The Equipment Upgrade Technique had never belonged to this world. Bai Yunfei didn’t know about that at first, but that knowledge soon came to him when his mind started to incorporate the shattered memories of the transmigrator. It was with that transmigrator’s knowledge that Bai Yunfei was able to learn that this was something from a ‘game’.
Upon coming to this world, the transmigrator’s memories fused with Bai Yunfei, and the imaginary ‘skill’ that had been made up in his world soon became a reality in Bai Yunfei’s.
What was once strange to Bai Yunfei soon became normal as he familiarized himself with this strange technique. Soon, he came to call it a ‘special skill’ of his own, albeit one that he ‘couldn’t understand’ or even ‘hope to understand’.
Thus why he never bothered to understand it as a whole.
Then came his entry into the Crafting School. Due to the intricate relationship between the school and their studies in the art of crafting, Bai Yunfei gradually started to yearn the answers to the mystery that was the Upgrade Technique.
The answer he wanted wasn’t about the rules of upgrading, or even the study of the effects, but….
How did upgrading work?
Yes, that was what he desired to know.
In the one instant the upgrading took place in, what exactly was going on to make it work?
The reforging and refinement of equipment was a type of ‘skill’ unique to the Crafting School. Embedding primal stones or soulgems onto a soul armament strengthened them, and even infusing special materials had the possibility of enhancing a soul armament’s power and even grade. Though possible, it required a series of complex procedures and compatibility between materials in order to work.
Even one of the secrets of the Crafting School, where a crafter was able to use the formation of their essence fireseed to refine one of their soul armaments and make it stronger had a basis in which the secret was formed upon.
But the Upgrade Technique….on what principle did that work upon?
It didn’t have any prerequisites to be used aside from the consumption of soulforce. Compared to the sacred arts of the Crafting School, the Upgrade Technique was worlds apart in requisites, process, and results.
And that was without including the irregularity that was the additional effects.
In the course of the last two years spent, Bai Yunfei was without a doubt much stronger than before, and it was mainly in part thanks to the Upgrade Technique. By upgrading soul armaments, he had inevitably strengthened himself. Many a times, Bai Yunfei studied the finer details of the equipment after they were upgraded, and just as many times was spent trying to understand the sensations he felt during the process.
But no matter how many times he tried, it was all futile.
One thing he did know was the difference when he used an upgrade stone and when he didn’t. In the times he used to the upgrade stones, his sense of clarity was a hundred times stronger during the upgrading process than when he didn’t. He experienced this first hand back in Curopia City, though it was only for a moment so he wasn’t able to pursue that. It also required all his brain power, and without the right frame of mind usually gained by training, Bai Yunfei wasn’t able to make the best of it when he tried.
Today changed that. Now that he had the upgrade stones formed by the fragments of the Nephrite Throne, his mind was able to clearly sense the finer details when the white smoke from the stone entered the equipment.
It was still a fleeting moment, but it was a longer moment than before. Bai Yunfei wasn’t willing to give up that chance. After several repetitions with upgrading the Ardent Sun Glove via the +11 and +12 upgrade stones, Bai Yunfei was finally able to gleam some more knowledge.
But that wasn’t enough for him, so he deigned to use the precious +13 upgrade stone!
Deciding on using the Fire-tipped Spear to be the item to be upgraded took a moment, but in the end, Bai Yunfei didn’t regret his choice. The Fire-tipped Spear was his main weapon and was also one of his highest compatible weapons.
The +13 upgrade stone failed to disappoint. Via its usage, Bai Yunfei at last managed to understand the mystery that had eluded him for so long!
This was a first. He had never felt so understanding about the intricacies behind the Upgrade Technique, and surely, it’d benefit him for a very long time….
It was still early to say Bai Yunfei had mastered the Upgrade Technique, but he had finally did it. He was finally one step closer to knowing the vital secret behind the Upgrade Technique and the ‘methodology’ behind it.
Right now, Bai Yunfei wasn’t sure what sort of thing he was researching, or even what kind of ‘power’ it was….
This ‘power’ was known as….the power of Law!!
The Planar Laws!
In his journey for the answers, Bai Yunfei had inadvertently stumbled upon such an awe-shocking discovery without even knowing!
Bai Yunfei sighed, catching his breath as he tried to calm himself.
That feeling left in his mind wasn’t something he fully understood, even now. But he had time. Before one learns to run, they must learn to walk.
And that would be what Bai Yunfei would do.
Now that his study was over, Bai Yunfei had the Ardent Sun Glove and Fire-tipped Spear in his hands to inspect.
The Fire-tipped Spear had reached a cumulative amount of four thousand attack points now that it was +13, meaning it was good enough to be called a mid-heaven tier soul armament! If Zi Jin saw the spear, he would’ve been absolutely floored! But Bai Yunfei was prepared to explain why his spear was so strong now, so he could worry about other things, such as the +13 additional effect.
“Ignore any elemental-based defense?” Inquired Bai Yunfei, this effect was….overpowered beyond belief!
Soul cultivators fought entirely with elemental energy as soon as they become a Soul Sprite and formed their origin essence. By harnessing the power of the elements, they could rely on that rather than physical prowess, whether it was in offense or defense.
They were even used to fight in long-ranged battles.
Through the power of a barrier powered by elemental energy, Bai Yunfei wouldn’t even be able to shatter it if he unloaded every single bullet he had from his two Desert Eagles. The absolute coverage brought to soul cultivators by using the elements as ‘armor’ was without a doubt one of the most important aspects a soul cultivator should know, if not the most important.
And now, the Fire-tipped Spear had an effect that could completely ignore that said defense!
What did this mean?
It meant that in the face of an elemental barrier, the Fire-tipped Spear could go through it as if it didn’t exist, no matter how strong the barrier was!
So excited were Bai Yunfei’s eyes that they looked nearly bloodshot, reminding him to try and calm down a little.
“But the price for using this effect is huge! Using half my current soulforce….” Bai Yunfei mumbled, “Just using this effect means a sharp decline in my fighting ability. It doesn’t even mean I’ll be able to hit the enemy either. If I can’t kill them in one blow with this, I’ll be in danger.”
Battles between Soul Exalts and higher made it very hard for a close-combat battle to open. More often than not, both soul cultivators would be fighting using long-ranged methods, and breaking through one’s defense wasn’t necessarily be-all and end-all. Unlike puppets whose movements would cease if their strings were cut, soul cultivators could retreat at any point they felt their lives were in danger.
“A risky gambit, that’s what it is. But still, now I’ve another ace up my sleeves to kill with.”
Smiling, Bai Yunfei put away the spear in favor of looking at the Ardent Sun Glove.
“Since the gloves were inherently better than the spear, it has better stats at +12 than the spear at +13…..and it has defense in addition to attack. With that, I’d be able to fight a low-heaven tier soul armament with just my gloved hand, probably with more ease than I think?” Bai Yunfei smiled happily as he looked at the stats.
“Stealing stats?! Another unbelievable effect!”
Stealing ten points of the opponent’s attributes with each strike was inconsequential, if not negligible. With Bai Yunfei’s strength as an early-stage Soul Exalt, his basic attributes totalled to be around six thousand at the very least, so stealing ten from six thousand was a drop in the bucket.
But the important thing to know here was that the effect read as ‘with each strike’. It could be stacked!
It was only for ten minutes and had a limit of fifty percent, but ten minutes was a very long amount of time in a battle of life or death! Many a things could happen in that time window, and exchanging several hundreds of blows during then was nothing strange.
If one blow represented ten points, and ten blows meant a hundred, then a hundred blows meant a thousand points! Even more importantly, Bai Yunfei had the Overlapping Wave Arts! An Eighty-one Fold Fist Force in the eyes of the Upgrade Technique meant ‘eighty-one strikes’….
Equally as importantly was the fact that these points would be ‘stolen’! It wasn’t a debuff! Whatever the opponent lost, Bai Yunfei would gain!
To imagine just how great this was, if Bai Yunfei were to fight against a person who preferred to fight with his hands and legs, the outcome would surely benefit Bai Yunfei….
“What a shame that it only works in close-combat. If I can’t hit the person, it’s useless to me….”
As mighty as the effects were, the limits were also very clear to see.
But all in all, the two new effects Bai Yunfei picked up satisfied him. The profits he gained in less than a few minutes would raise his strength by several levels.
“Now then, let’s take a look at this.”
Bai Yunfei fished a white piece of jade about two fingers in width. This was the piece of jade that could quicken the rate of training!
Closing his eyes, Bai Yunfei thought of a single word.
“Upgrade.”