Chapter 50: Difficulty Explosively Increases
The [Fish-Dragon Essence] was of Immortal rank quality, containing a vast amount of life energy, making it an excellent choice for enhancing the Azure Steel Shadow ability.
Besides the Fish-Dragon Essence, there was also a [Sea Spirit Essence], which was of Holy Spirit rank, containing much less life energy compared to the Fish-Dragon Essence.
Octopus Bro not only brought two essences, but also several other items. Su Xiao gathered the scattered items on the deck one by one.
[You have obtained Shell Bone (Epic material).]
[You have obtained Coral Resin (Holy Spirit material).]
[You have obtained Condensed Resentment Blood (Holy Spirit material/item).]
[You have obtained Ice Obsidian (Epic ore).]
……
Among the four items, aside from the [Condensed Resentment Blood], Su Xiao planned to sell the other three to Lide. As for the [Condensed Resentment Blood], it was a rare and good item.
After dripping the blood of a living being onto the [Condensed Resentment Blood], it would emit a unique odor. This odor could only be detected by resentful spirits, dark creatures, etc., and held an irresistible allure for them, almost reaching the level of mental confusion.
After resentful spirits, dark creatures, etc., absorbed the [Condensed Resentment Blood], they would fall into a berserk state, unable to distinguish friend from foe, ignoring the burden on their spirit or body, forcibly overdrawing their potential, and unleashing terrifying combat power for a period of time.
If used well, the [Condensed Resentment Blood] could bring huge benefits. If Su Xiao dripped his own blood onto the [Condensed Resentment Blood], then the unit driven berserk by the [Condensed Resentment Blood] would become Su Xiao's temporary summon.
When that temporary summon went on a killing spree, Su Xiao could obtain rewards such as Soul Coins, World Source, treasure chests, etc., through the enemy kills.
"That's all. These are all my treasures."
Octopus Bro seemed a bit down. In reality, with its wealth, offering these was at most a painful loss, not bankruptcy. In its undersea palace, there were treasures accumulated by its ancestors over many years.
Many adventurers had once intended to solo that palace, only to be killed by Octopus Bro manipulating other sea creatures. Octopus Bro's own combat power wasn't too strong, but its mental strength was extremely formidable.
"Deal."
Su Xiao tossed the Sea King Horn to Octopus Bro. Octopus Bro caught it with a tentacle, its body trembling almost imperceptibly. The generational shame of it and its ancestors would be washed away today.
Octopus Bro used two tentacles to hold the Sea King Horn, aimed the tip at its own head, and thrust down with all its strength.
Most of the Sea King Horn sank into Octopus Bro's body. Its tentacles convulsed and writhed in pain. Enduring the agony, it grabbed one of the soul arrows stuck in its body and pulled outward with force.
The soul arrow was gradually pulled out, bringing with it a translucent, gelatinous substance from Octopus Bro's body, and faint wailing sounds appeared around it.
With a tearing sound, the first soul arrow was pulled from Octopus Bro's body. It collapsed to the deck, even spitting out ink.
"H-help, help..."
Octopus Bro spoke tremblingly. Baha understood.
"Amu, go."
"Moo."
Amu stepped forward. Over three meters tall, it stepped on Octopus Bro with one foot, grabbed a soul arrow, and pulled it out with a *puchi* sound. Octopus Bro visibly shuddered.
"Happy now? One left."
"Help..."
"We're helping you pull it out. Amu, continue."
*Puchi!*
The soul arrow came out with a wisp of azure-blue blood. Octopus Bro almost bid farewell to this beautiful world.
"I mean... help me... pull out... the horn."
The semi-conscious Octopus Bro murmured. Hearing this, a hint of admiration appeared in Baha's eyes. Amu directly pulled out the Sea King Horn.
Octopus Bro twitched again, then stopped moving. It lay on the deck recovering for over half an hour before barely getting better.
"Almost died."
Octopus Bro looked like it had survived a disaster. Overall, it was very satisfied with this transaction. One of the soul arrows stuck in its body had finally been removed.
Although the soul arrow was gone, Octopus Bro showed no intention of leaving. It used its suckers to cling to the bottom of the main mast and began to sleep soundly.
In fact, Octopus Bro's approach was very wise. If it returned to the sea now, it might face various unknown dangers. It was currently very weak, too weak to control its own kind of sea creatures. Compared to the sea, it was safer on the Doom Number for now. This was also why it had brought a few extra supernatural items.
Su Xiao paid no attention to Octopus Bro. He picked up the Sea King Horn and found that it could now be stored in his storage space. Its specific function was still unknown.
Putting away the Sea King Horn, Su Xiao picked up the soul arrows on the deck. As soon as he touched them, a prompt appeared.
[Prompt: The Hunter has obtained Soul Arrows ×3.]
[Warning: The Hunter's Attribute Breakthrough Trial has officially begun.]
[Warning: Because the Hunter chose to break through the 200-point barrier with four true attributes, the trial difficulty has accumulated to 235%!]
[Warning: This trial is extremely dangerous!]
[Checking the Hunter's current combat power, including the combat power bonus brought by the Doom Number.]
[Warning: Because the trial difficulty has accumulated to 235%, if the Hunter continues this trial, there is a high probability of death!]
……
[Main Quest: Fifth Ring (Completed). Quest rewards have accumulated to the limit. Yes/No to claim this reward.]
[After the Hunter chooses to claim the main quest reward, the final stage trial quest will be activated.]
[Prompt: The Hunter may choose not to claim this quest reward. If choosing not to claim this quest reward, the Sea King Horn will be activated (The Sea King Horn will play a huge role in the final stage of the quest. It can be used through special methods to greatly reduce the quest difficulty).]
……
A choice lay before Su Xiao: take the main quest reward, or enhance the Sea King Horn. This item would be very useful later. What exactly it would be used for was unclear, but Reincarnation Paradise had prompted him twice already.
Su Xiao pondered for a moment and decided to give up claiming the accumulated quest rewards from the third to fifth rings of the main quest, opting instead to activate the Sea King Horn.
A few days after entering the Demon Sea World, Su Xiao had felt something was wrong. He had previously chosen the barrier breakthrough trial for four main attributes, causing the trial difficulty to increase by 235%.
From entering the Demon Sea World until now, Su Xiao hadn't felt it was too dangerous. Even with the help of the Doom Number and the cursed people, the danger level was too low. A 235% increase in trial difficulty should have been a nightmare-level quest difficulty.
Judging from the previous prompt, it wasn't that breaking through the barrier with four attributes was easy, but that Su Xiao hadn't triggered the trial quest yet. The previous rings of main quests were just preparation.
In fact, Su Xiao could have chosen one or two true attributes to break through the 200-point barrier, for example, only choosing true strength attribute to break through the barrier.
Regardless of which attribute completed the 200-point barrier breakthrough, the other attributes could also be raised above 200 points. However, there was one point: the true attribute that broke through the barrier would be the main attribute, while the other four attributes would degenerate into secondary attributes. Luck and willpower attributes were not counted in this; these special body attributes had no attribute barriers.
If only the strength attribute was chosen to break through the barrier, then when Su Xiao enhanced his true strength attribute in the Attribute Enhancement Pod, he would still only need to consume 1 True Attribute Point. This was the power of the main attribute.
As for the true agility, stamina, and intelligence attributes that degenerated into secondary attributes, each point increase would require at least 3 to 5 True Attribute Points. The difference in growth rate was huge.
Breaking through the 200-point attribute barrier meant shattering the limits and shackles of the physical body. Su Xiao's current four main attributes represented four adjacent circular barriers.
Shattering one of these barriers would cause cracks and openings to appear on the other three circular barriers, but they wouldn't be completely broken open. Therefore, more True Attribute Points would be needed to improve physical fitness.
This meant the speed of becoming stronger would be several times slower. Not only that, Su Xiao would only obtain the attribute reward derived from the strength attribute reaching 200 points. This type of attribute reward was very precious. Su Xiao's current strength was largely due to this kind of permanent reward.
Currently, Su Xiao had no secondary attributes. His true strength, agility, stamina, and intelligence attributes were all main attributes. The charm attribute, being negative, had also left the ranks of secondary attributes.
As soon as Su Xiao made his choice, the Sea King Horn in his storage space began to change gradually, and subsequent prompts appeared.
[Prompt: All main quests have been completed. The trial quest has been activated. The trial quest consists of a total of two rings.]
[After completing the trial quest, the Hunter's four true attributes will be able to break through 200 points. After the four main attributes reach 200 points, the Hunter will obtain the derived reward for main attributes reaching 200 points.]
[After the Hunter completes the 200-point attribute barrier breakthrough, the physical potential of your followers, permanent summons, etc., will be greatly enhanced.]
[Trial Quest: Eternal Life Island (First Ring, Total Two Rings)]
Difficulty Level: Lv.78 (Eternal Life Island is an eighth-rank high-risk area. The danger level has exceeded the limit of this world).
Warning: Eternal Life Island is a sealed area. Because the Hunter has obtained the Soul Arrows, this area can now be unsealed.
Prompt: This high-risk area can be entered without a 'Shelter-type item'.
Prompt: The Hunter may abandon this quest. After leaving this world, the Hunter can re-select 1 to 4 true attributes to break through the 200-point barrier. The fewer true attributes chosen to break through the barrier simultaneously, the lower the difficulty of the trial quest will be.
Prompt: The base difficulty of the trial quest is Lv.72.
Prompt: The comprehensive difficulty is: Hunter's own combat power assessment × number of true attributes chosen to break through the barrier - Hunter's mark rank + base difficulty of the trial quest.
Quest Information: Arrive at Eternal Life Island and obtain more than 1000 milliliters of Primordial Water.
Quest Time Limit: 10 days.
Quest Reward: None
Quest Penalty: None
……