Chapter 68: Overpowered Azure Steel Shadow
[Teleportation complete, Hunter returns to exclusive room.]
[The exclusive room is an absolute safe point; no one can enter without the Hunter's permission.]
[Hunter has returned to Reincarnation Paradise, beginning settlement of derivative world rewards.]
Derivative World: Fate/Zero
Difficulty: Lv.20
World Source Obtained: 88.9%.
Quests Completed: 5. (Main Quest ×1, Talent Awakening Quest ×3, Hidden Quest ×1.)
Comprehensive Evaluation: S+. (Note: Evaluation ranges from E- to S+. Comprehensive evaluation is calculated based on total World Source obtained and number of quests completed.)
Beginning World Source collection...
World Source collection complete, starting reward calculation.
Rewards Obtained: 30 Attribute Points (including those obtained in the derivative world), 42,000 Paradise Coins.
Comprehensive Evaluation is S+. Current Hunter Level is Lv.16. Hunter Level +4 (Derivative World Rank × Quest Completion Count + Comprehensive Evaluation - Quest Completion Time). Hunter Level has been raised to Lv.20.
Tip: Hunter Level has reached Lv.20. The next derivative world will conduct a Second Rank preliminary assessment for the Hunter. Upon completion, the trial assessment for promotion to Third Rank will be activated.
Settlement complete. Rewards have been automatically deposited into the Hunter's brand.
...
Lying in the exclusive room, Su Xiao spat out a mouthful of blood. He had taken a "hammer blow" upon returning, and combined with the strain of spatial teleportation, he was already in a near-death state.
[Detected damage to Hunter's bodily functions. Pay Paradise Coins for recovery?]
"Pay."
Emerald green light particles appeared, enveloping Su Xiao. He felt as if soaking in a hot spring, completely comfortable, as wounds and severed arm rapidly healed.
[Recovery complete. Total cost: 8,670 Paradise Coins.]
Seeing the amount of Paradise Coins consumed, Su Xiao felt a pang of heartache. He realized that as his physical attributes continuously improved, the cost to repair injuries required more and more Paradise Coins.
He moved his now-restored right arm; there was no discomfort whatsoever. This arm seemed as if it had never been severed, the previous excruciating pain feeling like an illusion.
This was the power of Reincarnation Paradise. It wasn't regenerating a new arm, but restoring it to the state of the original arm.
Understand, there was an essential difference between the two. If it were regenerating a new arm, Su Xiao would need to retrain and adapt to it. But if it was restored to its state before being severed, no training was needed, because this was his original arm.
With his injuries fully healed, Su Xiao stretched his limbs.
"Leveling up too fast..."
Su Xiao furrowed his brow. From successfully becoming a Second Rank Hunter to now, he had only experienced three derivative worlds.
Because his comprehensive evaluation was always very high, his level skyrocketed. If following the normal Contractor's pace, from early Second Rank to the Third Rank assessment, one would need to go through at least 7-8 cycles of Reincarnation Paradise, and that's assuming completing the main quest in every derivative world.
As for Workers, most Workers don't have any promotion assessments. As soon as their level is reached, they automatically advance in rank. Only a small number of Workers with special abilities have assessment quests, such as those mastering high-level skills like forging or mechanics.
This was actually understandable. With most Workers' weak combat abilities, sending them to trial worlds would be sending them to their deaths. Forget survival trials; those Workers would be crying for their parents every time they entered a derivative world, desperately clinging to any strong person's leg.
Su Xiao had already experienced rank promotion once, so this time he would prepare more comprehensively.
Temporarily setting aside the matter of rank promotion, Su Xiao remembered that the Azure Steel Shadow ability had been raised to Lv.30. He hadn't yet checked the details of the Azure Steel Shadow ability.
With this Azure Steel Shadow ability upgrade, he had felt the change even before checking the detailed data, showing how significant the improvement was.
Opening the skill list, the details of the Azure Steel Shadow ability appeared.
[Azure Steel Shadow: Lv.30 (Active Skill)]
Usage Condition: After activating (Azure Steel Shadow), the Hunter consumes 100 Mana Points per minute. Automatically deactivates when Mana Points fall below 1%.
Skill Effect: After activating (Azure Steel Shadow), each melee attack burns 160 Mana Points from the enemy and deals True Damage equal to 1.5 times the burned Mana Points (240 True Damage). The enemy will suffer intense pain from the Mana burn.
Lv.20 Additional Ability
Proud Song: This is a defensive form. Can generate an energy shield of any shape to defend against enemy attacks. Energy shield strength is proportional to the Mana Points consumed. Single-use Mana Point consumption limit is 500 points (increased by 100 points).
Lv.30 Additional Ability
Soul Electrification: When Azure Steel Shadow energy burns enemy Mana Points, there is a 12% chance to trigger one of three abnormal statuses: Paralysis, Immobilization, or Stun. Abnormal status duration is 0.2 to 3 seconds (duration determined by Hunter's Intelligence attribute).
Tip: This abnormal status takes effect without needing a judgment check.
Tip: This ability is passively triggered, no cooldown.
Tip: Abnormal statuses cannot stack.
...
Seeing the effect of Azure Steel Shadow Lv.30, Su Xiao was stunned. Although he had long thought that raising Azure Steel Shadow to Lv.30 would cause a qualitative change, he never imagined it would become this strong.
However, the Mana Point consumption was becoming increasingly terrifying. No wonder Intelligence attribute became one of the main attributes of the Shadow of Law Destruction. If Mana Points were insufficient, activating Azure Steel Shadow for a few minutes would cause it to "run out of steam."
Despite the terrifying Mana Point consumption, the True Damage dealt by Azure Steel Shadow had reached a horrifying level. If someone asked where the strength of Azure Steel Shadow lay, Su Xiao would answer without hesitation: the True Damage caused when burning enemy Mana Points.
Except for a very few passive skills and rare equipment, most abilities cannot deal True Damage. Some First Rank Contractors don't even know what True Damage is.
The additional ability of Azure Steel Shadow Lv.30 was also not to be underestimated. Because of a certain skill (Absolute Magic Constitution), Su Xiao couldn't master most control skills. Equipment with control skills generally had difficulty triggering control effects, resulting in Su Xiao having no enemy control ability.
But after Azure Steel Shadow reached Lv.30, Su Xiao gained an extremely powerful control ability. As long as an enemy was eroded by Azure Steel Shadow energy, there was a 12% chance to trigger a control effect, and it was randomly triggered among three control effects. This way, the trigger probability would be greatly increased.
Su Xiao also noticed a key point: as long as the enemy triggered a control effect, the Soul Electrification ability would take effect directly, without needing a judgment check. This was the most satisfying aspect of Soul Electrification.
Now, the situation was that as long as an enemy was struck by Su Xiao's blade and unfortunately triggered one of the three abnormal statuses, it basically declared the enemy's death sentence.
Su Xiao didn't need the enemy to be stunned or immobilized for 3 seconds. As long as he could control the enemy for 0.2 seconds, he could make the enemy unable to even use recovery potions, directly cutting them into minced meat.
Su Xiao was very satisfied with the Lv.30 Azure Steel Shadow ability. No, it should be a pleasant surprise. According to his estimation, after raising Azure Steel Shadow to Lv.30, his combat power had increased by at least 20%. This made him eagerly anticipate what kind of ability would appear when Azure Steel Shadow reached Lv.40.
After checking the Azure Steel Shadow ability, one thing puzzled Su Xiao: where did the 'Azure Shadow King' ability go? This was likely a big move. Although it hadn't been awakened yet, if it disappeared, it would be a huge loss.