Chapter 783
Chapter 783 - 769: Upgraded Version
1,870 words
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10 min read
When a crack appeared on the blade, Lu Ping’an sighed helplessly.
That was followed by a sharp scream from a woman.
In the end, unable to endure the humiliation, it split into pieces...just like its two predecessors.
Bone fragments flew everywhere, but to everyone present, they were not a threat at all.
Yet a certain lady...Miss, on her knees, was picking up those "precious" fragments, her face filled with despair.
"No... I’m in the negative again after three consecutive explosions!" Xia Qin despaired, frantically rummaging with her hands on the ground, trying to find the fragments that have crumbled into powder.
Hearing her, Lu Ping’an sighed again helplessly. If you knew it would explode three times in a row, couldn’t you use better materials... Even without quality materials, you could lower your "enchantment" standard.
But no, you insist on starting from a 2-tier level. If you don’t explode, who else will?
Lu Ping’an glanced at the other "customers".
They backed away uniformly... They witnessed Xia Qin, who was still desperately trying to retrieve her sword in the void. It was a truly miserable scene.
Yet after everyone’s attempts, they knew that Xia Qin brought this on herself. After her three swords exploded consecutively, it all came down to her being too greedy.
The quality of the materials was too poor, yet her enchantment standard was so high. As a result, each explosion was more spectacular than the last. The labor and material cost was entirely wasted.
"... 171 points credited. Sister Xia Qin, you’re in the negative again, aren’t you? Hurry up. When we leave this world, the effect of the Vortex Stone (Fake God Bone) will greatly diminish. Don’t make do with those useless bones anymore. Get some high-grade materials, create more high-tier quasi-pollution weapons, and come find me again."
Lu Ping’an’s operation never lacked a source.
After all, he was infusing "Life" with the "Power of Life" to promote its evolution.
The quality of the material mattered greatly. Compared to the past, he could not only interfere with taboo items but also quasi-polluted ones.
But for lower-level ordinary items... even if they were weapons made of the same material, they were not recognized by the Life Bank as "life".
"Hurry up. Estimated quasi-polluted items will become disposable once you take them back. Only taboo items can retain core powers... But don’t be as greedy as Sister Xia."
Faced with Xia Qin who was still desperately trying to retrieve her sword, there was actually no sympathy from others.
This was her third sword... When she succeeded, she was overjoyed and smug. After depleting most of her resources, she had no intention of giving up, and continued to gamble by cobbling together points, resulting in a delightful triple explosion.
Indeed, Lu Ping’an had a certain chance of evolving a "quasi-polluted item" into a "taboo item". In this process of rebirth, he could grant it "professional" abilities and "abnormal abilities".
But at the end of the day, he was just a "tuner". Bringing good materials does not guarantee a successful transformation since the creation of "life" is full of randomness. But if you gamble with junk materials, you’re bound to get a spectacular explosion.
Simply providing these materials to professional craftsmen for "pollution" was actually expensive.
𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂
Xia Qin gritted her teeth to bring out 2-tier "moulds" for her previous attempts, but now all she had were 1-tier scraps.
This time, Lu Ping’an actually felt pretty good. If Xia Qin wasn’t in a rush and only asked for a zero-order or a first-tier "enchantment", she might have succeeded. But she insisted on starting from the 2-tier level....
"She’s too greedy. She deserves the triple explosion..."
"Stop talking about it. Just a couple days ago, she won a bet. That third-tier one... damn it, she turned a 2-tier base into a 3-tier one... haha, thinking back now, it was a spectacular explosion. Serves you right for showing off."
"But even with three consecutive explosions, she’s got two swords now..."
For Xia Qin’s advanced profession, she needed six different taboo weapons. Normally, this is extremely difficult.
Not only do you have to meet the profession’s requirement (taboo weapons are extremely rare and expensive), the features of these weapons should also enhance your combat strength after advancement.
This requires not only the quality of the weapon itself but also its "characteristics"... The power of six swords can feedback to the sword saint. The versatility and practicality of these abilities are even more critical than the tier level.
Lu Ping’an can understand Xia Qin’s dilemma. A fourth-tier professional indeed cannot appreciate a first-tier taboo weapon. She really didn’t want to give up the "cheap yet precious" Vortex Stone material at hand.
Here, the first-tier "mould (quasi-polluted weapon)" is less than a tenth of the price in the main earth world due to the abundance of high-quality Vortex Stone material. If she misses this opportunity, it will be even harder for her to advance when she returns.
As for Lu Ping’an, he didn’t care. In a way, he wished Xia Qin would come to him more often and explode more swords. So he could collect more handling and processing fees... These days, even landowners were running out of grain.
Everyone is racing against time to re-demonize their "Quasi-Pollution Weapons", attempting to transform them into real taboo items that can transcend the constraints of the world.
After all, to make an imperfect comparison, a quasi-pollution item is like a temporary but eventually fading magnet, while a taboo item is a permanently magnetized magnet which not only possesses everlasting magnetism (which keeps getting stronger), but also can create new temporary magnets.
An item with its own "magnetic field", naturally, can to some extent resist the modification of the outer major magnetic field (the world).
Transforming quasi-pollution items into taboo items completely, the only beings capable of mass production are the deities... and even they can’t achieve a 100% success rate.
However, Lu Ping’an can produce these items consistently. Although his success rate never exceeded 50%, his method was the least costly and he could even offer a certain degree of "tailor-made" service, which naturally caused a sensation among those who knew the secret.
"Continue, the cost of awakening a first-tier and ’enchanting’ is around a hundred, the second-tier costs around two hundred, and the third-tier four hundred. Don’t bring quasi-pollution items for higher tiers, bring taboo items directly. And brace yourselves, the success rate won’t exceed 20%."
After Lu Ping’an completed his promotion, Life Bank was as always "omnipotent", especially in terms of service in exchange for points.
Many people found this price rather painful.
For the real old stagers, the professional Decree practitioners, losing tens of millions of coins might not hurt, but the loss of one hundred to two hundred life-points is absolutely unbearable.
Currently, currency can’t be exchanged, but just the provision of basic services in the courtyard has turned life-points into a hard currency much more valuable than credit-coins and Eastern Country’s coins, and there’s no stable way to acquire it.
Regrettably, aside from regular contract transactions (both parties must keep the deal roughly equivalent), or providing contract services, life-points cannot be freely transferred.
Maybe, if you make a conversion, those old hands would seriously consider trading taboo items for a few hundred life-points.
What contributed to Lu Ping’an’s popularity even more was his "custom-made" approach.
The idea of a Runner gaining an additional "Awakener" trait, or a Gardener presenting a batch of domesticated animals, just the thought of it represents an earth-shattering power.
Of course, there are many practical problems playing like this. Most professionals actually aim for power and select the abilities they need the most.
Just like what Xia Qin did, tidying up the fragments and preparing to work harder with a craftsman to make a "Blood-Draining Blade Number Four" to try again.
Her blade can complement her ability and improve her stamina, something she’s desperately in need of right now. If she misses this opportunity, she might never know when she could get another taboo item with the desired property.
"...It broke, next one. Uh, carry it away."
Lu Ping’an heartlessly delivered another verdict, while kicking away the rolling.....Xue, are you completely out of luck in your heart? You’ve been defeated several times, how can you still dare to gamble here?
Today’s luck is terrible, several consecutive failures, but Lu Ping’an is actually doing well....uh, perhaps the previous days’ "trial operation" drained all of their materials and wealth. Now, all they’re gambling with is their "last hope".
In the end, the quality of these "hopes" generally was rather poor. The preliminary quasi-pollution was achieved as per the lowest standards. So, during the "Awakening" and "Enchanting" process, things were breaking left and right...
"Meow! Success, meow, another success, meow!"
Only Meow constantly succeeded, happily dashing around everywhere... people had already figured out that in their team the ceiling for luck was perhaps Meow.
Xue En the floor? How could that be, he’s not even in the basement, he’s deep down in the earth’s core.
He kept losing seven times in a row, losing all color from his face and burning through all his savings... He never won from the beginning, but he still persisted, his nerves must have been too tough.
And to such a piggy bank... cough, customer, Lu Ping’an obviously wishes more would come along.
No matter how much a customer are crying for their mama, cursing and swearing "to give up gambling", they would come back after a while (after all, the returns are too high once successful), Lu Ping’an himself is crazily accumulating points, earning like crazy too.
But on the system’s panel, his points have always been at a low level, he never reached a thousand. Why is that?
"Damn, today’s luck is a bit off, let’s go pet the cat..."
Others are transforming quasi-pollution weapons into taboo items, while Lu Ping’an has already completed a round and is now secretly carrying out a second evolution on his own.
"...The specified evolution (revamp enchantment) of taboo items, the burning of points is terrifying..."
In reality, the "Enchantment Service" Lu Ping’an offers to the public is just a "monkey version" of his power. The real complete version is far more demanding and potent.
What seems to be the same power is actually totally different depending on who wields it.
To other beneficiaries, Lu Ping’an has awakened his "logistics" ability, but in his own eyes, this is basically a combat ability, it’s just that...
"...There are no points left, it looks like, I need more customers."
If he wants to use it in combat, turn it into a real "weapon", it burns way too many points.
"...Come on, this time, I have to get the ’Decree’ floating atop this gun."
"Ahhhhh, another failure." In many ways, Lu Ping’an isn’t much better than the others.
— End of Chapter 783 —