Chapter 126 - 120: Extraordinary Ceremony

Chapter 126: Chapter 120: Extraordinary Ceremony

[Hint: You have consumed 1,000 units of Belief Value. The Safe Zone’s ’Mission Hall’ is expanding.]

[Hint: You have consumed 50 units of Belief Value to renovate the Mission Hall.]

[Hint: Renovation complete.]

It had been some time since the Safe Zone was upgraded to Level 3. These days, the Belief Value in Shi An’s hands had become increasingly abundant.

He began upgrading the buildings within the Safe Zone one by one.

The most popular Training Ground was upgraded to Level 3, with the number of training rooms expanded to fifteen. The area of each individual training room was also several times larger than it had originally been.

The Level 3 training room was also the current upper limit for upgrades.

Afterward, Shi An upgraded the ’Staff Dormitory’ and the ’Hall’ by one level. He also renovated the expanded hall, creating several private rooms.

The number of Dream Descenders gathering in the Mission Hall was steadily increasing. While most people enjoyed this lively atmosphere, it was rather inconvenient if the Dream Descenders needed to discuss important matters.

He muttered, "When the Belief Value becomes more abundant, I’ll build a few more private rooms.

"With this kind of private space, experts will be more willing to discuss hidden secrets."

For instance, a few days ago, Shi An saw two experts from the Countermeasures Bureau talking about matters outside of Baijiang City. However, they quickly realized that they couldn’t discuss such things in public and stopped the conversation immediately, which left Shi An feeling quite disappointed.

However, most Ordinary Dream Descenders were indeed not suited to know about these matters.

Shi An also spent the Belief Value he collected these past few days on upgrading Zhuo Ling and the Nether Robe.

They had both maximized their Abilities and were stuck at the Extreme Realm, just Below the Extraordinary.

Shi An sat in the Manager’s Office, propping his chin on one hand and tapping the desk with the other, pondering slowly.

He thought, "I need to find a way to indirectly probe for the method of Extraordinary promotion. But the prerequisite is having more experts at the Peak of Third Refinements Realm arrive at the Safe Zone."

As for people like Profound Sword, Shi An guessed that they wouldn’t know much about the Extraordinary promotion either.

Within the Dream Descender system, knowing too much information beyond one’s current level wasn’t a good thing.

However, those at the Third Refinements Realm in major organizations definitely knew the method for the Extraordinary Breakthrough.

The reason Shi An built these private rooms was precisely because he eagerly hoped that experts would chat about high-end, secretive topics.

"It is said that even the Captain Level figures in the Countermeasures Bureau are ranked by strength," he mused.

"From Fen Huo, Captain of the Fifth Team, down to the Captain of the Twelfth Team—these eight are on the same level. The Fourth Captain Lu Qing, the Third Captain Li Yunfeng, and the Second Captain Bai Yu seem to be significantly stronger than the bottom eight. Fen Huo once personally admitted that he was inferior to the top three captains.

"As for the Captain of the First Team, a figure who seems to be away from Baijiang City year-round, they are on an even higher level. The comprehensive strength of the First Team is vastly superior to the other teams."

This was because Shi An had learned that the First Team’s mission was to establish contact with other surviving cities.

He wondered what the situation was like in those other cities.

He thought, "As for the method of Extraordinary Breakthrough, I must either wait for captains like Lu Qing to come to the Safe Zone, or wait for veteran members like Profound Sword to level up.

"Profound Sword and the others should be close to fusing their second Lifebound Curse Object."

***

"There are three hurdles in advancing from the First Refinement Realm to the Second Refining Realm."

In the underground Cultivation Space of the Extreme Intent Martial Arts Hall—an area accessible only to those with True Inheritance—Profound Sword and Rakshasa Sword were listening attentively.

This was especially true for Profound Sword. He had advanced too quickly, making his foundation and understanding of such knowledge somewhat lacking.

Standing before them was a rather ordinary-looking young man who appeared honest and simple.

Both Profound Sword and Rakshasa Sword showed great respect for this young man.

He was their eldest senior brother, Luo Ping—Broken Water Sword Luo Ping. Since their master was in seclusion year-round, it was actually their eldest brother and second sister who taught them most of the time.

"The first hurdle is finding a suitable and powerful Curse Object," Eldest Brother Luo Ping explained. "Both of you have already obtained yours. The next, the second hurdle, is the Fusion of the Curse Object.

"Fusing a Curse Object might seem simple, but we already have one Curse Object in our bodies. Since this second one is a more powerful Rare Level Curse Object, it requires balancing the curses during the Fusion process. This step must be done carefully, cautiously, and slowly."

The eldest brother explained the differences between the two processes.

The first time fusing a Curse Object had no special requirements. Even if a Dream Descender used the most crude and simple method—swallowing the Curse Object whole—it could still be fused. It was just that such a brutal method would cause some damage to one’s own body.

For the second Fusion, there were many details to pay attention to.

"The two Curse Objects must be balanced," Luo Ping continued. "Otherwise, our bodies as Dream Descenders will turn into a battlefield where the powers of the Curse Objects clash. To balance the curses, one’s level of Curse Power control is crucial. Of course, the two of you are qualified in this aspect.

"Besides that, experience and Secret Medicine are required. This Secret Medicine is brewed from various Treasure Medicines and can effectively reduce the conflict between the two Curse Objects during Fusion, as well as the erosive side effects brought by the new Curse Object. This is also the advantage of being a member of a large organization like ours."

In truth, the Extreme Intent Martial Arts Hall didn’t keep these ’secret recipes’ strictly guarded. They were semi-public. As long as a Dream Descender reached a certain level, they had plenty of opportunities to come into contact with such recipes.

However, even if grassroots Dream Descenders possessed the recipe, it didn’t mean they could afford so many Treasure Medicines. Of course, the Secret Medicine was merely for Support. The most fundamental aspect remained the selection of the Curse Object, one’s own foundation, and their mastery over Curse Power.

"The third hurdle is the time of Refinement. Only by refining the second Lifebound Curse Object can you formally step into the Second Refining Realm. Otherwise, you will always just remain at the Senior First Refinement Realm.

"Similarly, only after refining a third Lifebound Curse Object can you cross into the Third Refinements Realm.

"Refinement is the most difficult hurdle to overcome. It isn’t uncommon for Dream Descenders to get stuck at the Peak of First Refinement Realm or the Peak of Second Refinements Realm. Your fourth senior brother is an example, as are the various Deputy Captains in the Countermeasures Bureau."

The eldest brother also shared a lot of his experience regarding Fusion and Refinement.

Profound Sword and Rakshasa Sword carefully digested the information.

At this moment, Profound Sword asked, "Eldest brother, what about the Extraordinary Realm? Is stepping from the Peak of Third Refinements Realm into the Extraordinary Realm even more unique?"

It was definitely more difficult.

It just seemed that after a Dream Descender refined three Lifebound Curse Objects, there was no longer a path forward.

Refining a fourth Lifebound Curse Object? That didn’t exist.

Three was the limit. Three Curse Objects built the foundation leading to the Extraordinary.

But even after simulating it in his mind, Profound Sword still couldn’t imagine where a Dream Descender was supposed to go after the Third Refinements Realm.

"The Extraordinary Realm?"

The eldest brother looked at the two of them. "You are still young and far from the Extraordinary. Knowing too much is not a good thing.

"But what I can tell you is that the Breakthrough to the Extraordinary Realm is no longer just about simply refining a Curse Object, resonating with a Curse Object, or controlling Curse Power to break a bottleneck. The most important part of an Extraordinary Breakthrough is...

"A ceremony.

"You must find your own Promotion Ceremony, ascend during the ceremony, shed your mortal shell, and take command of the Extraordinary."

***

"The opportunity to refine my first Lifebound Curse Object is almost here."

In Training Room One.

Shi An finished his daily training tasks, feeling that a breakthrough was imminent.

If he had chosen a Rare Level Curse Object as his Lifebound Curse Object, he could have refined it a long time ago.

But he had chosen an Excellence Curse Object.

Even before the Excellence Curse Object was refined, the combat power he possessed was stronger than Black Tiger and Long Niu. One could imagine the effects after Refinement.

However, Shi An didn’t attach much importance to his ’Basic Combat Power.’

What he valued was ’his combat power when wielding the Power of Faith’ and the ’Safe Zone Comprehensive Power.’

Thinking of this, Manager Shi called up his interface.

[Owned Dream Curse Object Templates:]

[Ghostly Cloak (Rare Level), Strong Heart Strike (Rare Level), Shadow Giant Scissors (Complete Level), Peaceful Headband (Complete Level), Ghost Hand (Complete Level)...]

[Hint: Crafting a Rare Level Curse Object requires 200 units of Belief Value. Crafting a Complete Level Curse Object requires 50 units of Belief Value.]

To this day, he had accumulated quite a number of Dream Curse Object templates.

However, he couldn’t possibly spend such a large amount of Belief Value to craft a batch of Dream Curse Objects just to sell for money.

At most, he would craft one or two, maybe three, to bestow upon his Direct Lineage.

He thought, "But if the cost of crafting could be significantly reduced..."

Shi An had been researching this for a long time, and now he finally had results.

He arrived at the Rare Building, ’Exquisite Alchemy Workshop.’

After a series of operations, a notification chime rang in his ears.

[Hint: Do you want to spend 20 units of Belief Value and other Materials to craft the Rare Level Curse Object, ’Ghostly Cloak’?]

Here, ’other Materials’ referred to ten Dream Crystals.

It wasn’t cheap.

The crafting process would also take time.

But the value of a Rare Level Curse Object was far more than that.

He noted, "Most importantly, many Dream Descenders, including those in the Refining Stage, will likely never obtain a Rare Level Curse Object in their entire lives."

Many Refining Stage members in the Safe Zone were prime examples of this!

This was also related to their short tenure as Dream Descenders and their relatively weak foundations.

He smiled slightly. "Meanwhile, not only can I mass-produce Rare Level Curse Objects here, but I also have quite a few Rare Level Curse Objects and a large number of Complete Level Curse Objects piled up in the warehouse."

These Curse Objects couldn’t just be left in the warehouse to gather dust.

Sealing and storing Curse Objects was quite troublesome to begin with.

Shi An suddenly felt that it was time to host an auction.

***

In the Safe Zone, inside a private room in the Mission Hall.

Members Old Wang, Duckbill Hat, and Li Wei had gathered together.

They were all highly experienced veteran members of the Safe Zone, and now they all faced a similar problem—finding a second Lifebound Curse Object.

None of them had reached the point where they could fuse their second Lifebound Curse Object yet, but the object needed to be found first. Otherwise, it would be extremely awkward to have everything prepared only to lack the Curse Object itself.

Old Wang, Duckbill Hat, and the others all required different types of Curse Objects, but they shared the same ambition: to select and fuse a Rare Level Curse Object.

Therefore, they made a pact to search for Rare Level Curse Objects individually, agreeing to trade any that didn’t suit their specific needs.

"Through the Ruin Nightmare, we can head to the Ghost Forest in the deeper layers," Li Wei suggested. "The probability of finding a Rare Level Curse Object there is much higher than in the shallow layers."

Old Wang shook his head slightly. "That’s the deeper layers. It’s said that even Captain Level experts from the Countermeasures Bureau have to tread carefully and act as if they are walking on thin ice in those areas."

Even though they were backed by the Safe Zone, venturing into the deeper layers at this point was still too risky.

Old Wang continued, "My people discovered a large-scale Nightmare in the West Third District. I can roughly determine its location. Are you guys interested in taking it on?"

Both Duckbill Hat and Li Wei looked tempted.

Clearing a large-scale Nightmare in the shallow layers was much less risky than diving deep into a Nightmare.

The rewards from a large-scale Nightmare, naturally, went without saying.

The group agreed on a time to launch their operation.

At this moment, on the screen displaying the scrolling mission list on the side of the private room, a pinned message suddenly appeared.

It wasn’t an emergency mission.

Rather...

"The First Safe Zone Auction is about to be held?"