Chapter 226: An Upgrade in the Upgrade Technique! (Third)

“Senior Bai, may I come in?” Came the voice. It was his next door neighbor, Si Kongxian.

Though surprised by his voice, Bai Yunfei spoke out, “Come in.”

As the door came open with a creaking sound, Bai Yunfei was able to see that it wasn’t just one person there; there were multiple people coming in!

Senior Song Lin, second senior Xiao Nanren, third senior Ling Yang, seniors Li Tiechui, Lian Lingmin, his juniors Tian Yuhang, Si Kongxian, Zhang Sanxian, Ye Zhiqiu, Mo Xiaoxuan, Xi Yan, Zhong Xuhao, Liu Mang....and even Tang Xinyun and Huangfu Rui were in attendance.

As the group of people swarmed into his room, Bai Yunfei found himself surrounded by them all.

“Junior Bai, how’re you feeling?”

“Senior Bai, I heard that you blew up half the caves, you’re amazing...”

“Brother Bai, what were the headmaster and the other elders talking to you about? They’re not punishing you, are they?”

“Yunfei, what happened to you that day?”

“Brother strawhat, you’re finally up! You’re even lazier than Xiao Rourou if you slept for two days! You made sis Yun worry about you the entire two days; she didn’t even have time to play with me....”

“Xiao Rui, wh—what are you saying, I....”

“......”

......

The way how everyone spoke over one another gave Bai Yunfei such a headache that he felt extremely faint.

It was with great difficulty that Bai Yunfei managed to discern that everyone knew he had been awake for some time. But with the headmaster and the other elders there, there was no way they’d barge to interrupt them. So they had to wait in Si Kongxian’s room until they left.

And so; Bai Yunfei answered to each person one by one before the room devolved again into a noisy place.

It took an entire hour before Song Lin was the first to say that Bai Yunfei needed some rest. With his announcement, everyone else decided to leave the room.

As Bai Yunfei watched the group walk out and away, he had a small smile on his lips.

Having such concerned friends like these had made Bai Yunfei feel very happy.

Shutting the doors closed in thought, Bai Yunfei headed straight for the underneath basement rather than his bed.

......

Illuminated by the light stones there, Bai Yunfei sat down on the ground and breathed in and out in relaxation. One after another, he started to think about each thing that happened to him today.

The first and most important thing was his current strength.

Upon further investigation, he could tell that the amount of elemental fire and soulforce in his body was many times stronger than before. At a wave of his hand, a flurry of red light sparked into sight as a wave of fire materialized into the room!

Gesturing with the same hand, the ocean of fire moved swiftly to form a giant vortex instead. Spinning rapidly around the room, it shrunk down into the center to form a brilliant fireball that floated over the top of his palm.

The corners of Bai Yunfei’s lips curled upwards as he observed the fireball he was controlling. Clenching his fist tightly, he scattered the fireball into every direction outwards. With its concentrated form broken, the flames were forced to flow away from its original spot in huge droves.

“Is this the Soul Ancestor realm? I feel far stronger than before.....I can even control the elemental fire on a far better level now.

𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

“It’s as if Soul Sprites could only ‘borrow’ the usage of the elemental fire in the world and Soul Ancestors can ‘use’ it. This....this is a new world of understanding.

“The intensity of the flames is stronger too....I don’t know how strong, but using the Eighty One Fold Fist Force from the Overlapping Waves Art should be easy to do now....”

Now was the day that Bai Yunfei finally realized the true extent to how terrifying of a soul skill the Overlapping Wave Arts was. The physical-type soul skill given to him by Ge Yiyun that showed its strongest at the realm of the Soul Ancestors. The aftermath of the blows was inconceivable to think about.

But this still required experimentation to fully understand everything.

Shaking his head, Bai Yunfei muttered to himself, “Well, let’s see the Upgrade Technique then....”

When he turned his right hand over, the newly-made lifebound armament that was the brick appeared in it. A flash of suspicion gleamed over his eyes first before shock replaced it.

And then joy.

"The Upgrade Technique was....’improved’!!”

Concentrating onto the brick even more now, Bai Yunfei looked at the notification that popped up.

Unique Equipment

Equipment Grade: Normal (Regular Mode)

Elemental Affinity: Earth

Upgrade Level: +13

Attack: 9

Additional Attack: 132

Soul Compatibility: 100%

+10 Additional Effect: When attacking, there is a 5% chance to inflict confusion for a maximum of 3 seconds.

(If attacking the head, increase this chance to 10%.)

Cooldown of 10 seconds.

+12 Additional Effect: When attacking, there is a 10% chance to stun the target for a maximum of 5 seconds.

(If attacking the head, increase this chance to 20%.) Cooldown of 15 seconds.

+13 Additional Effect: When attacking, there is a 50% chance to hurl the target.

Cooldown of 3 seconds.

Upgrade Requirement: 105 Soulpoints

Equipment Grade: Mid Earth (Special Mode)

Elemental Affinity: Fire, Wind

Upgrade Level: +13

Attack: 988

Additional Attack: 4430

Soul Compatibility: 100%

+10 Additional Effect: When attacking, there is a 10% chance to activate ‘Constricting Flames’ and inflict a 10% 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: In exchange for soulforce, expand the weapon up to ten thousand times its size. The attack will remain the same but can be controlled up to eight thousand meters away from the user.

Upgrade Requirement: 105 Soulpoints

......

It took a while for Bai Yunfei to fully digest the extent of the two notifications in front of him.

Bai Yunfei had found out about the brick back when the elders had been there. But what Kou Changkong and the others couldn’t possibly know was that the stats of the brick was far more astounding than at first glance. But there was no way Bai Yunfei would tell them about that.

Not caring to think any more about the brick, Bai Yunfei moved on onto the Flameblade Bracer on his right arm and inspected the stats.

Equipment Grade: Low Earth

Elemental Affinity: Fire

Upgrade Level: +12

Defense: 753

Additional Defense: 706

Soul Compatibility: 60%

+10 Additional Effect: When blocking, there is a 9% chance of absorbing and converting the attack power for the next strike.

(This converted power can be held for a maxium of 3 seconds and cannot exceed the total amount of defense of the equipment.)

Cooldown of 30 seconds.

+12 Additional Effect: By using soulpoints, summon a flaming winged dagger. While in use, it will consume soulpoints. The power is determined by the number of soulpoints used.

Upgrade Requirement: 97 Soulpoints

Narrowing his eyes, Bai Yunfei moved onto the Fire-tipped Spear

Equipment Grade: High Earth

Elemental Affinity: Fire

Upgrade Level: +12

A

ttack: 1380

Additional Attack: 1300

Soul Compatibility: 66%

+10 Additional Effect: When thrusting, there is a 20% chance of causing an explosion. The strength of the explosion will be 150% of the weapon’s attack.

Cooldown of 20 seconds.

+12 Additional Effect: Create two doppelgangers with strength equivalent to 50% of the caster’s total strength at the time of casting for a duration of 3 seconds.

Cooldown of 1 hour.

Upgrade Requirement: 110 Soulpoints

Again silent, Bai Yunfei took out the Glacial Pricker.

Equipment Grade: Low Human

Elemental Affinity: Ice

Attack: 237 Additional Attack: 128

Soul Compatibility: 13%

+10 Additional Effect: When thrown, the speed and attack are increased. The multiplier in which it is increased by is determined by the amount of soulforce.

(Cannot exceed three times the normal amount.)

Upgrade Requirement: 63 Soulpoints

......

The several armaments he took out was enough for Bai Yunfei to fall silent in thought.

“There’s a few notifications with some small changes, like their grades. Becoming a Soul Ancestor made the additional effects have more details as well if there’s a ‘cooldown time’ now....”

Bai Yunfei muttered.

“Elemental affinities are easy enough to explain; the degree of soul compatibility is too. Both the Fire-tipped Spear and the Flameblade Bracer are above the 50% degree, and the ‘lifebound armament’ brick is at 100%. That falls in line with what master was talking about soul compatibility earlier.

How strange...why do I feel as if these notifications are...becoming more in line with the rules of this world?”

From the very beginning, the Upgrade Technique had always a few set of details that gave off a disharmonious feeling in comparison to the world he lived in.

It was different now though. Was the Upgrade Technique ‘integrating’ itself with the rules of the world??

Unbeknownst to him, what happened that very night had brought the Upgrade Technique into an unprecedented level of madness. Once more, the planar laws of the world had appeared and fused again with the Upgrade Technique!

The Upgrade Technique had its own set of rules from the world it came from. When it fused with the planar laws of this world the first time, there were some discrepancies between the two worlds. And when they fused a second time, the two systems were ‘combined’ and conformed into a more fitting system. After the adjustments, the Upgrade Technique was now far more fitting in this new world.

Author Note: In truth, I, Yun Hai, decided to make use of this upgrade of the Upgrade Technique to fix a few consistencies. The original ranks for the soul armaments were subject to annoyance from a few of the readers, so I decided to get rid of this issue by unifying the two systems. The previous ranking system such as inheritance and regalia will thus be used for something else in the future.

“I didn’t think I’d have a 13% compatibility with the Glacial Pricker already. Was it because I upgraded it before?

“But what’s even more strange is that the brick has two modes. Is it because it’s a lifebound armament? Did it mutate sometime in that night?”

Even after thinking for a while, Bai Yunfei had no answers, so he stored the soul armaments away. He wanted to try out the strange properties of the brick, but now wasn’t the right time for that.

“In any case, there’s nothing wrong with the Upgrade Technique being upgraded. But...is that really it? An upgrade like this is....how do I say it....”

Bai Yunfei struggled to think for a moment before a realization hit him.

“Oh! Hold on....”