The awakening came when the stats of his newly-upgraded equipment appeared in his mind. Snapping awake from his stupor, Bai Yunfei was plucked from the realm he had been in.

“Phew...”

He let out a long breath as he wiped the sweat off his head. It had only been a simple motion, but somehow Bai Yunfei was able to renew the sensations he was feeling during upgrading. However, the attempt left him completely powerless. It felt like his entire body was without energy.

The second upgrading attempt was far shorter than the first, but it wore him out even more than when he reforged the Cataclysmic Seal. He was shocked to see that most of his soulforce was already gone.

And so he decided to just sit there. Putting the Dualflame Cauldron away, Bai Yunfei activated one of his techniques to better recover his soulforce and waited.

The drain on his reserves wasn’t so much that it’d be a problem to his regular motor skills, so Bai Yunfei took the moment to stare at the pendant in his hand as he waited.

Despite his fatigue, Bai Yunfei was happy. The bounty from this moment had been a big one...

“Ah, the Cataclysmic Seal!!”

Bringing the Cataclysmic Seal back out, Bai Yunfei watched as it flashed to life right above his right hand.

Elemental Affinity: Fire, Earth

Upgrade Level: +14

Attack: 5000

Additional Attack: 25000

Soul Compatibility: 100%

Equipment Effect: 5% Chance to inflict Confusion for 3 seconds (10% Chance if the head is struck).

10% Chance to stun the target for 5 seconds (20% Chance if the head is struck).

50% Chance to hurl the target.

Effects cannot be stacked.

Cooldown of 5 seconds.

+10 Additional Effect: When attacking, there is a 30% chance to activate ‘Constricting Flames’ and inflict a 30% decrease in mobility for a maximum of ten seconds.

Cooldown of 1 minute.

+12 Additional Effect: In exchange for soulforce, summon a shield made of elemental earth. The more soulforce used, the stronger the shield. The total defense of the shield cannot exceed the attack of the weapon.

(Ineffective against mind-based attacks).

+13 Additional Effect: Magnify the size of this equipment. Attack remains the same. Can be controlled remotely.

+14 Additional Effect: Upon collision with another weapon, there is a chance for this weapon to absorb it and gain one of the effects as a Hidden Effect. Time is required for the other weapon to be fully absorbed, but once absorbed, gain a permanent stat boost in attack proportionate to the other weapon’s attack.

Up to 3 Hidden Effects can be stored, with the earliest one being overwritten by default. Any Hidden Effect can be removed, but only one Hidden Effect can be in effect at any given time.

Cooldown of 1 hour before Hidden Effect can be swapped again.

If the weapon is higher in tier than the weapon it is trying to absorb, the chance of success is 50%

For each tier greater than this weapon, the rate of success drops by 15%.

Weapons tree tiers greater than this one cannot be absorbed.

The amount of attack absorbed is dependent on the weapon’s grade.

No other weapon can be absorbed until the previous one has been fully absorbed.

Hidden Effect: None

Upgrade Requirement: 300 Soulpoints

......

His entire person froze up the moment he saw the stats of the Cataclysmic Seal. For once in his life, he was entirely shocked...

“Thirty...thirty thousand attack!!”

It took several seconds before Bai Yunfei could become coherent. His voice quavered as he voiced the attack of the Cataclysmic Seal, but he found it hard to do so. Not only did the Cataclysmic Seal have an astounding amount of attack, but the +14 additional effect...

“Absorption...maybe the better way of saying this would be...Devourment?!”

Never could Bai Yunfei imagine that the Cataclysmic Seal would have such an obscenely powerful effect as this one. His mind raced back to Dongfang Ming’s demonic core and how it was capable of devouring the soul armaments of others. He had to wonder if there was any difference between the two, but he was sure that the demonic core didn’t have an effect as powerful as the Cataclysmic Seal’s +14 additional effect.

Not only could it destroy a soul armament, but it also took the soul armament into itself and took both its power and three additional effects. Each one of these points was mindboggling.

Furthermore, its wording showed that the Cataclysmic Seal had no limits for its growth. He didn’t know what the growth rate was in proportion to the soul armaments it could devour, but given time, the Cataclysmic Seal could have an attack that would be almost impossible to measure...

“.....”

Bai Yunfei pored over the +14 additional effect with increased interest. Suddenly, a strange pulse from within the Cataclysmic Seal caused him to snap out from his delusions.

“This is...”

He was confused for a moment on what that pulse was and began to investigate what it was on a more closer level.

“It’s...the spirit! A spirit of the armament!”

This was without a doubt a spirit of the armament!

His entire focus was now on the Cataclysmic Seal and the spirit inside of it. The pulses coming from the center of the soul armament was getting stronger and stronger, but more importantly, he could sense an intimate sensation from the Cataclysmic Seal! It was a feeling that seemed almost happy to see him!

Yes! This was without a doubt the feeling of a sentient being!

“Bzzz...”

As Bai Yunfei connected with the feeling, Bai Yunfei watched as a joyous vibration emerged from the Cataclysmic Seal. It rose out from the Cataclysmic Seal in the form of a red light before detaching from the soul armament as a small ball of red light the size of his finger...

Bai Yunfei grew even more excited at that. He whipped his head back to Heavenfire, “Heavenfire...” He began.

“Haha! You’ve done it, Yunfei! That is without a doubt the spirit of the Cataclysmic Seal. It’s a newborn soul, but this is without a doubt a new Regalia!!”

Heavenfire boomed with laughter at Bai Yunfei’s excitement. He nodded in satisfaction at what Bai Yunfei had managed to accomplish, but he himself was extremely moved. Right before his eyes was a newborn Regalia, who could possibly not remain unaffected?

“Regalia...the Cataclysmic Seal has truly become a Regalia? This is the Regalia I personally crafted...”

It went without saying that Bai Yunfei was beside himself with joy right now. The feelings he was experiencing were far too much for him to even describe to anyone else.

Heavenfire waited a moment for Bai Yunfei to recollect himself before he spoke, “The Cataclysmic Seal’s spirit is quite weak right now, it’s like a newborn baby. Its sentience will continue to grow from here on out, but you won’t need to worry about that. Core, Sealer, and Sentinel will be able to take care of it.”

A curious but expectant light entered his eyes then, “Now then, tell me. What new effect did the Cataclysmic Seal gain when it was upgraded?”

“An absorption effect, it can...”

“......”

Heavenfire was just as astounded as Bai Yunfei was when he first found out about the effect. “That is...that is far too powerful of an effect!!” He cried out when he finally found the words to speak.

“The Cataclysmic Seal is a Mid-heaven tier soul armament and cannot absorb soul armaments three tiers higher than it. Would that not mean to say...it has a 5% chance to absorb a Mid-Divine tier soul armament?! That is...”

Suddenly, Heavenfire looked fearful.

“Not 5%, but 10%. I have an additional effect that can double the success rate of any effect. So, the Cataclysmic Seal has a 100% chance to absorb any soul armament of the same grade or lower, a 70% chance for a high-heaven tier, a 40% chance for a low-divine tier, and a 10% chance to absorb a mid-divine tier.”

His focus was on the Fate Pendant when he talked about being able to double the success rate. It wasn’t just the Cataclysmic Seal that made him happy. His success with the Fate Pendant had been quite the lucky bounty as well.

Upgrading under the influence, so to speak, was not something Bai Yunfei was new at. Once before, Bai Yunfei was able to upgrade the Fate Pendant from 11 to 12 by soaking in the insights of upgrading. When he learned how to alter the outcome of upgrading with the Manual Upgrade Technique, was able to upgrade the Fate Pendant from 12 to 13.

The Nephrite Throne had only the ability to increase the rate of training by 200%, but the +13 additional effect of the Fate Pendant had the ability to increase it by 300%. This too, was an overly powerful effect. Combined with its innate 60%, Bai Yunfei was sure he’d be able to train at an absurd rate...

Putting the Fate Pendant back around his neck, Bai Yunfei waved his left hand to bring out a small shortsword.

Elemental Affinity: Fire, Metal

Upgrade Level: +11

Attack: 2200

Additional Attack: 1500

Soul Compatibility: 20%

Equipment Effect: 10% Increase in attack when attacking with a fire-type attack.

+10 Additional Effect: 10% Increase in attack.

Upgrade Requirement: 120 Soulpoints

It was an ordinary low-heaven tier soul armament, one that didn’t have a very powerful additional effect. In Bai Yunfei’s eyes, this was just another unordinary soul armament.

Floating the sword in front of him, Bai Yunfei struck it against the Cataclysmic Seal while simultaneously activating the +14 additional effect...