Chapter 26: Envy
“Are you stupid? Run!”
Nita pulled the rapier from her chest, tossed it lightly, and gripped the hilt.
Shang Yue was silent for a moment, then took out a small piece of white wax and charged into the black mist. At a time like this, hesitation would make her a useless teammate.
Just as Shang Yue reached the doorway, Baha blocked her path, looking somewhat frustrated—he couldn’t fly right now.
The smile gradually faded from Nita’s face. The reason she didn’t flee was that she knew she couldn’t escape.
As for why she was covering Shang Yue’s escape—was it out of friendship? Not at all. Nita was a very clever woman. She knew she had stumbled into a huge mess. Though she wasn’t yet sure how big this mess was, if she handled it poorly, everyone connected to her would die, wiped out to the last person.
To resolve this trouble, there were two methods: first, create a false impression that she and Shang Yue had developed a deep friendship, making everything seem plausible; second, kill Su Xiao, thereby cutting off the origin of the big trouble.
Clearly, killing Su Xiao was harder, so Nita chose the former.
Just as Nita was pondering whether there were any loopholes, a long blade had already swung toward her. Instinctively, she crossed her rapier in front of her.
*Clang.*
The rapier snapped on impact. The long blade slashed across Nita’s throat, blood spraying. Her physical defense was practically nonexistent against the edge of Dragon-Slaying Flash.
Nita’s eyes widened as she realized that Su Xiao was far stronger than before.
Even with her throat cut, Nita didn’t give up the fight. She twisted her body, trying to lunge sideways.
Opening!
Su Xiao’s foot, moving so fast it left afterimages, kicked straight into Nita’s abdomen.
*Bam!*
Nita slammed into the wooden wall behind her, her entire body going numb.
*Pfft.*
The long blade pierced through Nita’s chest, skewering her heart, the tip embedding into the wooden wall behind her.
“Cough~”
Nita coughed up specks of blood. Against Su Xiao at full power, she didn’t even have a chance to counterattack.
“I have… no use value, huh? I really envy… that silly, big-winged noble lady… for having monsters like you… keeping her alive.”
With those words, Nita’s arms drooped.
Su Xiao pulled out his blade and walked to the door, where Baha was lying on the ground.
“Stop playing dead.”
“Caw caw caw, boss, great acting, right?”
Baha got up, shaking the feathers off its body. This was Shang Yue’s second escape, but she hadn’t noticed Baha’s acting earlier. From her perspective, the first escape was due to good feigned death, and the second was because Nita was covering for her.
Su Xiao pulled a gray stone from his pocket—something from an old demon. He clenched his hand.
*Crack.*
Cracks appeared on the gray stone.
“Now’s not a good time to contact.”
An aged voice came from within the gray stone.
“A female member of the Feather Race. I’ve run into her twice. When the gray stone touched her, it gave off considerable heat. Ask that old geezer from the Feather Race—if she’s not important, I’ll kill her on the side.”
“Wait.”
“Alright.”
The gray stone in Su Xiao’s hand was covered in cracks. At this rate, it would shatter completely after two more uses.
About five minutes later, the gray stone in Su Xiao’s hand grew warm.
“Not important. Kill her.”
“Oh.”
“Not going to extort something? Running into her twice must have been troublesome.”
The aged voice let out a low laugh—the chuckle of an old demon.
“Can I?”
“Of course. Wait there. The Feather Race will figure something out.”
The heat on the gray stone dissipated. Su Xiao lit a cigarette and waited inside the wooden hut. About half an hour later, a rustling sound came from outside.
A small black hand reached out from the black mist, placed a small wooden jar at the door, and then withdrew.
[Prompt: The Void Tree’s notarization mechanism has been triggered.]
[Verifying…]
[Verification complete. This is a legitimate gain.]
[Notarization complete.]
Seeing this prompt, Su Xiao stepped forward and picked up the small wooden jar from the ground.
[You have obtained Sakura Wind Wine.]
[Sakura Wind Wine]
Origin: Void · Feather Race · Sakura Wind Forest
Quality: Holy Spirit Rank
Type: Recovery Item / Permanent Enhancement Item.
Effect 1: If consumed during combat, immediately restores 100% Health/Mana and removes all abnormal statuses of Seventh Rank or below.
Prompt: This item’s recovery effect remains fully effective even after breaking through the 150-point True Stamina attribute barrier.
Prompt: The Sakura Wind Wine in this jar can be consumed three times.
Effect 2: If consumed outside of combat, permanently increases 2500 Health and 1100 Mana, permanently increases 2 points of True Strength, and 3 points of True Agility.
Rating: 1000 (Holy Spirit Rank item ratings range from 700 to 1000 points).
Introduction: A hidden treasure of the Feather Race.
Selling Price: 635,000 Paradise Coins.
Seeing the properties of [Sakura Wind Wine], Su Xiao was quite satisfied. However, the item’s prompts reminded him of something.
Breaking through the 150-point attribute barrier should be a major milestone. At that point, the True Attribute that breaks through would grant a reward effect for reaching 150 points—this applied to Strength, Agility, Stamina, and Intelligence alike.
The 150-point attribute barrier, Su Xiao felt, would be even harder to break than the 80-point one. This might be the line dividing Seventh Rank from Sixth Rank.
From the [Sakura Wind Wine] data, once Stamina broke through 150 points, the recovery items Su Xiao currently used—namely, the Ancient Secret Medicine—would likely become unusable.
It wasn’t that the Ancient Secret Medicine would have no recovery effect after Stamina broke 150 points, but rather that the recovery effect would decrease exponentially.
After Su Xiao’s many improvements, the Ancient Secret Medicine could restore 90% Health. But if Stamina broke through 150 points, the recovery effect might drop to 10–15%.
Don’t think that’s low—it’s still a relatively optimistic guess. Currently, Su Xiao’s Stamina was 140 points, and the Ancient Secret Medicine still worked, but the recovery speed was getting slower.
If, when Su Xiao’s Stamina was 100 points, drinking the Ancient Secret Medicine took only 2–3 seconds to achieve maximum recovery, now it took at least 12–23 seconds to reach that effect.
This was also why Su Xiao wouldn’t risk drinking the Ancient Secret Medicine during fights with strong enemies—the recovery was too slow. If an enemy seized the opportunity, 10 seconds would be enough to kill him, let alone 23.
[Sakura Wind Wine] was a lifesaver. Consumed during battle, it immediately restored 100% Health/Mana, usable three times.
Outside of combat, drinking the entire [Sakura Wind Wine] at once permanently increased 2500 Health, 1100 Mana, 2 points of True Strength, and 3 points of True Agility.
Just the attribute increase alone was equivalent to about a third of the attribute points Su Xiao would get from an S-rank comprehensive evaluation.
And that was on top of the 2500 Health and 1100 Mana boost.
Whether to use it as a recovery item or drink it all at once for permanent enhancement—there was no choice to make.
Tearing open the jar’s seal, Su Xiao downed the Sakura Wind Wine in a few gulps. It was slightly spicy at first, but after swallowing, it left a faint sweetness.
“Ha~”
Su Xiao exhaled a breath of alcohol. The enhancement effect was gentle; his body was gradually growing stronger. In a few hours, the improvement would be fully complete.
Those two old geezers were generous. Looking at the empty wooden jar in his hand, Su Xiao almost felt like catching Shang Yue again. Ordinary enemies only dropped treasure chests when killed, but Shang Yue was a “special individual”—reusable. Catching her once yielded good stuff.
Just as Su Xiao was about to stand up, he felt a slight tipsiness. The [Sakura Wind Wine] hadn’t seemed strong when he drank it, but after a while, it clearly went to his head.