novelraw Chapter 173, The Upgrade Altar (2)
Chapter 173, The Upgrade Altar (2)
[Upgrade Initiated: Mythical → Abyssal]
[Materials Deducted from Inventory]
[Processing...]
Then, the altar activated.
The carved patterns along its surface lit in sequence, the ancient rune configuration building from the base of the stone surface upward toward the point where the Celestial Lord Blade rested in the altar’s central channel, which had appeared as a physical manifestation the moment the upgrade was selected.
The blade changed.
A fundamental change in the object itself, the weapon’s grade reclassifying at a level that produced visible alterations in its physical properties. The dark surface that had carried the golden mythical-grade runes shifted, the darkness deepening, the runes changing character from the carved-in quality of mythical grade to something that looked grown into the metal, as though the runes were part of the blade’s structure rather than inscriptions on its surface.
The weapon’s attack output shifted accordingly. And with that kind of presence that mythical-grade weapons had, multiplied by a factor that the step from Mythical to Cataclysmic would have produced and then multiplied again by the step from Cataclysmic to Abyssal.
The altar’s light faded.
The notification appeared.
---
[Upgrade Complete]
Celestial Lord Blade
Rank: Abyssal (Peak Grade)
Base Attack Power: 2,400
Set Attribute Core Weapon Bonus: +4,500
Total Attack Power: 6,900
[An Abyssal-grade weapon of celestial origin, upgraded through the ancient altar system of the Allheaven Expanse. Its edge operates at a sharpness level that bypasses conventional material resistance. Its attack output scales with user attributes at an enhanced coefficient. At peak grade, the weapon’s effective output substantially exceeds its listed attack power when wielded by a user whose attributes approach the weapon’s scaling threshold.]
[Current user attributes place effective output above listed value]
[Effective Output Estimate: Above 6,900]
---
Lin Yi held the Celestial Lord Blade, now the Abyssal Celestial Lord Blade, and looked at it.
6,900 attack power. Strength 5,924 behind it. The Abyssal grade’s enhanced scaling coefficient applying on top of an attribute base that was already beyond anything the mortal classification system had a reference for. The effective output above 6,900, the system’s acknowledging that the listed value was a floor rather than a ceiling at his attribute level.
He thought about the first time he had drawn the weapon in the Celestial Emperor’s Abode, the drop that had seemed impossible for a first-year academy student to possess, the Mythical-grade output that had defined every combat since. The tournament. The Dragon God Tower. The academy. The expanse. The engagement with Cang Yutian, where the Mythical-grade output had been the best available and had not been sufficient.
The weapon in his hand now was not the same category as the weapon he had entered the expanse with.
He looked at the slave mark’s presence on his forehead.
Six, nine, zero, zero. The attack power of a weapon that could not currently be deployed in his own service.
Two weeks remaining. Four levels to generate for the watcher. The path had not changed. But the person executing the path was holding an Abyssal-grade weapon with attack power above 6,900 and had sixty-seven acquired skills and was still level 230 because everything he produced was going to someone else.
Lin Yi then looked at the Abyssal Celestial Lord Blade and let it settle into his grip for a brief moment before moving. Then he swung.
The motion was clean, controlled, and far heavier than his previous blade, the edge cutting through the air with a depth that felt different, as if the space it passed through resisted for a fraction of a second before giving way.
He adjusted his stance and followed with another swing, then a third, each one testing the balance, the weight distribution, the way the weapon carried force through his arm and into the strike. The blade responded with authority, its presence unmistakable. This was not just an upgrade. It was a different tier entirely.
With this...
The thought surfaced naturally as he pivoted into another arc, the edge tracing a precise path through empty space.
Would it be enough?
He slowed slightly, letting the question take form instead of dismissing it outright.
Cang Yutian at 240. Now higher.
The gap was still there. But the weapon in his hand had shifted something. Not enough to close that distance outright, but enough to make the question worth asking.
Another swing. Sharper this time.
If I had this before... would the outcome have been different?
The thought lingered for half a second longer than it should have.
Then he stopped.
The answer came immediately, cutting through the line of thinking before it could develop further.
It doesn’t matter.
His grip tightened slightly.
The slave mark.
Even if the weapon gave him the edge. Even if it allowed him to stand on equal footing.
I can’t act on it.
The restriction wasn’t conditional. It wasn’t something he could work around with technique or timing. It was absolute. Any action directed toward Cang Yutian would be nullified before it even formed into execution.
He exhaled once, steady.
So the approach is pointless.
Another swing followed, this one faster, the blade humming faintly as it moved.
Still, the thought returned, quieter now.
But if the mark wasn’t there...
He didn’t finish it.
The ten Buddha wheels surfaced in his mind instead, their rotation, the presence they carried without ever fully revealing what they were capable of.
Mysterious. Unquantified.
And likely stronger than they appear.
That was the part that mattered.
Not the weapon. Not the hypothetical.
Reality.
He let the thought go.
The blade moved again, precise and efficient, the motion no longer exploratory but practiced.
Focus on what exists.
Cang Yutian’s condition was clear. Ten levels. One month.
That was the path.
He shifted his stance and prepared for the next engagement.
Earn the freedom.
Then he moved, putting the weapon at his waist, the abyssal-grade surface now carrying a presence that registered against his Predatory Instinct passive at close range the same way high tier monster entities registered at engagement range.
He then turned toward the cave exit.
Four levels. Two weeks. The path was tight but survivable if maintained. And at the end of it, if the terms were met, a slave mark releasing from a level 230 hunter who was now carrying an Abyssal-grade weapon and had sixty-seven skills and ten thousand times amplification and more than a month of experience in the deepest zones of the Allheaven Expanse.
He activated Heaven Step.