Chapter One: Comprehensive Enhancement

After resting for a while, Murong Xun's energy and physical condition returned to their peak, and only then did he begin to consider improving his other skills.

At present, he only had three skills in total. The passive Sword Heart Illumination was not something he could hope to improve in a short time; what mattered now were the other two skills.

Blade Arts and Demon-Sealing Absolute Shadow Slash—one was an active attack skill, the other a basic skill.

Moreover, both of these skills now required the consumption of World Essence to improve, just in different amounts.

However, when Murong Xun was preparing to improve the Demon-Sealing Absolute Shadow Slash skill, he was alerted that his current physical constitution was insufficient and he could not continue improving it.

Since he couldn't continue improving that one, he had no choice but to settle for the next best option and improve his Blade Arts instead.

At this point, his Blade Arts had already been raised to Proficiency Level 19. Previously, whenever branching options appeared, he had directly chosen to increase Blade Arts' attack power.

This time, he consumed a unit of World Essence and raised Blade Arts to Level 20, whereupon a change appeared once again.

The World Essence in Murong Xun's hand was consumed rapidly, and soon one unit dissolved into nothing, scattering into particles that merged into his body.

Murong Xun involuntarily closed his eyes, gazing at an illusory figure that appeared before him, his mind and spirit drawn along by its movements.

This figure was identical to Murong Xun himself in both height and build. It was practicing blade arts at the moment—chopping, cutting, parrying, horizontal slashing, upward flicking—a myriad of movements changing without pause, and the figure's motions grew faster and faster until his mind could no longer keep up with its actions.

Only then did the figure finally come to a stop. In his horrified gaze, it charged straight at him, and as it drew near, it suddenly burst apart into countless particles that merged into his body.

Murong Xun, who had been resting with his eyes closed in his private personal room, abruptly snapped his eyes open. At this moment, his gaze was extremely sharp, as if blades of light were shooting forth from his eyes.

He closed his eyes and slowly calmed his aura. When he opened them again, his gaze was utterly calm, and the improvement of his Blade Arts had been completed.

[Blade Arts Proficiency reached LV20, branch ability selectable!]

1. Increase melee attack power by 5%!

2. Increase slash damage by 5%!

3. Increase weapon proficiency by 10%!

4. Unlock Blade Qi Attack.

Blade Qi Attack: Consume a certain amount of energy to form blade qi that can leave the body to attack. Maximum effective range: two meters!

Without hesitation, Murong Xun directly chose the fourth effect. With blade qi in his arsenal, he now had a means of ranged attack.

And at this point, the attributes of the Blade Arts ability had also changed.

Blade Arts: Proficiency LV20 (Passive)

Effects: Increase melee attack power by 65%, blade-type weapon proficiency.

Beginner LV10: Melee attack power +10%

Proficiency LV10: Melee attack power +15%

Proficiency LV20: Blade Qi Attack!

After reaching Proficiency, each subsequent level increased melee attack power by 2%, and the previous branch selections were retained, so the damage increase at this point was already quite considerable.

Though a 2% increase might not seem like much, it would become terrifying once the level climbed higher.

Because different tiers had different amplification rates—at Beginner level, each level only gave 1%, but at Proficiency it reached 2%. Murong Xun guessed that at even higher tiers, the amplification would be even greater.

But when he wanted to continue improving, he was notified by the Demon Tower Paradise.

[Due to the player's level being too low, Blade Arts cannot be improved further. Please raise your level to LV10 first!]

Murong Xun's expression froze. He only had these few skills, and now not a single one of them could be improved. He had only spent sixty thousand of his Paradise Coins, and there were still so many left, so he could only improve himself through other means.

However, he now had World Essence on him, so as long as his level rose, improving would not be a problem.

He had obtained a total of fifty units of World Essence from this war world, and had only used one unit so far.

Having completed this leap in personal strength, although his attributes hadn't increased by much, Murong Xun knew that the current him was vastly more powerful than his former self.

And at this moment, Murong Xun began to prepare something.

He liked using the Tang saber—it was very comfortable in his hand—but after all, it was only a blue-quality weapon.

Now that he had obtained the higher-grade Shadow of Slaughter, which was also a growth weapon, he would inevitably have to switch blades. However, he didn't want to give up the Tang saber's skills either.

[Tang Saber: The pinnacle of weapon craftsmanship from a certain dynasty!]

[Equipment Quality: Blue Supreme]

[Equipment Skill 1: Disarm—during close-quarters combat, there is a chance to disarm the opponent!]

[Equipment Skill 2: Clean Cut—during battle, there is a chance to trigger this effect. Targets are not limited to weapons and equipment. Target level must not exceed the host's by more than five levels!]

The Tang saber was a blue supreme-grade weapon. Although it had no additional bonus attributes, both of its passive skills were extremely powerful. Most importantly, it suited him perfectly, so he could only fuse the two weapons together.

[Shadow of Slaughter: Bloom in death, sink into slaughter!]

[Quality: Rare Ordinary!]

[Passive: Slaughter Evolution—continuously evolves through slaughter. Current evolution value: 0/100!]

[Passive: Restful Return—after causing a kill, Restful Return increases by 1 point. At 100 points, the power of Restful Return can be used to form a protective shield or restore one's own condition.]

[Passive: Paralysis—attacks have a chance to inflict a paralysis state.]

[Passive: Petrification—attacks have a chance to inflict petrification!]

To be honest, the Shadow of Slaughter wasn't all that precious at this point, but its most important feature was the first passive's evolution function.

Moreover, the Restful Return ability could greatly enhance his survivability.

Without hesitation, Murong Xun directly took out the item he had purchased from the auction house.

[Inheritance Scroll: Own it and solve your troubles!]

[Quality: Rare]

[Effect: Can inherit the effects of equipment of different levels onto a single piece of equipment!]

The Inheritance Scroll was one of the best-selling items in the Demon Tower, and items of purple quality in particular were fiercely contested by many.

Many people owned numerous pieces of equipment, but as their levels and strength increased, their equipment would gradually fail to keep pace and need to be replaced. However, some low-level equipment possessed excellent skills or passives that people were reluctant to give up.

It was at times like this that the Inheritance Scroll appeared to solve the problem.

To compete for this item, Murong Xun had paid a sky-high price of one hundred thousand, reaching the ceiling for purple items, before finally securing it.

Placing the long and short blades together, he directly chose to use the Inheritance Scroll.

Because he had selected the Tang saber as the main body, the Shadow of Slaughter was the one shattered. After a period of time, wisps of dark red crystals began to drift out from above where the Shadow of Slaughter had been, flying toward the Tang saber.

The Tang saber began to absorb these crystals. The color of the blade deepened and darkened, as if a layer of cold light flashed across it, giving one a feeling of extreme sharpness.

Murong Xun could sense that although the Tang saber's appearance had not changed, with the difference in its luster, it was now far more magnificent than before.

When he checked the Tang saber at this point and saw its attributes, he truly didn't know what to say.

[Shadow of Slaughter: Bloom in death, sink into slaughter!]

[Quality: Rare Supreme]

[Attribute: Absolute Sharpness]

[Passive 1: Disarm—during close-quarters combat, there is a chance to disarm the opponent!]

[Passive 2: Clean Cut—during battle, there is a chance to trigger this effect. Targets are not limited to weapons and equipment. Target level must not exceed the host's by more than five levels!]

[Passive 3: Slaughter Evolution—continuously evolves through slaughter. Current evolution value: 0/100!]

[Passive 4: Restful Return—after causing a kill, Restful Return increases by 1 point. At 100 points, the power of Restful Return can be used to form a protective shield or restore one's own condition.]

[Passive 5: Paralysis—attacks have a chance to inflict a paralysis state.]

[Passive 6: Petrification—attacks have a chance to inflict petrification!]

(Absolute Sharpness: The weapon is exceptionally sharp, granting an armor-piercing effect.)

Not only had the effects of both weapons perfectly fused together, but an additional Absolute Sharpness effect had also appeared. A purple weapon possessing this many passives was truly astonishing.

At this moment, Murong Xun looked at the short blade lying to the side and saw that its edge had already fractured, and its hilt seemed to have been eroded by time, now tattered and decayed.

The moment Murong Xun's hand merely touched it, the entire blade turned directly into a cloud of dust.

But although he had obtained a powerful weapon and retained the Tang saber's appearance, he had suddenly squandered most of his Paradise Coins—and this was without even being able to improve his skills. Murong Xun couldn't help shaking his head. It really didn't go far!

Still, he had to use it now.

At this point, whether it was his equipment, personal attributes, or skills, all had improved enormously compared to the last time, and he was also experiencing a situation of insufficient control. Therefore, he very much needed to consolidate his current strength through battle.

Without hesitation, he directly took the city bus to the center of the Demon Tower and arrived at the entrance of the dueling grounds.

Ignoring the other functions, he directly chose the simulated combat feature and selected a low-level phantom once again.

Knowing that his strength had improved greatly, he wanted to find out by how much he now surpassed the low-level phantom.

[You have selected the Low-Level Phantom. Please choose a phantom.]

The middle-aged man from the previous battle appeared on the screen, along with the option of random summons.

Although the middle-aged man had taught him quite a bit last time, Murong Xun now needed to fight against different people to increase his combat experience, so he directly skipped over him and chose the random summon.

[You have initiated a random summon. Summoning... You have summoned a swordsman!]

Under Murong Xun's expectant gaze, a figure slowly materialized before him.

It was a young man in white robes, with long hair flowing in the wind and a sword strapped to his back. What a dashing young swordsman!

"So you're my challenger this time?"

The white-clad youth wore a haughty expression, chin raised slightly, with an air of looking down upon all the heroes of the world.

Seeing this, Murong Xun somehow felt a pang of discomfort.

Compared to the middle-aged blade master from last time, this fellow seemed like someone in the terminal stages of chuunibyou.