Chapter 66: The Qualitative Change of Blade Mastery
Su Xiao had accumulated for a long time before raising his Blade Mastery to Lv.49, and now he could finally raise it to Lv.50.
Choosing to raise Blade Mastery, the 100 Soul Crystals in the wooden box in front of Su Xiao shattered, merging into his body.
A roar sounded in his ears, and Su Xiao felt as if he had fallen into the deep sea. Powerful pressure appeared around him. If his body were not strong enough, he would have been crushed to death by the water pressure.
A falling sensation appeared, and the squeezing sensation around him grew stronger. Reaching a certain critical point, the heavy pressure around him suddenly disappeared. This seemed to be a test, testing whether Su Xiao's body could withstand Lv.50 Blade Grandmaster.
The falling sensation abruptly stopped. Su Xiao opened his eyes. A 'weakness' came from all over his body. His physical attributes had shockingly returned to what they were before he entered Reincarnation Paradise, when he was still an ordinary person.
Heavy footsteps came from ahead. A tall figure walked out of the darkness. His armor was tattered, and he held a long-handled greatsword. It was the Butcher of Life.
The sound of wind breaking came from ahead. Su Xiao's hand rose at a speed completely mismatched with his current physical attributes, grabbing the oncoming decapitating greatsword.
With a crack, the Butcher of Life's greatsword stopped and suddenly shattered. The invisible shackles on Su Xiao's body burst open. The weakness completely receded, and his physical attributes recovered. Everything just now was only an illusion; this test was of the mind.
The falling sensation appeared again. As soon as Su Xiao's vision recovered, two large hands grabbed him. A sense of restraint from the soul appeared.
Crack, crack, crack...
Everything around began to shatter again. With Su Xiao's soul strength, he easily passed this test.
The three tests of body, mind, and soul ended. Everything around Su Xiao shattered, and darkness enveloped him again.
Clang, clang, clang...
The sound of hammering came from the darkness ahead. With each hammer blow, large patches of light particles splashed out from the darkness ahead, dazzlingly beautiful.
The light particles illuminated the face of a strong old man. His skin was rough, and the beard on his chin was braided into a thick braid. It was the Old Man of Forging Light. Su Xiao had seen him once before.
"Extreme evil blade wielder, you're here again. This time you must answer me, why did you take up the blade in your hand?"
"To become stronger."
Su Xiao answered without hesitation. He took up the sharp blade in his hand precisely to pursue greater strength.
"Hmm, not bad. Sounds better than those hypocritical lies. But since you already have a Soul Blade, there's no need for me to forge one for you."
The Old Man of Forging Light continued hammering the light blade on the anvil. After a moment.
"Take it. Since you already have a Soul Blade, your soul power is a weapon that can be attached to your blade."
The Old Man of Forging Light waved his hand. The light blade on the anvil flew up, heading straight for Su Xiao.
The scene before Su Xiao's eyes blurred. The next instant, he appeared in his Exclusive Room, still sitting on the sofa. The spatial fluctuations slowly dissipated.
[Blade Grandmaster has been raised to Lv.50.]
[Blade Grandmaster abilities are being separated...]
[Your neural reflex speed is permanently increased by 233%. This was the bonus from Blade Grandmaster Lv.49. Blade Grandmaster will now enhance base neural reflex speed.]
[Blade Grandmaster Lv.10 Ultimate Ability: Rhythm of All Things (Passive)++++++ has been transformed into an independent ability (Passive type). It can be viewed in the skill list.]
...
Seeing these prompts, Su Xiao knew that Blade Mastery had undergone a qualitative change. The original bonuses were stripped out separately. Rhythm of All Things (Passive) was now an independent passive ability, viewable in the skill list.
[Prompt: Because Blade Grandmaster has reached Lv.50, you may choose one of the following two abilities as the Lv.50 Ultimate Ability of Blade Grandmaster.]
[Soul Edge (Passive): When attacking with a blade-type weapon, it will deal soul damage equal to your own Soul Strength × 3.2 (928 points of soul damage).]
[Soul Potential (Passive): For each level of Blade Grandmaster raised, increase True Strength, Agility, Stamina, and Willpower by 1 point, as well as 800 Health Points and 600 Mana Points.]
...
A difficult choice appeared: make the blade in hand sharper, or choose Soul Potential.
After weighing the options, Su Xiao decided to choose 'Soul Edge (Passive)'. The reason was that attributes like Strength, Agility, Stamina, Health Points, and Mana Points could be improved through other means. As for soul damage abilities that are actively triggered, he had only seen this one. Soul Gaze required being controlled to trigger, unlike Soul Edge (Passive), which cuts the soul with every slash.
A single slash dealing 928 points of soul damage was quite considerable in lethality. Combined with Azure Steel Shadow's 1254 points of True Damage per slash, the effect on an enemy could be imagined.
[Prompt: You have chosen 'Soul Edge (Passive)' as the Blade Grandmaster Lv.50 Ultimate Ability.]
[Blade Grandmaster: Lv.50 (Passive Skill)]
Skill Effect: Blade-type weapon attack power increased by 691% (increased by 12%), Base Neural Reflex Speed +10 points, damage rank of blade-type weapon attacks +1.
Lv.10 Ultimate Ability: Mind Blade (Passive), immune to mental-type control, immune to mind-type seduction, inducement, etc.
Lv.20 Ultimate Ability: Soul Blade (Passive)
Lv.30 Ultimate Ability: Blade's Extreme (Passive/Active)
Lv.40 Ultimate Ability: Mind · Soul · Blade (Passive)
Lv.50 Ultimate Ability: Soul Edge (Passive), when attacking with a blade-type weapon, deals soul damage equal to your own Soul Strength × 3.2 (928 points of soul damage).
...
Su Xiao tried to raise Blade Grandmaster Lv.50. A prompt appeared, requiring 100 Soul Crystals (Complete) + 500 Paradise Coins per level.
Seeing this prompt, Su Xiao breathed a sigh of relief. He wasn't afraid of high consumption, only that Blade Grandmaster couldn't be raised.
As for Soul Crystals (Complete), he could exchange more with Tuanzhang next time, since the other party had taken out 300 Soul Crystals (Complete) without even blinking.
He had 200 Soul Crystals (Complete) left. Su Xiao planned to use these to raise his Melee Combat Grandmaster ability, thereby cultivating a combat system with Blade Mastery as the main and Melee Combat Grandmaster as the supplement. After becoming a member of the Starry Sky Seat, he already had the resources to develop dual Grandmasters.
[Yes/No to raise Melee Combat Grandmaster Lv.36. Raising this ability requires Soul Crystal · Complete × 15 + 500,000 Paradise Coins.]
Su Xiao didn't hesitate. He consumed 60 Soul Crystals (Complete) and 2,000,000 Paradise Coins to raise Melee Combat Grandmaster by 4 levels.
One by one, the Soul Crystals shattered. Su Xiao stood up and sat cross-legged on the carpet, carefully sensing the changes in his body and the various techniques that flashed through his mind.
[Prompt: Detected that the Melee Combat Grandmaster mastered by the Hunter has a special nature. This ability does not possess branch techniques such as bare-handed combat or close-quarters grappling. This ability has undergone a transformation.]
[Melee Combat Grandmaster has transformed into Melee Grandmaster.]
Su Xiao checked the raising cost. Melee Grandmaster Lv.40 required 30 Soul Crystals (Complete) and 700,000 Paradise Coins per level.
He chose to continue raising Melee Grandmaster. This ability was different from Blade Mastery; there were fewer aspects of enlightenment, and it focused more on 'instant capture ability' during combat.
Nearly two hours later, Melee Grandmaster was fully raised to Lv.44. Only 20 of the 300 Soul Crystals (Complete) remained.
[Melee Grandmaster: Lv.44 (Passive Skill)]
Skill Effect: During melee combat, kick attack power increased by 608% (increased by 64%), Neural Reflex Speed +99% (increased by 20%), Dynamic Vision +99% (increased by 20%), melee combat techniques and reaction abilities greatly enhanced.
Initial Attached Ability: Physical defense increased by 25%, immune to all physical control effects derived from attributes lower than your own Strength and Agility. When forcibly breaking free from physical control effects, judgment correction increased by 30 points.
Lv.10 Ultimate Ability: Power Penetration · Kick Technique Basic Enhancement (Passive)...
Lv.20 Ultimate Ability: Power Penetration · Kick Technique First Enhancement (Passive)...
Lv.30 Ultimate Ability: Power Penetration · Kick Technique Second Enhancement (Passive)...
Lv.40 Ultimate Ability: Power Penetration · Kick Technique Third Enhancement (Passive): When using kick techniques for armor breaking or shield breaking, power is increased by 3 to 5 times (if performing a maximum power straight kick, it can instantly shatter Holy Spirit rank shields or armor. The degree of shattering depends on the enemy item's rating, whether it is reinforced, and whether defense gems are socketed).
...
Su Xiao's Melee Grandmaster ability was entirely concentrated on one kick. This almost insane accumulation made his kick technique reach a somewhat terrifying level. One kick down, an ordinary Holy Spirit rank shield would shatter directly. Even a reinforced Holy Spirit rank shield would be kicked full of cracks, then the shield would be broken with a single slash.
With the ability upgrade complete, Su Xiao began to wait for the stay time limit to arrive, after which he would enter a new world. After waiting for less than an hour, a large number of prompts appeared.
[Prompt: The Hunter is about to enter a new world. Due to the Hunter's choice to delay entry, the number of worlds available for matching this time has been significantly reduced.]
[Screening successful. The Hunter voluntarily participates in the Paradise Trial (can be declined).]
[Participants in this Survival Trial: Reincarnation Paradise, Apocalypse Paradise, Death Paradise, Holy Light Paradise, Watchful Paradise. Certified by the Void Tree.]
[World opening time: 1 hour 05 minutes later.]
[Total participants from all five sides: 324 Seventh Rank Contractors (including Battle Angels, Pioneers, etc.).]
[Within this world, all Contractors will be divided into two factions: Hunters and Survivors.]
[Survivors must survive for 15 days, or kill 1 Hunter, or complete 3 or more side missions to pass the survival assessment.]
[Hunters must kill at least 5 Survivors from other Paradise factions to complete the trial.]
[The identities of Survivors and Hunters will not be made public and cannot be detected through any equipment or abilities. Faction identity has absolute priority.]
[Number of Survivors: 300 people.]
[Number of Hunters: 24 people (If the Hunter chooses to enter this world, due to the Hunter's own combat power, there will be no drawing of lots; the Hunter will be forcibly made a Hunter).]
[Warning: Survivors can unite to counter-hunt the Hunters.]
[Warning: Hunters can infiltrate Survivor teams to secretly hunt and kill.]
...
Seeing these prompts, Su Xiao had many thoughts about the two identities of 'Survivor' and 'Hunter'. It was difficult for Survivors to form teams, with a high probability of Hunters infiltrating them. The results could be imagined, but the number of Survivors was large.
As for Hunters, once their identity was completely exposed, they would be hunted immediately. Of course, if they were strong enough, they could silence everyone.
Factors such as acting skills, courage, and strength were all involved. If a powerful old yinbi mixed in with a dozen or so Survivors, they might be able to kill those Survivors one by one.
[Prompt: In previous Survival Trials, the survival rate for Survivors was 11.5%, and the survival rate for Hunters was 10.7%.]
[Prompt: During the Survival Trial, killing Contractors from your own side yields no rewards for the Hunter, and will reduce the drop rate of Scarlet Cards, and incur minor penalties.]
[Prompt: During the Survival Trial, killing Contractors from other factions has a 52.7% probability of dropping a Scarlet Card for the Hunter.]
[Warning: Due to the Hunter's past behavior, after the Hunter kills a Contractor from their own side, the penalty intensity will be increased by 3 times!]
[In the Survival Trial, the basic reward for all Contractors is: 10 True Attribute Points, Holy Spirit Chest (30%) × 1 (obtained upon successful survival).]
[Unique reward within this world: Life Dragon Essence (This is a ??? quality item).]
[Prompt: The Life Dragon Essence has been deployed. After holding it for 48 hours, this item can be permanently obtained.]
...
As Su Xiao had imagined, at higher ranks, Reincarnation Paradise did not encourage Contractors or Hunters from the same side to kill each other. However, killing Contractors from other Paradises was highly encouraged, even offering Scarlet Card rewards. Other Paradises should be similar, given the existence of World Domination Wars.
After all, when competing for the World Core, aside from Contractors on your own side, Contractors from other Paradises were all enemies.
As for the unique reward [Life Dragon Essence], Su Xiao was very interested. Essence was a good thing for raising the Azure Steel Shadow ability.
[Prompt: The Hunter may choose not to participate in this Survival Trial. After waiting in the Real World for 7 to 15 days, the Hunter can enter a new world in the next world progress.]
[Prompt: If the Hunter chooses to wait for entry, due to missing one world progress, the income obtained in the comprehensive settlement of the next world will be reduced by 50%.]
[There are two conditions for participating in this Survival Trial. Meeting one is sufficient for participation.]
[1. Only those who have accumulated three S- ratings or three S- and above ratings (Achieved).]
[2. Top 10,000 in the Tree Arena can participate in this Survival Trial (Not achieved).]
[Location of this Survival Trial: Primordial Continent · Hunting Grounds (Primeval forest climate, high-intensity supernatural zone · habitat of multiple Overlord creatures).]
[Within this world, World Sources can be obtained, chests can be obtained, and side, hidden, achievement missions, etc., can be triggered. At the end of the trial, a world settlement can be conducted.]