtained a rare authority to cleanse the entire body or a high-rank recovery authority.
Most contractors who fought Gu Shengyi had to endure body metalization for several or even a dozen worlds, and some even died in the process of obtaining rare recovery authorities.
However, this was the arena, so Gu Shengyi's ability couldn't cause 'irreversible' effects.
Even so, Gu Shengyi was notorious. Even sixth-rank contractors were reluctant to provoke her easily.
Gu Shengyi's Azure Sea wasn't completely unsolvable. After she used this ability, a clone would appear in the seawater. Destroying this clone could break the Azure Sea.
The disgusting part was that attacking that clone would trigger backlash from the Azure Sea, causing part of the attacker's body to metalize. The more attacks, the larger the metalized area, and the location was random. If it randomly hit the brain, one would lose immediately.
Even more troublesome was that the clone shared the same origin as the Azure Sea, making it very difficult to find. Even if found, attacking it would still cause metalization.
And that wasn't the end. Even after breaking the Azure Sea, one still had to deal with Gu Shengyi's main body. This woman was very strong, ranking within the top three even without using the Azure Sea.
One of Su Xiao's goals in the arena was to fight enemies with all kinds of bizarre abilities. Gu Shengyi was the toughest opponent he had ever encountered.
[Hunter has been promoted to first place in the Fifth-Rank Paradise Arena.]
[Note: The Hunter must not disclose the following information to outsiders, or face forced execution punishment.]
[Congratulations, Hunter, on being promoted to first place.]
[If the Hunter is promoted to Sixth Rank, they will represent Reincarnation Paradise in the Strongest Warrior Battle!]
[Reincarnation Paradise's current available slots for the next Strongest Warrior Battle: 0/3 (The Hunter has reserved one slot).]
[In the Strongest Warrior Battle, the Hunter will encounter Sixth-Rank powerhouses from the Void, Primordial Worlds (Transcendent), and other Paradises.]
[If the Hunter places in the top five of the Strongest Warrior Battle, they will be allowed to freely enter certain areas of the Void.]
[Evaluating rewards...]
[Evaluation complete. Detected that the Law-Destroying Hall has been destroyed. The Hunter's Ultimate Skill: Azure Shadow King is in an unawakenable state (lacking key energy guidance).]
[If the Hunter places in the top three of the Strongest Warrior Battle, Reincarnation Paradise will temporarily simulate the Law-Destroying Hall. At that time, the Hunter can take this opportunity to awaken the Ultimate Skill: Azure Shadow King.]
...
Reading this prompt, Su Xiao suddenly understood. He had been wondering why the Law-Destroying Shadow's Ultimate Skill: Azure Shadow King couldn't be awakened. Its awakening progress had long reached 99%, but it just refused to awaken.
Su Xiao had once thought he hadn't comprehended something yet. Every time he asked Mawen Hua'erzi about it, the other party just smiled without speaking.
Now it seemed, the other party clearly knew that the Ultimate Skill: Azure Shadow King could no longer be awakened but didn't say it directly, probably worried that Su Xiao would try other methods to awaken it himself, which could very likely kill him.
It wasn't that Su Xiao hadn't comprehended something, but that external reasons prevented Azure Shadow King from awakening.
To awaken Azure Shadow King wasn't something one person could achieve. It was a method explored by many generations of Law Destroyers with their flesh and blood, with countless failures along the way, and many powerful Law Destroyers sacrificed themselves in the process. Unfortunately, that technique had been lost.
[Note: The Hunter's arena rewards have accumulated to the limit.]
[You have obtained an Origin Stone.]
[Origin Stone]
Origin: Reincarnation Paradise
Type: Special Equipment
Durability: 7000/7000
Equipment Effect: Heart's Guidance (Passive) — If the Hunter carries the Origin Stone, it enhances their comprehension of the world, nature, environment, and space.
Note: Blade Grandmaster improvement speed has been greatly boosted by this effect.
Note: Melee Combat Grandmaster improvement speed has been slightly boosted by this effect.
Note: Heart Meditation (Active/Passive) has been greatly boosted by this effect.
Description: When a Sixth-Rank or above Primordial World collapses, it forms a Devouring Black Hole that sucks in the remnants of the entire world. After long-term accumulation, compression, and qualitative change, there is a 0.572% chance of forming an Origin Stone.
Selling Price: Do not sell or lose this item. If the Hunter dies, Reincarnation Paradise will reclaim this item. If the Hunter's Fifth-Rank Paradise Arena ranking drops and the challenger also accumulates arena rewards to the limit, the Hunter will lose this item. If the Hunter maintains first place and is promoted to Sixth Rank, they will gain permanent ownership of this item.
...
A crystal emitting a faint golden light appeared in Su Xiao's hand. The Origin Stone's shape was similar to a pebble, with smooth lines. At its very center was a black dot. If one attached their mental energy to it, they would feel this dot continuously enlarge, eventually becoming a black vortex slowly rotating.
Su Xiao looked at the black vortex inside the Origin Stone, feeling as if his consciousness was about to enter it. The sense of relaxation was something he had never experienced before.
The world seemed to change. Various elements drifted slowly around Su Xiao, like little sprites. Some bumped into Su Xiao's arm, seemingly dazed, circling him a few times before flying away.
Su Xiao had always known that his elemental affinity wasn't low. On the contrary, his elemental affinity was higher than most spellcasters because Law Destroyers were elemental guardians. This was also the main conflict between Law Destroyers and spellcasters.
Su Xiao withdrew his mental energy, and the world returned to normal. The sight of being surrounded by elements was somewhat dazzling, especially the fire elements, which often liked to crowd in front of Su Xiao, completely unaware of how blinding they were.
Undoubtedly, the Origin Stone was of high value. It could enhance Su Xiao's comprehension of blade techniques. Of course, this item probably had other uses, but Su Xiao hadn't discovered them yet.
Carrying this item around was greatly beneficial for developing blade techniques, almost equivalent to being inside the Land of All Beings·First Layer, though without the phantom projections of other blade masters, making the efficiency of comprehending blade techniques much lower.
But if one carried this item into the Land of All Beings, developing blade techniques would become a very enjoyable experience.
Even so, the Origin Stone's value needed no further elaboration. Su Xiao only had usage rights for now. If someone else also climbed from tenth place with consecutive victories and eventually defeated him, this item would belong to them. If Su Xiao maintained first place and was promoted to Sixth Rank, he could permanently obtain the Origin Stone.
And the selling price's line — 'Do not sell or lose this item. If the Hunter dies, Reincarnation Paradise will reclaim this item' — also indicated its value.
Su Xiao didn't know if he was the strongest at Fifth Rank, nor did he have any particular obsession with being the arena's strongest. He was simply pursuing power, and before he knew it, he had reached first place.
Su Xiao let out a long breath. For some reason, he suddenly felt a sense of anticipation for his upcoming promotion world.