Su Xiao held his long knife, stretching his arm straight. Although he hadn't reached the level where the weapon felt like an extension of his body, he could sense a difference in how he felt about the blade in his hand. Achieving that level was not something that could happen overnight.
Even though he spent 1000 Paradise Coins in just one hour, Su Xiao felt it was worth it. Geng Silang hadn’t taught him any specific techniques, but he had opened a new door for him.
“Summon Geng Silang again.”
Su Xiao was feeling good, so he decided to summon Geng Silang once more.
[Unable to summon specified mirror image]
[Beep, Hunter permissions activated, please select summon duration.]
A smile appeared on Su Xiao's face; it seemed his identity as a Hunter had some uses after all.
“Three hours.”
[Geng Silang mirror image summoning in progress, summoning complete.]
Geng Silang appeared again, nodding at Su Xiao without introducing himself. Su Xiao was a bit surprised; it seemed Geng Silang recognized him.
“Now, let’s continue with your training. You’ve already begun to sense the weapon in your hand.”
Geng Silang’s words made Su Xiao understand why the Reincarnation Paradise didn’t allow summoning the same mirror image. When the same mirror image appeared, it retained the memories from the last time, which was undoubtedly a good thing for Su Xiao.
“You are now qualified to spar with me. Come on.”
Geng Silang drew his weapon for the first time, a knife that Su Xiao recognized: the Great Knife, Twenty-One Crafts, and Dao Yi Character.
Su Xiao stood up and charged at Geng Silang with his knife. Time was precious, and he needed to make the most of every second to grow stronger.
The sharp sound of metal clashing filled the air. Battling with a master like Geng Silang was an invaluable experience. Without the Reincarnation Paradise, Su Xiao would never have had such an opportunity.
During the fight, Su Xiao paid close attention to every move Geng Silang made, absorbing the knife techniques like a dry sponge soaking up water.
After an hour of continuous sparring, sweat soaked Su Xiao's clothes, and heat radiated from his body.
“Let’s take a break now. There are a few things you need to pay attention to…”
During the break, Geng Silang began to point out Su Xiao’s previous shortcomings. Since Geng Silang was a mirror image, he taught Su Xiao without holding anything back.
Three hours passed quickly, and Su Xiao still felt a bit unsatisfied.
“Time’s up, see you next time.”
Geng Silang gradually faded away. Su Xiao wanted to summon Geng Silang again, but after seeing he only had 4027 Paradise Coins left, he had to give up for now.
Su Xiao took a deep breath. The feeling of being able to shatter everything had vanished; that was just a side effect of his rapid attribute increase.
He clenched his fist, hearing the crisp cracking sounds. He had gotten used to the sudden boost in attributes, and now he just needed to take the final step.
“Paradise, start combat mode.”
[Combat mode consumes 10 Paradise Coins per minute, confirm payment?]
“Pay.”
[Combat mode activated, mechanical puppets will appear in thirty seconds, please prepare.]
The surroundings began to change, transforming from the sword hall into a desert. The sword hall was created automatically when Geng Silang appeared, while the current scene was part of the combat mode.
The combat mode would only end when Su Xiao was ‘killed.’
Of course, dying in the Trial Field didn’t mean real death.
The wind kicked up yellow sand, and everything turned a hazy yellow. A silver iron ball emerged from the sand.
That wasn’t just an iron ball; it was the head of a mechanical puppet.
One by one, steel-made mechanical puppets crawled out of the sand, dozens of red electronic eyes fixated on Su Xiao.
More and more mechanical puppets appeared, quickly surrounding Su Xiao.
[Time’s up, combat practice begins.]
“Clang, clang, clang~.” The sound of metal clashing echoed as the mechanical puppets quickly surrounded Su Xiao from all sides.
With so many mechanical puppets around, Su Xiao couldn’t afford to be careless and quickly adjusted his breathing.
Countless weapons attacked from all directions, wrapping around Su Xiao.
Several silver blades flashed, and many mechanical puppets shattered.
Su Xiao was no longer the same as before; now, both his physical condition and knife skills had greatly improved.
Metal shattered, yellow sand flew, and a fierce battle began…
Ten minutes later, Su Xiao was teleported to the entrance of the Trial Field.
As soon as he appeared, he felt his head, confirming it was intact. Just moments ago, his head had been smashed by those mechanical puppets.
“Really realistic.”
With a smile, Su Xiao left the Trial Field. Although he had spent over 4000 Paradise Coins, he had adapted to his current body.
And the gains weren’t just that; his knife skills had also improved.
Skill Two.
Knife Mastery: LV.2. (Passive)
Skill Effect: Increases melee attack power by 12% and proficiency with knife-type weapons.
…
His knife mastery had leveled up. From what Su Xiao understood, improving knife mastery was very difficult and required a small soul crystal, which cost 1000 Paradise Coins.
To upgrade his skill, Shadow of Destruction, he could either train by himself or use a soul crystal along with Paradise Coins.
Now that Su Xiao understood the value of a soul crystal, he was lucky to have killed an elite creature and obtained a small soul crystal.
He had searched the trading market in the Reincarnation Paradise for soul crystals, but no one was selling them.
Not to mention selling, most contractors didn’t even know what a soul crystal was.
So, the small soul crystal in his possession was extremely precious.
Returning to his exclusive room, Su Xiao spent 100 Paradise Coins to expand his bedroom, bathroom, and other areas in his exclusive space, arranging the furniture he had bought.
After some decorating, his exclusive room transformed, becoming not only spacious but also much more luxurious.
Sitting on the soft bed he bought for 40 Paradise Coins, Su Xiao fell into deep thought.
Now he had a small soul crystal in hand and two choices: upgrade an existing skill or unlock a new one.
Considering the current situation, aside from the skill Shadow of Steel and Knife Mastery, he didn’t have many combat skills.
However, he had a rough goal: to focus on knife skills as his main combat method, with other abilities as support.
This was a very promising path, as many strong individuals in various worlds followed this route.
In the pirate world, the world’s greatest swordsman, Mihawk, fought using swordsmanship.
Although it was called swordsmanship in the pirate world, Mihawk actually used a knife, and he wasn’t the only one; others like Shanks did the same.
This shows that specializing in one ability can be very promising.
Su Xiao wasn’t in a hurry to gain new skills since he wasn’t yet proficient in using Shadow of Steel.
Thinking about it, he decided to choose between upgrading Shadow of Steel or Knife Mastery.
After hesitating for a long time, Su Xiao finally chose to upgrade Knife Mastery, as this would make his strength grow more noticeably.
[Consuming small soul crystal, 1000 Paradise Coins, to upgrade Knife Mastery.]
Su Xiao felt dazed for a few seconds, then suddenly gained some knowledge in his mind; it was knowledge about knife techniques.
He checked Knife Mastery again.
Skill Two.
Knife Mastery: LV.3. (Passive)
Skill Effect: Increases melee attack power by 14% and proficiency with knife-type weapons.
…
Using the soul crystal to upgrade the skill felt completely smooth; there was no need to adapt, he just grasped it directly.
No wonder soul crystals are so rare; such a powerful item, Su Xiao was lucky to find it in a green treasure chest.
Actually, it wasn’t just luck. In the nightmare difficulty world, the rewards for killing enemies had greatly increased for Su Xiao, and such good fortune might be rare in the future.
Thinking back, why didn’t I travel through time when I was electrocuted yesterday? What a pity~~.
(End of Chapter)