Chapter 44: Supreme and Impartial
The fusion of the two gems was immensely spectacular, causing the entire Alchemy Laboratory to tremble. Seeing this, Su Xiao's hands were covered in a crystal layer as he grabbed the gem and tossed it into the spatial vortex behind him. That vortex was also part of his Exclusive Room, but it was a separately opened space.
Su Xiao had upgraded Apollo generation after generation, so of course he needed such a safety device. He waited for a moment, and seeing no other abnormalities, he left the Alchemy Laboratory.
From the team storage space, he took out the [Supreme Passive Scroll Chest (★★★)]. This was purchased by Beini at a high price in the Great Gathering Place. Such chests were already rare, and even fewer were willing to trade them. Beini had exchanged it from that Contractor using the [Extreme Body Shell Potion].
Both parties were very satisfied with this deal. After all, the [Extreme Body Shell Potion] was only worth 100,000 ounces per bottle if sold. In Su Xiao's hands, the cost of this item was only a little over 1,000 ounces of Space-Time Power.
Especially since the current [Extreme Body Shell Potion] market was nearly saturated, with over 40 bottles already sold.
[You have opened the Supreme Passive Scroll Chest (★★★).]
[You have obtained Supreme · Strength (X · Skill Scroll · ★★★).]
[You have successfully mastered this ability.]
[Supreme · Strength.X (Supreme Rank · Passive).]
Skill Effect: Your melee slashes will be imbued with a "Shatter" effect. This effect has a greater chance of shattering the enemy's weapons and defenses.
A very good enhancement. Su Xiao had originally thought there would be some "Core Shift" bonus effects, such as enhancing body defense through Strength attribute improvement, or enhancing knockback resistance, etc. After all, the [Supreme · Strength] skill had been invalidated once before and later devoured.
This current improvement suited Su Xiao's development direction where his normal slashes were his ultimate moves. Closing the skill list, Su Xiao activated [Void Tree Vault Application Permission I! (30% off)] and selected the combined permission item of "Invincibility" plus "Emergency Evacuation."
[This permission is currently located in the vault. You need to pay 148,000 ounces of Space-Time Power to complete this exchange (due to the use of the 'Vault Application Permission III', you actually need to pay 103,600 ounces of Space-Time Power).]
[You have exchanged the permission item 'Explorer's Badge'.]
[Explorer's Badge (Passive Trait · Item): When all Life Cores are shattered and Health Points are below 1%, you will trigger an 'Absolute Invincibility' state and can immediately return to the Void Tree · Notarization Area (this return effect can be actively triggered).]
[Tip: This permission item cannot be activated in situations such as mission worlds or large-scale battles!]
A golden badge arrived in Su Xiao's hands. He didn't use his own Life Marks to bind this item. Instead, he applied to Reincarnation Paradise with his Lv.105 Hunter permission to exchange this item for a similar permission item. The response was:
[This type of permission item exchange is not currently supported, but you can choose to submit the item. After submission, you will receive one 'Honor Shop' refresh count. Performing this refresh only has a certain probability of successfully refreshing this type of item in the Honor Shop.]
Su Xiao chose to submit the [Explorer's Badge] to Reincarnation Paradise. In turn, the Honor Shop, which had already used up its refresh counts, gained a "Refresh Count +1" benefit. He refreshed the Honor Shop.
A total of eight types of permission items appeared. This was not surprising. Since his Honor Shop reached Lv.49, there was a decent probability of refreshing permission items.
[You have paid Reincarnation Badge × 1 piece.]
[You have obtained Explorer's Badge (Reincarnation Paradise Notarized).]
[Explorer's Badge (Passive Trait · Item): When all Life Cores are shattered and Health Points are below 1%, you will trigger an 'Absolute Invincibility' state and can immediately return to your Exclusive Room in Reincarnation Paradise (this return effect can be actively triggered).]
Was this Reincarnation Paradise's special care for Su Xiao? Of course not. This was the treatment corresponding to Su Xiao seizing many worlds for Reincarnation Paradise, even allowing Reincarnation Paradise to notarize the first Transcendent Primordial World of the Third Era.
The balance mechanism of the Paradise camp was that risk and reward were equal. If Reincarnation Paradise had notarized the Ten Thousand Races Realm, the most prosperous and flourishing Transcendent Primordial World of the current Great Era, without any permission privileges, it would clearly not conform to the balance of risk and reward.
As for why he had to get the [Explorer's Badge] notarized by Reincarnation Paradise, it really wasn't that Su Xiao didn't trust the power of the Void Tree. He was sure that the [Explorer's Badge] notarized by the Void Tree and the one notarized by Reincarnation Paradise had no difference in strength. It was that he had too much confidence in his own Void Tree Reputation.
If, due to his 1 point (formerly -?.??) reputation, the [Explorer's Badge] malfunctioned, he might end up dying in the Abyss. Going alone to fight in the Abyss seemed very reckless, but if properly prepared, it was just going to accumulate "Soul Energy Crystals."
That's right, Su Xiao was preparing to charge into the Abyss now. He clenched the [Explorer's Badge] in one hand, engraved his Life Core into it, and stored the [Explorer's Badge] in his storage space. Confirming that this item had taken effect, he stepped onto a pitch-black teleportation array.
"Woof!"
Bubu Wang barked. Seeing his master nod slightly, Bubu Wang activated the teleportation array.
Boom!
The spatial impact struck. Bubu Wang was sent flying backward on the spot, performing a 360° backflip while flying backward, finally landing with a dog-face full of confusion, straddling a seven or eight-meter-tall metal tank.
Deep and heavy darkness. Even in the near-Abyss area, this was the scene. Fortunately, Su Xiao's Absolute Perception Domain had "Abyss Vision," otherwise this darkness that constantly eroded and suppressed perception would put anyone who intruded here at a huge disadvantage.
The Abyss was vast and boundless, especially now in the era of the Abyss's dominance. Ahead were filamentous dark substances, like strange algae in water, swaying in mid-air. Black liquid beads of various sizes floated at different heights. Like scales, several meters long and arm-thick pitch-black worms wriggled ahead, sometimes disappearing into the black liquid substance, sometimes drilling into cracks.
Groups of dark red metal flying insects flew overhead, leaving trails of black marks. The gray-black fleshy membrane above seemed to divide this place into two layers. Rumbling sounds came from the membrane, as if a massive liquid substance existed, roaring past close to the membrane.
Dark, heavy, unknown, dangerous—this was the first impression of the near-Abyss area.
Clang!
A flash of blade light. A dark creature that was lurking in a crack, ready to pounce on Su Xiao and bite off his head, was cut in two. Logically, with the vitality of such a dark creature, this was far from a fatal wound. But under the effect of "Soul Severing Shadow," its severed body immediately screamed, began to disintegrate and wither, and finally turned into black liquid substance.
Suddenly, everything around became quiet. Even the constant rumbling from outside the membrane above stopped. But this brief silence was only the beginning of the slaughter.
Five hours later, in the Exclusive Room, the pitch-black teleportation array activated.
As the space shattered and dissipated in the air, Su Xiao appeared, covered in blood, with various wounds on his upper torso and both arms. He had only briefly stopped in the near-Abyss area before charging alone into the Abyss.
Even with his current strength, charging into the Abyss was extremely dangerous. Although it wasn't as difficult as before, where every step was a struggle, he still couldn't afford any carelessness. Unless he activated Azure Shadow King to the point of Demon Blade transformation, recklessly going Demon Blade, which would ignore all dark erosion and Abyss curses.
Activating the relevant recovery permission, a prompt appeared.
[To recover the current body damage, a total of 1,563,345 Soul Coins is required.]
A full 1.56 million Soul Coins, equivalent to about 3,700 ounces of Space-Time Power. With his current physique, this recovery cost was expensive but reasonable. This was still the recovery cost without being eroded by Abyss energy, thanks to his high Abyss Resistance.
As soon as his injuries recovered, Su Xiao fell asleep on the small bed in the Alchemy Laboratory. This harvest was good. Although due to the previous use of [Fate Reversal], his luck was somewhat bad. After five hours of chaotic slaughter, he didn't see a single treasure chest. However, under the bonus of the [Abyssal Shadow] title, the acquisition speed of "Soul Energy" was very fast.
A total of 11 "Soul Energy Crystals" were now in his storage space. That meant going to the shallow Abyss area ten more times would be enough to gather 120.
Besides this harvest, after fighting for several hours, he naturally experienced a shortage of Mana Points:
[Azure Steel Shadow · Usage Condition: After activating the Azure Steel Shadow ability, consumes 300,000 Mana Points per minute.]
Because every slash was killing an Abyss creature, the Azure Steel Shadow ability had to be kept on constantly. This was to avoid encountering those Abyss creatures that were causally dual-bodied. If such a creature wasn't killed in one slash, it would immediately turn into a Dark Curse. Once the Dark Curse layers stacked up, a Life Core would shatter immediately.
After his Mana Points were depleted, Su Xiao had a wonderful feeling. He could convert 1 point of Azure Shadow King energy in his heart into 200,000 Mana Points. Currently, he had 9,420 points of Azure Shadow King energy.
Of course, this meant he couldn't activate the "Demon Shadow" state of "Azure Shadow King." The "Demon Shadow State" consumed 1 point of Azure Shadow King energy per second.
Additionally, after accumulating Azure Shadow King energy to 9,420 points, the "Azure Shadow King" state 2, "Annihilation Shadow," changed from consuming all "Azure Shadow King energy" immediately upon use to consuming 2,000 points of "Azure Shadow King energy" immediately to unleash the full power of "Annihilation Shadow."
After recovering to his best state using the human divine skill, i.e., sleep, Su Xiao ate something casually and once again stood on the pitch-black "Law-Destroying Teleportation Array."
Thus, Su Xiao began to cycle through Exclusive Room → Shallow Abyss Area → Exclusive Room → Shallow Abyss Area. The further he went, the more Su Xiao felt that without reaching the Supreme Realm, let alone defeating the current Lord of the Abyss, even breaking into the inner area of the settlement where the Lord of the Abyss resided was extremely difficult. The deeper into the Abyss, the more powerful and endless the Abyss creatures swarming in.
When Su Xiao entered the shallow Abyss area for the eighth time, due to the massive slaughter, the entire shallow Abyss area began to stir.
On the ninth entry, the entire shallow Abyss seemed on the verge of going berserk. Abyss Spawns that would never appear here before were densely packed.
On the thirteenth visit, as soon as Su Xiao arrived, he was instantly enveloped by darkness. An immense, overwhelming pressure came head-on. Although far from being its match, it was no longer like before, where he couldn't even see the edge.
The Lord of the Abyss had not yet appeared, but the surrounding Abyss creatures were already stirring. They howled as they were absorbed and fused together, beginning to form a towering figure.
The solidified darkness seemed to go berserk. Su Xiao actively triggered the [Explorer's Badge]. Golden light of invincibility flashed on his body surface.
The darkness gradually receded from the surroundings. Su Xiao returned to the Alchemy Laboratory in his Exclusive Room. Just moments ago, he had almost faced the Lord of the Abyss directly. Supreme Peak and the Supreme Realm seemed to differ by only 0.5 levels, but only by facing the Supreme Realm could one appreciate the gap. Fortunately, Su Xiao already had all the chips to advance to the Supreme Realm, only waiting for absolute certainty.
[To recover the current body damage, a total of 6,852,930 Soul Coins is required.]
Nearly seven million Soul Coins for recovery, equivalent to 15,863 ounces of Space-Time Power. This showed how troublesome and dangerous it was to be eroded by the Lord of the Abyss's power.
During the recovery, Su Xiao simply sat cross-legged and meditated. When the recovery was complete, he left the Alchemy Laboratory, fell asleep on the big bed, and slept soundly. The next thing he had to do was equally dangerous, so he had to ensure his condition was optimal.
When Su Xiao woke up, it was nine hours later. After getting up, washing up, and eating the breakfast Baha brought back, Bubu Wang, that fool, was still sleeping, and kicking his legs while sleeping, as if being chased by ghosts in his dreams.
Bubu Wang was purely weak but loved to play. Afraid of ghosts but loved watching horror movies. In mission worlds, when encountering ghostly apparitions in horror scenes, he always liked to provoke them.
He vaguely remembered, not in the seventh rank or the eighth rank, Bubu Wang had provoked a Blood-Robed Ghost. This Blood-Robed big sister saw that Su Xiao was not to be trifled with, so she ignored Bubu Wang's provocations. Later, she accidentally discovered that as long as she didn't hurt this silly dog, just scared him, that terrifying human wouldn't interfere.
The Blood-Robed Ghost smiled. Bubu Wang had gotten himself into trouble. For the next few days, Bubu Wang had to wear diapers before sleeping. The reason was that when he woke up and opened his eyes, he saw the Blood-Robed Ghost's face pressed extremely close, that pale, terrifying face. Bubu Wang's first howl in the morning was almost breaking.
Seeing Bubu Wang's current appearance, he might be dreaming of that Blood-Robed Ghost again.
Entering a quiet room, Su Xiao sat cross-legged on a round cushion, opened his storage space, and took out 152 "Soul Energy Crystals." This was his harvest from the past few days.
To get so many "Soul Energy Crystals" in a short time in the future, unless there was a large-scale battle, it would be very difficult. As for going to the Abyss again to kill Abyss creatures, he had already nearly faced the Lord of the Abyss twice. Next time, it would only be more dangerous.
[Eternal Physique, X (Passive).]
Skill Effect: This skill cannot enhance the 1000-point Supreme attributes of the Extreme System. This skill is currently ineffective for you, but it can undergo a flying upgrade enhancement, upgrading it to "Supreme Physique."
Prerequisite 1: All Supreme main attributes reach 1000 points (Achieved).
Prerequisite 2: Consume 120 "Soul Energy Crystals" (Achieved).
Prerequisite 3: Possess a sufficiently large causal volume (Achieved).
Prerequisite 4: Strong mind (Achieved).
Important Tip: If you successfully master this "Supreme Physique" ability before successfully advancing to the Supreme Realm, then when you advance to the Supreme Realm, if you complete the advancement through the highest promotion specifications, you will have a certain probability of obtaining 1 "Supreme Power · Awakening."
All four prerequisites had been met by Su Xiao. He chose to perform a flying upgrade enhancement on [Eternal Physique]. A total of 120 "Soul Energy Crystals" shattered, turning into a large surge of translucent blue energy that poured into his body.
In an instant, Su Xiao felt his body suddenly lose sensation. With his heartbeat, his body gradually regained feeling from the center of his chest. But this was worse than not recovering. Even he, who had long been tempered by the Law-Destruction system's abilities, saw blackness before his eyes. But after all, he had "Absolute Will," so he immediately pulled through.
The problem was that his vision kept going black, not just once or twice. After the sixth time his vision went black, he was sent into dreamland.
When Su Xiao woke up, it was the next morning. He got up from the recovery pool filled with liquid, felt the changes in his body, and went to the planting area. He sat cross-legged in the hot spring made from the Holy Spring and meditated.
After a while, Su Xiao checked the series of prompts:
[You have successfully obtained 'Supreme Physique'.]
[Because Supreme attributes are already the peak of physical attribute growth, this promotion of Supreme Physique will only appropriately break through this peak state and provide balanced enhancements.]
[All your Supreme main attributes have exceeded 1000 points, meeting the standard for 'Transformation into Supreme Main Attributes'.]
[Important Tip: When you successfully master 'Supreme Physique', you will be deemed to have occupied a 'Supreme Seat' of this Great Era! This seat will only become vacant if you die before advancing to the Supreme Realm.]
[Important Tip: Supreme main attributes will not be suppressed or weakened by any domain.]
[Important Tip: Because Supreme attributes are already the peak stage of physical attribute growth, even if Supreme attributes break the limit, under the same attribute comparison (i.e., 1 point of Supreme attribute corresponds to 100 points of Supreme attribute), the strength will only be 15% higher than Supreme attributes. This promotion is more about the powerful adaptability brought by 'Supreme attributes' and additional 'physical attribute enhancements'.]
[Supreme Strength, Supreme Agility, Supreme Stamina, and Supreme Intelligence, these four Supreme attributes will each bring you an additional 'Base Growth' enhancement, as follows:
Supreme Strength: Brings additional Strength growth enhancement (based on the Extreme Passive · Overlord Strength · Extreme Destruction, providing subsequent growth).
Supreme Agility: Brings additional Danger Sense growth. When danger approaches, you will feel the threat from the causal level several minutes or even hours in advance.
Supreme Stamina: Brings additional True Resistance growth.
Current True Resistance: 5 points.
Supreme Intelligence: Brings additional 'Absolute Trait Perception Growth' enhancement. That is, by increasing Supreme Intelligence, you can increase the range and perception capture speed of the current 'Absolute Perception' (because the perception power of Absolute Perception has reached its limit, it cannot be improved through this growth).]
[All your main attributes have been promoted to Supreme main attributes.]
[Promotion ratio: 100:1 point (i.e., 100 points of Supreme physical attributes condense into 1 point of Supreme physical attributes).]
[Current Supreme Strength, Supreme Agility, Supreme Stamina, Supreme Intelligence are all: 11.5 points.]
[Because you have not yet successfully sealed the Supreme Realm, mastering 'Supreme Physique' this time will not grant an increase in Supreme main attributes.]
[All 'Passive Skills/Active Skills' enhancements related to your Supreme main attributes have been correspondingly upgraded due to this promotion (i.e., passive abilities that originally enhanced Supreme attributes now enhance Supreme attributes).]
[Your current 30 million Mana Points have been converted into the corresponding amount of 'Azure Shadow King Energy'.]
[Your main body energy has been upgraded to 'Azure Shadow King Energy'. When needed, 1 point of 'Azure Shadow King Energy' can be converted into 200,000 points of Supreme Mana Points.]
[Your 'Extreme Trait' has received an important enhancement. In your subsequent physical improvement, for every 10 points of 'Supreme All Main Attributes' you increase, you will receive one 'Extreme Passive' enhancement. This passive enhancement, compared to before, will have a cross-rank improvement. That is, originally obtaining 'Supreme Rank · Extreme Passive', you can now obtain 'Supreme Rank · Extreme Passive'. The strength difference between the two is too great to compare.]
[Tip: The first three 'Supreme Extreme Passives' you master are extremely important. You need to choose carefully.]
[Current Supreme All Attributes are 11.5 points. When reaching 20 points of Supreme All Main Attributes, you can obtain the first 'Supreme Extreme Passive'.]
Seeing this series of prompts, Su Xiao opened the skill list and checked the changes in several skills.
[Overlord Strength · Extreme Destruction, X (Extreme · Passive).]
Skill Effect: Your 'Supreme Strength' has been developed and utilized at a flying upgrade level. Therefore, your physical combat strength is your '1 Supreme Strength' attribute × 10 times.
Tip: Due to the growth characteristics of Supreme Strength, this enhancement ratio is no longer the limit. It will be further improved as the Supreme Strength attribute increases subsequently.
[Azure Steel Shadow: X (Active/Passive Skill · Fully Awakened State)]
Usage Condition: After activating the Azure Steel Shadow ability, consumes 1.5 points of Azure Shadow King Energy per minute.
Active Effect —...
[Power Origin: X (Peak Level · Exclusive Passive)]
Skill Effect: Heart Furnace (Passive), No Change —...
Current Power Origin Enhancement: Supreme Strength, Supreme Agility, Supreme Stamina, Supreme Intelligence, Technique Potential Limit, Abyss Resistance.
Supreme Peak Effect · Ability Sacrifice: No Change —...
Su Xiao checked his current personal information, which was:
Name: Su Xiao (Hunter).
Level: LV.105.
Life Core: 29/29 pieces.
Azure Shadow King Energy: 9420/9420 points.
Supreme Strength: 11.5 points.
Supreme Agility: 11.5 points.
Supreme Stamina: 11.5 points.
Supreme Intelligence: 11.5 points.
True Charm: -100 points.
True Luck Attribute: -10 points.
Fortune: -20 million points.
Su Xiao felt his own body. He suddenly had the urge to go to Arcane Eternal Star right now and have a match with the reportedly very strong Fierce Wind King. Of course, since it was a one-on-one fight, it would definitely be one against a group, meaning letting all the Spellcasters come at him together.
Su Xiao had Beini go to the Great Gathering Place and start mass purchasing "Supreme Passive" skill scrolls. He waited in the exclusive Skill Upgrade Pod in the tail carriage of the Lord's Train.
He still had 8.07 million ounces of Space-Time Power. Of course, he should use it well to enhance his own physique. Soon, the first batch of "Supreme Passive" scrolls, along with a large number of Soul Coins, were exchanged. Su Xiao continuously mastered 15 types of "Supreme Passives." It wasn't that there were only these scrolls; it was that the "Supreme Passive Skill Slots" only had 15 empty slots.
Golden Skill Points were abundant. Su Xiao raised all 15 "Supreme Passives" to X. A few hours later, the 15 newly added "Supreme Passives" in the skill list were all consumed. A massive amount of "Star Realm Origin Power" surged forth.
"Origin Physique" began to take effect. When Su Xiao absorbed all the "Star Realm Origin Power," after a moment, he opened his eyes. This time, he found that "Origin Physique" could also grow. Previously, the growth after absorption was slow. Now that his physical attributes had been promoted to Supreme attributes, the improvement was very rapid.
Su Xiao was of the Extreme System. It was true that he could continuously break through his physical limits, but the magnitude of each breakthrough was vastly different.
For example, for "Supreme attributes," reaching 1000 points, 1500 points, and 2000 points each required a limit-breaking charge. Although it didn't require barrier breakthroughs or mission execution, and he could directly increase physical attributes, there was always a risk, and a high one at that.
In contrast, for "Supreme attributes," even if there were physical limits to break through, they were 10 points, 50 points, and 100 points respectively, and still broken through in the Extreme System way. As for after reaching 100 points, don't joke. Su Xiao reaching 50 points of Supreme attributes would already be an extremely exaggerated physique and a terrifying consumption of resources.
Raising one "Supreme Passive" to the point where it could be devoured required spending 100,000 ounces of Space-Time Power. It wasn't this expensive before, but Su Xiao alone had almost bought up all the cheapest "Supreme Passives" in the Great Gathering Place. In fact, he had caused all "Supreme Passives" to increase in price.
To be more precise, one "Supreme Passive" scroll used to cost 4,700 ounces of Space-Time Power. Now it had risen to 25,000 to 30,000 ounces. This was partly because the cheapest ones were bought up, and partly because the scroll merchants were inflating prices.
Fifteen types cost 1.5 million ounces of Space-Time Power. These resources were invested, increasing the Supreme All Attributes by 2.16 points. This didn't even include the Golden Skill Points consumed during the process.
Su Xiao's current Supreme attributes were 11.5 points. To raise them to 50 points, the span was 38.5 points, requiring a total of over 26 million ounces of Space-Time Power. Moreover, if he really had such high Supreme attributes, Su Xiao felt that his battle against Arcane Eternal Star would be divided into the following steps.