Chapter 60: Experience
After dining at Xia's restaurant, Su Xiao headed straight to Reid's forge.
Upon arriving at the forge, Su Xiao saw Reid hammering away at the anvil. The stocky Reid was exceptionally focused when forging equipment.
Do not do to others what you do not wish done to yourself. Su Xiao disliked being disturbed while practicing his blade techniques, so he didn't call out to Reid. Instead, he found a chair in the forge, sat down, and waited quietly. Reid's 'foster daughter,' Wo Wo, was crouched in a corner, her dirty little face streaked with tears, occasionally sniffing. She had clearly been scolded by Reid again. However, the bracelet on her wrist and the ruby pendant around her neck were obviously not ordinary items.
After waiting for nearly an hour, Reid placed the strip of metal in his hand into the furnace.
"When did you arrive?"
Reid fished two cans of ice-cold beer from the cooling liquid and casually tossed one to Su Xiao.
"59 minutes and 43 seconds ago."
"Cough, cough..."
Reid wiped the beer foam from his beard and sat down beside Su Xiao.
"Is something big about to happen soon?"
"Be more specific."
"I've been getting a lot of orders lately, all from the Void. Most are from races with moderate power. Weapon and armor orders are the most common—at least ten times the usual amount. If you're planning to go to the Void soon, you'd better be careful."
Reid set down his ice-cold beer and let out a long, cool breath.
"Powerhouse struggle..."
Su Xiao stopped mid-sentence.
"Hm? You mean... like that?"
Reid understood and stopped asking about it. Su Xiao removed most of his equipment and handed it to Reid for repairs.
"This long leather armor..." Reid shook his head and continued, "You'd better get new armor soon. This thing can only be repaired once or twice more. I'm not very good at repairing this kind of material."
"..."
Su Xiao said nothing. Seeing this, Reid began repairing the Black King Bracer and other equipment, as well as maintaining the Dragon-Slaying Flash.
While Reid was busy repairing the equipment, Su Xiao took a bone fragment from his storage space. This item was called Divine Bone and was of Holy Spirit rank.
Su Xiao was all too familiar with this item. Before obtaining this Divine Bone, he had always thought it was a material, since every time it appeared on the Soul Coin exchange list, it had no specific attributes.
But after obtaining this Holy Spirit-rank Divine Bone, Su Xiao discovered it wasn't a useless item on the exchange list.
[Divine Bone]
Origin: All worlds where deities exist
Quality: Holy Spirit Rank
Type: Synthesis-type Item
Effect: After collecting three Divine Bones of the same quality, they can be synthesized into a same-rank item, 'Divine Miracle.'
Divine Miracle (Holy Spirit Rank) Effect: Can upgrade any Epic-rank equipment to Holy Spirit rank.
Rating: 850 (Holy Spirit rank item rating is 700–1000 points)
Introduction: The miracle is right before your eyes.
Selling Price: 390,000 Paradise Coins.
The [Divine Miracle] synthesized from Divine Bones was something Su Xiao had obtained before, but that time it was of Legendary rank.
It was with the Legendary-rank [Divine Miracle] that Su Xiao upgraded Fate Dominator to Legendary rank.
From this, it was clear that [Divine Bone] was not a useless item. However, even if he had missed it, Su Xiao didn't feel regret. Compared to the Epic-rank Divine Bones he had previously had the chance to obtain, items like [Mother of White Goats] and [Natural Source] were clearly more valuable.
Missing out on Divine Bones meant there would be future opportunities to obtain them, but missing out on items like [Natural Source] meant losing them forever.
Su Xiao hoped to encounter more Ancient Gods in the future, since every encounter with them yielded rich rewards.
After waiting for nearly three hours, Su Xiao's equipment was all repaired and maintained. This round of repairs was mainly to prevent equipment from breaking during the upcoming battles. Before participating in the Powerhouse Struggle Tournament, Su Xiao would need Reid to repair his equipment once more.
Su Xiao left the forge and headed straight for the Trial Grounds.
Compared to other basic facilities, the Trial Grounds had very few people. Su Xiao wasn't here to train in the Land of All Beings this time, but to use the Trial Grounds' Combat Mode.
He had only used this mode once, back when he was First Rank, and never again. As for the Mirror Mode, he had stopped using it long ago—not because it was ineffective, but because training in the Land of All Beings was more efficient.
There were barely a hundred people in the Trial Grounds, most of them seemingly newcomers. Su Xiao stepped onto a teleportation array and began selecting a mode.
[Welcome, Hunter, to the Trial Grounds. Please select a mode.]
[Assistance Mode / Combat Mode]
[Hunter has selected Combat Mode. Determining intensity...]
[Determination complete. Please select enemy strength and quantity.]
[Enemy strength selected: Adaptive · Increasing Intensity.]
[Enemy quantity: Endless.]
[Hunter is attempting to disable life support measures. Please confirm again.]
[Life support measures disabled.]
[Combat Mode is about to begin.]
[Scene: Bitter Cold.]
[Hunter will be teleported to 'Ingmire (Extreme Winter Battlefield · Simulation).']
[Within this scene, 100,000 Paradise Coins will be consumed per hour.]
[Teleportation has begun.]
After a brief sensation of teleportation, Su Xiao arrived on a frozen tundra. A blizzard raged, the white-streaked black ground was hard, and a few weapons covered in icicles were stuck in the ground nearby.
100,000 Paradise Coins per hour. Su Xiao wasn't here to test his limits. There were plenty of opportunities for combat in mission worlds. This time, he came to the Trial Grounds to use an auxiliary-type scroll to enhance his blade technique.
[Bloody Trial]
Quality: Holy Spirit Rank
Type: Auxiliary-type Scroll (Extremely Rare)
Remaining Uses: 1/2
Effect: After use, assists in improving basic-type skills.
Note: The duration of 'Bloody Trial' is adaptive.
Note: After using 'Bloody Trial,' the user must engage in high-intensity combat to improve basic skill levels. The improvement depends on the method of use.
Rating: 998 points
Introduction: If you dare not face death, how can you transcend?
If a newcomer without experience obtained such an item, they would definitely use it in a mission world to improve their basic technique abilities.
Su Xiao didn't do that. He had many opportunities before, such as when fighting against the soldiers of the Northern Alliance—that would have been a perfect time to use [Bloody Trial].
There were too many variables in actual combat. Su Xiao didn't know what kind of enemies he would face, nor could he avoid unexpected incidents. He wasn't omniscient or omnipotent; he had weaknesses too.
Therefore, Su Xiao chose to use [Bloody Trial] in a controlled battle. To enhance the effect of [Bloody Trial], he disabled the Trial Grounds' protection mechanism. To avoid unexpected incidents, the enemies he needed to deal with were only a few types of Extreme Winter Battlefield soldiers.
An endless horde of Extreme Winter Battlefield soldiers would both avoid unknown events and maximize the effect of [Bloody Trial].
"Bagusa, kaka wuyu!"
A roar came from the distance. Su Xiao drew the long blade at his waist and crushed the [Bloody Trial] in his left hand.
Rumble...
The ground began to tremble. Soldiers covered in frost with icy blue eyes charged from all directions. If viewed from above, the Extreme Winter Battlefield soldiers seemed endless, surging toward Su Xiao like a tide from every direction—a spectacular sight.
Su Xiao clearly felt that the surrounding world had changed. The effect of [Bloody Trial] was obviously somewhat exaggerated, but he quickly figured out what was happening. The [Origin Stone] he carried with him had greatly enhanced the effect of [Bloody Trial].
'Blade Path Sword: Super · Ring Break.'
A crisp slashing sound rang out. With Su Xiao as the center, the surrounding Extreme Winter Battlefield soldiers fell in droves.