Chapter 81: Powerful
Su Xiao's initial expectation was to consume no more than 47 Immortal Stones to strengthen Dragon-Slaying Flash to +8.
Now, having consumed only 36 stones, with a streak of consecutive successes, Su Xiao felt somewhat unaccustomed to it. He had been too lucky lately. With his fortune, excessive good luck often preceded a major disaster.
Su Xiao pondered inwardly. He didn't need to do anything related to luck recently. Even if he went to enhance his abilities later, it wouldn't cause any problems due to bad luck.
He picked up Dragon-Slaying Flash from the tray and examined its attributes.
Dragon-Slaying Flash +8 (Blade Edge Value 0%)
Origin: Shadow of Law Destruction
Quality: Immortal Rank
Category: Longsword
Durability: 275/275 (Increased by 15 points)
Attack Power: 386～496 (Increased by 16～21 points)
Equipment Requirement: Inheritor of the Shadow of Law Destruction
Base Bonus: When imbuing this weapon with Azure Steel Shadow Energy, mana consumption is reduced by 92%, and true damage dealt by Azure Steel Shadow Energy is increased by 25%.
Supreme Blade Effect 1: Sharpness +155 points (Increased by 15 points).
Supreme Blade Effect 2: Demon Blade (Core·Active), unchanged.
Supreme Blade Effect 3: Soul·Demon Blade (Core·Passive), before the Demon Blade ability enters cooldown, each slash that cuts the enemy's body will absorb the enemy's physical energy, increasing the Blade Edge Value of Dragon-Slaying Flash...
Note: Each attack can reduce the enemy's physical energy by 550～1030 points (Increased by 50～80 points), depending on the characteristics of the enemy's physical energy.
Enhancement Effects:
+5 Additional Effect: Penetration permanently increased by 20%.
+8 Additional Effect: High-Rank Armor-Piercing Trait (Can cut through most armor of the same rank).
Socket Effects: 3/3...
Rating: 1500+ (Immortal Rank equipment ratings range from 1000 to 1500 points)
...
The overall attributes of Dragon-Slaying Flash had improved, with the most significant enhancement being the 'High-Rank Armor-Piercing Trait.' With this trait, dealing with heavily armored enemies would be much easier.
Previously, when fighting Gluttony, Su Xiao couldn't cut through the opponent's armor. He could only strike at the joints of the armor, and even then, the wounds weren't deep.
If he were wielding the current Dragon-Slaying Flash against Gluttony, the opponent wouldn't last more than four or five slashes. Even the strongest defensive point on the chest could be cut open in one blow, injuring the body beneath the armor.
Su Xiao still had many things to do. After completing the enhancement of Dragon-Slaying Flash, he headed straight for the Skill Upgrade Hall.
Half an hour later, Su Xiao stood inside the Skill Upgrade Pod, the iron-black hatch locked behind him.
[Skill Upgrade Pod activated. Please select the skill you wish to upgrade.]
Su Xiao ignored the prompt for the moment and took a scroll from his storage space. The scroll's details were:
[Basic Passive·Body Soul, Lv.1.]
Type: Basic·Passive Scroll (Low Rank/High Rank)
Prerequisite 1: 5 points in Stamina Attribute.
Prerequisite 2: 201 points in True Stamina Attribute.
Note: Meeting either prerequisite allows mastery of this ability. If Prerequisite 2 is met, the full potential of 'Basic Passive·Body Soul' will be unleashed, making it a high-rank Basic·Passive ability.
Skill Effect 1 (Full Potential Unleashed): Permanently increases HP by 1%.
Skill Effect 2 (Full Potential Unleashed): Increases physical potential limit rank by +1.
Physical Potential Limit: This refers to enhancing one's limits and potential, such as neural reflex speed limit, dynamic vision limit, Basic·Neural Reflex Speed limit, Basic·Dynamic Vision limit, total life force limit, mental power limit, brain tissue endurance limit, nervous system comprehensive limit, bone strength limit, and 37 other characteristics related to one's own body.
Note: This ability can only be mastered by those with a human constitution.
...
Su Xiao's Stamina Attribute had already reached 212 points. Even so, his 'Basic·Neural Reflex Speed' and 'Basic·Dynamic Vision' were extremely high, and his internal life force was exceptionally vigorous, indicating his HP was very high.
Everything has a limit, and these physical characteristics are no exception. Increasing the True Stamina Attribute raises the limits in these areas.
For Su Xiao, simply increasing the Stamina Attribute wasn't enough. He needed a second method to raise his physical limits to bear the power brought by his dual Grandmaster abilities.
Su Xiao crushed the scroll in his hand, and a surge of energy flowed into his body. The sensation wasn't too obvious. His life force increased slightly, and he couldn't perceive any changes in potential—such enhancements were like that.
[You have mastered Basic Passive·Body Soul Lv.1. Do you wish to upgrade this ability?]
[Upgrading Basic Passive·Body Soul Lv.1 requires 300 Soul Coins.]
The initial upgrade cost 300 Soul Coins per level. Considering the rank of this ability, the consumption wasn't too high.
Just as Su Xiao was about to upgrade 'Basic Passive·Body Soul,' a prompt appeared.
[The item you consigned for auction has reached its time limit. Do you wish to sell 'Sea Demon's Baptism' for 15,753 Soul Coins?]
[If you wish to cancel this auction, you must pay 100 Soul Coins for a failed auction. After the failed auction, you may retrieve 'Sea Demon's Baptism.']
Su Xiao chose to sell 'Sea Demon's Baptism.' The price of this item was even higher than a max-rated Immortal Rank equipment. Except for extremely special Immortal Rank equipment, the price of a max-rated Immortal Rank piece was around 10,000 Soul Coins. Most Immortal Rank equipment ranged from 1,900 to 7,500 Soul Coins, excluding enhanced weapons.
Enhanced weapons had prices that multiplied. Refined Immortal Stones were too expensive, leading to a certain phenomenon.
Some Contractors, after completing world settlements and obtaining Immortal Stones, would save them up. Once they accumulated a certain number, they would enhance a weapon that was easy to sell.
If it was enhanced to +5, a bicycle turned into a motorcycle. If enhanced to +8, they struck it rich. This led some lucky individuals to try making a fortune this way, but in most cases, the lucky turned into the unlucky, losing everything down to their underwear.
After deducting the 10% consignment fee from the 15,753 Soul Coins, Su Xiao was left with 14,177 Soul Coins and 105,000 Paradise Coins.
With sufficient Paradise Coins, Su Xiao began upgrading the Basic Passive·Body Soul ability. He chose to upgrade it nine consecutive times, first bringing it to Lv.10.
The Skill Upgrade Pod began operating. Su Xiao sat cross-legged on the floor, carefully sensing the changes in his body. Over 40 minutes later, the upgrade ended.
[Basic Passive·Body Soul, Lv.10.]
Skill Effect 1: Permanently increases HP by 8% (Increased by 7%).
Skill Effect 2: Physical potential limit rank +2 (Increased by 1 rank).
Skill Upgrade Requirement: True Stamina Attribute above 203 points.
...
A total of 2,700 Soul Coins were consumed. For self-enhancement, no amount of Soul Coins was wasted.
Even a 7% increase in total life force was very noticeable to Su Xiao. His base life force was already massive, so upgrading Basic Passive·Body Soul under these circumstances yielded significant gains.
[Do you wish to upgrade Basic Passive·Body Soul Lv.10? Upgrading this ability requires 500 Soul Coins.]
The cost had increased by less than double. Su Xiao chose to continue, again upgrading ten consecutive levels.
An hour later, the upgrade was complete, costing a total of 5,000 Soul Coins. Su Xiao now felt that no matter how many Soul Coins he had, it would never be enough.
[Do you wish to upgrade Basic Passive·Body Soul Lv.20? Upgrading this ability requires 700 Soul Coins.]
Within acceptable limits, Su Xiao continued the upgrade, again ten levels at a time. Over two hours later, the Skill Upgrade Pod stopped operating. Just then, a prompt from the auction platform appeared.
[The item you consigned for auction has reached its time limit. Do you wish to sell 'Sin Flame Pendant' for 12,360 Soul Coins?]
Su Xiao chose to sell, gaining 11,124 Soul Coins. Even after deducting the 10% fee, it was still over 1,000 Soul Coins higher than the market price on Trade Street. This was the benefit of consigning items on the auction platform.
With more Soul Coins available, Su Xiao decided to upgrade Basic Passive·Body Soul to Lv.40.
[Do you wish to upgrade Basic Passive·Body Soul Lv.30? Upgrading this ability requires 1,000 Soul Coins.]
Seems expensive? Not really. Compared to the upgrade cost of the 'Skill Sublimation' ability, 'Basic Passive·Body Soul' was just a little brother.
After paying 10,000 Soul Coins, Su Xiao began a new round of upgrades. This time, it lasted nearly three hours before ending.
Su Xiao was drenched in sweat. The surging life force within him caused all kinds of desires to grow wildly. After meditating for a moment, his heart calmed down.
[Basic Passive·Body Soul, Lv.40.]
Skill Effect 1: Permanently increases HP by 35% (Increased by 27%).
Skill Effect 2: Physical potential limit rank +5 (Increased by 3 ranks).
Skill Effect 3: Body resistance to abnormal attributes such as poison, erosion, paralysis, dizziness, etc., +52 points.
Skill Upgrade Requirement: True Stamina Attribute above 220 points.
...
A large amount of Soul Coins had been spent, but it was worth it. Su Xiao's survivability had increased significantly. As a Technique Type, how could survivability be weak?
Therefore, Su Xiao planned to continue investing resources into this ability, but only after he had more Soul Coins later.
Beini had sold a few items. Su Xiao checked his remaining Soul Coins and decided to upgrade the Skill Sublimation ability, which had reached Lv.40. At a cost of 3,000 Soul Coins per level, upgrading this ability was destined to be a long process.
A moment later, Skill Sublimation was upgraded to Lv.46. The power of his self-developed blade techniques had increased. To raise the blade technique potential by one rank, Skill Sublimation needed to reach Lv.50.
'Skill Sublimation' and 'Basic Passive·Body Soul' represented offensive and defensive abilities, respectively. Both were worth investing resources in.
Currently, both abilities were around Lv.40, indicating they had great potential. The later the stage, the stronger their effects.
After the series of upgrades, Su Xiao had 2,926 Soul Coins left. He still needed to go to the Land of All Beings·Sixth Layer, which would leave him broke.
Su Xiao took out [Soul Gathering Sculpture (Immortal Rank Item)] from his storage space and activated it to upgrade the Soul Gaze ability using this item.
Instantly, Su Xiao felt everything around him disappear. A mass of darkness and white light merged ahead of him. After the two intertwined, a pale figure holding a pitch-black soul scythe appeared and suddenly lunged at Su Xiao.
Inside the Skill Upgrade Pod, Su Xiao's eyes snapped open, and he immediately felt a sharp pain in his eyes.
[Note: Soul Gaze has been upgraded to X.]
[Soul Gaze: X (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.
Note: Damage intensity is 2,300 points of energy backlash damage + soul strength difference × 31.6 soul damage. If this damage intensity exceeds 60% of the enemy's maximum HP, the enemy's soul will rapidly collapse, resulting in immediate soul execution!
Note: After successfully executing an enemy's soul, the enemy's post-death soul energy will be imbued into the Hunter's weapon (Dragon-Slaying Flash). The Hunter's subsequent slashes will deal soul damage for 45 minutes. If the Hunter's slashes already dealt soul damage, the soul damage intensity will increase by 50%.
Note: During this period, the Hunter's slash damage to the enemy has a 33.33% chance of becoming permanent soul damage!
Permanent Soul Damage: The enemy will suffer multiple debuffs, such as reduced maximum HP, reduced soul strength, reduced willpower, etc.
Note: This ability has no cost and no cooldown.
...
Soul Gaze had reached max level. This was good; no more resources needed to be invested in it.
Su Xiao's enhancements were not over yet. There was still the main event. He took out [Fish Dragon's Essence (Immortal Rank)] and [Sea Spirit Essence (Holy Spirit Rank)] from his storage space.
Sitting cross-legged, Su Xiao held one essence in each hand and activated the Devouring Core ability.
The Devouring Core inside him activated. A steady stream of active biological energy flowed into his body through his arms, then was absorbed by the Devouring Core.
After conversion, purification, and filtration, a colorless energy emanated from the Devouring Core. The Azure Steel Shadow Energy within Su Xiao surged forward, beginning to absorb this colorless energy.
The quantity of Azure Steel Shadow Energy rapidly increased. Not only the quantity but also the quality improved. However, for some reason, Su Xiao felt that the biological energy within the two essences in his hands was somewhat scarce?
After careful assessment, Su Xiao realized this wasn't the case. Compared to the essences he had obtained before, the active biological energy within these two essences was dozens of times greater. It was his Azure Steel Shadow Energy that had become too strong—far stronger than before.
Azure Steel Shadow Energy was the absolute core of the Shadow of Law Destruction. This also meant that the later the stage, the harder it was to upgrade this energy. Each level required exponentially more resources.
This was due to the excessively high energy rank. The advantage was that it could stand firm against any energy encountered. The disadvantage was that the required resources became increasingly advanced.
In the previous world, Su Xiao could even resist the curse of the Demon Sea head-on, without the curse fully erupting and causing instant death.
If not for the sheer volume of the Demon Sea curse, he would have already dispelled it through Azure Steel Shadow Energy. This showed how high the energy rank of Azure Steel Shadow was.
After a long time, only empty shells remained of the two essences in Su Xiao's hands.
[Azure Steel Shadow skill has been upgraded to Lv.63.]
[Azure Steel Shadow skill has been upgraded to Lv.64.]
[Azure Steel Shadow skill has been upgraded to Lv.65.]
[Azure Steel Shadow: Lv.65 (Active/Passive Skill)]
Usage Condition: After activating the Azure Steel Shadow ability, consumes 240 mana points per minute (Increased by 30 points).
Active Effect: Each melee attack burns 732 mana points from the enemy (Increased by 45 points) and deals true damage equal to 1.6 times the burned mana (1,171 true damage + 25% increase from Dragon-Slaying Flash + 9% increase from Azure Shadow King = 1,569 true damage). The enemy will suffer intense pain from the mana burn.
Passive Effect: When the enemy suffers mana burn, there is a 23% chance to trigger one of three abnormal statuses: paralysis, immobilization, or dizziness...
Defensive Form: Proud Song (Active)...
Combat Form: Law Annihilation (Passive), this trait is undergoing transformation.
...
The combat form of the Azure Steel Shadow ability was in an unviewable state. For Su Xiao, this was good news. The original 'Shadow Severing Blade (Passive)' increased weapon sharpness by 45%. Through combat experience, Su Xiao had noticed a drawback to this ability. It only enhanced the basic sharpness of Dragon-Slaying Flash, i.e., the sharpness bonus from 'Supreme Blade Effect 1.'
Initially, Su Xiao thought the sharpness bonus from gems could also be enhanced, but later discovered it couldn't. Thinking about it, gems were an additional enhancement to Dragon-Slaying Flash, a very special type of energy enhancement. As long as the gems weren't removed, this enhancement persisted.
Azure Steel Shadow Energy was also an energy enhancement, so it naturally couldn't enhance the sharpness bonus from gems. The two energies didn't interfere with each other only because of the gem energy's ultra-strong compatibility. Stacking them was simply impossible.
Every Law Destroyer's Azure Steel Shadow core characteristics were the same, but the branch characteristics varied slightly. They would change with combat and personal growth. The combat form of Azure Steel Shadow was transforming as Su Xiao grew stronger, becoming an ability more suited to him—'Law Annihilation.'
The specific characteristics of this ability were unclear for now, but the time for its transformation to complete shouldn't be long. Su Xiao could sense this.
He had 4 Golden Skill Points left. Su Xiao hesitated about where to use them. He had always used them to upgrade Azure Shadow King.
This time, Su Xiao considered maxing out the Dragon Shadow Flash ability for a one-and-done solution. In the future, all Golden Skill Points would be used on the Azure Shadow King ability, with perhaps occasional use on Devouring Core or Supreme Blade.