My skills have mutated again!

Chapter 391 This is real offense, you old man!
Ironically, when facing level twelve opponents, Xia Lin's strengths in mechanics remain, but her attributes become a weakness...

Despite possessing a limit-breaking technique like the Life and Death Battle (Inferior), Xia Lin has developed an attribute weakness... It seems unbelievable, but that's the truth.

When the red light flashed and the sword pierced through his chest, Xia Lin suppressed the absurdity in his heart and faced reality.

The reality is that when facing these level twelve beings who stand at the second-highest level in the universe, he is indeed just a challenger and a little guy.

Behind him, the phantom of the scales flashed and disappeared.

The wound in his chest, pierced by the sword energy, began to heal at a speed visible to the naked eye.

—Xia Lin’s own skill set does not include any skills for rapid healing, but in the face of abundant, cost-free resources, the fair trade at the six-pillar level is practically omnipotent.

"Instead of being eternally inscribed, fair trade has not been affected in any way."

At level twelve, the effect of Eternal Inscription remains unchanged, but the difficulty of inscribing it increases.

In comparison, fair trade remains the same fair trade.

This made Xia Lin realize something—in the level 12 battlefield, some skills that only affect oneself are not weakened at all; they remain the same as before.

And this will lead to...

Suddenly, Xia Lin looked up at Nikolai.

After striking with his first sword, Nikolai did not make another move.

He was like a middle-aged gentleman stepping onto the fencing ring, his rapier trembling slightly as he drew elegant sword strokes.

“You are stronger than the information Yuan Zhuo provided.”

"Therefore, my strategy will also undergo some minor changes..."

“I can tolerate your offense and spare your life. The deal will go back to what we discussed before: you give me the Spirit Book, and I'll let you go.”

He spoke with a smile, as if the "strategy" he mentioned was a great blessing to Xia Lin.

Nikolai is a confident to the point of arrogance, but also a cunning and fickle fellow.

Xia Lin laughed too, even though he had no idea when he had offended the famous Pale King.

The corners of his mouth were grotesque, and his teeth gleamed with a chilling light.

"Is it offensive..."

Slowly pondering the word "offense," Xia Lin shook his head, but instead of discussing the Spirit Realm Book, he traced back to the source and brought up another matter.

"How's summer going?"

Nikolai was taken aback, not expecting Xia Lin to bring up the reincarnation of Di Yun at this moment.

Is this person very important?

Xia Lin sighed: "Whether he is important or not depends on your perspective."

From a strength perspective, summer is not important.

The former Di Yun was only at level eleven, and Xia Tian, ​​after his reincarnation, still did not reach the heights of the former Di Yun.

But from an emotional perspective, summer is meaningful to Xia Lin.

—The journey to the Eight-Guardian Ash District built a bridge of friendship, and right now, Xia Lin doesn't know how Nikolai got the information about the Spirit World Book from Xia Tian.

Was it born from casual conversation? Or coercion and enticement? Or even soul-searching and brain-stealing?
Nikolai's eyes darted around.

“If you give me the Book of the Spirit World, I don’t mind giving you the news about Summer for free.”

The cunning and fickle person felt that he had keenly grasped the opportunity and the leverage.

And thus, they use this as a shortcut to achieve their goals.

His only response was Xia Lin's suddenly enlarged size and the rapidly flashing phantom of the scales.

The skills were rapidly reconstructed and replaced, completing the combination Xia Lin needed in the blink of an eye.

When the cold, desolate universe was torn apart by light and shone on Xia Lin, at that moment Xia Lin was like an unparalleled emperor standing in the forest of light!
He spoke slowly.

No, you will tell.

"Because soon, you will be kneeling at my feet, licking the soles of my shoes, and telling me everything I want to know."

"Use this as leverage to beg me to let you go!"

A chilling voice rang out from the dazzling light.

Following closely behind were those four words, which were not imposing but terrifying enough.

"The Legion has arrived!"

……

Like a spinning slot machine, it finally landed on a triple 666.

The moment the Legion descends and explodes, the winning skill combination has already been formed for the first time under the mechanics of the Shadow of the Unknown!
Using material mimicry as its core, Xia Lin enters the Black Origin Martial God form.

—Although it was said before that the Black Source Martial God form had been abandoned in the face of more advanced skill combinations, it was not completely useless. Instead, it used this as the underlying logic and other super skill combinations as additional components to complete a magnificent transformation!

[You have activated material mimicry!]

You have acquired some of the county magistrate's talents and skills!

[You have acquired the talent: Overlord, Ruler of the Dark Source!]

[You have acquired the following skills: Dark Source. Infinite Reinforcement, Dark Source. Endless Energy, Dark Source. Annihilation of Celestial Stars, Dark Source. End of This World!]

The Dominator's talent is unimportant, nor are their skills; what matters is the control of the Dark Source.

[Dark Source Domination (Racial Foundation Level): Every Dark Source Guardian and Dark Source Infected existing in the current plane can provide the Dark Source Overlord with a large amount of attribute bonuses!]

The moment Xia Lin saw this talent, he immediately thought of the Legion Feedback, the Lord of Ten Thousand Armies class talent.

I have to say, they are very similar.

The problem is that they are just too similar... and the fact that their developmental cycles are too long is exactly the same.

The game "Lord of Ten Thousand Armies" is essentially a farming-style game; the stronger the logistics, the stronger the player becomes.

Nearly half of the Lord of Ten Thousand Armies' other skills and talents serve the purpose of development and farming.

However, the Dark Source Overlord is ultimately not the Lord of All Armies—this class's development speed is far inferior to that of the Lord of All Armies.

Furthermore, the additional attribute bonuses from the Dark Source Domination talent cannot compare to those from a proper Legion Feedback.

This combo's growth rate can't keep up with Xia Lin's strength growth rate.

This has led to the skill combination that once helped Xia Lin defeat Black Star losing its former glory – the attribute bonus of this combo is simply not worth mentioning in the face of the life-or-death battle (inferior).

However, after the Thousandfold Tower assessment, a turning point appeared.

This skill set originated from the selfless gift of the Fifth Prince, Wang Yanlin!

In the constant skill bar, most skills have disappeared, and four new skills have appeared on the attribute panel.

[Legion Descent (Six Pillars): Active Skill, exclusive to the Lord of Armies! This skill has no cost and no cooldown. You can ignore any blockades and summon your troops at any time!]

【Dragon Gathering Technique (Six Pillars Level): Active skill, exclusive to the Lord of Ten Thousand Armies, requires Legion Descent as a prerequisite. Upon activation, instantly drains the racial stats and base attributes of all soldiers within a certain radius around you! Their racial stats and base attributes will be added to you at a rate of 10%! There is no upper limit to the skill's potential. This skill has no cost, lasts for ten minutes, and has a one-hour cooldown!】

[Master-Servant Chain (Racial Heritage Level): Active Skill. You can transfer everything you have to your servants! This skill lasts for ten minutes, with a thirty-minute cooldown!]

[Shared Glory and Shame (Six Pillars): Passive Skill, exclusive to the Lord of All Armies! The more buffs you provide to your subordinates, the more buffs you will receive from them! There is no upper limit to the buff's effect!]

All four skills were obtained from the Fifth Prince, but not through inscription; instead, they were obtained through pseudo-random replacement.

Or was it the Fifth Prince who deliberately had Xia Lin make the substitution...?

Unfortunately, all four skills are self-limiting and do not interact with Xia Lin. Xia Lin can witness them, but cannot inscribe them.

Even if pseudo-random permutation is promoted to the six-pillar level, it still has this drawback: it is difficult to hit a powerful opponent.

A single-target skill with a flight speed of light is as slow as a snail in the face of a powerful opponent; it really requires seizing the right opportunity to be effective...

So regardless of the Fifth Prince's true feelings towards Xia Lin, Xia Lin does indeed owe the Fifth Prince a debt of gratitude this time.

At first glance, these four skills don't seem to have much in common, and it seems impossible to put them together into a really awesome combo.

However, Xia Lin, who had fought the Fifth Prince thousands of times in the Thousand-Layer Tower, knew the terrifying power of this combination of four skills.

"This is the Emperor's Engine!"

As the light of the Legion's Descent flashed, the Bomb Boy Legion answered the call, and when the light of the Dragon Gathering Technique flashed again, the Emperor Engine began to roar!
The Black Source Domination talent allowed Xia Lin, who merged with the county magistrate and acquired the county magistrate's talent, to possess characteristics similar to a military lord!
The master-servant relationship replaced the monarch-subject relationship.

The light, like scattered starlight, connected Xia Lin with the Bomb Boys. These Bomb Boys, who had gained a lot of attributes through the life-or-death battle (inferior), suddenly went weak and collapsed into the starry sky. Their attributes were instantly drained by Xia Lin and transformed into Xia Lin's own attributes.

The buffs started to accumulate, but compared to Xia Lin's already maxed-out attributes, the buffs weren't huge; they were better than nothing.

But it doesn’t matter…

Emperor Engine, shift gears!
With a flash of light, all the Bomb Boys whose attributes had been cleared were taken into the Outer Realm, leaving only Scarlett on the scene.

She built a defensive system using the Wanbao Maze system to prevent Nikolai's offensive—with the Kuntian Mirror and the Sun Wheel Guardian Sword as the core of the Wanbao Maze, she couldn't protect Xia Lin for long, but she could always manage to do it for ten seconds.

Just as Nicholas drew his sword and approached, the Emperor's engine began to accelerate.

The master-servant chain connects Charlin and Scarlett, with Charlin temporarily giving all her attributes and racial stats to Scarlett.

The "Shared Glory and Shame" buff took effect, making Scarlett stronger while Xia Lin's attributes remained unchanged. A phantom of the scales flashed, and Xia Lin used the stakes to clear the cooldowns of the Dragon Gathering Technique and the Master-Servant Chain. The second beam of Dragon Gathering Technique light fell upon Scarlett.

He took back the attributes he had given to Scarlett...

Then, start the loop!
Nikolai, who had just been stunned by the arrival of the legion, suddenly gasped.

Because he finally realized that Xia Lin's Emperor Engine, Legion Descent, was just a byproduct; the core was fair trade, Dragon Gathering Technique, Master-Slave Chain, and Sharing Honor and Disgrace!

Once the engine starts, it propels Xia Lin's vehicle's attributes to surge!
Another tricky aspect for Nikola is that this Emperor Engine system does not participate in the interaction with the opponent, which means that Nikola cannot use the power of divine transcendence to suppress Xia Lin's Emperor Engine.

Thoughts flashed by, and Nikolai had already rushed into the labyrinth of treasures.

He is very strong, very strong.

Its attributes far exceed the limits of the Ember Zone.

His skills were certainly not weak... but after understanding that Xia Lin possessed the ability to be immune to inscriptions, he dared not use them.

The transformation to level twelve results in a deep fusion and binding of the skills of level twelve powerhouses, where one's glory is the same as the other's, and one's loss is the same as the other's.

It's one thing if Xia Lin makes Pale Wave immune, but if Xia Lin makes other core skills immune, then the Pale King's entire skill system will surely suffer a more severe counterattack in front of Xia Lin!
This is what Xia Lin didn't realize, and it's also what Victor meant by the advantages that the inscription system brings to Xia Lin.

Of course, strictly speaking, Nikolai is not incapable of using skills.

At least he can throw caution to the wind and continue using the Pale Wave—since it's already been engraved, there's no harm in using it again.

When the pale wave swept through again, Scarlett faced a severe test!

She has no eternal inscription; she is not immune to Nicholas's pale fluctuations.

The power of level twelve suppressed the Kuntian Mirror and the Sun Wheel Guardian Sword, two six-pillar level items, and quickly dismantled the foundation of the entire Wanbao Maze system!
Thirteen seconds.

This is the amount of time Scarlett, giving it her all, could hold on in front of Nicholas.

That's all the time she could hold out for Xia Lin.

However, the instant Nicholas shattered the Maze of Treasures, Scarlett vanished, replaced by a black longsword piercing her chest!

The Emperor Engine was not pushed to its limit—strictly speaking, this combo was not pushed to its limit either.

Its duration is ten minutes, but the Kuntian Mirror can extend the duration of the attribute buff.

As the Emperor Engine provides more attributes, it will naturally gradually reach the limit of the Kuntian Mirror's capabilities—but at least Xia Lin hasn't touched that limit yet.

But, that's enough.

The energy blade condensed by the Ghost Five Elements Black Blade pierced through Nikolai's body without hindrance, just like the sword energy that Nikolai had just used to pierce through Xia Lin.

The ease with which it penetrated already revealed the fact that, with the Emperor Engine's enhancement, the attribute gap between the two had been leveled, with Xia Lin even having a slight edge!
Ignoring the sword wound and the pain, Nikolai swung his six-pillar rapier into Xia Lin's chest.

Thus, the two are connected.

It doesn't hurt or itch...

For an existence of this level, this is far from being considered an injury.

They simply looked at each other.

Nikolai had already suppressed the disdain and mockery in his eyes, because this junior was indeed worthy of his attention.

However, emotions don't disappear; they just shift.

Therefore, he saw the same condescending gaze he had just received in Xia Lin's eyes.

Finally, when Xia Lin uttered those eight words with a smile, the Pale King could no longer maintain his senior's demeanor.

He heard Xia Lin breathe hot air into his ear and say with a sinister grin.

"That's what you call offensive, you old man."

A simple upward kick tore through space, slashing upwards like a battle blade between Nikola's legs.

A crisp, cracking sound suddenly rang out.

Charlin portrayed Nikolai with genuine offense and insult.

However, it still doesn't hurt or itch...

Nikolai simply looked at Xia Lin, his eyes gradually turning red.

A wild, maniacal laugh suddenly exploded across the starry sky.

Accompanied by maniacal laughter, the pale skin turned crimson, like something draped in silver, and a torrential rain of blood began to fall.

The force of the sword in his hand became softer and gentler, and Nikolai, who had instantly transformed from a gentleman into a madman, easily broke free from the longsword's piercing.

All wounds healed in an instant.

A crimson afterimage flashed across the air with a graceful yet sharp arc, appearing beside Xia Lin.

The illusory image of the balance scale flashed, and Xia Lin was also injured. When the rapier pierced through again, Xia Lin raised his sword to block, but the longsword flickered as if it were becoming invisible, passing through the defense line and accurately piercing Xia Lin's chest again.

The attributes are the same, but there's just no way to defend against it...

Witnessing the intelligence brought by talent—this is not Nikolai's own skill, but a built-in function of the six-pillar-level prop, the rapier.

Xia Lin, who was injured for the third time, suddenly felt a sharp pain in his brain.

Witness the power of talent taking effect; the eternal inscription takes effect.

【Pale Erosion (Racial Heritage Level): Active Skill, exclusive to the Primal Child. Consumes a certain amount of sanity. For ten minutes after activation, you will receive the blessing of the Primal Dark Side! During the skill's activation period, every attack you make will have the effect of a soul strike, and the attacked party will be corrupted by the Primal Dark Side.】

The horror lies not in the soul-destroying attack, but in the unexplained contamination of the primordial dark side...

I don't know what the effects of this pollution will be, but anything linked to the primordial dark side is bad.

A torrential downpour of sword light swept in, and amidst the storm, Nikolai screamed madly, "Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die!"

He instantly transformed into a madman who couldn't even communicate normally.

But Xia Lin still understood the meaning behind those five words about death.

He was ready to give Xia Lin another skill!
But he was also gambling, betting that he could tear Xia Lin to pieces before Xia Lin could replicate the immunity skill!

And so the soul began to be torn apart.

A chilling cold that penetrated to the bone filled my entire body.

However, the chariots equipped with the Emperor's Engine felt no fear, nor did they retreat.

"Bet? You think you can beat me at betting!?"

Level 12 is no easy opponent.

Xia Lin also knew that this battle would not be easy.

But ultimately, they can still fight.

Leaving aside the summer events, just talking about the entanglement in the Book of Spirits, it was destined that Xia Lin could not avoid the Pale King Nicholas.

Therefore, we will not avoid it!

Under the effect of energy conversion, mental energy instantly transformed into martial arts blood energy.

Once the martial art called "Universe in the Palm" was used, it made the agile Nikolai struggle to move, as if he were covered in mud.

The energy sword slashed down with precision, like a battle blade, cleaving Nikolai in two with a wound as thick as a monk's robe.

However, it still didn't work.

【Pale Crimson (Six Pillars): Passive skill, exclusive to the Primordial Child. For each maiden's blood you drink, you gain the power of sacrifice.】

This skill only affects the user and cannot be interacted with, therefore it cannot be inscribed.

And after countless millennia of accumulation, this one skill alone has made Nikolai naturally invincible!
The Pale King is nominally the strongest level 12 professional in the Black Domain.

Liu Zhu also placed him at the top of the bounty list.

Why is it the strongest?
The one that cannot be killed is the strongest!
Xia Lin, however, didn't care at all.

The illusory image of the balance scale flickered continuously.

The costless bargaining chip became Xia Lin's invincible foundation.

Blood stained the starry sky, the tearing sound of longswords piercing flesh was incessant, and the roar of the Emperor's engine was endless.

But just a minute later, when the tearing sensation in her soul reached its peak and the icy pollution was about to engulf everything, it suddenly disappeared.

Skill inscription complete.

Xia Lin grinned and roared.

"You're finished, you old bastard! This time you're really fucking done for!"

Nikolai's maniacal laughter suddenly stopped, and then he turned and ran.

Confident and arrogant, cunning and fickle.

And bullying the weak and fearing the strong.

(End of this chapter)