Chapter 1475 - 97: Unexpected

Chapter 1475: Chapter 97: Unexpected

In the exclusive room, Su Xiao held a scroll and a medal, deep in thought. He had met the conditions for advancing to Sword Grandmaster, but there remained one concern: just how much would the cost increase after advancing sword techniques to the grandmaster level.

From previous trial challenges, Su Xiao realized that Sword Technique Master and Sword Grandmaster were not capabilities of the same tier. Su Xiao was suppressing the trial mirror image Xerxes in all attributes, not to mention in various abilities.

Even so, upon first encounter, Xerxes had rendered Su Xiao powerless to counterattack. If it weren’t for the adjustment and complement of various abilities, coupled with growing accustomed to Xerxes’ moves through multiple battles, he wouldn’t have been able to defeat Xerxes.

If it had been a life-and-death battle, Su Xiao would be dead, fallen at the hands of Xerxes, who had but one grandmaster-level ability.

This illustrates the staggering gap between a master’s ability and a grandmaster’s ability. More importantly, grandmaster-level abilities have a considerable lower bound at the initial stage. Xerxes’ Close Combat Mastery Lv.10 completely outclassed Su Xiao’s Sword Technique Mastery Lv.MAX, showcasing their disparity.

Su Xiao tossed the medal in his hand, and in mid-air, the [Proof of Glory] shattered suddenly.

[Proof of Glory has been consumed.]

[Grandmaster’s Power has been consumed (completed).]

[Advancing Sword Technique Mastery to grandmaster level...]

Su Xiao’s pupils gradually enlarged as a flood of trivial knowledge about sword techniques, insights, secret techniques, and more surged into his mind.

After some undetermined amount of time, light returned to Su Xiao’s eyes. He stood up and moved to the adjacent room.

This was Su Xiao’s dedicated sword training room. On one side, twenty pillars as thick as barrels stood upright, some metallic and some crystalline, the hardest made of a certain kind of mineral and alloy.

The pillars were numbered from 1 to 20, with numbers 1 to 6 already severed.

These pillars were rare materials Su Xiao had exchanged for at a considerable cost of Paradise coins, the exchange cost only 10% of the original price. Don’t think it’s cheap; these rare materials share two traits: they’re hard and cannot be taken out of the exclusive room, which is why they’re so inexpensive.

The reason for spending heavily on these pillars was simple: to test slicing power. The seventh pillar was covered with dense slashes, indicating Su Xiao couldn’t sever this material known as ’Moro Composite Metal’.

Su Xiao stood before the ’Moro Composite Metal Pillar’. He had tested it; Sword Technique Mastery Lv.MAX couldn’t possibly cut through this thing.

Su Xiao took a deep breath, his right hand slowly gripping the knife handle. The long knife unsheathed with a swish, a blue thread slicing through the air. The ’Moro Composite Metal Pillar’ still stood, but Su Xiao knew he had severed it, cleanly and thoroughly, unlike before, when he could only leave large slash marks after a lengthy effort.

Su Xiao did not understand how he could achieve this. To him, it felt as natural as raising an arm or blinking an eye.

With a loud crash, the 34-tonne Moro Composite Metal Pillar fell to the ground. Its density was terrifying, and its weight was naturally no light matter.

"A clear display of becoming stronger."

Su Xiao smiled, sheathed the Dragon Slash, and walked out of the sword training room, glancing at his sword skills.

[Sword Grandmaster: Lv.1 (Passive Skill)]

Skill Effect: Increases sword weapon attack power by 240%, nerve reflex speed +3%, immune to mental control, immune to mind manipulation, induction, etc.

Initial Additional Ability: Rule of All Things Lv.MAX,

Blade Aura Lv.50: Blade Aura flying speed +150%, Blade Edge value +30, Armor Break +25, Blade Aura becomes an energy solid.

...

After successfully advancing to grandmaster level, the sword weapon attack power bonus didn’t increase but decreased. This is normal since the Sword Grandmaster level is only Lv.1.

Compared to the reduction in sword weapon attack power bonus, Su Xiao was very pleased with the new 3% nerve reflex speed. Although 3% might seem minor, it’s actually an augmentable increase.

This means that with each level Su Xiao advances in Sword Grandmaster, his nerve reflex speed will improve. Over time, this will result in a formidable augmentation.

As a close combatant using swords, Su Xiao’s greatest fear was control over the mind or spirit. Though similar, they can’t be conflated.

Mental control stems from the Intelligence Attribute, while mind control derives from the Charm Attribute. To illustrate this difference vividly:

Mental control is like an old witch with a magic wand forcefully interfering with your judgment—an utterly unpleasant and eye-burning experience.

On the other hand, mind control is more appealing, like a naked young woman performing coquettishly before you, equally deadly but vastly more enjoyable.

For close combatants like Su Xiao, whether it’s an old witch or a naked young woman, neither is good. Once controlled, it’s like writing a eulogy for oneself.

Su Xiao developed swordsmanship to such an extent that it naturally compensates for this shortcoming. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be worth his immense resource investment. Previous sword techniques could immune to mental control but only within a limited scope, immunizing discernible mental control and partially ignoring control.

With mental control that ignores discernment directly, Su Xiao previously had a chance not to be immune to such control abilities.

Sword Grandmaster is different. This ability fully immunizes against both mental and mind control.

Contractors adept at sword techniques are immune to both types of control as common knowledge within Reincarnation Paradise, just as most tanks are immune to blunt attacks, retreats, and most mage lords have phenomenal elemental resistance—it is common sense.

Sword techniques refine the mind, body, and skills, with the mind coming first. If one couldn’t be immune to mental and mind control, then cultivating the mind would be pointless, making ’cultivating immortality’ seem more promising.

Improving sword techniques sharpens willpower, body, and skills. Thus, sword techniques form Su Xiao’s core ability.

Su Xiao sat cross-legged on the bed, with the Yeguang Maple Tree planted in the large flowerpot beside the bed, meditating.

This meditation was vastly different from previous ones. Su Xiao sensed that the Yeguang Maple Tree, merely thirty centimeters tall, acted like a signal amplifier. Through it, he could more directly perceive the surrounding environment, or rather, the world.

Unfortunately, the Yeguang Maple Tree could only be placed in an exclusive room for now. At least it would have to grow to fifty centimeters tall to gain some resistance to the external environment before Su Xiao would attempt to take it out.

In a natural setting, meditating with the Yeguang Maple as the medium brought the best results.

After several hours of meditation, Su Xiao had a preliminary understanding of the changes in his sword skills. There was also something he was more concerned about: the cost to advance to Sword Grandmaster Lv.1. He attempted to improve Sword Grandmaster, and a prompt appeared.

[Do you wish to advance Sword Grandmaster Lv.1? This enhancement requires Soul Crystal (Large) ×1 + 50,000 Paradise coins.]

Su Xiao blinked, confirming that he wasn’t mistaken. The cost was different from what he had expected. Instead of being outrageously expensive, it was quite affordable: a Soul Crystal (Large) + 50,000 Paradise coins. For a core ability, that was practically a steal.

Su Xiao suddenly realized he might be experiencing sweetness after bitterness; the investments in Sword Technique Mastery were not in vain, evident in the affordable advancement costs for early Sword Grandmaster levels, marking the beginning of rapid growth in his combat strength.