Chapter 35: First Awakening at the Highest Level
Inside the passage of the unknown space, Su Xiao's heartbeat began to accelerate. Generally speaking, the experience of awakening any ability wasn't too pleasant, let alone the fact that his talent awakening had a mortality rate of 29%! That was an extremely terrifying probability.
The arrow had to be shot once it was on the string. If he chose a Mage or Magic Tank type talent, Su Xiao's entire ability system would be deformed, which would be a slow suicide.
"Thump, thump, thump, thump thump thump..."
Su Xiao's heartbeat grew faster and faster. His rapidly beating heart felt like it was about to burst. He crashed to the ground with a thud. Not only that, but pain erupted throughout his entire body. This pain was different from the pain of injury; it was a pain originating from the deepest parts of his cells.
Facing this kind of pain, the battle-hardened Su Xiao nearly passed out. Unfortunately, his hidden attribute, Willpower, was very high, so he didn't faint and had to continue being tormented by the pain.
"Ahh!!"
Light and shadow flickered before Su Xiao's eyes. He suddenly opened his eyes and let out a loud shout. At this moment, he was lying on a bed. He had been forced awake from the consciousness space by the sheer agony, which showed just how intense and terrifying this pain was.
The bedsheet beneath Su Xiao was soaked through with sweat. The intense pain began to blur his vision. Some kind of ability was awakening inside him, and this awakening process placed a tremendous burden on his body.
With a thud, Su Xiao fell from the bed to the floor. Bubu Wang, along with Matou Sakura and Matou Kariya, had already rushed over after hearing the noise earlier.
Seeing Su Xiao in this state, Bubu Wang anxiously circled around him. Matou Sakura shrank into a corner, seeming very frightened.
Matou Kariya, his whole body emitting black smoke, stared at Su Xiao. His blood-red eyes gave off a feeling of savagery.
"Roar!"
Matou Kariya let out a furious roar. Hearing this, Bubu Wang's fur stood on end.
Bubu Wang stood in front of Su Xiao, baring its fangs, its sharp claws digging into the ground beneath its feet. If Matou Kariya made any rash move, Bubu Wang would immediately pounce and fight to the death with him.
Amidst the intense pain, Su Xiao raised his arm, his trembling finger pointing at Matou Kariya.
"Get lost."
Zzzzz～
'Electric light' surged within Matou Kariya's body. It was Cyan Steel Shadow Energy. Matou Kariya crashed to the ground with a thud, convulsing as if being electrocuted. Bubu Wang rushed forward, bit Matou Kariya's neck, and dragged him out of the room.
Matou Sakura, cowering in the corner, timidly looked at Su Xiao. She took out a bottle of yogurt and inserted the straw.
"Here... have some."
Su Xiao was in no mood to drink yogurt right now. He seriously suspected that if the pain inside him continued for much longer, even if his consciousness could hold out, his cells would collapse.
A minute passed, and the situation didn't improve. The pain from deep within his cells came in waves, sometimes strong, sometimes weak.
Su Xiao's eyes were bloodshot. Just as he felt his body was about to give out, a warm current suddenly surged within him. Wherever this warm current passed, the intense pain was noticeably alleviated. It was a pale red energy, not Cyan Steel Shadow Energy.
This energy didn't appear out of nowhere. It was produced by an ability that Su Xiao had long overlooked.
X (Passive Skill)
Skill Effect 1: Modifies the body, dispersing the mana stored in the brain throughout the body.
Skill Effect 2: Mana merges with the body, creating a wondrous change. Mana and Health form a good cycle, greatly enhancing Health. The increase is 30% of the total Mana.
Note: Current Mana is 2233 points, increasing Health by 670 points.
...
The Spirit Shadow Constitution and the talent that permanently increases Mana were a perfect match. While the talent ability increased Mana, Su Xiao's Health also increased somewhat, and Health was closely linked to Life Force.
The two abilities inadvertently formed a symbiotic relationship. Therefore, when the talent ability was awakening, the passive ability Spirit Shadow Constitution displayed a special effect, stabilizing Su Xiao's body.
The intense pain inside his body was significantly alleviated. The feeling that he might kick the bucket at any moment disappeared.
Ten minutes later, Su Xiao, drenched in sweat, sat up. With trembling hands, he took out a cigarette and lit it, taking a deep drag.
[Talent Awakening Successful. Relevant information can be viewed by the Contractor.]
"So having a tough life has its benefits too."
Su Xiao exhaled a puff of blue smoke, a smile appearing on his face.
"Drag him in."
Hearing Su Xiao's words, 'Second Dog' Bubu Wang scrambled out of the room and dragged Matou Kariya back in.
At this moment, the Berserker Matou Kariya's body was twitching uncontrollably, as if enduring unimaginable pain.
This guy had shown signs of going berserk earlier. Su Xiao hesitated for a moment, then deactivated the activated Cyan Steel Shadow Energy inside Matou Kariya's body. The other party was still useful. Since he had created something uncontrollable, he naturally had to leave emergency control measures in place.
As soon as Su Xiao deactivated the Cyan Steel Shadow Energy, the Berserker Matou Kariya's legs kicked out, his toes pointing straight, and then he stopped moving.
Bubu Wang approached, checked him over, and then nodded to Su Xiao, indicating that the guy wasn't dead yet.
Su Xiao leaned against the bedside and opened his personal information panel. He glanced over the attributes and looked at the talent ability at the very bottom.
Soul Devourer
Type: Slaughter Talent (Awakened Once)
Grade: S (Highest Level for First Awakening)
Talent Effect (Passive): After killing a target, permanently seize 1～30 Mana (upper limit increased by 15 points), and restore an equal amount of Mana and Health (e.g., if killing an enemy permanently increases Mana by 30 points, restore 30 points of Mana and Health).
Tip: A maximum of 200 Mana can be seized per derivative world. If the seized Mana reaches the upper limit, Soul Devourer will be fully activated, increasing the recovery effect after killing enemies by 50% (e.g., if 200 Mana has been successfully seized, killing enemies will still restore the corresponding amount of Mana and Health based on the enemy's strength, with a 50% increase in recovery effect).
...
Seeing the attributes of the awakened talent ability, Su Xiao's already trembling hands trembled even more. He had paid a heavy price to complete the prerequisites for the talent awakening mission. Then, he had infiltrated the Ryuudou Temple alone, single-handedly leveled it, and finally risked the 29% death rate to awaken the talent.
All of this had paid off. The awakened talent ability was greatly enhanced. More importantly, it solved Su Xiao's predicament of lacking Mana when surrounded.
What does a lone wolf fear most? A powerful enemy? A treacherous and dangerous place? As it turned out, neither.
As seen when Su Xiao infiltrated the Ryuudou Temple, he had the ability to fight the Grudge Orphan, Hughes. But when faced with over a hundred ordinary Grudge Attendants, he could only flee as far as possible.
This was almost the weakness of all lone wolves: being afraid of human wave tactics.
Facing human wave tactics, Su Xiao couldn't continuously use Cyan Steel Shadow or Energy Shield. This would reduce his combat effectiveness by at least forty percent.
Being surrounded for a short time was manageable, but once surrounded for a long time without being able to break out, he was as good as dead.
The awakened talent ability perfectly solved this problem. When facing human wave tactics, unless Su Xiao's stamina was completely exhausted, he would never fall. The more enemies he killed, the faster his Mana and Health recovered. At that point, he wouldn't have to worry about the problems of being injured or lacking Mana.