454: Chapter 453 A Deadly Blade

Chu Xuan ran for over ten minutes, leaping over several hilltops before arriving at a secluded stream in the mountains.

He sat on a large rock, preparing to synthesize an Exclusive Skill first.

Opening his personal attribute panel, his gaze fell on the regular skill column, preparing to break the limits of all necessary skills to MAX+1.

[Mixed Martial Arts LV.MAX (Perfect), Firearms Shooting LV.MAX (Perfect), Basic Saber Techniques LV.MAX+1 (Peak Mastery), Tongue Blooming Lotus LV.2 (Practiced), Kato Takas Hand LV.3 (Proficient)]

This time, Chu Xuan prepared to synthesize Basic Saber Techniques.

As for the other regular skill to be used for synthesis, Chu Xuan first ruled out "Tongue Blooming Lotus" and "Kato Takas Hand."

Even though he had plenty of spirituality value now, he wasn't prepared to waste resources on these two skills.

After a brief thought, Chu Xuan chose "Mixed Martial Arts."

However, before that, he still needed to break the limit of Mixed Martial Arts by 1 more level to match the Rank of "Basic Saber Techniques."

Fortunately, there were quite a few "jiyue crystals" left, a total of 15.

He spent spirituality value to exchange for skill points and immediately began the upgrade.

[You used 1 jiyue crystal and 16 skill points; your Mixed Martial Arts skill Rank has increased to LV.MAX+1 (Peak Mastery)]

Chu Xuan didn't feel much from the upgrade of the Mixed Martial Arts skill; having the max-level Exclusive Skill "Hundred Weapons One Heart," the scope of Mixed Martial Arts was clearly somewhat narrow.

After a brief contemplation, Chu Xuan simply decided to raise Firearms Shooting by one level as well.

[You used 1 jiyue crystal and 16 skill points; your Firearms Shooting skill Rank has increased to LV.MAX+1 (Peak Mastery)]

Then, a light flashed in Chu Xuan's hand, and an orange-yellow stone appeared—it was none other than an "exclusive skill synthesis crystal."

—Fuse Basic Saber Techniques and Mixed Martial Arts.

[Synthesis beginning! 1%... 50%... 99%... 100%]

[You have synthesized the regular skills "Basic Saber Techniques" and "Mixed Martial Arts." You may choose from the following Exclusive Skills:]

1. Death-Dealing Blade LV.1: When the target's health points are at 5% or below, every one of your strikes will become a sure-kill blade, ignoring defense and forcing an execution.

(Note: No restrictions, no cooldown.)

2. Drawing Slash LV.1: Charge power to draw the saber, concentrating the body's full strength into a heavy strike. For every 1 second of charging, power increases by 15%; can be charged for up to 5 seconds.

(Note: Ignores stamina and strength limits.)]

Chu Xuan couldn't help but suck in a cold breath.

Both of these skills were extremely powerful and practically tailor-made for him. Even at Level 1, they were not to be underestimated and were completely on par with [All-Cutting Slash].

If All-Cutting Slash was for long-range damage, then these two skills, regardless of which one he chose, would greatly enhance his close-combat capabilities.

Furthermore, these two skills had an advantage that [All-Cutting Slash] lacked: they didn't require the consumption of spirituality value, which made Chu Xuan even more tempted.

Without much deliberation, Chu Xuan chose [Death-Dealing Blade].

[Drawing Slash] was certainly powerful, but Chu Xuan preferred winning through speed, and [All-Cutting Slash] could also be charged to stack and enhance its power.

In contrast, [Death-Dealing Blade] was clearly a passive skill!

Especially against those skills that increased combat power as health points dropped, having the passive of [Death-Dealing Blade] would provide a massive counter.

[You have selected the Exclusive Skill: Death-Dealing Blade]

Chu Xuan took a deep breath to calm the waves in his heart, then took out all 85 soul crystals.

Five of these were left over from before, 30 were Xuan Xuan's life-buying money, and the final 50 were exchanged by consuming 250 contribution points.

As so many soul crystals appeared, they instantly shimmered with light, radiating brilliant colors that reflected off the nearby riverbank.

[Fire of Nirvana] was already Level 5, and the System prompted that it could not be upgraded for the time being.

As for [All-Cutting Slash], its Rank had already reached LV.3. Promoting it to the next Rank, LV.4, required 30 soul crystals and 40 skill points.

Through the System's Q&A function, Chu Xuan discovered that raising an Exclusive Skill from LV.4 to LV.5 required 100 soul crystals.

The demand for soul crystals increased significantly with every level an Exclusive Skill gained.

Thus, Chu Xuan directly made the allocation, raising both [All-Cutting Slash] and [Death-Dealing Blade] to LV.4.

[Your Exclusive Skill "All-Cutting Slash" has been raised to LV.4]

[All-Cutting Slash LV.4: By consuming spirituality value, you can condense up to 100 Slashes within your body and release them against enemies at any time.

Each condensation requires 10-40 points of spirituality value; the more spirituality value consumed, the stronger the power of the condensed Slash.

Cooldown: 2 seconds.

Note: When each of your Slashes is released, you can consume additional spirituality value to attach the Fire of Nirvana.]

...

Next, Chu Xuan spent 43 soul crystals and 70 skill points to break through 3 levels of [Death-Dealing Blade] in succession, raising it directly from LV.1 to LV.4.

[Your Exclusive Skill "Death-Dealing Blade" has been raised to LV.4]

[Death-Dealing Blade LV.4: When the target's health points are at 8% or below, every one of your strikes will become a sure-kill blade, ignoring defense and forcing an execution]

"Excellent! After All-Cutting Slash reaches Level 4, I can accumulate 100 Slashes in my body, and the cooldown has dropped from 3 seconds to 2 seconds; this can be used as a trump card. There's also Death-Dealing Blade, which has gone from a 5% execution threshold to 8%..."

The upgrade of just these two Exclusive Skills alone had increased Chu Xuan's strength by quite a bit.

"Continue! Next up are [Teleportation] and [Clone]..."

Chu Xuan didn't stop, taking out the [Transcendent Skill Synthesis Scroll], and then continued to exchange for 80 skill points to raise the level of Teleportation.

[Your Transcendent Skill "Teleportation" has been raised to LV.MAX.]

[Teleportation LV.MAX: You can perform short-distance movement of no more than 100 meters within your field of vision. Cooldown: 2 seconds.]

...

(Chapter errors and omissions have been corrected)