Alone and Infinite

"That's disgusting—"

Teacher Ao gave a very accurate evaluation:

"But all that's left is disgust. Once the soul chains expire or break, this is the target."

"Meow?"

Black Charcoal then asked curiously why they didn't use lightning to attack.

"Hmm, if I'm not mistaken, the opponent at least has a healing skill like prayer."

Li Xia rubbed the little head that felt incredibly soft and charcoal-like.

Night Silence can indeed transform into a lightning spear, but it's more like a support-type attribute attack with relatively low damage.

When facing an enemy tank with stacked armor, bring a Paladin's Prayer.

Using lightning attacks to wear them down is pure torture.

However, Black Charcoal's words reminded Li Xia that he remembered that in the upgraded world, Black Charcoal's lightning field would activate for a period of time.

It directly attracted natural lightning, and then relied on the Night's Silence's electrical control properties and considerable lightning resistance.

Guide the lightning bolt to the spear, and then fling it out.

The power is quite amazing.

Perhaps we should try to improve Black Charcoal's abilities in dealing with lightning?

It can complement myself perfectly.

Regarding Heitan's role, Li Xia is positioned as a backline support. If he can be a secondary carry to supplement his damage output, that would be ideal.

Having made up his mind, Li Xia, who had just left the arena, immediately headed straight for the forging area.

A faint wisp of smoke seemed to perpetually hang over the forging area.

The clanging and banging sounds rose and fell, and the air here was scorching hot.

Li Xia carried the charcoal and moved through the alleys with practiced ease.

Many apostles were still waiting at the entrance of Madaro's courtyard.

At least in the second tier, this little old man is quite famous.

Casual players and small guilds like the Knights of the Round Table love to come here.

Unfortunately, the old man's eccentric temperament made many people keep their distance.

This is both a marketing strategy and a way of rejecting people.

Amidst the astonished gazes of those around her, Li Xia went straight up and pushed open the door.

Since we've already decided to form an alliance, there's no need to be too polite. Going around in circles is too tiring; it's better to be direct and straightforward.

The furnace for forging parts is a little bigger than last time.

Madao was shirtless, unlike the short and thin man he usually appeared to be.

His muscles bulged high as he hammered something, one blow at a time.

"Hold on--"

As he spoke, he raised the hammer high, and a faint light suddenly rose from the dark iron hammer.

It seemed to leave a dazzling trail as it crashed down.

The red-hot metal blank on the anvil flattened out like putty.

Mada picked up the thin, paper-like blank with pliers, examined it for a while, and then nodded in satisfaction.

He tossed it into the clear, watery oil, clapped his hands, and walked out of the forging area.

A wisp of smoke rose from his sweat-covered body.

"Tier 3? Congratulations."

Madaro only glanced at it before nodding in congratulations.

On the side of the courtyard stands a thriving pear tree, currently blooming with delicate white pear blossoms.

There was a small table and two comfortable-looking rocking chairs placed under the tree.

Black Charcoal's eyes lit up, and in a few swift movements, it darted to the treetop, yawned, and lay comfortably on a branch.

The branch was pressed down by the kitten, sank downwards, and then bounced upwards again.

The back and forth motion was like a small cradle, and soon it let out a big yawn and fell asleep with its little paws as a pillow.

After gulping down a large glass of water, Madaro smiled and said:

"No need to guess, they're here for the armor, right?"

Li Xia hummed in agreement.

"The armor definitely needs an upgrade."

After a pause, Li Xia, who felt that this kind of upgrade was a bottomless pit, frowned and asked:

"Could the Lava Armor also be transformed into a Soul Equipment?"

If A's rank cannot keep up with Li Xia's rank, then the rank will be reduced by 20%.

Even though it's still useful after being upgraded from a top-tier item to a regular top-tier item, it just doesn't feel quite the same.

"Soul Equipment?"

Madao immediately shook his head and said seriously:

"I don't recommend you do this, absolutely not. If I'm not mistaken, the gloves on your hands are also soul equipment, even though they're constantly emitting black aura."

And that spear of yours, it must be the essence of a Zanpakuto produced by the Nightingale Guild, right?

"How did you get it?"

Li Xia asked with great interest, feeling that Madaro seemed to have eyes that could see through all equipment.

Fantastic.

"The effect that comes with the forging technique I learned, the Weapon Observation Technique, doesn't show the specific attributes, but only the general outline."

Madao made no attempt to hide anything, waved his hand dismissively, and poured Li Xia a cup of water from the kettle.

Continuing from the previous topic:

"Generally speaking, even the top apostles can only raise one soul equipment without the help of a guild."

It's like the essence of a Zanpakuto; it's incredibly famous, but very few dare to use it.

At lower levels, it's fine, but once you reach higher levels, the value of those rare materials becomes quite substantial.

This is because the weapon itself can absorb materials, which has already reduced the difficulty considerably.

To upgrade a simple soul equipment piece, besides materials, you also need soul crystals.

Madao pointed to Li Xia's gloves:

"Upgrading your gloves will be very difficult. This kind of woven material is different from forged material, and upgrading and maintaining it is quite difficult."

And it was in a filthy state—”

He looked at the gloves billowing black smoke; they were almost as powerful as a chimney.

"No, how did you cope with the negative effects of such intense resentment?"

Negative state?

Li Xia pondered for a while. It seemed that there was a negative status effect, but his mental strength level was a billion points high.

In addition, there is the powerful abnormal status resistance of the Eight-Nine Arcane Arts.

I didn't feel anything at all.

Do you have a way to remove this filth?

However, even if you can withstand it, it's best to remove the landmine as soon as possible, otherwise it wouldn't be good if it actually exploded one day.

"I'm not quite sure. I rarely touch woven fabrics. How about this, you can leave it here for me to study and get it serviced."

also.

After handing over the gloves, Madaro pondered for a moment:

"If you're upgrading the Lava Armor, what aspects do you mainly want to increase or retain?"

"Maintaining the status quo is fine. If there's any improvement, it would just be a slight increase in defensive capabilities?"

"Well, the main materials are fire-type biological materials, such as the blood crystals of powerful fire-type monsters, or materials from special parts of the body, preferably scales."

If not, monsters with high defense will also work, but then you'll need to add some fire-type energy bodies. Pay attention to compatibility; monsters with the opposite element will definitely not work.

Li Xia nodded and made a mental note of it.

Then he took out the Qilin set from Black Charcoal's body: "This set of equipment also needs to be upgraded."

"Armored animals?"

Madaro frowned. As a blacksmith, he disliked leather armor, which was neither aesthetically pleasing nor had a metallic feel.

But who can blame them when these are carefully chosen ally?

"Hmm? Felyne equipment?"

He was somewhat surprised. He looked at the attributes of the Qilin set, then looked up at the kitten sleeping soundly on the pear tree.

"You're the first person I've ever seen who would be willing to equip an Palico with such good gear."

This kitten is lucky to have met you.

The other Palicoes I've seen that belong to the Apostles all died pretty quickly; many were made to wear heavy armor to attract the attention of monsters.

Li Xia looked at the black charcoal, a rare smile appearing on his face:

"Charcoal is a partner, not a tool."

"Okay, I understand!"

Madaro patted his knees and stood up:

"So you mean you're willing to spend any amount of money and only want the best, right? The leather armor can be modified; you can use a metal lining as a cover."

I suggest modifying the design to retain the cat-like agility, since the most important aspect of this equipment is its aura.

specialized!

This is professionalism!

Li Xia had no objection and reached out to take the equipment back:

"What materials do I need? I'll prepare the materials for the upgrade next time I come back from the derivative world."

"Just leave it here, I'll upgrade it for you right away. We can talk about the cost, no rush."

Madaro waved his hand:

"I do know that the only benefit of upgrading a world is attribute points."

It should be ready in about a week. Come pick it up before your next dungeon run.

Li Xia thanked her without any pretense.

After carrying the sleeping black charcoal down, he said goodbye and left.

Executioner, you are about to return to reality.

The familiar feeling, the familiar front-loading washing machine.

A dizzying sensation that feels like it's shaking your soul out of your body.

The world before my eyes gradually became clear, as the main building was completed.

Li Xia's return point was no longer the grove of trees, but instead she appeared directly in her bedroom of her luxurious villa.

It has to be said that there is some truth to the saying that the speed of payment determines the speed of construction.

Especially when there are time-saving bonuses of up to one billion US dollars.

This immediately awakened the DNA of the infrastructure maniac. With five times the normal wage, those hardworking construction workers were doing far more than six blows per second.