Luke had no idea how she had figured out that he did not need the scroll. He was also somewhat puzzled. "You’re a mage-type Explorer, aren’t you? What do you need a scroll like this for?"
"It’s useful."
Black Lily answered curtly, then tilted her head. "Want to add each other as friends?"
Luke did not refuse and accepted her friend request. Buyers this straightforward were rare. As for whether she was creepy or not, he did not care.
Once they had added each other, Black Lily turned and left. Along the way, Explorers who saw her quickly moved aside, as though they were wary of her.
After selling everything he had on hand, Luke was in high spirits. Now sitting on a fortune of one hundred and fifty thousand Endspace Coins, he decided to visit the Enhancement Hall and have some fun.
After killing Muzan Kibutsuji, Prison Demon’s growth progress had reached 100% once again. It had already evolved into a Legendary main weapon.
[Prison Demon]
Origin: Bleach
Quality: Legendary
Main Weapon: Bladed Weapon
Durability: 200/200
Sharpness: 45 (+13)
Toughness: 44 (+13)
Usage Requirement: Pioneer No. 008 only.
Details: A Zanpakuto forged when Pioneer No. 008 infused an Asauchi with his soul. It is automatically bound. This equipment cannot be sold or traded, and no other user can activate this weapon.
Weapon Skill 1 (Passive): [Soul Nourishment]
Skill Description: After the Explorer kills an enemy using Prison Demon, it devours a portion of the enemy’s soul power to nourish Prison Demon, increasing its growth progress. The Explorer may also feed Prison Demon with their own soul, gaining an extremely high amount of growth progress this way. Warning: This method is extremely dangerous.
Current Growth Progress: 11.91%
Weapon Skill 2 (Active): [Shikai]
Skill Description: Upon releasing Shikai, the Explorer’s Soul Source is continuously consumed as Prison Demon assumes its Shikai form. While in Shikai, all of the Explorer’s combat attributes temporarily increase by 4 points, their neural reflex speed greatly improves, and Prison Demon’s Sharpness and Toughness each increase by 5 points.
Shikai Skill (Passive): [Demonic Corrosion]
When Prison Demon damages an enemy, it inflicts Corrosion. An enemy afflicted by Corrosion has their natural recovery rate reduced by 70% and suffers Corrosion damage every second equal to 30% of that attack’s maximum damage. Corrosion lasts 10 seconds, and Corrosion effects on the same wound can stack.
Shikai Skill (Passive): [Demon Drain]
When Prison Demon damages an enemy, it absorbs Soul Source equal to 10% of the damage dealt. This Soul Source is replenished to the Pioneer with some loss. When the Pioneer’s Soul Source is full, any excess Soul Source dissipates into the air.
Rating: 400+
Evaluation: A demon god is imprisoned within your heart.
After evolving to Legendary quality, Prison Demon had undergone a massive leap. Not only had its Toughness and Sharpness changed dramatically, but the descriptions of all its original skills had also changed, with their effects greatly enhanced.
On top of that, Prison Demon had gained a new Shikai skill. It was also passive, and in Luke’s eyes, its effect was absurdly overpowered.
Put simply, it was the legendary mana-steal blade. Replenishing his own Soul Source was one thing, but Prison Demon absorbing the opponent’s Soul Source effectively controlled their mana bar as well.
If his enemy was a powerhouse reliant on spells and abilities, a few slashes from him could very well leave them unable to cast anything. Meanwhile, his own Soul Source would remain full. It was an utterly broken skill.
And Luke felt this skill was still only in its infancy. He had a feeling that when Soul Source overflowed, the skill ought to gain some additional benefit.
Even as it was, though, the skill was ridiculously strong. Even against a non-skill-based powerhouse, draining their Soul Source dry would make them pass out.
Filled with anticipation, Luke arrived outside the Enhancement Hall. Before he had even entered, he saw numerous Explorers trudging out with their heads lowered, wailing in misery.
There were even wooden signs set up by Explorers at the entrance, covered in all sorts of messages.
The most conspicuous were three lines posted on the doors like a couplet, inspiring an inexplicable sense of awe.
"Enhancement bankrupts three generations." "Blown equipment ruins a lifetime." The banner read: "The unlucky need not enter."
Luke smiled knowingly when he saw that last line. He took out the Lucky Fruit and swallowed it. Mm. Sweet going down, with a lingering pleasant aftertaste.
He strolled into the Enhancement Hall, while the furious roars of Explorers continuously rang in his ears.
The Enhancement Hall and the place where free attribute points were allocated were both special zones in Endspace, not divided by tier. Explorers of every rank could be found here.
Finding a less crowded area, Luke took out Prison Demon and the Lucky Forging Stone, then placed them into an enhancement machine shaped like a bronze cauldron.
[Prison Demon’s current enhancement level is 0. Enhancement success rate: 100%. Cost: 1,000 Endspace Coins. Proceed with enhancement?]
Without a second thought, Luke confirmed. Naturally, equipment enhancement cost money, with the price varying according to the equipment’s quality and enhancement level.
He enhanced Prison Demon all the way to +5 in one go. Only then did the prompt change.
[Prison Demon’s current enhancement level is +5. Enhancement success rate: 100%. Cost: 2,000 Endspace Coins. Proceed with enhancement?]
With the Lucky Forging Stone serving as a safeguard, Luke had no worries and continued enhancing it.
Normally, a failed enhancement caused the equipment’s enhancement level to drop by one. But once equipment reached +8 or above, failure was more than a mere level drop—the equipment would explode outright.
The Lucky Forging Stone’s Durability was consumed precisely at times like this. Luke intended to check the odds first, then decide whether to gamble.
[Enhancement successful. Prison Demon’s current level is +8. Further enhancement success rate: 19.1%. Cost: 3,000 Endspace Coins. Proceed with enhancement?]
Luke looked at the low success rate and gave up on gambling. Even though the Lucky Forging Stone allowed for quite a few mistakes, he saw no need to risk it. If it broke, he would not be able to sell it.
The ideal use for the Lucky Forging Stone was having many Legendary pieces of equipment to enhance, stopping each one at +8. Luke therefore did not quite understand why Snowwind had been willing to sell it. Her adventure group had many members, and Luke thought they would have far more use for it.
But Luke had gotten it wrong. Low-rank Explorers rarely came to the Enhancement Hall because they often replaced their equipment after only one or two worlds. Spending money to gamble on enhancement simply was not cost-effective.
Furthermore, enhancing high-quality equipment was not cheap either. Take Luke’s Prison Demon: eight consecutive successes had cost him eleven thousand Endspace Coins. Without the Lucky Forging Stone guaranteeing success, no one knew how much it would have cost to reach +8.
Besides, Explorers generally believed that enhancement below +5 brought no substantial improvement, so very few people were willing to pour money into ordinary equipment.
Only excellent equipment they expected to use for a long time was worth enhancing.
Luke was the same for now. After enhancing Prison Demon, he did not put in any new equipment.
He felt that he would replace his other equipment after a world or two, making enhancement a waste of money. Prison Demon was different—it was growth-type equipment, and even if it upgraded, it could inherit a portion of its enhancement level.
After removing Prison Demon and the Lucky Forging Stone, Luke began checking Prison Demon’s new attributes.
Aside from the 8-point increases to Sharpness and Toughness from enhancement, Prison Demon had gained an enhancement trait.
[Enhancement +8 Trait: Bullying]
Trait Effect: When the Pioneer uses Prison Demon to attack an enemy whose Life Source is below 30% of its maximum, 50% of the damage dealt is converted into true damage.
One glance at that trait was enough for Luke to understand why so many Explorers were willing to become gambling addicts in the Enhancement Hall despite knowing the risks.
Once equipment reached +8, it truly hit a point of qualitative transformation. Enhancement traits appeared randomly based on the equipment’s characteristics, but they were rarely useless. Every one of them was powerful.
After finishing the enhancement, Luke’s Endspace Coins had shrunk to one hundred and forty thousand. Even so, he was still incredibly wealthy among second-rank Explorers.
With that much money on him, Luke was starting to look down on the miscellaneous junk Explorers sold in the trade market. What he wanted more was something good, made specifically for him.
So he headed straight down toward the commercial street on the lowest level.
Following the route he remembered, Luke quickly found the quiet little shop.
The sailor-uniform girl was slumped over the counter, dozing off. Her hair covered half her face. A foolish smile hung on her lips, drool trickled from the corner of her mouth, and who knew what wonderful dream she was having.
"Wake up. You’ve got a customer."
Luke was a little speechless. Was this any way to run a business? No wonder she had no customers.
When he had come last time, she had been actively soliciting customers. Now, it looked like she had simply given up.
"Huh?!"
The sailor-uniform girl jolted awake in fright. "Where’s my bed?"
Luke had no idea what kind of dream could make her ask something like that. He waved a hand in front of her face. "It’s me. Remember?"
Once the sailor-uniform girl came to her senses, her face immediately turned red. She hurriedly pulled out a tissue to wipe away her drool and tidied herself up. "...It’s you. Are you buying a bed?"
"Let’s talk business first. As for a bed, we’ll see."
Luke did not reject the idea outright. He had already experienced how good the beds she made were. If he stayed in a mission world for a long time, one could bring him considerable benefits.
The sailor-uniform girl’s eyes lit up, and her smile became dazzling. She grabbed Luke and pulled him inside. "Right this way, honored customer."
Luke did not comment on her tone or actions. He merely glanced over the goods in the shop and asked doubtfully, "Why is it still all the same stuff as before?"
The smile on the sailor-uniform girl’s face froze. Ever since Luke had left two weeks ago, she had not closed a single sale.
High-rank Explorers usually had shops they were familiar with or Supporters they had good relationships with. Whenever they wanted custom-made equipment or needed to purchase things by category, they would not come to a tiny shop like hers.
Supporters were also divided into classes on the commercial street. Even if a low-rank Supporter like her had excellent craftsmanship, she could not rent a space in a bustling commercial district. It was not as though she had wanted to open her shop in such a remote place.
The owners of those department-store-like establishments were often sixth-rank, or even higher-ranking, Supporters. This had nothing to do with technical skill; whether one could get a prime location primarily depended on the authority of one’s Supporter Mark.
Of course, high-rank Supporters were usually highly skilled as well. Otherwise, having a large shop alone would not necessarily make their business thrive.
For all those reasons, her little shop, which had been open for less than two months, was still going through the difficult early stage of attracting business. On top of that, many Explorers in Endspace did not have a habit of buying furniture, which was why her business was so bleak.
After Luke, she had managed to pull in two more customers. But the moment they saw that everything was furniture, they left without even waiting for her introduction.
It made her sigh at how impatient Explorers in Endspace had become. They would not even give her a chance to explain.
"Wasn’t I waiting for you to come spend some money? You got rich in your latest mission world, didn’t you?"
The sailor-uniform girl changed the subject. Her big watery eyes darted greedily up and down Luke’s body. Her intuition told her that Luke was loaded now!
"I’ve got a little extra cash. I wanted to ask—roughly how much would it cost to commission a piece of Legendary equipment?"
Luke did not reveal how much money he had. He browsed several Legendary pieces of equipment on the shelf behind her. They were all fine pieces, but none suited his needs.
"Legendary?"
The sailor-uniform girl beamed. "Looks like you really did strike it rich. Making Legendary equipment isn’t hard for me, but the old rule still applies: buy one of my beds, and I’ll make it for you."
——————
Wishing all of you a happy Mid-Autumn Festival—may your families be reunited, your bodies stay healthy, and everything go your way!
Comments (0)
Please log in to leave a comment. Login or Register