Chapter 51: Lv.70
The things Su Xiao wanted to sell to Divine Emperor were actually not many, including [Aidri: King's Set (8/8)], [Archery Grandmaster Scroll Lv.1], [Frozen Soul (Epic)], [Mechanical Blueprint 'Liquid-Impulse High-Pressure Ram'], and [Mechanical Blueprint 'CU: Mantis-Stinger Type 949 Particle Starship Cannon'].
When Divine Emperor saw the blueprint for the 'Mantis-Stinger Type 949 Particle Starship Cannon', he was stunned for a moment before reacting. This thing... was a starship cannon, and a particle starship cannon at that.
From Divine Emperor's previous reply, Su Xiao could sense confidence, so he took out items he had been holding onto for a long time to see if Divine Emperor was interested. He could consider selling the particle starship cannon blueprint at a discount.
Divine Emperor went to gather funds again, which would take a few hours. Su Xiao certainly wouldn't just wait in his exclusive room during that time.
Bringing Bubu Wang along, Su Xiao left his exclusive room and headed toward the Skill Upgrade Hall. He had just obtained the [Soul Gaze] scroll and naturally wanted to master it before upgrading this ability. Without being upgraded, [Soul Gaze] was actually not that impressive.
After stepping out, feeling hungry, Su Xiao first went to Xia's restaurant. Just as he reached the restaurant entrance, he saw a sign hanging on Xia's door that read: 'Due to poor management, this establishment is closed for 2 days.'
Su Xiao found this situation quite normal. Xia's lousy restaurant—if he hadn't gotten lost and been very hungry shortly after first entering Reincarnation Paradise, he would never have found this place. It wasn't just remote; you had to go through several alleys to get there. If Su Xiao didn't visit often, even he might forget where this restaurant was after some time.
Pushing the door open, Xia was contemplating life. She spoke weakly.
"We're not open today. Let me quietly think... Huh? What do you want to eat?"
"Anything."
"'Anything' is the hardest. How have you been lately?"
"Almost died."
"You didn't go looking for an Ancient God again, did you? I always feel that Ancient Gods are pitiful when they encounter you~"
Xia stretched lazily and went to the kitchen to work.
After a hearty meal at Xia's restaurant, Su Xiao stopped as soon as he stepped out. He had forgotten to pay. Given how bleak Xia's business was, if he forgot to pay again, the restaurant might really go under.
After settling the meal fees for the last few ranks, Su Xiao left.
Inside the restaurant, Xia sat blankly at the table. Only today did she suddenly realize how wealthy she actually was. Before long, the sign on the restaurant door was thrown into the trash, and business resumed.
...
Su Xiao walked into the Skill Upgrade Hall. Since a world progress had just ended, there were many contractors coming and going here.
As a Seventh Rank contractor like Su Xiao, there were naturally no bunny girls or cute girls to receive him. In fact, these 'cute creatures' didn't dare get close to Su Xiao at all. Just meeting his gaze made their legs feel weak with a trembling sensation. Even in an absolutely safe place like Reincarnation Paradise, looking at Su Xiao gave them a feeling of facing death.
These cute creatures were mainly responsible for guiding new contractors, teaching them how to use the facilities in the Skill Upgrade Hall to complete low-rank worker tasks.
In Reincarnation Paradise, to determine a contractor's or hunter's rank, no detection was needed—and it couldn't be detected anyway. You just sensed their aura.
When Su Xiao reached the inner part of the Skill Upgrade Hall, Bubu Wang had already run off somewhere. In Reincarnation Paradise, Bubu Wang was actually more familiar with the place than Su Xiao, since he often wandered around.
[Welcome to Skill Upgrade Pod No. 1957.]
[Verifying hunter as Seventh Rank and in possession of Soul Coins. Unlocking permissions...]
[7 types of permissions successfully unlocked. Hunter may view details.]
...
The Skill Upgrade Pod door closed and locked. Su Xiao glanced at the newly unlocked permissions and began operating the screen in front of him. It listed the abilities he could upgrade here, including:
[Goddess's Favor: Lv.50 (Passive Skill)]
[Firearms Mastery: Lv.36 (Passive Skill)]
Being able to upgrade Goddess's Favor didn't surprise Su Xiao, but being able to directly upgrade Firearms Mastery in the Skill Upgrade Pod was unexpected.
After checking, he learned this was due to the characteristics of Soul Coins. Soul Coins had the properties of Soul Crystals, allowing them to be used directly to upgrade the levels of three basic abilities: Basic, Mastery, and Grandmaster, without consuming Soul Crystals or Paradise Coins—only Soul Coins.
Grandmaster-level abilities couldn't be upgraded here; they required Soul Crystals (Complete).
Taking out the [Soul Gaze] scroll, Su Xiao crushed it. The scroll shattered in his hand, and an indescribable sensation appeared within him. A new ability sprouted, then gradually became mastered.
[Soul Gaze: Lv.1 (Passive Skill)]
Skill Effect: After negating a control effect, immediately counter the caster, causing them to be controlled by their own ability and suffer soul damage.
Tip: Can now counter First Rank control effects.
Tip: Damage intensity is Soul Strength difference × 0.4 soul damage.
Tip: This ability has no cost and no cooldown.
...
Su Xiao chose to prioritize upgrading Soul Gaze, followed by Firearms Mastery, and finally Goddess's Favor.
[Yes/No to upgrade Soul Gaze Lv.1. Upgrading this ability costs 1 Soul Coin.]
With such a cheap upgrade cost, Su Xiao chose to upgrade 10 levels consecutively.
[9 Soul Coins consumed.]
[Soul Gaze skill upgrading...]
Su Xiao's consciousness felt slightly hazy. The sensation wasn't unpleasant, and it vaguely allowed him to sense how to use soul power.
After more than ten minutes, the upgrade was complete.
[Soul Gaze has been upgraded to Lv.10. To continue upgrading, each Lv.1 costs 5 Soul Coins.]
Su Xiao chose to continue. The hazy feeling reappeared, but this time his mind was much clearer. In a daze, the upgrade completed again.
[Soul Gaze has been upgraded to Lv.20. To continue upgrading, each Lv.1 costs 10 Soul Coins.]
Upgrading to Lv.30 would cost 100 Soul Coins. It was starting to get a bit expensive but still acceptable. He continued.
This time, there was no hazy feeling. Su Xiao felt a very special energy merge into his eyeballs, making him want to close his eyes.
[Soul Gaze has been upgraded to Lv.30. To continue upgrading, each Lv.1 costs 20 Soul Coins.]
Su Xiao blinked his slightly sore eyes and chose to continue. As long as Soul Gaze was upgraded to a high level, this ability would remain effective even against big bosses.
Su Xiao had always felt that his Soul Strength hadn't brought direct lethality. Now was the opportunity to turn Soul Strength into combat power.
When Soul Gaze reached Lv.40, Su Xiao continued upgrading. This time, upgrading 10 levels required 500 Soul Coins.
Four hours later, Su Xiao blinked his sore eyes. After investing 2,159 Soul Coins, he had upgraded Soul Gaze to Lv.70!
[Soul Gaze: Lv.70 (Passive Skill)]
Skill Effect: After negating a control effect, immediately counter the caster, causing them to be controlled by their own ability and suffer soul damage.
Tip: Can now counter Seventh Rank control effects.
Tip: Damage intensity is 2,170 points of energy backlash damage + Soul Strength difference × 30.6 soul damage. If this damage intensity exceeds 60% of the enemy's maximum health, the enemy's soul will rapidly collapse, immediately resulting in soul execution!
Tip: After successfully soul-executing an enemy, their soul energy will attach to the hunter's equipped weapon, increasing 20% sharpness or 23.7% attack power or 32.5% defense (the three enhancement effects will be determined by the characteristics of the hunter's main weapon).
Tip: The hunter's main weapon is Dragon-Slaying Flash (Holy Spirit Rank). Soul energy will increase Dragon-Slaying Flash's sharpness by 20%, lasting 30 minutes.
Tip: This ability has no cost and no cooldown.
...
This was the ability Su Xiao obtained after spending a total of 5,459 Soul Coins. When facing many big bosses, he could negate their abilities, which also meant he could counter-control many of them. In intense battles, even a momentary pause could mean life or death.
The strongest aspect of this ability was actually when fighting contractors from other paradises, especially when a group of enemy contractors ganged up on Su Xiao.
Before eating the Soul Fruit, Su Xiao's Soul Strength was 8 points. That was after using a large number of Soul Crystals to upgrade his abilities, yet he only had 8 points of Soul Strength. At that time, he was Fourth Rank.
After eating the Soul Fruit, his Soul Strength reached 39 points. The Soul Fruit was a rare resource that both the Demon Race and the Feather Race had come to compete for their rising stars.
Even with a generous estimate, if a Seventh Rank contractor had 100 points of Soul Strength, as long as someone tried to control Su Xiao, they would suffer 2,170 points of energy backlash damage + 5,814 points of soul damage.
Even if they managed to withstand this despair-inducing soul damage, once the damage intensity exceeded 60% of their maximum health, soul execution was no joke.
It was worth mentioning that among the powerful enemies Su Xiao had encountered, Huge from Arcane Eternal Star had 193 points of Soul Strength—he specialized in soul cultivation. The Archbishop had 97 points. Could a Seventh Rank contractor really reach 100 points of Soul Strength? Without mastering soul-type abilities, not many could even reach 50 points.
After mastering Soul Gaze, Su Xiao was no longer just immune to control abilities. If a control-type contractor tried to control him, trying would mean dying.