Chapter 103: A Good Place (Fourth Update)
Su Xiao put away the [Abyss Stone], already having a plan for its use—feeding it to Jila. He left his exclusive room and headed to Reid's forge.
Upon arriving at the forge, Su Xiao immediately sensed something was off. Reid had his eyes lowered, and Wo Wo was standing in the corner, sniffling. Judging by her expression, she had clearly done something wrong again.
"What are you looking at? Go face the wall. I'm telling you, if you make the same mistake again, I'll hang you up and beat you."
"Wo, wo wo, I know, wrong, sniff (sniffling), I was wrong."
"Get to the back room and stop crying in front of me. When you can hold back your tears, then you can eat."
Reid roared. Wo Wo sobbed as she walked into the back room. As soon as she entered, a tempting aroma wafted into her nose. The somewhat slow-witted Wo Wo didn't notice that today's meal was more lavish than usual, and everything was her favorite. Wo Wo stopped crying—it smelled too good!
As soon as Wo Wo left, Reid's expression turned grim. He said:
"A few third-rank contractors tricked Wo Wo out of over 400,000 Paradise coins. That's not the issue—it's just pocket change. But afterward, they mocked her for being slow-witted. Wo Wo might have realized she's not the sharpest tool in the shed. I can scold my adopted daughter, but those people? No."
"Oh."
"Bai Ye, lend me 5 ounces of space-time power."
"Mm."
Su Xiao took out a very small vial and tossed it to Reid.
"I've been bored lately anyway. I'll play with them a bit."
Reid put away the space-time power. His intention was not to deal with those people himself. As a forging grandmaster, he would put a bounty on them using equipment—20 pieces of gold-quality gear per bounty. For third-rank contractors, this was an absolutely terrifying reward.
Given Reid's current strength, if he entered a third-rank world, his power would be restricted, suppressed to the peak of the third rank. If his opponents were smart and gathered forces to surround him, Reid might even suffer the humiliating fate of being killed in a counterattack.
So Reid would never enter a world that suppressed his strength. Instead, he would hire many people and provide the space-time power needed to enter the designated world.
Or rather, it wasn't just Reid who did this. Mage Sage Seraphilia, Su Xiao's great enemy, never entered a mission world to find him. Being suppressed in strength and then killed in a counterattack was the most frustrating way to die.
Su Xiao put on the fully repaired [Wild Hunt Night] and left the forge. As he walked slowly, he assessed his condition. He was in good shape—it was time to enhance his blood energy.
This time, he wasn't enhancing Azure Shadow King, so the burden on his body was much lighter. Such a good opportunity couldn't be missed.
Moving swiftly, Su Xiao arrived at the Skill Upgrade Hall and entered the skill upgrade pod inside. The pod door closed and locked behind him.
[To upgrade 'Aura Release Lv.16', 510 Soul Coins are required. Pay? Yes/No.]
The cost to enhance blood energy was very high, which was related to the current intensity of Su Xiao's blood energy. He didn't mind the expensive upgrade fee, treating it as an entry cost.
After paying 510 Soul Coins, spatial fluctuations appeared around Su Xiao. He breathed a sigh of relief—as long as it was a teleport, his destination was the Ancient Battlefield.
The sensation of teleportation hit him, and when his vision cleared, he had successfully arrived at the Ancient Battlefield.
The ground of the Ancient Battlefield was dark red, as if soaked in blood. The skeleton of a dragon lay prostrate on a low hill, and not far away was the corpse of a giant wearing red armor, its chest cavity empty.
The sky was a gloomy red, with crimson mist drifting across the battlefield. This was the blood energy of countless powerful beings from ages past, gathered here—and the reason Su Xiao had come.
Standing on the dark red ground, Su Xiao felt the blood energy of the Ancient Battlefield surge toward him. This blood energy was highly corrosive and couldn't be absorbed directly. Instead, he had to use his own aura to resist it, thereby strengthening his aura. That was the normal process.
Su Xiao released his blood energy, leaped onto the ribcage of a giant corpse, and sat cross-legged. This time, absorbing blood energy was different from before. His Devouring Core ability had reached X. Thinking of this, even Su Xiao's face showed a hint of a smile.
Time was precious. On this Ancient Battlefield, there was a Guardian of Slumber. The deadly part was that this Guardian was formed from the corpse of a Shadow of Law Destruction—unreasonably strong.
Su Xiao converted 35,000 mana points into Cyan Steel Shadow energy, released it outside his body, and constructed a simplified version of the Devouring Core above his head.
This time, absorbing blood energy was a battle of wits with that Guardian. The process had to be steady, and the escape had to be fast.
After a moment, a simplified Devouring Core appeared in Su Xiao's hand. Though simplified, this version was incomparable to previous ones. The ability of this Devouring Core had undergone a radical transformation.
Once the simplified Devouring Core was built, an energy thread as thick as a pinky finger connected it to Su Xiao.
Inside this energy thread were 107 miniature simplified Devouring Cores. The large simplified core was responsible for absorbing more Ancient Battlefield blood energy, performing the first filtration, purification, and refinement. Then the energy entered the pinky-thick thread, passing through the miniature cores for 107 more precise purifications and refinements.
The simplified Devouring Core floated above Su Xiao. Under his control, dozens of small holes opened on it, absorbing the blood energy of the Ancient Battlefield like a whale drinking water.
Rumble!
A massive blood energy vortex suddenly appeared above Su Xiao, its momentum astonishing. A third of the entire Ancient Battlefield's blood energy began converging toward him. Even Su Xiao hadn't expected this. To avoid the Guardian, he had fully activated the Devouring Core, and this was the result.
A torrent of blood energy was sucked into the simplified Devouring Core, which began operating, purifying and refining it.
Soon, a large surge of red energy flowed out of the simplified Devouring Core, traveling along the energy thread toward Su Xiao. The 107 miniature cores inside the thread began working, purifying the blood energy layer by layer.
In the end, the blood energy was purified until it was transparent. However, there was simply too much blood energy. Even with increased purification intensity, it was impossible to completely filter out all the impurities. In truth, Su Xiao had done this intentionally. He wanted a quick resolution, even if his body absorbed some blood energy impurities. As long as he didn't lose his sanity on the Ancient Battlefield, he could pay Soul Coins back in Reincarnation Paradise to 100% remove the impurities from his body.
The repeatedly purified blood energy merged into Su Xiao's aura. He closed his eyes and sensed his condition. His aura was rapidly strengthening, with no irreversible side effects appearing.
Confirming this, Su Xiao increased the absorption power of the Devouring Core. He was nearly engulfed by the blood energy.
A few minutes later, an explosion sounded from afar. Amid the blood energy, Su Xiao's eyes snapped open. He gripped the hilt of the sword at his waist. The next instant, his rationality forcibly suppressed the boiling killing intent in his heart. Fighting that Guardian now meant certain death.
Su Xiao vanished from his spot. The simplified Devouring Core he left behind had turned blood-red and exploded with a bang, sending blood energy residue flying everywhere.
From an aerial view, a large area of the Ancient Battlefield had become sparse in blood energy. The blood energy seeped from the ground, and it wouldn't be long before the thin area recovered somewhat.
...
Su Xiao appeared inside the skill upgrade pod. He pressed one hand against the pod wall. In his crimson eyes, only a faint blue glimmer remained. His face and neck were covered in dark red cracks, and thick blood energy continuously rose from his body. This made him look extremely ferocious, dangerous enough to make one's hair stand on end.
[Warning: The Hunter has been eroded by the blood energy of the Ancient Battlefield. Minor physical damage sustained. Blood energy residue mixed into aura. Pay Soul Coins to recover and cleanse? Yes/No.]
"Pay."
As soon as Su Xiao spoke, a very unique fluctuation appeared.
[Prompt: To remove Ancient Battlefield blood energy erosion, 107 Soul Coins are required.]
[Prompt: To remove blood energy residue from aura, 379 Paradise coins are required.]
...
This was, without a doubt, the most expensive recovery function Su Xiao had ever used. As the Soul Coins were consumed, he felt his entire body relax, his mind quickly clearing, and the boiling killing intent in his heart dissipated on its own.
[Prompt: Aura Release has been upgraded to Lv.32 (16 levels increased).]
[Due to your aura (blood energy) being inclined toward killing, malice, etc., and having been greatly enhanced, your Charm attribute is permanently reduced by 2 points.]
[Warning: Your Charm attribute is -9 points! The effect of the Immunity Badge is nearing its limit.]