novelraw Chapter 200-1: Soul Secrets – The Fire Never Dies, the Chain Blade Calls to the Underworld (1)
Chapter 200-1: Soul Secrets – The Fire Never Dies, the Chain Blade Calls to the Underworld (1)
[Do you wish to solidify the Type-IV Ultimate Source of the Apocalypse – Omniscient True Knowledge as a Relic?]
[Note: This solidification operation is irreversible. Please choose carefully!]
[Solidifying…]
[Solidification successful!]
[You have obtained Type-IV Ultimate Relic (Omniscient True Knowledge)]
[Type-IV Ultimate Relic (Omniscient True Knowledge): Equipping this relic amplifies your soul, with an amplification effect of 50%!]
[You have equipped Type-IV Ultimate Relic (Omniscient True Knowledge)!]
[This shell has received a soul amplification. Shell strength increased by 50%!]
[Total Soul Amplification: 120%]
[Your soul has grown even stronger!][Your soul strength has been increased. Current soul strength: 4/4!]
With the new relic equipped, Lin Xun’s maximum soul strength increased by another point.
Although the recovery speed remained as slow as ever, the extra capacity undoubtedly brought a great sense of security.
Just then, the game text suddenly displayed…
[Your soul amplification has surpassed the 100% threshold. Your powerful soul resonates with The Book of Salvation.]
[Your soul will comprehend a Soul Secret!]
[The first comprehension is a fixed Secret and will not be random.]
[Comprehending…]
Lin Xun’s eyes widened.
What exactly was a Soul Secret?
[Comprehension complete!]
[You have obtained the Soul Secret – The Fire Never Dies!]
Lin Xun quickly opened the Apostle Panel. Under the soul talent Thousand Faces, Ten Thousand Forms, an additional line of text appeared.
[Soul Secret – The Fire Never Dies: The existence of the soul is like a faintly burning flame. When the storm sweeps in or the fuel is exhausted, the soul’s flame will also extinguish. But there are always some powerful souls able to resist the torrent of annihilation, reigniting the fire that once went dark!]
[Comprehending this Secret allows your soul to be reborn before The Book of Salvation when your soul strength falls to zero or when you suffer soul annihilation. As the price for rekindling the fire, your soul strength cap will be reduced by one.]
“…Hiss~ This Secret is… truly terrifying.”
Lin Xun sucked in a cold breath.
If he hadn’t already learned about the Soul-Annihilation Bookmark and the Celestial Prison of Captive Stars, he wouldn’t have thought much of this Soul Secret called The Fire Never Dies.
Even if an Apostle died once while in wandering soul state, it would only result in the loss of one point of soul strength.
For an Apostle with only two points of maximum soul strength, the worst-case scenario would be a title revocation penalty.
But knowing the annihilation effect of the Soul-Annihilation Bookmark, as well as the desperate situations in the Celestial Prison of Captive Stars and the Temple of Knowledge, Lin Xun felt this Soul Secret was practically a life-saving divine skill.
He carefully mulled over the text. The cursed game interface had displayed [Soul Amplification exceeding 100%], then comprehension of a Soul Secret was triggered.
Thinking forward along that logic, if soul amplification exceeded 200% or 300%, perhaps more Soul Secrets could be comprehended.
The game text mentioning [The first comprehension is a fixed Secret and will not be random] also confirmed part of his speculation.
It seemed that this Secret called The Fire Never Dies was one that every Apostle would obtain upon surpassing 100% soul amplification.
Only by raising amplification even further would the secrets start to be random.
Lin Xun pondered carefully and did not think The Fire Never Dies was some common Secret everyone would possess.
After all, reaching 100% soul amplification required extremely harsh conditions.
So far, apart from him, no Apostle had ever earned an SSS interpretation rating. Even assuming one eventually did, it would be an exceedingly rare feat.
Even the best Apostles could at most secure a SS rating.
According to existing intelligence, a SS rating granted 20% soul amplification when obtaining a Relic.
If a fifth-difficulty Apostle wanted to comprehend a Soul Secret, they would have to maintain a SS rating in every chapter of the difficulty.
Even a ninth-difficulty top-tier player would have to consistently achieve an S rating in every chapter and at least obtain one SS rating.
And this was still the most ideal situation. One mustn’t forget that the Source of the Apocalypse had a uniqueness attribute, even if solidified into a Relic, it still remained unique.
If an Apostle struggled bitterly to earn an S rating, but the Source of the Apocalypse from that chapter had already been claimed, they would walk away empty-handed, unable to improve their soul amplification.
“I wonder if any organization bosses are using cheats to farm Relics for Apostles with exceptional potential…”
Lin Xun thought for a moment. Judging by the grim nature of this game, there were certainly limitations in place, making such behavior virtually impossible.
The New World dared to entrust the Source of the Apocalypse to organization members without fear they would sneak back to the Library to solidify the Relic and embezzle the Source of the Apocalypse, this alone proved the existence of certain safeguards.
After finishing the Relic solidification and unexpectedly gaining a powerful Soul Secret, Lin Xun began focusing on strengthening himself.
First, he ran over to the Book of Craftsmen to see what top-grade equipment he could forge with the materials he had accumulated.
[You reach out and touch the Book of Craftsmen. A powerful soul resonance occurs between you and the tome.]
[Do you wish to use the forging function of the Book of Craftsmen?]
The blueprint generation function of the Book of Craftsmen created equipment tailored specifically to the shell, and the total cost of such equipment was always higher than that of standardized gear.
In the Shell Slots, the Earth Giant and the Direct Vision Association President already had epic-grade weapons. The former also had armor, and the latter possessed a magic shield, they lacked no defensive strength.
The only shells still without powerful weapons and armor were the Dancer and the Primordial Hermit.
Given the choice of two, Lin Xun naturally selected the Primordial Hermit, whose potential was far greater.
[You have possessed the shell of the Knowledge-Seeking Primordial Hermit!]
[Do you wish to craft equipment for the current shell?]
Lin Xun thought it over and decided to craft a suitable weapon for the Primordial Hermit.
The Primordial Hermit had both a Lesser Dragonkin and a True Dragon form, he had no idea what kind of weapon the Book of Craftsmen would generate.
[Generating crafting blueprint based on your available materials…]
[Multicolored Poison Powder Gland + Star Bone Corrosive Acid Sac + Overlord Behemoth’s Tentacle + Blackthorn Demon’s Spine + Corrosive Spine of the Stinger Serpent + Legendary Thunderbeast Mammoth’s Tusk + Umbilical Cord of the Molten Mountain Phantom (Not Yet Owned)]
[With the above materials, you may craft a weapon suitable for this shell by spending 155,000 Spirit Essence. The resulting weapon quality will be Epic+.]
“…This forging fee is ridiculous.”
Lin Xun grumbled. The forging cost of an Epic+ weapon alone was already equal to that of more than one piece of Epic-grade armor.