Free Web NovelChapter 1269: Chapter 84: Return
The third stone door was opened in the same way as before. Taking the Shadow Stone from Bu Wang and placing it in the door, it shattered. Behind the door this time wasn’t a wall but an ocean of energy.
Upon seeing the blue energy inside the door, Marvin Waltz’s unscrupulous laughter came to an abrupt halt, and he floated forward quickly.
"Has your Green Shadow King ability awakened?"
Marvin Waltz’s expression became serious.
"It’s still some distance from fully awakening, currently at 36%."
"So precise? Oh right, you have backing in..."
Marvin Waltz pondered for a moment and said, "You... aren’t afraid of pain, right."
"..."
Su Xiao didn’t reply, thanks to Marvin Waltz, his ability to endure pain was already astounding.
"This time Akes has really gone all out. I’ve never seen that guy be so generous. If you’re not afraid of the pain of dying, go inside. The Door of Shadow tests potential, passing brings endless benefits; failing means death inside. I’m not kidding this time."
Just as Marvin Waltz finished speaking, Su Xiao was already walking towards the door.
As Su Xiao walked into the ocean of energy, he didn’t feel excruciating pain as imagined. On the contrary, he felt completely at ease, as if soaking in a hot spring.
After a short distance into the energy ocean, Su Xiao sat cross-legged on the ground. The comfort around him made him feel a bit drowsy. A grain-sized sphere of light appeared in his heart, the ’seed’ of the Green Shadow King ability, which Su Xiao had discovered a long time ago. As the awakening level of the Green Shadow King increased, this sphere of light ’seed’ would grow larger, eventually ’taking root and sprouting.’
Amidst the light blue energy ocean, the light sphere in Su Xiao’s heart became active, absorbing the energy at an incredibly frightening speed. This type of energy was something Su Xiao had never seen before, similar to life energy but carrying some kind of thunder attribute. This thunder attribute wasn’t composed of elements but was an independently constructed thunder attribute.
Sitting cross-legged in the energy ocean for a few seconds, Su Xiao began to feel drowsy from the hot spring-like comfort.
But after a dozen seconds, Su Xiao’s brows gradually furrowed as the ’hot spring’ around him grew hotter, eventually feeling as if someone had lit a fire under the hot spring.
A minute later, hot sweat trickled down Su Xiao’s temple. He no longer felt like soaking in a hot spring but like sitting in a big iron pot while the unscrupulous tutor Marvin Waltz was adding fuel under it. As to why Marvin Waltz kept coming to mind, Su Xiao wasn’t sure. In his impression, Marvin Waltz could be called the most unscrupulous tutor in history, with his devilishly unscrupulous laughter.
Just as Su Xiao felt he was about to be cooked, the temperature around him suddenly dropped, turning icy cold. Within a few seconds, the coldness disappeared, now as though countless sharp needles were piercing his body.
Su Xiao felt like a piece of meat being cooked—first boiled, then fried in oil, tossed in cold water, and finally smacked with a board of needles...
Ten minutes later, a low growl came from within the energy ocean as the energy sphere in Su Xiao’s heart grew to the size of a marble, but he was nearing his limit.
Su Xiao opened his bloodshot eyes. It was no longer a matter of enduring; staying here any longer could likely lead to his death.
Realizing this, Su Xiao immediately wanted to leave the energy ocean, only to ’surprisingly’ find his body completely numb, unable to move even a finger. Asking for help was out of the question too.
The situation seemed dire, though not truly. Outside the stone door, Bubu Wang seemed to receive some kind of signal, biting a metal wire and starting to pull back.
Seconds later, Su Xiao was dragged out of the energy ocean. He collapsed to the side, looking toward Marvin Waltz.
"Quite an experience, right?"
"..."
Su Xiao didn’t speak, not because he didn’t want to, but because he couldn’t.
Despite the unfriendly experience within the energy ocean, the ’seed’ in Su Xiao’s heart had reached saturation, with the light sphere’s surface covered in cracks.
Su Xiao checked his Green Shadow King ability; its awakening level had reached 90%. Complete awakening no longer required energy but a trigger, though when it might awaken, Su Xiao himself wasn’t sure.
"There’s nothing left worth exploring in this relic, and as for the undead outside, you’ll have to figure that out yourself."
Marvin Waltz snapped his fingers, and spatial fluctuation surged. He was pulled into it and vanished.
After lying on the ground for a few minutes, Su Xiao regained feeling in his body. Whether by coincidence or not, every encounter with Marvin Waltz left him in immense pain for various reasons, and this time was no exception.
Every time he heard Marvin Waltz’s unscrupulous and devilish laughter, Su Xiao felt a faint pain in his body, forming a muscle memory.
With the relic exploration completed, Su Xiao sat up. This time, the gains were significant, not only improving his sword technique but also bringing the hope of awakening his Green Shadow King ability. Otherwise, at the previous rate, even fighting to the fifth tier might not have awakened the Green Shadow King.
Aside from the gains from relic exploration, Su Xiao obtained three golden-quality gemstones. These three gemstones had strong attributes and could be further synthesized.
Stone of Extinction + Stone of Magic + Shadow Stone could synthesize ’Soul-Cutting Shadow Stone·Incomplete.’ The ’Soul-Cutting Shadow Stone·Incomplete’ was both an inlay gemstone and an incomplete power inheritance gemstone. How to obtain more Soul-Cutting Shadow Stone·Incomplete was still unknown for now.
Su Xiao had heard of Soul-Cutting Shadow many times but still didn’t know what it was to this day.
There weren’t many explorative areas left within the relic, and the adventure group promotion exam was at the third stage, the Purgatory Tier. Under normal circumstances, this stage would be extremely dangerous, but Su Xiao felt nothing while sitting in the main hall, a cigarette in his mouth, feeling quite at ease.
With nothing to do, Su Xiao began roaming the main hall, reading the texts beneath the sculptures. These were the lives of the Shadows of Annihilation Law of past generations, through which Su Xiao gained a deeper understanding of the Shadow of Annihilation Law.
While Su Xiao perused the words beneath a sculpture, a prompt appeared.
[Prompt: Nightmare Tier entered! This is the final stage!]
A line of blood-red text appeared before Su Xiao’s eyes, and he seemed to smell a faint scent of blood.
"The final stage, huh? I wonder how much longer I can last."
Su Xiao had always been curious about one thing: how long could he last by staying at the Relic of the Annihilation Law Shadow, and how dangerous would it be to be rejected by this world?
But before that, Su Xiao needed to use the [Essence of Ancient Undead] he obtained. He had 16 pieces left, which could be used directly. When used, each one permanently increased Resistance to abnormality by 3 points, Life Value by 80 points, and Mana Value by 50 points. A maximum of three could be used.
Keeping three pieces, Su Xiao sold the remaining 13 pieces at the price of 3% World Source each, as World Source equated to True Attribute Points, which Su Xiao needed more than Paradise coins.
[You gained 39% World Source, now totaling 69.9% World Source.]
Seeing he reached 69.9% of World Source, Su Xiao smiled. This was the result of fighting through an entire world.
A whistling sound came from above, and even through the ceiling of the main hall, Su Xiao heard the sound of something breaking through the air.
The smile on Su Xiao’s face gradually faded as he looked upwards. Something was coming.
Bang!
A loud bang came from above the main hall as a massive fireball embedded itself above, with waves of heat rushing forward.
Su Xiao shielded his head with his arms as large fragments of stone fell from above.
"This..."
Su Xiao had anticipated being rejected by the world would be dangerous, but not to this extent. Not even a minute into the fourth stage, a meteorite fell from the sky. Judging by its size, the meteorite had a diameter of at least a dozen meters, glowing red-hot from air friction.
Fortunately, the Relic of the Annihilation Law was sturdy enough; otherwise, it would have been destroyed by this meteorite.
Boom!
The ground beneath Su Xiao’s feet trembled. As soon as the meteorite fell, an earthquake was about to strike.
Outside the Relic of the Shadow of Annihilation Law, the surrounding army of undead was retreating fast, seemingly in disarray, not giving up on besieging Su Xiao, but realizing a quick withdrawal was necessary to avoid total annihilation.
Inside the main hall, with a try-and-see attitude, Su Xiao chose not to return to Reincarnation Paradise. The longer he could hold, the higher the rating.
But in the next moment, Su Xiao decisively chose to return to Reincarnation Paradise, for a simple reason: the dense whistling sounds from above, and through the gap created by the earlier meteor strike, Su Xiao saw meteorites falling like a meteor shower from the sky.
What is the Nightmare Tier? It’s the stage where every second spent in this world feels like a nightmare.
Space-time power surged as Su Xiao’s body gradually faded.
At the same time, within Dark Moon Marsh, A Mu, gnawing on Dark Moon Vine, vanished from its spot. Looking around, within a few hundred meters, all Dark Moon Vine had been devoured. A giant alligator hiding among the vines trembled in fear. It was the overlord here until it encountered a ’water buffalo.’
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