novelraw Chapter 180-2: Arrow of Dragon-Slaying (2)
Chapter 180-2: Arrow of Dragon-Slaying (2)
[You stepped into the Eyeball Laboratory…]
[Bennett, wearing his beaked mask, was at the lab table operating instruments. From the look of it, he had already learned the knowledge of eyeball synthesis and was properly practicing related experimental techniques.]
[When he saw you enter, he quickly set down his work and asked if you wished to proceed with an eyeball transplant.]
[You nodded and took out the Eye of the Subterranean Shadow Fiend King, handing it over to him…]
[…]
This transplant surgery did not go smoothly.
The Eye of the Subterranean Shadow Fiend King came as a pair.
Lin Xun wanted to first learn exactly what the special effect Dim Shadow did, so he only transplanted a single eye into the mage shell.
As a result, the mage shell did not gain the special effect Dim Shadow.
Unwilling to accept this, he repeatedly removed and re-transplanted the eyeball, but the outcome was always the same.On Bennett’s suggestion, he learned there were two possible reasons for this.
One possibility was that the eye simply didn’t contain enough of its strange power to let the shell comprehend the special effect, maybe obtaining another of the same eye would allow a successful fusion.
The second was that the unique power within the eye was simply incompatible with the shell, preventing the shell from assimilating its strength.
Lin Xun could only try switching shells again and again for transplant attempts, exhausting Bennett in the process.
When he finally implanted both eyes into the Dancer shell, he successfully acquired Dim Shadow.
[Dim Shadow (Special Effect): The Subterranean Shadow Fiends could conceal their forms and move swiftly in darkness, their silhouettes impossible to track. As the condensed essence of all the Fiend’s power, their eyes naturally possess the same ability.]
[Gaining this effect will enhance your stealth skills, making you extremely difficult to detect.]
[This enhancement scales with ambient light: in dim conditions, your stealth effect is greatly strengthened.]
Lin Xun felt a mix of satisfaction and disappointment.
He was glad that his most practical stealth skill finally received an upgrade, and the Dancer shell had a chance to return to the field.
But he was disappointed because Dim Shadow would do little to help in the fight against the subterranean demon boss.
Unless the Dancer could kill the boss in one strike, he would become visible again after attacking, wasting one point of soul strength for nothing.
“If only the mage had stealth skills compatible with this eye’s effect, that demon boss would be a complete pushover.”
If the mage could fire off spells, go invisible to escape, sneak to a safe distance, then cast again… it would basically be joining the Windshadow Moon Sect, no different from outright cheating.
However, because the eyeball’s effect depended on light levels, in bright environments the bonus would be drastically weakened.
Lin Xun pondered for quite a while but still couldn’t come up with a way to defeat the demon boss.
After thinking it over, he decided to use the simplest method, raw force.
If he couldn’t kill the boss, that only meant he wasn’t strong enough yet. Against absolute strength, there was no need for counter skills or special items.
“Maybe the demon boss really is the kind that has to be brute-forced, no shortcuts.”
At this point, there was still over half an hour left until his soul strength recovered to 2 points.
If he wanted to reshape the mage shell and try again, he’d have to wait for that half hour.
Counting up the Spirit Essence in his purse, he’d saved 590,000, a considerable fortune.
The Veiled Aberrations had contributed mightily to padding his wallet.
With so much Spirit Essence on hand and a roadblock in front of him, it would be absurd not to upgrade his strength.
While waiting for soul strength to recover, Lin Xun teleported back to the Library.
[…]
[You stepped up to the Book of Trade, and your ordinary wandering soul resonated with the tome…]
While tackling a chapter, the hellish game would automatically block any purchase of items directly related to the content of that chapter.
So relying on the Book of Trade to buy a solution wasn’t realistic.
But where there were rules, there were loopholes. The Apostle Security Council thoughtfully provided services for registered Apostles.
The Item Exchange section of the Apostle Forum had channels for requesting specific items.
The developers made a fortune from these trading channels, wealthier than gods…
Lin Xun flipped through the Book of Trade.
Because he hadn’t completed the fourth difficulty yet, the book only displayed items up to that level.
Epic-grade equipment was sparse, and after paging through all the high-end items, he only saw three pieces of Epic+ gear.
Compared to Epic-grade weapons priced at 100,000+ Spirit Essence, the two Epic+ armor pieces available were listed at 380,000 and 450,000 respectively.
And that Epic+ weapon called Sword of Victory and Oath (Replica)?
Its price tag was a whole string of 9s, just 1 Spirit Essence shy of a million.
“I mean…seriously? Who the hell playing fourth difficulty is supposed to afford that?”
Cursing under his breath, Lin Xun searched for arrows for the Valkyrie.
Most of his gear was already Epic-grade, so swapping for two Epic+ pieces wouldn’t yield a drastic improvement.
Better to spend the Spirit Essence on powerful arrows for the Valkyrie, an investment with a big payoff.
With plenty of money on hand, Lin Xun sorted the arrows by price in descending order, planning to buy only the most expensive, most badass arrows.
One look at the top-listed arrow and he immediately closed the sales channel.
“You’re insulting me, what, you think a 29,900 Spirit Essence arrow is worthy of the Valkyrie?”
He opened the auction channel and continued searching for arrows.
There weren’t many arrows for sale there, with prices ranging high to low.
Suddenly, one arrow seized his attention.