Infinite Anime [296-297] (Patreon)

Chapter 296: A Gap Beyond Imagination

On the desolate land, the man in black clothes and wielding a black blade stepped forward, his killing aura growing thicker, even reaching the point of distorting reality.

In Gusion's eyes, the opponent before him had transformed into an indescribable twisted creature, like an ultimate terror that could not be looked upon directly.

He gripped the Mazuko tightly, sweat pouring uncontrollably from his forehead. He stepped forward, determined to make his move before being overwhelmed by that tidal wave of pressure.

Facing boundless pressure, he charged like a fish swimming upstream against the current.

At that moment, his opponent moved.

Due to the thick flood of killing aura, Gusion could no longer see the figure clearly, yet at that instant, he distinctly felt the opponent drawing his blade.

The opponent was clearly still some distance away from him. In Gusion's distorted perception, they were at least hundreds of meters apart. The man in black clothes and black blade didn't swing at a fast speed, but it carried an overwhelming momentum, as if it could shatter the heavens.

The pitch-black sharp blade slashed out—or rather, it seemed to lightly slice through the void. An invisible force extended, carrying a wondrous artistic conception.

In an instant, Gusion was stunned, or perhaps locked in place by the invisible force, unable to move. He could only obsessively feel that invisible trajectory.

As his consciousness gradually faded, he saw the man in the distance turn around and disappear into the endless flood of killing aura.

"Huff—"

Gusion gasped sharply. When he opened his eyes again, he found himself standing in an ordinary training ground.

After relaxing a bit, he sat on the ground, panting heavily, as if trying to suck in all the air he hadn't been able to breathe before.

Sweat poured from his body in large amounts, as if he had just gone through an exhausting battle. Even though it was over, his body was still trembling slightly.

It wasn't because of the fear brought by that mysterious man. At this moment, his eyes held only extreme excitement. He wished he could replay the scene of the opponent killing him in his mind a million times.

Is this the ultimate of martial arts? Who was that person? A powerhouse within the space? Or a projection pulled in from the myriad heavens by the End Space?

According to the rules described by the End Space, his base attributes were identical to the projection's. But Gusion felt that attributes meant nothing in front of that opponent. Even with the same Tier 4 initial attributes as himself, the opponent seemed capable of slashing through the firmament.

That invisible intent that killed him seemed profoundly mysterious to Gusion, something beyond basic numerical concepts. It was what he had always pursued and longed for—the legendary martial arts techniques.

"I really want to try it again..."

Gusion wasn't a masochist, but now he understood why this item was marked by the End Space with a warning not to touch it, as encountering it could shatter one's Dao heart.

In truth, he didn't think his Dao heart would shatter, but he had indeed realized the gap—a gap so vast he couldn't comprehend it.

To be honest, although Gusion lived in the 'End of Martial Era' in a worldview most space inhabitants called cyberpunk, he considered his martial arts talent decent and had indeed become the strongest in the martial arts field of that era.

He had imagined the gap between himself and the martial arts masters described in ancient tales, but honestly, everything he saw today in the Ultimate Training Ground exceeded his meager imagination.

What a loss!

That was his first thought now.

It wasn't that he felt exchanging four S-grade Honor Medals for the Ultimate Experience Card was a loss, but that using this card now was a loss.

Compared to that martial arts powerhouse in the projection, he was too weak—weak to the point where he couldn't even comprehend half the profundity of the opponent's move. It was like wasting the experience card on something as crude as a cow chewing peonies.

But since he had used it, Gusion wouldn't dwell on it too much. He could only try to savor the process of 'fighting' that mysterious man, striving to absorb some martial arts experience and techniques.

After resting for a moment, Gusion stood up and began constantly seeking that feeling from before in the training ground, attempting to review and reconstruct it.

...

In the Equipment Enhancement Hall, people came and went, and one area drew many strange glances.

"What's up with this guy? Did he come here to sleep?"

"There are plenty of metaphysical methods these days, but this is the first time I've seen something like this..."

"He looks like his brain isn't quite right. If I run into him in a mission world later, I'd better stay far away."

"..."

Passersby would mutter complaints, mainly because the person enhancing equipment over there looked truly bizarre.

He had actually taken out a bed in the public area and was sitting on it, operating the enhancement machine in front of him.

This person was naturally Gusion.

Since both his Mazuko and Spirit Devourer had completed their advancements, their enhancement levels had dropped a bit. Especially the Spirit Devourer—due to Gusion constantly squeezing the Nine-Tails, plus absorbing those Tailed Beast chakras in the battle in the Land of Rain—it had advanced to Dark Gold grade.

The Spirit Devourer, having advanced consecutively, was now Gusion's highest-quality equipment, one major tier above the Mazuko. If it weren't a growth-type equipment, Gusion probably wouldn't meet the wearing requirements anymore.

That's the advantage of growth-type equipment—it always adapts to the owner's situation and won't drastically change usage requirements due to upgrades, preventing the owner from being unable to wear it.

Although Gusion had caused a huge commotion in the Naruto world, pushing the world exploration rate above 100%, he hadn't actually killed many powerhouses. Thus, the Mazuko's growth progress hadn't increased much and was still at Epic grade.

Since it hadn't reached Dark Gold grade, the Mazuko's enhancement level hadn't dropped much—it was currently +6. Gusion wanted to spend some money to try enhancing it back to +8.

[Mazuko's current enhancement level is +6. Enhancement success rate: 59.7%. Requires 4000 End Coins. Proceed with enhancement?]

Enhancing Epic-grade equipment was more expensive than Legendary-grade, and there was an extra fee after +5. Gusion had anticipated this. He had just sold his original enhancement stones today and still had over 400,000 End Coins on hand. He was confident enough to get the Mazuko back to its peak.

"Enhance!"

Gusion sat on the bed, completely ignoring the stares from others. The path of a lucky emperor needed no explanation to outsiders.

[Enhancement failed. Mazuko's enhancement level drops to +5.]

The smile on Gusion's face gradually faded. He looked down at his temporary 3-point luck attribute, feeling a bit dissatisfied.

Can't these enhancement machines be moved to my home for use?

Gusion sighed inwardly, knowing it was impossible. All he could do was sit on the bed in the Equipment Enhancement Hall and enhance.

A small failure was no big deal; he believed he'd have consecutive successes next.

[Mazuko's current enhancement level is +5. Enhancement success rate: 69.3%. Requires 4000 End Coins. Proceed with enhancement?]

"Continue."

Gusion remained calm. He refused to believe he'd keep failing.

[Enhancement failed. Mazuko's enhancement level drops to +4.]

"Damn!"

Gusion couldn't hold it together anymore. He even heard snickering from behind.

"Hahaha... There's an idiot enhancing on a bed, and he's on a losing streak."

Gusion's anger surged at the explorer's mockery. He slapped the enhancement bronze cauldron in front of him. "End, continue for me."

[Mazuko's current enhancement level is +4. Enhancement success rate: 75.6%. Requires 3000 End Coins. Proceed with enhancement?]

"Enhance. Keep going until I say stop!"

Gusion was a bit annoyed. He refused to believe he could keep failing.

But shortly after, the first notification sound made his face darken.

[Enhancement failed. Mazuko's enhancement level drops to +3.]

At this point, Gusion seriously doubted if his temporary luck was even working. How could he have three failures in a row, getting weaker with each enhancement?

Just as he was angry enough to smash the machine, the subsequent notifications started improving his mood.

[Enhancement successful. Mazuko's enhancement level rises to +4.]

[Enhancement successful. Mazuko's enhancement level rises to +5.]

[Enhancement successful. Mazuko's enhancement level rises to +6.]

[Enhancement successful. Mazuko's enhancement level rises to +7.]

Four consecutive notifications reached Gusion's ears, bringing a smile back to his face. Enhancing equipment was truly thrilling, making his heart feel like it was on a roller coaster.

[Enhancement failed. Mazuko's enhancement level drops to +6.]

Just as he got happy, he heard the bad news again—the level dropped back to +6. But Gusion didn't stop; this was just his starting point. He was aiming for the +8 special effect.

[Enhancement successful. Mazuko's enhancement level rises to +7.]

[Enhancement successful. Mazuko's enhancement level rises to +8. Congratulations, Pioneer. Mazuko has awakened a new enhancement special effect!]

Gusion listened to End's announcement, which sounded like a cheap mobile game, but he didn't bother complaining. He quickly called a stop, halting further enhancements, afraid another failure would drop it back.

This round of enhancements cost him a total of 34,000 End Coins, which wasn't unacceptable. Overall, he felt his luck was decent—getting the +8 special effect for just a few tens of thousands of End Coins was well worth it.

Gusion took out the Mazuko and checked the effects after enhancing his Epic-grade main weapon.

[Mazuko]

Origin: Death God

Rarity: Legendary

Main Weapon: Sword Type

Durability: 400/400

Sharpness: 69 (+16) (Enhancement +8)

Toughness: 68 (+15) (Enhancement +8)

Usage Requirements: Limited to Pioneer 008.

Details: A Zanpakuto forged by injecting a soul into Asauchi by Pioneer 008. Automatically bound. This equipment cannot be sold or traded; other users cannot activate this weapon.

Enhancement +8 Trait: Harvest

Trait Effect: When the Pioneer uses Mazuko to attack enemies with Life Source below 40% of their maximum, 50% of the damage dealt will be converted to true damage. If the enemy's Life Source is below 10%, it will trigger the Harvest instant death effect, clearing all remaining enemy Life Source.

Weapon Skill 1 (Passive): Soul Nourishment

Skill Description: After the explorer kills an enemy with Mazuko, it will devour a large amount of the enemy's soul power to nourish Mazuko, thereby increasing growth progress. The Pioneer can also feed Mazuko with their own soul, gaining extremely high growth progress and possibly breaking certain limits (Warning: This method is extremely dangerous).

Current Growth Progress: 17.1%

Weapon Skill 2 (Active): Shikai

Skill Description: Upon releasing Shikai, it will continuously consume the explorer's Soul Source. It manifests the Mazuko's form. In Shikai state, the explorer's all combat attributes temporarily +5 points, and neural reflex speed is greatly enhanced. Simultaneously, Mazuko's sharpness and toughness increase by 8 points.

Shikai Skill (Passive): Demonic Aura

When Mazuko damages an enemy, it attaches an erosion effect. Enemies with the erosion effect have natural recovery speed reduced by 90%, healing effects reduced by 50%, and lose 40% of the maximum damage from this attack as erosion damage per second. Erosion effect lasts 10s, and erosion effects on the same wound can stack.

Shikai Skill (Passive): Drink Demon

When Mazuko damages an enemy, it absorbs 15% of the damage value as Soul Source. This Soul Source will be supplemented to the Pioneer with some loss. When the Pioneer's Soul Source is full, overflowing Soul Source will be converted proportionally into magic damage attached to this attack.

Rating: 700+

Evaluation: In your heart, a demon god is imprisoned.

[]

You get what you pay for. When Mazuko was at Legendary quality, Gusion had enhanced it to +8, and back then it had a trait called Brute, similar to Harvest but clearly weaker.

After all, Harvest not only added true damage to low-health enemies but also had a powerful execution effect. In the endgame, triggering this would directly secure his victory.

Advancing Mazuko from Legendary to Epic grade, besides the base attribute boosts after Shikai, the temporary neural reflex speed enhancement was also greatly improved. This was one reason Gusion fought more smoothly in Lightning Release Chakra Mode later on.

The base sharpness and toughness boosts after Shikai could elevate Mazuko, whose base stats as a main weapon weren't overpowered, to the top tier. In the previous battle with Lonely Noise, his Mazuko definitely wasn't as heavy as Lonely Noise's greatsword, but in actual clashes, both sides' toughness was equally durable, and they didn't break despite furious exchanges.

The Demonic Aura skill was as violent as ever. After boosting base damage, any enemy he cut would suffer continuous damage over ten seconds that was even higher than the initial strike—fully 400% continuous damage.

The Drink Demon skill had a significant change: Previously, overflowing Soul Source would dissipate, but now it could be converted to magic damage, a form of indirect buff. From this change, Gusion saw the future potential of this skill.

Perhaps one day, when Mazuko becomes stronger or he can perform Bankai, the overflowing Soul Source from Drink Demon could be converted to true damage.

Gusion was very satisfied with the Epic-grade +8 Mazuko. He glanced at the success rate for further enhancements and gave up on gambling.

Don't be fooled—he only spent a few tens of thousands of End Coins to get Mazuko to +8 because it started at +6, and even then it was a bumpy ride. If he continued, he might lose everything.

Gusion put away Mazuko and took out the Dark Gold-grade Spirit Devourer. He still had plenty of funds and wanted to enhance Spirit Devourer to +8 as well.

Chapter 297: The Castration Kick

"If only I could enhance back in my room..."

Gusion looked at his drastically shrunken wallet, on the verge of tears.

The process of enhancing Mazuko had been relatively smooth, but enhancing Spirit Devourer involved a lot of ups and downs. Plus, single enhancements for Dark Gold-grade equipment were more expensive, so he spent 200,000 End Coins to finally complete it.

That was enough to buy a decent Epic-grade defensive piece!

Gusion truly felt his blood pressure rising during the process, but fortunately, he succeeded in getting Spirit Devourer to +8 in the end, and the effects were gratifying.

The Spirit Devourer ring, upgraded to Dark Gold quality with +8 enhancement, was truly terrifying.

[Spirit Devourer]

Origin: End Space

Quality: Dark Gold

Equipment Type: Accessory

Durability: 700/700

Enhancement Level: +8

Usage Requirements: Exclusive to Pioneer 008

Details: A ring custom-made for Pioneer 008 by Supporter █████ using Thunder Spirit Gold and Void Transparent Stone as main materials. It has excellent growth potential.

Enhancement Trait: Moderation - This equipment's active skill consumption is reduced by 25%, and usage effects are increased by 25%.

Equipment Skill 1: Spirit Devour (Passive)

Skill Effect: Spirit Devourer can devour high-quality spiritual energy for growth, including but not limited to natural energy, dark matter energy, etc. Upon first devouring a new energy, it gains significant growth progress. Subsequent devours under the same energy concentration will gradually reduce growth effects.

Current Growth Progress: 3.12%

Equipment Skill 2: Spirituality (Passive)

Skill Effect: Upon wearing Spirit Devourer, the Pioneer's spell resistance is greatly enhanced, and neural reflex speed is increased by 100%.

Equipment Skill 3: Spiritual Energy Surge (Passive/Active)

Skill Effect: Upon wearing Spirit Devourer, when the Pioneer attacks, it deals additional true damage equal to 10% of their Soul Source maximum. Actively activating this skill consumes 10% of the Pioneer's Soul Source per second, and attacks deal additional true damage equal to 30% of their Soul Source maximum.

[Prompt: This skill can trigger up to 4 times per second currently.]

Equipment Rating: 1000+

Evaluation: When my mana bar is long enough, I can one-shot anyone.

[]

The strength of Dark Gold-grade Spirit Devourer could only be described as heaven-defying.

Gusion had seen the potential of this equipment early on. At Purple quality, its effects seemed a bit underwhelming, but as levels rose, the true damage effect started to feel overpowered.

Especially since the active skill's consumption didn't increase with the damage boost, its cost-effectiveness was much higher than initially.

10% Soul Source for 10% damage felt average to Gusion, but for 30% true damage, it was very worthwhile—especially with his high mental attributes and the Soul Drink ring further increasing his Soul Source maximum. One slash would deal extremely violent damage.

Moreover, Spiritual Energy Surge's trigger limit per second went from 2 to 4 times, combined with the boosted damage values, achieving a qualitative change.

Simply put, when facing an opponent whose Life Source maximum was similar to his Soul Source maximum, activating Spiritual Energy Surge would allow Gusion to trigger this passive effect four times per second against the enemy.

As long as the opponent had no heaven-defying instant recovery skills, the result would be a true damage settlement of 120% of his Soul Source maximum—achieving a 'one-shot' kill.

This didn't even account for the enhancement trait. Including the 25% effect boost, each trigger would be 37.5% of Soul Source maximum true damage. Then, just three triggers would exceed 100% of Soul Source maximum, killing the opponent in less than a second.

So, just from the Spirit Devourer ring, Gusion felt tempted to specialize in mental attributes. But reason and personal preferences led him to stick with a balanced improvement path.

Having completed the enhancements for both growth equipments, Gusion put away his beloved bed and strode out of the Enhancement Hall with his head held high amid the astonished gazes of other explorers.

Today's tasks were done, and the overall gains were satisfactory. Though Spirit Devourer cost him a lot, the improvements were massive.

Gusion wouldn't nitpick if the money was worth it—as long as it pushed him further ahead, he could earn it back in the next world.

…

Nearly three weeks had passed since he returned to the space, and today was the day to pick up his order from the sailor uniform girl.

With light steps, he headed to the commercial street on the lower level. Soon, Gusion arrived familiarly at the shop door.

"You're right on time."

The sailor uniform girl stopped her work, tidied up the miniaturized bed on the shelf, and led Gusion inside.

"Here, this is your order. The leg guards are okay, but I'm pretty satisfied with the necklace."

The sailor uniform girl said with a smile, lifting the dust cover to reveal her creations.

Gusion stepped forward and examined the two pieces on the table. First was the necklace with a dark red, almost black chain. The pendant was a scarlet skull, giving off an ominous and eerie vibe.

[Death God's Sigh]

Origin: End Space

Quality: Epic

Equipment Type: Accessory

Durability: 400/400

Usage Requirements: 75 Mental Attributes

Details: A pendant made by Supporter █████ using Inferno Death God's skull and Undead Blood Gold as main materials. Due to material factors, the wearer's Charisma is locked at -1.

Equipment Skill 1: Death God's Majesty (Passive)

Skill Effect: Upon wearing 'Death God's Sigh,' the Pioneer gains the Death God's Majesty effect. When using skills with intimidation properties, if intimidation judgment is required, default judgment advantage +5 points, and intimidation effect increased by 50%.

Equipment Skill 2: Death Critical (Passive)

Skill Effect: When the Pioneer attacks while wearing 'Death God's Sigh,' there is a 15% chance to trigger Death Critical effect. This damage overall gains 100% boost, retaining all damage characteristics (including true damage).

Equipment Skill 3: Death God's Sigh (Active)

Skill Effect: Consume a large amount of Soul Source to activate this skill. The Pioneer's next attack, upon hitting the enemy, will guaranteed trigger Death Critical, and this Death Critical's effect is boosted to 200%.

Cooldown: 5 minutes

Equipment Rating: 700+

Evaluation: Death God, come collect souls.

[]

Gusion was very satisfied after reading the equipment details. He had discussed the specific customization with the sailor uniform girl. His current gear had defense and steady output, but lacked extreme burst in specific situations.

Thus, Death God's Sigh was born to meet his needs. Since he had reported his updated attributes to her, she maximized the materials this time, not aiming for low-attribute explorers but pushing performance to the limit.

He definitely couldn't have worn this necklace before the last world, but now it fit perfectly. Death God's Sigh, combined with his true damage, physical damage, and magic damage, made Gusion feel that in a critical moment, one slash—plus Mazuko's enhancement trait—would deal damage that was exhilarating just to think about.

The passive effects were also useful in normal fights; 15% chance wasn't low, and with his high attack frequency, it wasn't hard to trigger in battle.

If there was one flaw, it was the -1 Charisma upon wearing, but Gusion's base Charisma wasn't high anyway—he didn't rely on it for mission worlds, so it didn't matter.

Drop it if it drops; it doesn't affect his looks. Gusion didn't care.

After checking Death God's Sigh, Gusion shifted his attention to the other piece—a pair of black leg guards with a metallic texture.

[Black Gold Leg Guards]

Origin: End Space

Quality: Epic

Equipment Type: Leg Guards

Toughness: 70

Durability: 400/400

Usage Requirements: 75 Constitution Attributes

Details: Leg guards made by Supporter █████ using Haku Black Gold and Earth Dragon Root as main materials. Possesses superior physical defense and decent spell defense.

Equipment Skill 1: Brute Force (Passive)

Skill Effect: Upon wearing Black Gold Leg Guards, the Pioneer's leg strength is enhanced. All combat areas benefiting from leg exertion are comprehensively boosted by 30%, including but not limited to movement speed and kick power.

Equipment Skill 2: Black Wall (Passive)

Skill Effect: Black Gold Leg Guards have excellent physical defense. When the Pioneer defends with the guarded parts, it reduces 80% of physical damage and reflects some force back to the enemy, causing damage.

Equipment Skill 3: Castration Kick (Active) [TL: Literal translation of "断子绝孙腿," which implies a devastating kick to reproductive organs.]

Skill Effect: Actively activate this skill. The Pioneer's next kick will lock onto and guide toward the target's reproductive organs. During the attack, the leg is in a special force field, phasing through enemy attacks to ensure leg safety and guaranteeing a hit.

Castration Kick will guaranteed critical, dealing 200% damage and inflicting 10x pain feedback on the enemy.

Rating: 700+

Evaluation: It seems the Earth Dragon's grudge runs deep.

[]

Gusion's mouth twitched after reading the equipment details. He felt something off about the art style with this skill mixed in—it wasn't part of his original special requests.

"Don't look at me like that. I didn't want this either, but there was a small issue with the materials, and it ended up like this."

The sailor uniform girl said helplessly. "I'm personally not interested in low blows."

"No need to explain; I'm still satisfied."

Gusion put away the equipment, ready to complete the contract.

Although Black Gold Leg Guards had a weird skill mixed in, it met the basic requirements. He had originally just wanted a strong defensive piece for another body part, and Black Gold Leg Guards fulfilled that.

Moreover, the Brute Force effect boosted his movement speed and occasional combat kicks, which was a nice bonus.

As for Castration Kick, though Gusion found it hilariously ridiculous at first glance, its practical power couldn't be underestimated.

A guaranteed hit kick that ignores enemy attacks and defenses, targeting that area with 10x pain—used well, it could turn the tide of battle.

Seeing Gusion pack up and prepare to leave, the sailor uniform girl thought for a moment and called out to him. "Looking forward to your next visit."

Gusion paused. "Next time might just be to buy furniture."

"Not necessarily. My crafting skills are improving too. Dark Gold-grade equipment? Don't underestimate me!"

The sailor uniform girl's inexplicable competitive spirit was ignited. She had originally aspired to craft the ultimate bed, but she wasn't indifferent to her equipment-crafting skills either. She didn't want to be looked down on by this regular customer.

"Is that so? Then I'll look forward to it."

Gusion said with a smile, then left the commercial street.

With all his equipment upgraded and in place, he planned to use his remaining money to buy a high-grade recovery item for emergencies.

If there were any End Coins left over, he'd spend them in the training ground, continuing to hone his memories and grind with shadow clones.

...

In the Heaven's Will Space, within the urban commercial street.

A man wearing a blue wool sweater and brown casual pants, topped with a peculiar black top hat, entered the tavern.

He sat at the reserved spot, removed his hat, and spun it on his finger, leisurely waiting for something.

The man was clearly a regular; without him saying a word, the bartender approached, began mixing a drink, and soon served a specially tuned cocktail. The whole process was silent.

The man picked up the glass, took a light sip, narrowed his eyes slightly, and stopped spinning the hat in his hand. "I don't like people standing behind me—you know that."

"Haha, you're still so good at enjoying yourself."

A female voice sounded from behind him. The newcomer twirled, her dark green skirt flaring out in a spin, and the girl-like explorer landed across from the man.

"Cut the small talk. Is your intel accurate? I need final confirmation."

The man set down his glass, looking at the quirky woman before him. Her explorer nickname was 'Blood Rain,' a famous intelligence broker among low-tier explorers in the Heaven's Will Space.

God knows how she gathered her intel, but whether it was about the Heaven's Will Space itself or recent world contention battles involving it, she knew it all.

Not only that, but for select high-end clients, she also provided intel on 'seed players' from other spaces.

Things were always competitive among special individuals. When top talents from different spaces met, they always wanted to settle scores, seize everything from the other, and strengthen themselves.

"I can't guarantee that. Who dares claim to read minds? Besides, the End Space's schedule might not align with ours. My intel has some lag. Currently, it seems he might not even qualify."

Blood Rain waved to the bartender, ordered a cappuccino, and lightly tapped the heart-shaped pattern on top with her spoon. "But I didn't charge you much for this intel; you can't demand too much."

The man raised an eyebrow. "He'll qualify. As long as End Space deploys explorers, I believe he'll be among them."

"Haha, Soul Singer, you're really determined, aren't you? Doesn't it feel a bit... um, what's the phrase? Right, lacking martial virtue!"

Blood Rain said with a laugh, her tone teasing.

"Lacking martial virtue?"

Soul Singer swirled his glass. "Surviving in the space is like rowing against the current. Since I've seized the initiative, naturally I'll hunt what's mine. He can only blame himself for growing too slowly."