Chapter 3: Endless (Requires Cyan Steel Shadow Energy Intensity to Reach 200 Points)
Current Cyan Steel Shadow Energy Intensity: 320 Points.
[Tip: You must make a choice within 5 minutes, otherwise it will be considered as giving up this Cyan Steel Shadow awakening. Missing this opportunity means your Cyan Steel Shadow ability cannot be awakened.]
……
The third option, "Endless," is naturally the best. The problem is, the display font for this option is strikingly blood-red. This red gives a strong sense of danger, as if choosing it will lead to something unpleasant. Of course, this isn't about the enhancement effect; this is the path with the greatest improvement and perfection for the Cyan Steel Shadow ability. The danger lies in the experience during the enhancement.
Su Xiao summoned Amu and had him bring the top-grade life essence extraction syringe from the Alchemy Laboratory. Moments later, he handed the now-empty injection gun back to Amu and walked over to the bed in the room. As for why there was a bed here, don't ask. Every single thing in this room was necessary.
He chose to fully awaken the core ability, Cyan Steel Shadow. The next second, Su Xiao felt his heart pound violently. The Cyan Steel Shadow energy throughout his body gradually became turbulent, surging through his blood vessels along with his blood. After a few breaths, his vision went black, and he fell into a slumber.
Amu was used to this by now but still habitually checked his master's breathing. One check later, Amu's bull-like eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets.
"Moo!!"
Amu roared. Bubu Wang, Baha, and Beini rushed over quickly. The four of them used various instruments to perform emergency resuscitation, finally getting Su Xiao to breathe again. Indeed, just moments ago, Su Xiao's breathing had stopped for over ten seconds.
For someone with his powerful life force to experience this shows how dangerous fully awakening Cyan Steel Shadow truly is. No wonder the Law Destruction Faction only allowed this ability to be awakened after advancing to the Supreme rank.
Darkness, boundless darkness. Su Xiao felt himself falling through the darkness. This time, there was nothing, only endless darkness. It reminded him of what someone who had returned from the dead once said: after death, there is nothing, only endless darkness. That's why people instinctively fear death so much.
Suddenly, the surrounding darkness was dispelled by blue light. These blue lights spread around him like electric arcs. Su Xiao abruptly opened his eyes and saw a big dog head staring at him eagerly.
Pushing away Bubu's dog head, Su Xiao sat up and tore off the various vital sign monitoring devices on his chest. Aside from feeling a bit weak, everything else was fine. As for the breathing cessation when he first fell asleep, that wasn't a false death. It was a protective reaction of his organs stimulated by the Cyan Steel Shadow ability. No harm done.
He sensed the Cyan Steel Shadow energy within him. Hmm, it seemed there was no change at all.
[Cyan Steel Shadow: Lv.95 (Active/Passive Skill)]
Activation Condition: After activating the Cyan Steel Shadow ability...
Active Effect: Each melee attack will burn 6260 points of the enemy's mana...
Defense Form: Proud Song (Active)...
Combat Form: None.
……
Aside from the disappearance of the "Limit Breaker (Passive)" in the Combat Form, there were no other changes. This puzzled Su Xiao. He sensed the subtle changes in the Cyan Steel Shadow energy but found none. He tried consulting Reincarnation Paradise and received this prompt.
[Tip: Your Cyan Steel Shadow skill is the current highest certified level cap "Core Skill."]
Seeing this prompt, Su Xiao carefully perceived the enhancement of Cyan Steel Shadow again. Previously, after the Cyan Steel Shadow ability reached Lv.95, it gave him the feeling that each subsequent level would be very difficult to raise, but each level up would be a significant leap in power.
But now, that characteristic feeling was completely gone. It felt as if he could raise the Cyan Steel Shadow ability to an incredibly astonishing level, unlike other high-level abilities where the level cap is Lv.100, with higher ones being Lv.105 or Lv.110.
Su Xiao's Blade Grandmaster ability had a level cap of Lv.110, and that was only after he had raised the cap several times. Otherwise, it would typically be maxed at Lv.90 or Lv.95, depending on one's blade talent.
But now, sensing the Cyan Steel Shadow energy, Su Xiao felt that not even Lv.110 was the limit. That endless cap made it difficult for him to sense the boundary now. This was the true power of the "Endless" path.
He glanced at the time, then lay down and went to sleep. From the start of the Paradise War to returning to Reincarnation Paradise, he hadn't had a good night's sleep. This time, he slept until he naturally woke up, relaxing his tense nerves.
After an unknown amount of time, Su Xiao opened his eyes and picked up Beini, who was lying spread-eagled on his face. Bubu at the foot of the bed was sleeping with drool dripping out. Amu was sleeping on the rug on the floor, snoring loudly. Baha was perched on the Awakening Stele, sleeping quietly.
"Meow~"
Beini struggled a bit, then burrowed her upper body under the covers and continued sleeping.
He checked the time. He had slept for over ten hours. After washing up, Su Xiao felt so refreshed that it seemed like he had come back to life. He walked to the Awakening Stele, placed one hand on it, and tried to raise the Cyan Steel Shadow ability.
[Yes/No to raise Cyan Steel Shadow skill Lv.95. Raising this ability requires consuming 1 Law-Destroying Skill Point.]
Seeing this prompt, Su Xiao knew that Reincarnation Paradise had further certified the Awakening Stele. For him, this was undoubtedly a good thing, greatly reducing the unknown risks involved in raising the ability.
He had 52 Law-Destroying Skill Points. He tried adding points to the Cyan Steel Shadow ability, and it seemed to accept them without rejection. He poured all 52 Law-Destroying Skill Points into it, and then... nothing happened.
[Yes/No to proceed with this Cyan Steel Shadow ability enhancement. Due to the Endless characteristic of your Cyan Steel Shadow ability, after each enhancement, the next enhancement requires 5 to 10 natural days.]
This was undoubtedly a troublesome characteristic. No wonder adding the Law-Destroying Skill Points one by one didn't trigger an enhancement reaction. It was this characteristic causing the problem. He chose to enhance, and the next second, he fell into slumber again. It seemed that the Law Destruction Faction rarely suffered from insomnia.
When Su Xiao woke up again, three hours had passed. Just as he was about to get up, his entire body was wracked with intense pain.
[Yes/No to pay 15,935 Soul Coins to restore current body damage.]
Su Xiao chose to pay. Green restorative particles appeared. As the restoration authority began, the hidden pains throughout his body faded. When everything returned to normal, he opened the skill list and checked the Cyan Steel Shadow ability. He saw: "Cyan Steel Shadow, Lv.147"!
That's right, a level 147 ability. Su Xiao finally understood why Reincarnation Paradise had given the prompt: "This is the current highest certified level cap core skill." The level cap of this skill couldn't be compared to other abilities. Judging by this momentum, Lv.147 was just the beginning. There would be even more astonishing skill levels to come.
[Cyan Steel Shadow: Lv.147 (Active/Passive Skill)]
Activation Condition: After activating the Cyan Steel Shadow ability, consumes 6160 mana points per minute (increased by 1560 points).
Active Effect: Each melee attack will burn 8860 points of the enemy's mana, and deal true damage equal to 1.8 times the burned mana (Base 11268 points + 400 true damage + Dragon-Slaying Flash increase 50% + Azure Shadow King increase 30% + Swift Shadow increase 40% = 35,486 true damage). The enemy will suffer intense pain from the mana burn.
Defense Form: Proud Song (Active), can generate crystals of any form to defend against enemy attacks. Crystal strength is proportional to the mana consumed. Single mana consumption cap is 19,900 points. Crystal layer defense rank +22.
Combat Form: None.
……
Su Xiao now had 210,606 mana points, which was already quite high. The problem was, after activating the Cyan Steel Shadow ability for just over 30 minutes, his mana would be completely depleted. Fortunately, he was a Blade Grandmaster. In a life-or-death battle with an enemy, it was 99% unlikely to be a prolonged fight. Even if the enemy wanted to, it would be very difficult. The style of a Blade Grandmaster was a single moment between life and death.
As for burning 8860 mana points per slash, Su Xiao's 200,000 points of bodily energy was already at the boss template level for his rank. Additionally, during combat, powerful enemies would also consume bodily energy when using abilities. It might only take a few slashes before the big boss couldn't unleash their ultimate move. Now, the Cyan Steel Shadow ability truly showed the prestige of the Law Destruction Faction's core ability.
Of course, as a core ability, if Blade Grandmaster reached the max level of Lv.110, it would definitely be much stronger than the current Cyan Steel Shadow. Each had its own strengths. The extremely high level cap, even to the point of being unreasonable, was one of the strongest characteristics of Cyan Steel Shadow. More accurately, looking across the Void and all realms, there was no second ability with such a high level cap.
In other systems, the highest known skill level so far was Lv.118. It was precisely because of Cyan Steel Shadow's sky-high level cap that the Second Era was called the Era of Law Annihilation. An ability system that dominated an era must have its uniquely unsolvable and outrageous traits.
And this was despite the Law Destruction Faction having very few members. They still dominated an era. That was actually the most outrageous part. It was like the current Third Era of Spellcasters. Arcane Eternal Star was a massive force with hundreds of thousands of core members and millions of peripheral members. That's why their headquarters needed an entire planet.
He drew Dragon-Slaying Flash. Cyan Steel Shadow energy climbed up along the blade, and pale blue electric arcs surged. If an enemy were here, seeing these surging pale blue arcs would surely make them tremble with fear. A single slash dealing 35,486 true damage—just think about it.
He checked his mail. Crystal Ji had already contacted the Void's Alchemist Guild. They indeed had the potion formulas Su Xiao needed, and over a dozen of them at that. They had even sent a representative to negotiate the transaction with Su Xiao. Estimated time of arrival: a few more hours.
A feeling of hunger struck him. He was just about to take Bubu Wang, Amu, Baha, and Beini out for a big meal when a prompt from Reincarnation Paradise suddenly appeared.
[All material receipts for this Paradise War have been completed.]
[Given the Hunter's exceptionally outstanding performance in this Paradise War, and the fact that the material receipts exceeded the estimate by 12.8664%, the Hunter will be granted certain profit compensation.]
[You have received Reincarnation Certification Authority ×3 uses.]
[You have received Skill Upgrade Pod Free Use Authority (one use).]
[You have received Flame Core (World-Class Item).]
……
[As this Paradise War has officially ended, and your side is the victor.]
[Judging...]
[Certification complete. This Paradise War will be defaulted as winning one round of World War. The Honor Shop will refresh soon.]
……