Chapter 40: The Lineup
Su Xiao held the [Endless Ring] suspended between his hands in a meditative posture, the black ring floating on its own, emitting wisps of darkness while also radiating strong life force fluctuations.
Su Xiao was determining whether the [Endless Ring] had any other hidden dangers. Whether it was Overlord Equipment or Abyss Equipment, both were subject to Free Authentication. So-called Free Authentication meant that some secrets had to be explored on one's own.
Of course, Free Authentication also had its benefits. If an unauthenticated item was obtained and chosen for Free Authentication, the Space-Time Power required to pay was 30% to 40% of what Full Authentication would cost, more than half less.
For this reason, the selling price of Fully Authenticated items versus Free Authenticated items in the Great Gathering Place differed by nearly double. The advantage of Full Authentication was that the item's attribute information could be completely trusted. So far, no one had discovered any deviation in attributes after Full Authentication.
The [Endless Ring] obtained now was Free Authenticated, which meant its attribute information could be trusted, but one had to be cautious about the characteristics that hadn't been authenticated.
One thing Su Xiao couldn't figure out was where the equipment name [Endless Ring] came from. Was it because it could devour a large number of equipment pieces? Currently, the equipment's rating had reached 6000 points, and the ability to devour equipment had disappeared, clearly not representing that aspect.
The only thing that remained puzzling should be its debuff, "Dark Immersion."
"Equipment Debuff: Dark Immersion (Passive) — While carrying this equipment, you will gradually be invaded by the darkness of the Abyss (Due to your Abyss Resistance of 20 points, you can temporarily exempt 'Dark Immersion' for a certain period. If you are affected by this equipment's bonus for more than 24 hours, you will begin to suffer the effects of 'Dark Immersion').
Tip: An estimated 28 to 30 points of Abyss Resistance can completely resist this debuff."
Su Xiao had a hypothesis: this equipment's debuff might not be as simple as it seemed. Perhaps when his Abyss Resistance reached 30 points, although it would completely resist the current "Dark Immersion" effect, the equipment's debuff characteristic would advance, requiring even higher Abyss Resistance to resist.
In other words, the higher Su Xiao's Abyss Resistance was, the stronger this equipment's debuff would become. This endless cycle of alternation was the equipment's core characteristic.
Currently raising its rating to 6000 points didn't mean the equipment had fully matured; rather, it had only activated the equipment's true characteristics.
What were its true characteristics? Based on current observations, this equipment was darkness bestowed by Abyss characteristics, and then excessive darkness brought the purest life force, just as mentioned in the equipment description.
One possibility was that this equipment would use stronger darkness to erode Su Xiao, and stronger darkness would naturally bring stronger life characteristics, thereby increasing this equipment's health bonus even more?
The more accurate sequence was: Su Xiao's Abyss Resistance increased, stimulating the Endless Ring's debuff, thus requiring stronger darkness to erode him. But once the equipment had stronger darkness, the derived life characteristics would also be stronger, creating an endless cycle.
Didn't this mean that higher Abyss Resistance could bring higher health bonuses?
This made Su Xiao think that the [Endless Ring]'s "Slow Absorption" effect was somewhat incongruous. It felt as if someone had previously obtained the [Endless Ring] but hadn't figured out how to use it, so they had attached this ability as an afterthought, wanting to use the darkness within the [Endless Ring] as a buff energy.
More accurately, a previous holder of the [Endless Ring] had wanted to use the equipment's characteristic of devouring other equipment to develop it into an enhancement-type equipment. Whatever equipment was devoured, the Endless Ring would take on that characteristic and enhance it.
But this ability hadn't been fully developed. The enhancement was achieved, but the devouring nature of the Endless Ring hadn't been restrained.
Su Xiao had this consideration because Ability 2 of the [Endless Ring] was very contradictory. Its characteristic was:
"Slow Absorption (Core · Passive) — Can slowly devour equipment or special items. Before completely devouring the equipment, the [Endless Ring] will temporarily gain its characteristics and enhance the temporarily obtained ability based on the [Endless Ring]'s current rating."
Previously, when the [Endless Ring] only had a rating of 10 points, Su Xiao felt that if he let it devour a piece of equipment, that equipment could last at least ten-plus days, meaning the [Endless Ring] would temporarily gain that equipment's ability for ten-plus days.
Now a very bizarre thing had happened. When the [Endless Ring] was upgraded to a rating of 6000 points, the "Slow Absorption" effect was comprehensively enhanced.
Now, the equipment ability devoured would be enhanced by 1.5 to 3 times by the [Endless Ring]. At first glance, this seemed wonderful, but don't forget that this ability's characteristic had been comprehensively enhanced due to the rating increase, which also included devouring efficiency.
This caused the ability named "Slow Absorption" to be anything but slow when devouring equipment. Su Xiao took out a fragment of the Overlord Equipment [Golden Balance], letting the [Endless Ring] devour it. Even though this Overlord Equipment was damaged and couldn't have its ability devoured, measuring the devouring time was still possible.
Su Xiao took out a stopwatch, pressed start, and set it down, while also controlling the [Endless Ring] to continue floating. He planned to go to the kitchen to find some food. Previously, when he went to Floating Light Island, using his body energy to resist the darkness had left him ravenously hungry.
Just as Su Xiao stood up, he suddenly sensed something off about the [Endless Ring]'s fluctuations. He looked at it and found that the [Golden Balance] fragment being devoured inside the [Endless Ring] had been absorbed completely clean.
He looked at the stopwatch. Only 5 seconds had passed. He had previously estimated that the [Golden Balance] fragment could last for ten-plus minutes. Now it seemed that this "Slow Absorption" ability was truly unreliable.
One could imagine the expression of disbelief on the face of the holder who had originally developed this ability after testing it.
This "Slow Absorption" ability, which was anything but slow, made Su Xiao even more convinced that this ability had been added on later. If so, could it be stripped or eliminated?
With a try-it-and-see attitude, Su Xiao first released the Demon Spirit and externalized his mental energy, letting the Demon Spirit, which had turned into black smoke, wrap around the mental energy threads he had released, thereby probing into the darkness within the ring of the [Endless Ring].
What met his eyes was a vast expanse of darkness. Su Xiao continued to release mental energy threads, ready to sever them at any moment. Just then, within the darkness of the [Endless Ring], he discovered a faint golden light. Upon careful examination, he found that this light was a multi-layered circular imprint stacked together, very stable, using the darkness within the [Endless Ring] as energy to maintain the existence of this composite imprint.
Seeing this, Su Xiao's fingertips manifested Spirit Shadow Threads, which spread along the already released mental energy threads, eventually wrapping around the composite "Amplification Imprint" and dragging it out of the [Endless Ring].
Because the "Amplification Imprint" had been forcibly added later and was already somewhat repulsive, Su Xiao's process of pulling it out was very smooth. So much so that he only had to give it a hard tug at the beginning, and afterward, the darkness pushed the "Amplification Imprint" out.
With a whoosh, a surge of darkness rushed out from within the [Endless Ring], expelling the "Amplification Imprint" that emitted a golden radiance.
Hum~
The fluctuations of the [Endless Ring] became purer. Su Xiao checked its attributes and, sure enough, this Abyss Equipment now only had the buff "Vigorous Life" and the debuff "Dark Immersion."
Although the health increase from the [Endless Ring] hadn't increased, still at 120,000 points, the feeling of its buff was now completely different, more natural and gentle, rather than the strange sense of dissonance from before.
Now the [Endless Ring] was incredibly pure, only possessing the two characteristics of "Darkness" and "Life." Darkness was the debuff, and Life was the buff.
More importantly, the unstable feeling of the [Endless Ring] had disappeared. Previously, this equipment always felt as if the darkness might erupt at any moment. Originally thought to be its characteristic, it now seemed to be caused by the "Amplification Imprint" inside.
Putting away the [Endless Ring], Su Xiao began to study the golden "Amplification Imprint." Undoubtedly, its creator hadn't figured out how to use the [Endless Ring] but had a very high level of skill in Imprint Studies.
Furthermore, Su Xiao discovered that the operating mode of this "Amplification Imprint" was somewhat similar to the interior of the Mysterious Eye. Although it was far less precise and structurally complex than the Mysterious Eye, there was definitely some commonality between the two.
Su Xiao had a hypothesis: could the internal structure of the Mysterious Eye be adjusted to match the "Amplification Imprint"?
Thinking of this, he took out the Mysterious Eye and began adjusting it. This attracted the attention of Baha nearby. Baha quietly approached, and before long, Bubu Wang and Amu were also drawn over, clearly very interested in Su Xiao's adjustment of the Mysterious Eye.
Noticing Bubu Wang, Amu, and Baha all poking their heads around to peek, Xianlulu was also attracted, sitting to the side and curiously observing.
With a click, the structure inside the Mysterious Eye temporarily locked. This was the first time Su Xiao had encountered such a situation. This change, different from before, made him think that this should be the correct way to use the Mysterious Eye.
After checking and estimating that there were no problems, Su Xiao activated the Mysterious Eye. The next second, the Mysterious Eye slightly expanded, emitting a precise and pleasant operating sound. Unknown energy was absorbed into it, aggregated, compressed, and then... Boom!!
Su Xiao's vision instantly went pure white. Because of the Mysterious Eye's wonderful change just now, Su Xiao, Bubu Wang, Amu, Baha, and Xianlulu were all gathered around the Mysterious Eye, staring intently. Now that the Mysterious Eye had exploded with intense light, the result was predictable.
"Woof howl!"
Bubu Wang rolled on the ground, covering his dog eyes. Xianlulu covered her cat eyes with her paws. Baha exclaimed "I'm screwed" and flapped his wings to fly up, then crashed into the chandelier.
After a moment, Su Xiao put down the empty potion bottle in his hand. He was mostly fine. Amu and Baha were also fine. Only Bubu Wang and Xianlulu still had red-rimmed eyes.
"..."
Su Xiao carefully studied the Mysterious Eye, feeling that there was no problem. He held up the "Amplification Imprint" and compared it to the structure inside the Mysterious Eye. It seemed... the same?
Su Xiao frowned in thought. Soon, he found that the "Amplification Imprint" in his hand looked a bit awkward. He tried to manually move the floating "Amplification Imprint," flipping its up and down direction. Hmm, this time it looked much more pleasing to the eye. No wonder it had felt strange earlier.
After recording the current flash structure of the Mysterious Eye, Su Xiao began adjusting it. He had now discovered two ways to use the Mysterious Eye: 1. Lockpicking Mode, 2. Flashbang Mode. Given the blinding intensity of the Mysterious Eye just now, it could definitely be used against enemies in ambush or surprise attack situations.
Half an hour later, Su Xiao successfully adjusted the structure inside the Mysterious Eye to match the "Amplification Imprint." With a crisp click, the interior of the Mysterious Eye locked itself. Seeing this, Su Xiao knew that this time, he had truly succeeded.
However, before activating the Mysterious Eye this time, Su Xiao, Bubu Wang, Amu, and Baha all put on professional anti-flash devices. Xianlulu covered her eyes with her cat paws and hid under the coffee table.
With a click, the Mysterious Eye activated. A wonderful change occurred. The entire Mysterious Eye expanded slightly, transforming into the same golden color as the "Amplification Imprint" and gaining a sense of containment.
Thinking of the "Amplification Imprint"'s characteristics, Su Xiao took out the detection equipment [Eye of the Gods] and tossed it out. As soon as it approached the Mysterious Eye, it was enveloped by the expanded Mysterious Eye. An even more wonderful change was that the current Mysterious Eye had become capable of viewing attribute status.
[Mysterious Eye]
Quality: Origin Level.
Tip: The quality of the Mysterious Eye will be comprehensively judged based on the holder's Stamina, Intelligence, Charm, Body Energy Cap (Mana Cap), Soul Strength, and Luck Attribute.
Equipment Effect: Aura Detection (Active): Can detect all types of enemies and obtain their information. The completeness of the information depends on the Intelligence attributes of both parties.
Tip: When conducting detection judgment, the judgment correction is increased.
Tip: Aura Detection (Active) has no cost.
Tip: Aura Detection (Active) has a cooldown of 2 minutes.
Tip: This effect comes from the Holy Spirit Level Equipment · Eye of the Gods. If it is stripped from the Mysterious Eye, this effect will be removed.
...
The authenticated information wasn't much, but the Mysterious Eye had elevated the judgment level of "Aura Detection" from Holy Spirit Rank to Origin Rank, crossing a major rank in between, which was Immortal Rank. The improvement was easy to imagine.
As for whether there were any drawbacks, naturally there were. Although the detection level had been elevated, each use consumed a lot of durability from the [Eye of the Gods]. Perhaps detecting five or six times in one world would bring the [Eye of the Gods]'s durability to a level requiring repair.
More critically, Lide couldn't repair this thing. Having Lide help repair the [Wild Hunt Night] was already the limit of Lide's patience. If he were asked to repair such a super high-tech creation, it was more likely to be smashed to pieces with a couple of hammer blows.
Although it would additionally consume the durability of the [Eye of the Gods], it was still worth it. How difficult it was to buy Intelligence-based detection equipment, Su Xiao had already experienced. These things were generally Charm attribute bonuses.
Unfortunately, Su Xiao's Charm attribute was a long story. If he were to detect enemy information based on his Charm attribute, it wouldn't even be a question of whether he could detect it. He suspected that, with the boost of his -19 point Charm attribute, not only would he be unable to detect the enemy's information, but his own information might suddenly be displayed, resulting in a reverse detection.
Su Xiao controlled the Mysterious Eye to float in his hand. He made a grasping motion with one hand, and with control, the Mysterious Eye expanded, releasing the [Apostle's Eye] wrapped inside. This caused the Mysterious Eye's detection ability to disappear.
Su Xiao took off the [Berg Heart] and tried to use the Mysterious Eye to buff this pendant. Originally, he was just trying it out, but unexpectedly, the Mysterious Eye really did temporarily gain the ability of the [Berg Heart] pendant and even buffed this ability to the Origin Level.
"Adaptive Force (Core · Passive): During combat, based on the enemy's ability characteristics, increase the wearer's abnormal status resistance by 85 to 100 points (Adaptive)."
This effect was quite good, but there was a very critical problem: how should the Mysterious Eye be worn? This item wasn't a defined piece of equipment, so it had no equipment slot. Trying to equip it to the equipment slot corresponding to the pendant resulted in a prompt: This item is not a pendant-type equipment and cannot be equipped to this equipment slot.
Su Xiao controlled the Mysterious Eye to expand, took out the [Berg Heart], and re-wrapped the [Eye of the Gods]. He roughly understood the characteristics of this thing. It could be used to buff equipment, but not items or other things. And when buffing equipment, it was best to choose equipment with external, active effects, like detection types.
Suddenly, Su Xiao thought of a possibility: what would happen if he used the Mysterious Eye in its buff state to wrap a small-sized Original Sin Object and buff it? For example, using it to wrap the [Nether Bone Ring]?
After weighing the pros and cons, Su Xiao dismissed this idea. Bubu Wang and Baha, noticing that the strange gleam in his eyes had disappeared, both secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Although he hadn't been able to use the Wolf Sword to form Supreme Moonlight and thus awaken the "Moonlight Set," the gains from the Endless Ring were already quite good. The 120,000 point health bonus brought his maximum health to 840,000 points. When fighting against strong enemies, this provided a decent sense of security. When fighting against the Wolf God, it would probably allow him to withstand one more hit?
The strong team going to Floating Light Island had already been decided. The members were as follows:
First was the Beast Clan's Knight Commander of Eternal Ring City. This person came from the military, having served as a Beast Clan soldier and fought on the main battlefield. He then gradually advanced from a squad leader to a high-ranking officer, was later personally appointed by the Beast King as the Legion Commander, and was eventually transferred to the main city, Eternal Ring City, as the Imperial Guard Commander. Afterward, the Beast King promoted him to Knight Commander.
This was the person the Beast King trusted the most. In reality, the Beast King was cultivating the Knight Commander to be the next Beast King. This behavior by the Beast King caused him to become completely isolated, with even the Steel Feather Family behind him no longer supporting him, vaguely colluding with the Seven Great Families.
The Knight Commander's strength went without saying. Even among Absolute Strong, he was a combat power between the upper tier and the peak. As for what would happen if he went to Floating Light Island and died at the hands of the Wolf God, the Beast King had once been a War King and was destined not to protect his successor but to let him undergo sufficient trials before passing on the throne.
This trip to Floating Light Island was the final trial the Knight Commander had to face. If he defeated the Wolf God, he would basically be the next Beast King.
Regarding this, the internal views of the Seven Great Families were particularly contradictory. They acknowledged the Knight Commander's ability and recognized that after he became the new Beast King, the Beast Clan's glory would continue. However, the problem was that the Seven Great Families wanted to install someone from their own families, and they were genuinely afraid that, years later, the Knight Commander would be as majestic as the current Beast King was in his youth. Recalling that former majesty still sent chills down the spines of the Seven Great Families.
The second member was not an Absolute Strong, but once his name was written on the list, both the Beast Clan and Sea Clan high-levels acknowledged it. Even the Tribe representatives who were there to fill the scene felt that this person should be on the list.
That's right, that person was Shenfu. After entering this world, this guy had wreaked havoc on the Beast Clan, Sea Clan, and Tribe factions. Mentioning this guy made many high-levels from all three sides grind their teeth in hatred. But they had to admit that this guy, as treacherous as a humanoid Ancient God, was too suitable for Floating Light Island.
The third candidate was somewhat surprising: the Sea Clan's Absolute Strong, Heizhao. Previously, the Beast Clan and Sea Clan high-levels believed that the Absolute Strong Zakawa was more suitable. The latter had been an Absolute Strong for many years and was a veteran Absolute Strong. In contrast, Heizhao was a newly promoted Absolute Strong in recent years.
The reason Heizhao was chosen was because his ability would allow the strong team to smoothly reach the Seal Hall, thus fighting the Wolf God in their best condition, rather than first having to deal with the billions of dark creatures, evil spirits, and even a small number of Abyss Spawn in the black mist.
Under such circumstances, this truly brought more advantages than adding a veteran Absolute Strong. Otherwise, the strong team would have to fight their way all the way to the Seal Hall. Furthermore, this wasn't a dungeon raid. The Wolf God probably wouldn't be waiting inside the Seal Hall.
What was more likely was that the Wolf God would sense the sounds of battle and then lead billions of dark creatures and evil spirits to engage the strong team. That would make the fight completely impossible. Heizhao's addition solved this problem.
Additionally, the veteran Absolute Strong Zakawa's Abyss Resistance wasn't very high. Once on Floating Light Island, his combat power might not necessarily be stronger than Heizhao's.
The fourth member was both reasonable and absurd. Reasonable in terms of team composition, absurd in terms of factional stance.
That's right, the fourth team member was Mage Sage Seraphilia. It wasn't that the Beast Clan and Sea Clan wanted to stir up trouble, but that this world simply didn't have many Absolute Strong. Those with high enough Abyss Resistance were even fewer. The stronger one was, the more they feared Abyss power.
The few factionless Absolute Strong in this world usually regarded themselves as guardians of their respective regions. But now that the Abyss was encroaching, all these factionless Absolute Strong had fallen short, with none having Abyss Resistance exceeding 12 points.
The Knight Commander's Abyss Resistance was honed by the Beast King. The Beast King had sent the Knight Commander to the Abyss Erosion Zones of this world many times. At the time, many thought the Beast King wanted to eliminate the Knight Commander. Now it seemed the Beast King's choice was absolutely correct.
Shenfu needed no further explanation. Heizhao's abilities were of the Dark System, which inherently had some connection to Abyss characteristics, so his corresponding resistance was also quite good.
As for Seraphilia's Abyss Resistance, this was essentially her daily routine. Besides managing the Black Maple Tree, whenever an Abyss Passage opened in the Void, she was basically the one who led people to close it. If her Abyss Resistance were datafied, it would be at least 80 points or more.
This also meant that Seraphilia was the strongest damage dealer on the strong team, and she was also a ranged damage dealer.
As for the last member, it went without saying that it was Su Xiao, representing the Law Destruction faction. It wasn't a choice made by the Beast Clan or Sea Clan. Rather, it was because only with Su Xiao in this position did the strong team exist. To be precise, he was one of only two people in this world capable of killing the Wolf God.
The other person was Demon Scythe Tailide. She was a special powerhouse who appeared only once or twice in ten thousand years. Moreover, it wasn't the inheritance system that gave her this ability. Only the Moon Wolf and Law Destruction inheritance systems possessed the ability to eliminate the indestructible characteristic of Abyss Spawn. This was universally acknowledged.
In fact, the Beast Clan and Sea Clan had also approached Demon Scythe Tailide, but she simply ignored them. Until the Abyss fully spread, she wouldn't use the means capable of killing the indestructible characteristic of Abyss Spawn, because that wasn't an ability at all; it was a price.
Pairing a Spellcaster with a Law Destroyer in the same team was an unprecedented move by the Beast Clan and Sea Clan. But it was truly forced by circumstances. The Sea Clan's attitude was firm: if the Abyss energy spread, their first action would be to send strong members to kill the Dwarf King, preventing Arcane Eternal Star from obtaining any more elemental artifacts, thereby causing the Void to eventually face the Abyss's invasion as well.
The Sea Clan's stance was very clear: if Seraphilia didn't help, then everyone would suffer together. The result was that the Sea Clan high-level sent to persuade Seraphilia was killed on the spot by her. Seraphilia's attitude was that there was no need to wait for the Abyss invasion. Arcane Eternal Star would open the Boundary Array now and come to annihilate the Sea Clan.
The Sea Clan was stunned. They truly hadn't expected the Spellcasters to be so ruthless. And judging by the attitude, Arcane Eternal Star wasn't threatening; they were genuinely prepared to do it.
When the Beast Clan learned of this situation, their heads were buzzing. The final result was that the Sea King seemed to have taken out some artifact, which caused Seraphilia's attitude to soften somewhat. After several more rounds of negotiations, with the Sea Clan paying a considerable price, Seraphilia's attitude changed to: wasn't it just going to Floating Light Island with a Law Destroyer? If the Law Destroyer side had no problem, then she had no problem.
Furthermore, the Beast King and Sea King, through the notarization of the Void Tree, created a contract of the highest tier of notarization. The contract's content was that during the trip to Floating Light Island and for the 24 hours following the resolution of this matter, Su Xiao and Seraphilia were not to harm or scheme against each other in any way. Actions such as summoning teammates were also not allowed. The entire contract had over a thousand notes on this aspect.
The notarization tier of this contract was too high. Even for Su Xiao, there was no way to find a loophole to manipulate.
Thus, the five-member strong team was formed. The lineup was as follows:
Knight Commander: Frontline + Melee Damage Dealer. Can both deal damage and tank, with innate strong recovery ability.
Heizhao: Path Opener + Burst Damage Dealer. Can provide crowd control and serve as a temporary ranged attacker.
Shenfu: Handles all bizarre and unknown situations, and weakens the Wolf God's various resistances.
Seraphilia: The team's strongest damage dealer. Possesses true crowd control that ignores control immunity. After a full ability burst, her suppression power is formidable.
Su Xiao: Blood Qi System Ranged Attacker + Alchemist + Uses Seal Studies to ensure the Seal Hall remains a closed environment + Post-battle healing to ensure near-death members don't die + As the only one in the team capable of killing the Wolf God. It could be said that this was probably the tankiest ranged attacker.