Chapter 273: Flaming Wings and the Journey into Hell (I)
Chapter 273: Flaming Wings and the Journey into Hell (I)
Considering it was Chen Chu, however, the number one cultivator among the young generation in the south, it wasn't unexpected for him to make such a large request. As a Tianjiao, he had likely received numerous rewards and resources from the school and authorities.
Seeing this, the students behind him were filled with admiration instead of jealousy. After all, Chen Chu had earned these rewards through his own efforts. Anyone who felt like he didn't deserve these was welcomed to try walking the path of invincibility themselves.
"Abyssal Ore costs 300, Wish Crystals are 340, Fusion Beast Crystal Horns are 150, and nine Life Crystals are 1,220. Your total comes to 2,010 contribution points, and a forty percent discount puts it at 1,206." The staff member then hesitated. "However, you only have 356 contribution points and 300 merit points in your account."
Chen Chu calmly replied, "Convert the merit points into contribution points."
"But you wouldn't be getting a fair deal," the staff member reminded him.
While merit points and contribution points could be converted at a 1:3 ratio, merit points held additional value.
"It's fine. I'll earn a few hundred merit points again later."
"Alright, please wait a moment."
Soon, several staff members wheeled a cart out from the warehouse and carefully placed the materials Chen Chu had exchanged for onto the counter. A single piece of Abyssal Ore, roughly the size of a human head, weighed an impressive two tons. If the staff weren't cultivators in the Third Heavenly Realm, they wouldn't have been able to move it at all.
After storing the materials in his Sumeru Bracelet, Chen Chu left the school base and traveled over a hundred kilometers into the depths of the Jiuhuan Mountains. In a secluded valley, after ensuring no one was around, Chen Chu entered a dry cave and began converting the Life Crystals.
“You have converted four Level 4 and five Level 5 Life Energy Crystals, gaining 149, 156...”
From the crystals, he converted a total of 1,085 attribute points. Adding these his original 93 points caused them to surge to 1,178.
With his attribute points surpassing 1,000, both his main body's Golden Dragon Double Pupil ability and his avatar's Flame Blaze and Thunderbolt abilities could now be enhanced.
"Do mid-level abilities require 1,000 points for enhancement?" Chen Chu noted as he looked at his abilities.
Low-level abilities required 100 points per enhancement, needing three enhancements to upgrade. Chen Chu had already guessed that mid-level abilities would need 1,000 attribute points for each enhancement. But whether this would immediately elevate these abilities to a high-level, or if they required multiple enhancements as well, could only be determined later.
It didn't matter right now, however. Chen Chu's current goal was to comprehensively enhance himself. The ability enhancements could wait.
From his Sumeru Bracelet, Chen Chu took out the Flame Crystal battle armor, a Wishful Crystal, a Fusion Beast Crystal Horn, and the red ore he had taken from Maximus.
Under normal circumstances, ordinary Fifth Heavenly Realm cultivators would incorporate only a single piece of transcendent material when refining their armor for the second time, since they lacked the ability to smelt more than that.
If the transcendent materials and armor didn't fully fuse, not only would the special properties of the materials be underutilized, but the armor could also disintegrate due to conflicting forces.
This time, Chen Chu intended to fuse the Wishful Crystal with his armor, enabling it to flexibly adjust its size and accommodate his transformed states.
The Fusion Beast Crystal Horn had properties of splitting and merging, which would allow Chen Chu to wear or remove the armor with ease during battle.
Finally, the high-grade transcendent material ore would not only enhance the armor's strength, but also imbue it with a tangible, flame-like power.
For cultivators, armors served functions beyond defense, such as Chen Chu's previous enhancement for air purification. After all, compared to the mech martial art where man and machine were integrated, the true martial art path lacked comprehensive techniques at lower levels.
Chen Chu stacked the materials and armor together, placed his hand on them, and issued a mental command. Consume attribute points to enhance the armor.
Instantly, 100 attribute points vanished. At the same time, a white light spread from Chen Chu's hand, enveloping both the materials and the armor.
Under the white protective glow of the attribute energy, each piece of transcendent material shattered, then gradually liquefied and fused with the armor.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
As the transcendent materials fused with the armor, a layer of heatless white flame ignited, lifting the armor into the air for continuous tempering.
Since Chen Chu had previously infused a drop of blood containing his essence into the armor, he had a certain connection with it. During the tempering process, he integrated his spiritual will, inscribing runes inside the armor.
Refining a transcendent item wasn't merely about fusing materials. It also involved a specialized design blueprint, primarily aimed at harnessing the special powers of the transcendent materials effectively.
After half an hour, the white light faded, revealing a set of armor in mid-air. The armor was black, intertwined with gold and red patterns, and emitted a red and gold glow. This luxurious armor was heavy, and exuded a domineering aura.
At the same time, a line of transparent text appeared in Chen Chu's vision.
"Durability +10. You now have a high-level transcendent armor with the passive traits of Air Purification, Transformation, and Splitting and Merging. True power protection has increased by 30%.
"Active function: Mimetic Flame Wings. By consuming true power, these light wings will deploy and emit hot air currents to allow brief hovering and gliding.
"Active function: Blazing Ring. When under attacks reaching a critical threshold, a scorching ring of fire will be formed as a counter. After each activation, the Blazing Ring requires an hour to recharge."
After reading the enhancement notes, Chen Chu nodded in satisfaction and focused his thoughts.
Crack, crack!
Suddenly, the floating armor disassembled and flowed along Chen Chu's hand to envelop him. In the cave, a figure clad in armor appeared with a series of clacking sounds. This scene resembled Iron Man donning his second-generation armor, without the need to manually put on each piece individually, making it extremely convenient.
After adjusting to the newly refined armor, Chen Chu took out his Eight Desolations Purgatory Halberd. He then took out the other Wishful Crystal, three Abyssal Ores, and the evil-repelling golden horn[1].
"Consume attribute points to enhance the halberd."
Once again, a white light spread from Chen Chu's hand, enveloping the halberd and the materials. As his physical strength reached a mind-boggling level of fifty tons, Chen Chu felt that the halberd was starting to feel light again, even though its weight was two tons after the first enhancement.
Soon, as the materials were crushed and fused under Chen Chu's mental direction, a 3.8-meter-long halberd appeared in mid-air. Its jet-black shaft was entwined with a gold and red scale pattern. The crescent blades on each side, each over half a meter long, curved forward and backward, adding to its rugged and dominant appearance.
The most striking feature was the sixty-centimeter spearhead, with sharp blades and an internal golden glow that seemed ready to unleash earth-shattering power at any moment.
"Durability +10. Sharpness +10. You now have a high-level transcendent weapon with the passive traits of heaviness and hardness, weighing 8 tons, and a 30% increase in halberd light."
"Active function: Exorcist Illumination. When activated with true power, it emits a sharp golden light, illuminating the surroundings and dispelling darkness."
"Active function: Wishful Transformation. When activated with true power, the weapon instantly doubles in size. As size increases, the weapon weight will also increase to 30 tons."
Compared to the armor with its various passive and active functions, the Eight Desolations Purgatory Halberd was simpler, yet more domineering.
Wishful Transformation could instantly make the weapon larger and heavier, which was ideal for Chen Chu's Tyrant Elephant or Golden Dragon states, where the massive weapon would empower unparalleled strength. He had also specifically prepared the Exorcist Illumination function to counter the blood god and demon king’s soul avatars.
Because of the abundant use of transcendent materials this time, both the armor and the weapon had reached a high-level of transcendence that was the equivalent of being refined three times.
1. The original novel described this as a crystal horn, but this is likely a typo, and is instead referring to the golden horn that Chen Chu found among Maximus’ belongings in chapter 187, which was revealed to have evil-repelling properties in chapter 193. ☜