Chapter 460: SSS-Rank Talent: Celestial Demon Subduer

’Like a chat room?’ Through the reader, Qi Suian actually managed to extract some information from the Wind King’s scale.

This information was unusual. It seemed he could receive real-time messages from a public channel.

The source of this real-time information was the Lords of Wind, individuals who had used the Wind King’s scales to gain ownership of their islands.

Normally, for Qi Suian to obtain this information, he would first have to write his name on the Wind King’s scale, which acted as a property deed. He would also need to possess the property itself.

However, he had forcefully cracked it by using his own communication and signal-related modules.

In effect, he was simply using the Wind King’s scale as a receiver.

So, he could only read the messages, not send them.

’However, only Wind King scales from the same source can connect with each other. This must be this particular Wind King’s private group chat.’

Qi Suian extracted a large amount of information, most of which was related to the situation on the front lines.

The Wind King this scale belonged to was called the Profound Mechanism Wind King. It was currently locked in a fierce battle with another, the Hundred-Year Wind King, and the war was at a stalemate.

Not long ago, the Lords of Wind had communicated with the Profound Mechanism Wind King and ultimately recruited a group of survivors from another world.

This group of survivors called themselves Mages. Among them, the three most powerful were known as Holy Sanctuary Mages, and they wielded immense power.

Since wind was an element of their power, the two sides struck a deal.

The survivors would fight for the Profound Mechanism Wind King, and in return, the Profound Mechanism Wind King would grant the survivor Mages wind-related treasures, legacies, Magic, and so on.

The Profound Mechanism Wind King didn’t truly understand Mages, but it could use its wind to activate the wind elements on their bodies, shaping it into whatever the survivors required.

It was analogous to receiving natural treasures or being granted techniques directly from the heavens and earth.

As a result, the wind-attribute branch of the Mage class instantly became highly sought-after.

’A group of survivors from a Western Fantasy Magic World... and they’re all Mages. Not a single ordinary person among them.’

’Just how widespread is the Extraordinary in the survivors’ world? How could there possibly be tens of millions of Mages?’

’Then again, it’s also possible that all the ordinary people are already dead. After all, their landing point was right on the front lines of the Wind Kings’ battlefield.’

’Good thing this isn’t a Sacred Artifact World, so there’s no war affecting me. Otherwise, I’d probably be in for another desperate struggle.’

Qi Suian muttered to himself, then ignored the survivors’ situation.

The survivors were not in a good situation. Their numbers were constantly dropping and had now fallen below one million.

This just went to show the brutality of the war between the two Wind Kings.

Besides the information about the survivors, the exchanges on the Wind King’s scale were all war-related. There were calls for reinforcements, talk of attacks, and some crazed ravings.

’Too bad. Since this is the cracked version, a lot of the functions are incomplete.’

’But one thing is certain: a Lord of Wind should be able to communicate directly with the Wind King, offering it various kinds of assistance and making requests in return.’

’Although they’re still controlled by the Wind King, their autonomy is significantly higher.’

’So what about me? How can I have my cake and eat it too?’

He wanted the benefits of being a Lord of Wind, but he didn’t want to be controlled by the Wind King.

’Eh? Can’t I just use a substitute?’

’I remember I still have half a second consciousness somewhere.’

Qi Suian rummaged through his metaphorical closets and quickly found his former second consciousness.

’It’s too weak. It hasn’t changed at all.’

This second consciousness was split off back when he was in the Profound World; it hadn’t grown along with Qi Suian at all.

The ’him’ from that time, with his meager attributes, couldn’t even break through the current Qi Suian’s defenses.

All Qi Suian had to do was roll his Spiritual Power over it, and that entire consciousness would be reduced to paste.

So not only was the second consciousness left over from that time crippled into a vegetative state, but now it was so obsolete it was hard to even look at.

However, for Qi Suian, this was good news.

’Perfect. I’ll modify it a bit and use it as the substitute.’

’It’s not too late to use it after my SSS-rank virus talent upgrade is complete.’

Qi Suian’s gaze fell on himself. In truth, the SSS-rank upgrade for his virus talent had already begun five days ago.

He had been studying the Wind King’s scale for about ten days now and had researched it thoroughly; otherwise, how could he have even analyzed its communication functions?

Only this time, the process wasn’t as harsh as before, where he was constantly on the verge of death.

Firstly, it was so he wouldn’t be delayed in his studies and research. Secondly, it was because he had grown much stronger and wasn’t so easy to kill anymore.

That’s why the process had changed from a short-term one to a long-term one.

"Should be another half an hour before the transformation is complete," Qi Suian muttered.

Five days was already a long time for Qi Suian. When he thought about how long it used to take to upgrade his talents, the difference was obvious.

’I haven’t had it this easy in a long time.’

As his talent transformed, Qi Suian could feel the sickness in his body receding. The various forms of torment and pain he constantly endured were also subsiding.

Once his talent reached SSS-rank, Qi Suian would be able to regain his normal senses.

He no longer needed effects like Bloodthirsty Frenzy or other enhancements derived from his symptoms, as these buffs were of little use to him now.

Through the enhancements from the Legendary Equipment Stone, he had already made these kinds of power-bursting, life-draining abilities a permanent part of his normal state.

Therefore, there was no longer any room for these effects to improve.

What needed to be eliminated should be eliminated decisively; there was no use in keeping it.

As for how he upgraded his virus talent to SSS-rank, that was simple too. Qi Suian directly used a rather unremarkable SSS-rank item, Source of Profound Darkness: Virus Frenzy, as the evolution material.

Combined with the knowledge he obtained from the World Core, this created the foundation for his talent’s upgrade.

Then, by using his own body as the subject of transformation, he finally found a path and method for his talent’s evolution.

’Finally free of this sickly ghost’s identity.’ Qi Suian’s gaze fell upon his reflection in the mirror. His complexion was gradually becoming healthier, and his previously gaunt frame was filling out, returning to its original appearance.

But no matter how much he recovered, he still looked like an unremarkable, middle-aged bystander.

It was just his entire aura—his spirit, energy, and vitality—that had undergone a heaven-and-earth-shattering change. He looked like a normal person at a glance, not someone with one foot in the grave who could die at any second.

Qi Suian truly didn’t care about his appearance, but it was naturally better to be free of pain and discomfort.

As his body transformed and the last vestiges of his illness vanished completely, Qi Suian stretched lazily.

’It’s like that satisfyingly sore feeling of a good stretch when you’re exhausted.’

Qi Suian moved his body around a bit. He wasn’t quite used to it yet. After all, having been tormented by illness for so long, he needed some time to adapt to recovering in just five days.

As he did some simple movements, his body adapted rapidly.

During this process, he opened his attribute panel and, on a whim, used the survivor’s mark inside his body to rename the SSS-rank talent.

[SSS-Rank Talent: Celestial Demon Subduer]

’Much more symmetrical.’ Qi Suian looked at his Celestial Demon Subduer and Human World Tai Sui God, feeling much more satisfied.

’It’s a shame I’m missing a Heaven-Shaking Lion and a Ground-Shaking Pixiu. Otherwise, I could go cosplay as Wu Song.’

Qi Suian felt a slight sense of regret.

As for his build not matching? That didn’t matter. He wasn’t human to begin with, so changing his appearance was no big deal.

’The data is exactly as expected. I’ve obtained all the talent branches of the Profound Virus.’

’That includes the effects of talents from the Devour and Evolve series, Virus Monarch, and others.’

’First, I’ll disable the ’Evolve’ part of Devour and Evolve,’ Qi Suian thought, taking action immediately.

The current Qi Suian was already the most perfect form of the Profound Virus; he didn’t need evolution to compensate for anything.

What use would it be for him to grow gills or wings, or to gain 1 point of strength or agility? Instead of an enhancement, it would be a burden.

Evolution inevitably meant a change in his physical form. How could blind evolution possibly compare to the structure he had meticulously designed and built for himself?

If he really got an E-rank strength-increasing talent, the little bit of strength gained might not even cover what he’d lose.

Even an SSS-rank one wouldn’t necessarily be a net gain, since he had personally engineered all of his current strength.

Evolution itself is a lengthy process, one guided by nature, not by artificial intervention.

To be used effectively, Devour and Evolve needed to be used from before one stepped into the Extraordinary realm, required extensive biological knowledge, and demanded careful selection of what was devoured to gain talents. For the current Qi Suian, only the ’Devour’ part was somewhat useful; the ’Evolve’ part was truly useless.

It wasn’t even as useful as Interference Evolution from cold energy; at least that could use the cold to erase the drawbacks of any irrational evolutionary changes.

But Devour and Evolve couldn’t do that. If one devoured things randomly without careful selection, they would ultimately just turn into a monster.

’My strength has increased. I could probably kill five of my former self now.’

’As expected of an SSS-rank talent.’

’And it’s a composite talent, so the strength increase is substantial.’

Qi Suian knew that unleashing the full power of an SSS-rank talent still depended on one’s own strength and level of development.

Because Qi Suian had created it himself, its development level was maxed out from the start. Coupled with his own immense strength, the resulting boost was naturally quite high.

For the first batch of survivors, even if they had an SSS-rank talent, it would come with numerous restrictions.

’I’m not sick anymore, and my talent is SSS-rank. It’s a double dose of good fortune.’

’Excellent. Now I can make a move on Flying Fish Town Island.’ With his newfound strength, Qi Suian’s next step was naturally to ’become’ a Lord of Wind. He would use this as an experiment for his subsequent plan to devour and merge with the World Core.

Previously, the SSS-rank virus talent was a prerequisite, which had delayed him. Now that the condition was met, he would certainly take further action.

’Just being a Lord of Wind probably isn’t enough. I might also need data on the Wind King as a reference.’

Qi Suian had a clear understanding of himself. This was about becoming a world; how could it possibly be so easy?

Even though he had plot armor, its quality was only judged as X-rank by the doomsday game—the same tier as a World Core.

So they were technically equal, like half a pound and eight ounces. Except his plot armor was the half-pound of scrap iron, while the World Core was the eight ounces of pure Gold.

After all, this was the core of a world, something that even the Profound God, the true form of his plot armor, could not compare to.