Chapter 40: Talent and Resonance
Inside the snail shell, Su Xiao stood before the [Talent Awakening Device]. The device was about 10 meters tall and over 6 meters wide, with most exposed parts made of thick metal structures. Some areas composed of crystal emitted a faint blue glow from within.
Over a hundred arm-thick black cables extended from the [Talent Awakening Device], one end connected to various parts of the device, while the other end disappeared into the surrounding soil, reaching deep into the earth's veins.
When activated, it would draw upon the earth's vein power to stabilize the entire device. This was also why the [Talent Awakening Device] couldn't be taken away—once it fell here and was activated, it became connected to the earth's veins.
Su Xiao couldn't take this thing with him. It was a creation of the Slinth race, not something that could be solved with alchemy. It was like the difficulty of a blacksmith crossing over into tailoring—except for Reid.
That wasn't entirely true. Su Xiao planned to mark the device with a unique Law Destroyer's imprint after using it.
If he could leave this world alive and return to Reincarnation Paradise, he would contact Mawen Hua'erzi, the old Law Destroyer, and the black mist figure from Starry Sky Seat. Those three old-timers might have a way to get the [Talent Awakening Device] out of Treeborn World.
Su Xiao didn't immediately activate the [Talent Awakening Device]. Instead, he checked the kill notification that had just appeared.
[Notification: You have killed the Aquatic Mother.]
[You have obtained 4,652 Soul Coins (team reward increased by 23%).]
[You have obtained Strong Emblem ×4 (team reward increased by 1).]
[You have obtained Aquatic Object (Immortal Rank item).]
...
The Soul Coins obtained from killing the Aquatic Mother were exceptionally high—far more than when he killed the old knight in the World of Paintings. This didn't mean the Aquatic Mother was stronger than the old knight, but rather due to the team distribution mechanism. The Soul Coins were split more, but the chest rewards were evenly distributed.
Su Xiao wasn't here for the kill rewards. His gaze shifted to Wood, Zuiyasi, Solomon, and the others.
Noticing Su Xiao's gaze, Solomon knew this place was no longer safe. With the Aquatic Mother successfully killed, he had gained a large bounty and the subsequent great relic achievement was no issue—he just needed to wait for the rewards.
Under these circumstances, Solomon turned and left. He figured that if he stayed any longer, those three teammates might start a backstab. The three of them ganging up on him wasn't out of the question.
"Farewell."
Solomon rarely said goodbye to anyone. Leaving those words, he turned and walked away. His meaning was clear: you three can backstab each other all you want, but don't come after me. I'm out now.
Under A Duo'er's puzzled gaze, Solomon was soon far away.
"My dear friend, Caesar still has some business to attend to. I'll be back in a few hours."
Leaving those words, Caesar disappeared beside the giant snail shell.
"Ah! I've been poisoned by the Aquatic Mother!"
Yuer flopped to the ground with exaggerated acting, then kicked his legs once and lay still.
Even Yuer, who was a bit clueless about social nuances, sensed something was wrong. How could A Duo'er not notice? But she couldn't just turn and run. If she dared to flee, she might experience the feeling of flying in the next second—well, only her head flying.
Before the snail shell, Su Xiao, Wood, and Zuiyasi stood in a triangular formation. The [Necronomicon] appeared behind Wood, while Zuiyasi removed the pendant from his neck and wrapped it around his hand.
"Bai Ye, congratulations on getting what you wanted."
"..."
Su Xiao turned his back to the giant snail shell. A crystal chair formed behind him, and he sat down, signaling a spectator stance. A Duo'er, Bubu Wang, and Baha all slipped behind Su Xiao.
Seeing this, Wood and Zuiyasi relaxed a bit. Su Xiao's attitude showed that finding the [Talent Awakening Device] was enough for this trip—he wouldn't go after whatever treasures Wood and Zuiyasi had their eyes on. Both trusted this about Su Xiao; they knew he wasn't the type to be insatiably greedy.
"Hahahaha."
"Hehehe."
Wood and Zuiyasi exchanged smiles, giving each other a look that said: first go to the treasure's location, then fight for it.
The two walked a dozen steps while chatting and laughing, when suddenly a black tentacle sprouted from Wood's back. The tentacle coiled around a dagger-like object and stabbed it into Wood's lower back.
To deepen their 'friendship,' Zuiyasi twisted the tentacle holding the dagger, causing Wood to let out a muffled groan. This backstab aimed straight for the kidneys was truly vicious.
"Wood, strike first to gain the upper hand, strike later..."
Zuiyasi spoke with a smile, but his expression froze mid-sentence. A familiar searing pain erupted in his chest and abdomen, causing him to vomit a large mouthful of black-red blood mixed with organ fragments.
This feeling of his organs being eroded into paste was all too familiar to Zuiyasi. Last time in the World of Paintings' Sea God Palace, after being poisoned by Su Xiao, it had been exactly like this.
Zuiyasi looked toward Su Xiao, only to find him sitting a hundred meters away, silently smoking without even glancing their way, acting as if nothing had happened. This meant he wouldn't interfere.
Zuiyasi immediately realized that this dog thief Wood had paid a price to buy a potent poison from Su Xiao. He had to admit, this dog thief wasn't slow either.
After a few explosions, the two good teammates ran off into the distance, disappearing from sight.
"w(?Д?)w"
A Duo'er stood frozen, dumbfounded. The Dawn Team was way too 'united.' That familiar backstab and the silent poisoning weren't skills that could be practiced overnight.
A Duo'er hadn't seen what happened in the World of Paintings before, where chain backstabs were practically routine.
"That dog thief Zuiyasi's backstabs are getting harder and harder to guard against. Boss, we'll need to be careful later."
"..."
Su Xiao didn't respond. Zuiyasi's dagger strike just now was indeed perfectly executed, making one wonder if that dog thief had been training in this area after returning to Doom Star.
"You're still planning to cooperate with those two?!"
A Duo'er's voice cracked as she spoke, her face full of disbelief.
"What's the problem?"
Baha looked at A Duo'er with confusion.
"They both backstabbed their teammates!"
"So what? They have ability, intelligence, and means. They don't hold you back, don't turn on each other before defeating a major enemy, never fake hypocritical kindness, and stop at nothing to achieve their goals. Aren't teammates like that reliable enough? Aren't they a thousand times better than useless teammates?"
Baha's words left A Duo'er speechless. When she thought about it, it was true.
Compared to finding teammates who would give you a brain aneurysm mid-plan, cooperating with Wood and Zuiyasi was clearly the better choice.
Not to mention, before the goal was achieved, the team was quite united. As for after the goal was achieved... cough. As the saying goes, resources belong to no one; the capable take them. Those who get driven away are the incapable.
'Watching' his two good teammates disappear into the distance, Su Xiao felt a bit more at ease. If he was going to use the [Talent Awakening Device], he needed someone to stand guard.
Yuer was the best choice. This was also why Su Xiao had brought him along—his goal was pure, a classic case of seeking life through death.
"Yuer, kill anyone who comes near before I come out."
Su Xiao took out a crown. For Yuer to complete his destined path, this crown, forged by the Elf race with their life's work, was an essential artifact.
Yuer said nothing else, just nodded and went to patrol the perimeter.
Su Xiao gave Bubu Wang a look, signaling him to scout the surroundings as well. Bubu understood and blended into the environment.
Su Xiao glanced at Baha. No words were needed; Baha understood his intent. He was both the guard near the giant snail shell and the one watching A Duo'er. If A Duo'er made any suspicious move, there was no need to hesitate—kill on the spot. After putting in so much effort to reach this point, he couldn't let carelessness ruin everything.
Su Xiao walked into the inner side of the snail shell. Crystal layers spread out, forming crystal walls that sealed the area into a private chamber.
Su Xiao stopped before the [Talent Awakening Device], extending one hand forward. Cyan Steel Shadow energy gathered in his palm. The next second, the device let out a loud boom as its lower half sank into the ground. The arm-thick black cables formed energy circuits with the earth's veins.
Hum~
The Talent Awakening Device was initially activated. Dozens of finger-thick cables extended, attaching to Su Xiao's right arm, shoulder, side ribs, and other areas.
The Cyan Steel Shadow energy in Su Xiao's body drained at a visible rate. Within seconds, his internal energy was completely absorbed, and his mana dropped to zero.
When his True Intelligence attribute broke through 100 points, Su Xiao had gained a characteristic ability:
[Awakening: When in a state of inner peace, mana recovery speed increased by 600%.]
Meditation itself accelerated mana recovery, and combined with the inner peace state and the Awakening characteristic, his mana recovery speed skyrocketed. With the Snow Goddess aura provided by Bubu Wang a hundred meters away, Su Xiao would need about 5-6 hours to fully recover his mana. This wasn't slow—it was because his mana cap was as high as 43,372 points.
Meditate to recover mana, convert it into Cyan Steel Shadow energy in his body, let the Talent Awakening Device absorb it, then meditate to recover mana again...
After over ten hours, a total of 150,000 units of Cyan Steel Shadow energy had been absorbed. Su Xiao, who had been sitting cross-legged, felt the cables attached to his arm, shoulder, and side ribs detach. When he opened his eyes, he saw the greatly transformed Talent Awakening Device.
The device now looked like it was made of light blue crystal. The massive energy field distorted the surrounding air, and the soil on the ground was stained light blue, floating upward.
Su Xiao approached the device, raised his hand, and pressed it against the hatch. With a clatter, the hatch opened. He stepped inside and found it wasn't large—there was a seat, and ahead was the activation mechanism.
This seat was a rare touch of humanity from the Law Destruction faction. These pragmatists preferred to concentrate all resources on useful areas. Their motto was: it doesn't matter if the device is ugly, as long as it works; it doesn't matter if mastering the ability is agonizingly painful, as long as you don't die and the ability is strong.
Su Xiao sat down on the crystal chair, experiencing this rare bit of humanity from the Law Destroyers. With a rumble, the hatch closed and locked.
[Notification: Detected that the Hunter is using the Talent Awakening Device for class change. Yes/No to proceed with data verification. Data verification will allow you to activate this device more intuitively, with no bonus or reduction to the activated effects.]
[Verification complete.]
[If you continue to undergo this talent awakening, you have a 98.59% probability of death.]
[Yes/No to sacrifice one of your existing talent abilities to reduce the risk brought by this talent awakening.]
[Your talent abilities are as follows: