Chapter 13: Cooperation
As Su Xiao took out the "Book of Original Sin," the Mad Demon Ring ahead emitted a blood-colored glow. It showed no sign of backing down—unsurprising, given its reputation as the ring recognized by Hunters as belonging to a madman.
Su Xiao was always open to advice and had a clear self-awareness, meaning he wasn't prone to arrogance. That was why, even though the [Bloodbath Mad Demon] ring had always been available in the Honor Shop, he never exchanged for it. The last time he obtained it, he found a way to send it away.
But now, the Mad Demon Ring had come knocking again. Su Xiao assessed the situation: he held the "Book of Original Sin," which sealed the Collector, the Necronomicon, the Scarlet Scepter, the Nether Bone Ring, the Soul Crown, and the World-Eroder. None of these had killed him. Could a Mad Demon Ring, which had killed many Hunters, truly bring about his demise?
Moreover, given the current circumstances, if he didn't put it on, it was clearly determined to persist. It seemed set on one point: it wouldn't go after anyone else until it had caused Su Xiao's death.
Under these circumstances, not mutually harming the Mad Demon Ring would be a disservice to the equipment's persistence. Su Xiao reached out with one hand and grasped the Mad Demon Ring ahead. With a bang, blood smoke erupted from the point where his hand gripped the ring, exploding within the four-story mansion. The blood smoke enveloped the building and formed a massive, grinning scarlet skull above it.
Alanna, wearing round-rimmed glasses, saw this. She removed her narrow-frame glasses, her pupils gradually contracting, but soon her gaze calmed. Though she had only assisted Su Xiao for a short time, the fact that she had increased her spatial resistance by nearly 150 points in a few days gave an idea of how eventful her recent days had been.
After a few seconds, Alanna decided to treat it as an illusion. She saw nothing.
The blood smoke that had nearly covered the estate gradually converged, finally all entering the third-floor inner hall, merging into the [Bloodbath Mad Demon] ring in Su Xiao's hand.
[You have obtained Bloodbath Mad Demon (Overlord Equipment).]
[This Overlord Equipment is extremely special, being a two-way binding oath. After completing this oath, neither you nor Bloodbath Mad Demon can unilaterally dissolve this oath. Both parties must agree to dissolve it to end the holding/binding relationship.]
[Bloodbath Mad Demon]
Origin: Ancient Dragon Kingdom · Eberath.
Quality: Overlord.
Category: Ring.
Durability: 300/300 points.
Equipment Requirement: Charm attribute below 10 points, Health Points above 500,000 points.
Equipment Effect: Mad Demon (Core · Active): Upon activating this ability, your True Strength and True Stamina attributes will temporarily increase by 50%, and you will gain 100% attack speed and movement speed bonuses, along with an 85% lifesteal effect on attacks. As a cost, while this ability is active, you will lose 1% of your maximum Sanity per second, down to a minimum of 1 point. You will lose 1% of your Willpower attribute per second, down to a minimum of 1 point. You will consume 1% of your maximum Health per second until your Health drops below 1%, at which point the benefits of this ability will forcibly end.
Tip: After this enhancement ends, your Sanity and Willpower attributes will quickly recover to their normal maximum levels.
Equipment Debuff: Cost (Core · Passive): Each time this ring is used, for a subsequent period, it will enter an unequippable state. Based on the duration of your last "Mad Demon State," for each second of Mad Demon time, this ring will permanently devour 5,000 points of your Primordial Life Force (permanently reducing your Health Points cap by 5,000 points), and for each second of Mad Demon time, permanently devour 10 points of your Sanity and 2 points of your Willpower attribute.
Equipment Growth Trait: Master Devourer (Passive): Each time this ring devours a holder, it gains growth enhancements, improving the Mad Demon State's bonuses. The higher the holder's Primordial Life Force, Sanity, Willpower, and Blood Qi, the greater the ring's growth.
Rating: 6,000 points (Overlord equipment rating ranges from 1 to 6,000 points).
Introduction: Kill, laugh, and in the end, be devoured entirely by this Mad Demon Ring.
Price: Unsellable.
...
Seeing the attributes of [Bloodbath Mad Demon], Su Xiao finally understood why this Mad Demon Ring had targeted him. If it were about Sanity and Willpower attributes, he wouldn't claim to be the highest among the Absolute Strong, but if he combined Primordial Life Force, Sanity, Willpower, and Blood Qi for a ranking, he would certainly be near the top.
The Mad Demon Ring's enhancement was quite exaggerated. Not to mention anything else, the temporary 50% boost to True Strength and True Stamina was particularly absurd. However, in return, using this item not only caused a rapid loss of Health during battle but also, even after winning, incurred an especially severe cost from using the ring.
Take, for example, entering a "Mad Demon State" for 60 seconds during battle. After the fight, the wearer would have 300,000 points of Primordial Life Force devoured by the Mad Demon Ring—permanently reducing their Health Points cap by 300,000 points—along with a permanent loss of 600 Sanity points and 60 Willpower attribute points.
Su Xiao's current Health was 1.66 million points, Sanity was 1,850 points, and True Willpower was 368 points. Even with his situation, he couldn't withstand the cost of using the Mad Demon Ring more than a few times, which showed how vicious this item was.
Especially the deductions to Sanity and Willpower. The lower these became, the easier it was to succumb to the "Mad Demon State" during battles against strong enemies, leading to a vicious cycle.
As for obtaining the Mad Demon Ring and never using it? That was just the ideal scenario. When truly on the verge of defeat, facing death at an enemy's hands, choosing between death and the cost of Mad Demon would always lead to the latter. Once dead, everything was lost, so it was better to endure the cost of a Mad Demon State once. If it led to a counter-kill, it was a net gain.
In reality, all holders of the Mad Demon Ring thought this way: never use it normally, only at the most critical moment to turn the tables. This was the ring's most troublesome aspect—it offered a false higher combat ceiling. This trick worked on others, but for Su Xiao, it was completely ineffective.
Compared to the higher combat ceiling offered by the Mad Demon Ring, the Original Sin items Su Xiao held offered an even more deceptive higher ceiling. Yet, except when dealing with the Scarlet Monarch, Su Xiao had never relied on the power of Original Sin items in other battles. At most, during mutual scheming, he sent Original Sin items to enemies.
Even the fight against the Scarlet Monarch wasn't truly him using an Original Sin item. It was more like the Collector, Necronomicon, Nether Bone Ring, and Soul Crown teaming up to beat down the Scarlet Scepter—an Original Sin item versus Original Sin items. In that sense, Su Xiao had never actually used an Original Sin item.
If Su Xiao could resist using Original Sin items in battle, the false combat ceiling from [Bloodbath Mad Demon] was even less tempting. Even after advancing to Absolute Strong, he remained very self-aware. As a Technique Grandmaster, he couldn't rely on sudden power-ups or breakthroughs in battle.
To overcome a stronger enemy with a weaker force, the power gap couldn't be too vast. It required battle wisdom, precise timing, forming ability counters as much as possible, and maintaining composure under the pressure of life-and-death moments to engage in psychological games with the enemy. Only then could one possibly win against the odds.
The problem was, if he kept the Mad Demon Ring without using it, it was still a loss. Because of this ring, Su Xiao had missed out on two other Overlord equipment pieces. If he couldn't find a way to make this equipment useful, the more he thought about it, the more his mood turned from sunny to cloudy.
Su Xiao decided to run an experiment: activate the Mad Demon Ring's "Mad Demon State" for 1 second. If his idea worked, he could use the equipment a version ahead of its intended level.
Su Xiao didn't put on the Mad Demon Ring. Instead, he released the Demon Spirit and had it stand opposite him. He pressed his index finger onto the Demon Spirit's smoky right arm. With a crackling sound, crystals spread as the "Combat Prosthetic" ability activated, forming a crystalline right arm for the Demon Spirit.
From the end of this crystalline arm, strands of Spirit Shadow Thread extended, merging into Su Xiao's right arm. He raised his hand and flexed his right fingers, and the Demon Spirit across from him made the exact same movements.
The connection between the Demon Spirit and Su Xiao needed no elaboration. This combat prosthetic of the Demon Spirit was formed from Su Xiao's body energy semi-materialized into crystals. Moreover, this arm was connected to Su Xiao's right arm, allowing him 100% control. In this way, the combat prosthetic was equivalent to Su Xiao's right arm, even with the Demon Spirit between them and the crystalline arm.
Thus, if the finger of this crystalline arm wore the Mad Demon Ring, it would be equivalent to Su Xiao wearing it.
To test this, Su Xiao had the Demon Spirit pick up the Mad Demon Ring and put it on the index finger of the crystalline right hand. But before that, he removed the Divine Judgment Ring, leaving his ring equipment slot empty.
When the Demon Spirit put on the Mad Demon Ring, Su Xiao checked his equipment panel. The next moment, he saw the Mad Demon Ring equipped there.
Su Xiao activated the Mad Demon Ring's "Mad Demon State." He immediately felt a surge of scarlet energy flow through the Spirit Shadow Thread connected to the crystalline arm, spreading into his own arm and then throughout his limbs and body. His heart began to pound faster, circulating the scarlet energy through his blood to every part of him.
A power that felt like it could crush the entire world appeared in his hands. Its intoxicating allure could easily ensnare those with weak resolve. But Su Xiao immediately drew his longsword, slashing off the Demon Spirit's crystalline arm. He sealed this half-crystalline arm, still wearing the Mad Demon Ring, into the sixth page of the "Book of Original Sin," making it neighbors with the "Soul Crown" on the previous page and the "World-Eroder" on the next.
With a snap, Su Xiao closed the "Book of Original Sin" with his right hand. Having used the "Mad Demon State" for just 1 second, he began to wait for the Mad Demon Ring to demand its cost. Ten seconds passed, one minute passed, ten minutes passed—his Health, Sanity, and Willpower attributes remained unchanged.
Had the Mad Demon Ring suddenly become generous, deciding not to claim the cost for that 1 second of "Mad Demon State"? No. The ring couldn't claim the cost because, between it and Su Xiao, the "Book of Original Sin" stood in the way. Even if the Mad Demon Ring had incredible luck to break through this multi-layered causal seal wall, the target of its cost claim wouldn't be Su Xiao but the Demon Spirit. In essence, it was the Blade Demon Spirit that had worn the Mad Demon Ring.
Unable to break through the Demon Spirit's barrier, the Mad Demon Ring couldn't demand its cost from Su Xiao. Moreover, this cost claim had a time limit. Once that limit passed, the account between Su Xiao and the Mad Demon Ring would reset.
As time went on, the threat from the "Mad Demon Ring" gradually diminished. Su Xiao estimated that in about ten-plus hours, the cost claim from the Mad Demon Ring would completely dissipate.
Could he use the "Mad Demon State" in battle afterward? Of course not. Losing 1% of Health, Sanity, and Willpower per second was too great a penalty. Plus, the sudden 50% boost to Strength and Stamina and 100% speed increase—this wasn't a benefit. For a Technique Grandmaster in a life-or-death battle, such sudden enhancements were an epic-level nerf.
Su Xiao still had two Power Source Matters unused. After using them and entering the "Mad Demon State," his Strength and Stamina attributes could temporarily reach 800 points. But to avoid overdrawing himself, the duration of each "Mad Demon State" should ideally not exceed 5 seconds. For Su Xiao, that was enough.
The rating cap for Eternal equipment was 6,000 points, but even full-rated Eternal equipment varied in strength. Those requiring a body attribute above 800 points were undoubtedly the strongest among Eternal equipment. Such equipment typically required Supreme-level body attributes to be used.
Among these top-tier Eternal equipment, there was a category called Nourishment type. For example, a pendant once auctioned at the Goblin Merchant Guild required 800 points of True Intelligence to equip. Once equipped, besides its active effect, it continuously nourished the wearer, increasing mental strength by 15–20 points per natural day, up to a maximum of 380 points.
In fact, Su Xiao had already obtained a Nourishment-type equipment, though not as direct as top-tier Eternal equipment: the Black King Bracer's equipment effect 3:
[Equipment Effect 3: Soul Nourishment (Core · Passive): Your soul power will slowly nourish your willpower and mental power, permanently increasing your True Willpower and mental strength.]
Among "Top-Tier Eternal · Nourishment Equipment," other types of Nourishment equipment would carry significant risks for Su Xiao if worn this way, possibly even generating debuffs. These equipment pieces requiring 800 points of the corresponding body attribute to equip wasn't without reason.
Only the Stamina type, which permanently increased Health Points, was something Su Xiao could withstand. The reason was that his current Health was 1.66 million points.
The maximum Health for Absolute Strong was 3.5 million points, but that was more of a theoretical limit. Few at the peak of Absolute Strong could accumulate that much Health.
Moreover, Su Xiao had mastered "High-Tier Passive · Blood Sublimation · Life Soul Lv.30," which included the bonus:
[Skill Effect 2: Maximum Primordial Life Force increased by 15% (Absolute Strong's maximum Health can reach 3.5 million points; this increase raises the cap to 3.5 million points).]
If he maxed out "High-Tier Passive · Blood Sublimation · Life Soul," this bonus might reach over 40%. In that case, Su Xiao's Health cap at Absolute Strong could be around 5 million points.
What was Su Xiao's strength? It was simple: in order, his attack was the strongest, followed by high Health, then speed. This was the result of stacking passives. In the late game, the simpler the strength, the more unstoppable.
Relying solely on the "Life Fruit" enhancement couldn't push his Health cap to 5 million points—even 3 million would be a stretch. But if he could use Nourishment equipment meant for Supreme-level a version ahead at Absolute Strong, Su Xiao might actually stack his Health to 5 million points.
When his Health reached that level, he could also try Strength-type Nourishment equipment requiring 800 points of True Strength to equip. With his physique from such high Health, he could withstand it. And Strength-type Nourishment equipment enhanced his attack, greatly amplifying his fighting style of normal attacks being ultimate moves.
With high attack and high Health as a foundation, Su Xiao's strength would skyrocket.
Moreover, as long as he didn't die in the Witch Realm and returned to Reincarnation Paradise fully loaded, he could trigger the Origin Stone's effect: "All skills in the skill list have their level cap increased by Lv.10." Then, using Golden Skill Points, he could max out various abilities again. Su Xiao's strength at Absolute Strong would reach an exceptionally powerful level.
With that, he could accumulate the best conditions for advancing to Supreme, preparing at his peak. The conditions were as follows: