Chapter 23: Arena Equipment
On the massive stone disk, soft golden light shone down from above, followed by beams of spotlight that illuminated the participants: Su Xiao, Shenfu, Kuangtu, and the others.
At the same time, the Void Platform·West Ring, Mau Arena.
A layer of light membrane enveloped the surrounding area, which had been certified by the Void Tree. Inside the arena, circular rows of spectator seats surrounded the venue. Looking around, the seats were completely full. However, on the field itself, instead of combatants ready for battle, there were eight massive screens facing different directions.
As one of the major arenas in the void, the management team of Mau Arena naturally paid a huge amount of Soul Coins to obtain the broadcasting rights for this Golden Arena. In the past, Golden Arena had many viewers, and with Arcane Eternal Star promoting it through its subordinate forces, the popularity of this Golden Arena skyrocketed.
Several major void arenas purchased the broadcasting rights for Golden Arena. Under the influence of Arcane Eternal Star, they reluctantly lowered ticket prices. Initially, the shareholders of these major arenas politely refused this price reduction suggestion. However, when a staff radiating brilliant magical energy kindly pressed it against their foreheads, these shareholders immediately backed down.
The higher-ups of Arcane Eternal Star understood these shareholders too well. As long as the profits were high enough, there was nothing they wouldn't dare to do. And going along with Arcane Eternal Star's words while acting contrary was naturally out of the question. It was safer to send someone to personally persuade them.
Not only the major arenas, but even the Deathmatch Company, which had experienced its executives fleeing, purchased the broadcasting rights this time. As long as one held a Deathmatch game terminal, they could watch the live broadcast of Golden Arena.
Speaking of the Deathmatch Company, it was quite peculiar. The company's former boss invested a massive amount of funds to create the Deathmatch game, attracting a large number of players, many of whom were influential. However, one day, the Deathmatch game suddenly had a version update that lasted for several months. The game's maintenance staff issued an announcement: their boss had run away.
Su Xiao still remembered that his Deathmatch terminal cost him several hundred thousand Paradise Coins. Although several hundred thousand Paradise Coins weren't much to him at that time, having his game terminal turn into a brick that could only be turned on and off really made him want to have a chat with the game company's boss.
Surprisingly, the employees of the Deathmatch Company, due to being owed a large amount of wages, simply gave up and reopened the game. When players logged into the game, they found it had turned into a news channel, and the news it pushed was both speechless and made people exclaim "Holy crap."
Just when everyone thought the Deathmatch Company would continue to slack off and eventually become a third-rate advertising company, the Deathmatch Company employees pulled off another stunt. They somehow obtained an intelligence channel and transformed into information brokers.
To this day, aside from not being able to play the Deathmatch game, the Deathmatch terminal can watch news, sell intelligence, auction rare items below the Eighth Rank, and you can even order takeout on it.
Now that the Deathmatch terminal had obtained the broadcasting rights for Golden Arena, the Deathmatch employees thoughtfully prepared a bullet comment function. However, the quality of the bullet comments was generally high. The reason was that, in essence, the myriad worlds operated on the law of the dark forest. Mocking an Absolute Strong online could really get you killed offline.
If the Absolute Strong you mocked had ruthless methods and loved torture, the mocker's fate would be even worse. Although it was more likely that the mocking words would be ignored by the Absolute Strong, anyone with a normal brain wouldn't want to take that risk.
"It's an honor to witness Absolute Strongs clashing in my lifetime."
"Don't get too excited. According to Golden Arena tradition, the Absolute Strongs won't go all out in the first six matches. Only in the seventh match will life and death be decided. That said, historically, Absolute Strongs have always stopped at a certain point unless there's old grudges between the two sides."
"The first six matches won't be full-force clashes?"
"Just watch and see. It's really... when two people fight, they have hundreds of schemes between them. It's an arena match, after all. The first few matches are very fair. Everyone starts from the same point. After entering, it depends on the foundations of these big shots."
The atmosphere of the bullet comments was harmonious. Compared to this atmosphere, the situation on the massive stone disk was different. Since the arena hadn't started yet and the broadcast hadn't begun, some participants started their pre-battle warm-up sessions.
Initially, four muscular men from Watchful Paradise mocked a violator named Iron Fist·Barul. Both sides exchanged warm and comprehensive greetings regarding each other's immediate family members. But soon, the three scoundrels of the Arbiters got involved, sending out Violent Rat to fight. The three-way confrontation began.
Perhaps out of habit, the violator named Iron Fist·Barul casually greeted Su Xiao, a hunter. This wasn't a big deal since the two sides were hostile. The problem was that Baha was squatting on Su Xiao's shoulder at the time, yawning. Baha's reaction was: "If you're going to say that, then I'm not going to sleep."
The multi-sided confrontation gradually ended, turning into eating popcorn and watching the show. Initially, Iron Fist·Barul could occasionally counterattack, but soon, under Baha's all-round mental attack, Iron Fist·Barul became silent.
The six-person team from Apocalypse Paradise, who had witnessed the entire process, didn't dare make a sound. The team leader, Thunder Mage·Egger, lowered his eyelids. His mood was exceptionally complicated at the moment. The good mood after successfully advancing to Absolute Strong came to an abrupt halt.
In fact, Thunder Mage·Egger had always been in the first tier of the same rank. Because his ability system was more late-game, when facing old rivals of the same period like Demon Scythe·Tailide and the Ranger Four Brothers, he would be slightly weaker. But if it came to a life-and-death battle, Thunder Mage·Egger wasn't necessarily going to lose. He had a three to four out of ten chance of winning.
Thunder Mage·Egger was the type to accumulate steadily. He used the various resources he had saved to max out his three basic abilities and hundreds of passive abilities. He also prepared the items for advancing to Absolute Strong according to the highest specifications.
Under these circumstances, he took advantage of Su Xiao opening the Eternal Light World to go there for the highest difficulty advancement trial. Although he encountered Su Xiao, his ultimate nemesis, during this time, Thunder Mage·Egger chose to endure.
When the progress of the Eternal Light World was about to end, Thunder Mage·Egger finally completed his advancement trial. At that moment, he transformed. Lightning, Magic, and Soul — these three systems were all late-game. At low ranks, fellow Apocalypse Paradise contractors in the same team secretly mocked his overestimation, bluntly stating that if Egger could survive to the Third Rank with this development method, they would stand on their heads to pee and wash their hair.
Egger lived to the Third Rank, but the mocker didn't keep his promise. That mocker was killed by a madman from Reincarnation Paradise at the Second Rank.
By the Fifth Rank, Egger gradually became famous. By the Eighth Rank, he was called Thunder Mage, one of the few Apocalypse Paradise contractors qualified to face Ancient Gods as a Battle Angel. His lightning was World Lightning, which was no joke.
Thunder Mage·Egger's path to Absolute Strength officially began. Just when everyone thought he would become the face of Apocalypse Paradise in the late game, he encountered his lifelong nemesis — the Law-Destroying Shadow with 890 Soul Strength, 668 Lightning Resistance, and 60% Magic Immunity: Su Xiao.
After suffering a loss at Su Xiao's hands for the first time, Thunder Mage·Egger spent a large sum to obtain Su Xiao's information. After seeing this information, Egger immediately put on a pain mask.
Having been beaten by Su Xiao for several consecutive world progressions to the point of doubting life, after advancing to Absolute Strong, Thunder Mage·Egger went to the Trial Grounds and fought several Absolute Strong-level giant elephants in a row. This stunned the two Apocalypse Paradise Absolute Strongs who went with him. Presumably, World Lightning, Magic, and Soul — any one of these was particularly prestigious. Cultivating all three to the late game naturally made one stand out.
This time, after Thunder Mage·Egger participated in the Golden Arena, he happened to meet five other Absolute Strongs from the same paradise. One of them, an old brother who had advanced to Absolute Strong long ago, without a word, transferred the team leader authority to Thunder Mage·Egger. At this level, one could basically judge the probability of victory or defeat at a glance. Against Thunder Mage·Egger, his win rate was almost zero.
Feeling the respect from the other Absolute Strongs, Thunder Mage·Egger's mentality recovered. Just at this critical moment, he happened to encounter Su Xiao again.
"If I'm not mistaken, that's Bai Ye from Apocalypse Paradise over there?"
The assassination-type girl in the team, Yu Zhi, spoke. She not only had a high-level liquefaction ability but also a Grandmaster-level energy poison control. Her body energy was poisonous to other living beings and could even produce a time erosion effect on inorganic matter.
"Eighty percent or more probability it's the Night of Decapitation."
The fire-type old brother spoke. He was the senior who had chosen to hand over the captaincy to Thunder Mage·Egger.
"No big deal. We're a six-person team, and we have Egger, who has mastered World Lightning."
The earth-type strongman, Titan·Gelizi, spoke. Upon hearing this, the fire-type old brother nodded in agreement, but Egger remained silent.
"We should... be cautious."
The healer in the team, Luo Luo, spoke. The other five paid special attention to this healing-type. At the Absolute Strong level, let alone healing types, even support types were extremely rare, let alone healing types. Even in Holy Light Paradise, there weren't many healing types at the Absolute Strong level.
"If we really encounter Bai Ye from Reincarnation Paradise in the seventh match, we'll find an opportunity to kill him. Don't forget how high the bounty on this guy is."
The man who called himself Rain Summoner spoke. He was dressed in black, with a face mask covering the lower half of his face, and his gaze gave off a gloomy feeling.
As for Su Xiao's bounty, this was the price of his mission to invade Apocalypse Paradise. Over there, he had an extremely high bounty, and it was an official one.
For so long, the Apocalypse Three Sisters had never been tempted by this bounty. There were two reasons: first, they were all little rich girls; second, Su Xiao hit too hard.
Hearing Rain Summoner mention the bounty and killing Bai Ye from Reincarnation Paradise, the healer Luo Luo spoke weakly:
"This... isn't good."
Luo Luo's gaze showed some concern.
"It's fine. We have Egger with World Lightning."
Rain Summoner's words made the fire-type old brother, Titan·Gelizi, and the healer Luo Luo all tempted. Even the assassination-type girl Yu Zhi, who had remained silent, showed some interest. She had seen that bounty, and the amount was particularly shocking.
Feeling the hopeful or expectant gazes of his five teammates, Thunder Mage·Egger felt like ten thousand wild donkeys were galloping through his heart. What was worse was that he couldn't refuse this expectation. The two Absolute Strongs from Arcane Eternal Star coming here meant the chance of winning the championship was already slim. But since they were here, they had to make a big profit. The "Golden Arena Entry Ticket" was extremely expensive. The few of them had bought entry tickets from others to participate in this competition.
Realizing the situation was unfavorable, Rain Summoner proposed using Su Xiao's bounty to make up for this huge loss. A key point was that Su Xiao had advanced to Absolute Strong in the last world. This didn't require investigation. There were still traces of having used a large amount of "Primordial Fragments" on him. Only when advancing to Absolute Strong would one use a large amount of "Primordial Fragments."
In fact, Su Xiao didn't use a large amount of "Primordial Fragments" because he was advancing to Absolute Strong. He normally absorbed Source Matter, and because his absorption efficiency was many times that of other Absolute Strongs, he needed more "Primordial Fragments" to stabilize. However, Rain Summoner's logic wasn't wrong. Su Xiao had indeed advanced to Absolute Strong in the last world.
The five team members reached a consensus. Only Thunder Mage·Egger was uneasy. Given his style, he should have decisively refused to deal with Su Xiao. The awkward part was that this time, the two participants from Death Paradise, Light and Shadow — the couple of Absolute Strongs, Guangyan and Yingqin — were Thunder Mage·Egger's old enemies. The hatred between the two sides was so deep that life and death would be decided.
Either deal with Bai Ye, or be politely asked to leave the team and face Light and Shadow alone. After weighing for a moment, Egger chose the former. At least this way, he wouldn't have to act until the seventh match. That meant, until then, he had to maintain his facade. After figuring this out, Thunder Mage·Egger smiled slightly and said:
"Bai Ye is my old opponent. We've clashed several times, with wins and losses split evenly."
After saying this, Egger suddenly remembered a certain time when he was disguised as a white-dressed girl to lure an evil god. It was both shameful and socially embarrassing. This made his eyes gradually focus, and his teeth ground together with a cracking sound.
Seeing Egger's expression, his five teammates didn't doubt his words. His expression was too vivid. Even with outstanding acting skills, one couldn't act this realistically.
"Ah, what a pity. I'm going to lose this opponent this time."
Egger sighed. Upon hearing this, the assassination-type girl Yu Zhi, the fire-type old brother, Titan·Gelizi, the healer Luo Luo, and Rain Summoner looked at each other, all feeling that this time was secure.
Egger maintained a calm smile like an old dog. He had never felt before that maintaining a facade was so tiring.
In the golden ring diagonally opposite, the couple Light and Shadow from Death Paradise were watching Egger. Among them, Yingqin's thin lips curled into a graceful arc.
Golden particles fell from above. Su Xiao raised his hand, and a golden particle landed on his hand. The next moment, the light of this golden particle began to dazzle.
Boom!
After a muffled sound, Su Xiao's vision turned into a vast expanse of white. When he regained consciousness, he was in a pool of golden liquid. The surroundings were open, and the scene was unobstructed. Looking up, sunlight was reflected by the ripples on the water surface, sparkling.
Su Xiao could feel his body gradually absorbing the peculiar substances in the surrounding golden liquid, which increased some kind of upper limit of his.
[Tip: You are currently in the Golden Lake. You have temporarily obtained the permission to stay here.]
[Checking your body potential...]
[Check complete. Your body potential evaluation is: Basic Potential + All Potential Upper Limit Rank +36.]
[Potential Comprehensive Evaluation: Extremely High.]
[While in the Golden Lake, your body will slowly absorb the "Special Golden Force" here. The maximum amount you can absorb will be determined by your potential comprehensive evaluation. You can absorb a total of 30 units of "Special Golden Force." This will greatly enhance the effect of your use of Golden Skill Points.]
[If your body completes this absorption of "Special Golden Force," the efficiency of each Golden Skill Point you subsequently use will increase by 50%, and the judgment criteria will remain unchanged.]
...
Seeing these prompts, Su Xiao understood why the "Golden Arena Entry Ticket" was so precious. Just entering and getting this treatment was worth the high price.
This enhancement wasn't significant for those with insufficient potential. However, Su Xiao had obtained extremely high body potential through Demon Spirit energy. With such body potential, after absorbing enough "Special Golden Force," the derived effect was ridiculously strong.
"The efficiency of each Golden Skill Point you subsequently use will increase by 50%, and the judgment criteria will remain unchanged."
To put it simply, if Su Xiao triggered the enhancement of "Origin Stone·World" and obtained "All skills in the skill list have their level cap increased by Lv.10," taking the "Immortal Body" ability as an example, the current "Immortal Body" was X. After the level cap increased by Lv.10, it would become X, and then 10 Golden Skill Points could be used to raise this ability back to the absolute max level of X.
The difference lay in these 10 Golden Skill Points. Su Xiao's subsequent use of Golden Skill Points would be 50% more efficient. That meant the enhancement amount of using 10 Golden Skill Points was equivalent to the actual effect of 15 Golden Skill Points. Plus, the "judgment criteria remain unchanged" of this enhancement meant pushing the limit of the ability up another level.
A more intuitive way to put it was that the characteristic of this ability turned "Origin Stone·World" Enhancement 2's "All skills in the skill list have their level cap increased by Lv.10" into "All skills in the skill list have their level cap increased by Lv.15."
Was the reward from "Golden Arena" too exaggerated? Not at all. This was because Su Xiao's body potential was too high. Why was that? The answer was that he had taken 50% of the Demon Spirit energy gains from the Blade Demon Spirit. And where did the Demon Spirit energy come from? It came from devouring the origin energy of the Immortal and Indestructible Abyss Spawn. This was the power of the Abyss!
However, Su Xiao had transferred it many times through various channels before absorbing it. When he absorbed it, there was no longer any Abyss attribute. Only power remained.
Su Xiao's body needed to absorb "Special Golden Force" in the Golden Lake, but this didn't prevent him from participating in the first six matches of the Golden Arena. Nor did it delay the main mission time. There was no need to worry about that. He was representing the Reincarnation Paradise faction in this Golden Arena. Plus, he had already left the Witch Realm, so the main mission time limit timer had paused. This was the first time he had seen such a situation.
[About to perform Soul Power Transfer (this transfer will not involve your original soul, only your recoverable soul energy). Your consciousness will be transferred along with the soul energy to a new body. You will use your new body to participate in the first six matches of the Golden Arena. Until the seventh match, your consciousness will return to your original body, and you will use your original body to participate in the seventh and eighth matches of the Golden Arena (the eighth match is the championship battle, only the last two participants can participate).]
Seeing these prompts, Su Xiao understood what was going on. The first six matches of the Golden Arena were very interesting. Instead of using one's own body, the Golden Arena would construct a body perfectly suited to the participant. Presumably, this body would have different combat abilities. However, the initial comprehensive combat power of these bodies for all participants would definitely be the same.
[When you use the new body, your consciousness will be protected by the certification mechanism of the Void Tree. Therefore, even if you die during the arena, you will have one resurrection opportunity per round (six rounds of arena, a total of six resurrection opportunities, cannot be overdrawn, only one use per round. After entering a state where you cannot be resurrected, you will enter the Spectator Seat of Spirits, waiting for resurrection at the start of the next round, or being eliminated).]
[The initial combat power of everyone's arena body is absolutely consistent. However, considering that erasing the participant's own advantages is also unfair to a few participants, the arena body resurrection mechanism corresponds to the soul. Subsequently, a judgment will be made on the participant's own soul strength to ensure that the participant's own advantages are not ignored.]
[Soul Strength Judgment in progress...]
[Your Soul Strength is 890 points!]
[Certification mechanism re-stabilizing...]
[You are a Melee-type ability user.]
[You have no Soul-type active abilities.]
[You have no Soul-type basic abilities.]
[Your advantage-type enhancement was originally Melee-type, i.e., your arena body must have Melee-type as its main ability.]
...
A large number of judgments appeared. It seemed that the Golden Arena hadn't quite figured out why a Melee-type with no Soul-type basic or active abilities had 890 points of Soul Strength.
Each participant's judgment would include one advantage judgment. For example, Thunder Mage Egger's new body, even if its physical attributes weren't high, wouldn't be a frustrating Melee-type. It would either have Lightning characteristics or be Magic-type.
Each participant only had one advantage judgment. The problem now was that the Golden Arena was having difficulty deciding what advantage judgment to give Su Xiao. Give him Soul-type? No, this was a three-technique Melee-type. Give him Melee-type? Even worse. The 890 points of Soul Strength weren't just for show.
[Judgment complete. You will randomly receive one of the Melee/Soul characteristic advantage judgments.]
[Drawing...]
[Draw complete. Your only advantage judgment for this time is: Soul Characteristic.]
[Judgment complete. Your Soul Strength is 890 points.]
[Stabilization method: Soul Strength exceeding 300 points grants one additional resurrection per arena match. Exceeding 500 points grants three additional. Exceeding 800 points grants seven (this enhancement will not stack, take the highest value).]
[In the subsequent six rounds of arena, you can resurrect eight times per round. Since the subsequent six rounds of arena are all held in vast venues (minimum not less than the size of a city), each time you resurrect, you will be teleported to a random location.]
...
After these prompts appeared, Su Xiao felt a teleportation sensation. This teleportation was different from before, exceptionally ethereal. Presumably, this was the feeling of soul energy wrapping consciousness being teleported.
After the teleportation ended, Su Xiao found himself in an overlooking perspective. Below was a venue full of technological sense, but with heavy, old black metal. At the center, a cultivation pod opened, and a replica of Su Xiao's body — no, it should be an arena-specific body — appeared. It had the same proportions as his original body, but was far less powerful. He estimated that the physical attributes of this body were only around 10 to 20 points.
[You have obtained an arena body. The characteristic of your arena body is: Ranged.]
[You can choose the following professions for this arena body. After completing the profession selection, you can select a total of five skills, one of which must be your "Ultimate Skill."]