Alone and Infinite.

Chapter 240 Equipment Upgrade
As it turns out, Li Xia was overthinking things.

Third-tier apostles have improved in all aspects, but those who can design ingenious combinations for themselves and their teammates like Gray are still very few.

Most of the more than 20,000 apostles in the arena have gone through three to four world cycles in the third tier.

Their strength has increased significantly compared to the second tier, especially some apostles who have already completed their systems.

They can also bring many surprises through their own skill system.

After winning more than ten consecutive matches, Li Xia finally suffered his first defeat since entering the Hall of Fame.

The opponent was a heavily armored warrior, and we were randomly assigned to the extremely unfriendly Octagon map.

With its insanely high armor defense level of 9, that tank's mobility was no different from that of a 60 or 70-year-old man.

But the meat is terrifying!
Right at the start, the warrior slammed his shield down in front of him.

Solid, barrier, vortex attraction, shield wall, soul chain.

Finally, a halo of thorns appeared under their feet.

Then a head, completely covered by a pumpkin-shaped helmet, emerged from behind the shield.

A muffled sound came from inside:
"I could fight you all day long!"

Li Xia tried using Night Silence's basic attack twice, and wow, it deflected his attack.

Judging from their build, it's a pure armor-stacking, tanky build; they're probably the team's main tank.

My idea of ​​getting to the bottom of things has now come true.

Let's just withdraw from the arena and let whoever wants to open this canned food can have it.

"That's disgusting—"

Teacher Ao gave a very accurate evaluation:
"But all that's left is disgust. Once the soul chains expire or break, this is the target."

"Meow?"

Black Charcoal then asked curiously why they didn't use lightning to attack.

"Hmm, if I'm not mistaken, the opponent at least has a healing skill like prayer."

Li Xia rubbed the little head that felt incredibly soft and charcoal-like.

Night Silence can indeed transform into a lightning spear, but it's more like a support-type attribute attack with relatively low damage.

When facing an enemy tank with stacked armor, bring a Paladin's Prayer.
Using lightning attacks to wear them down is pure torture.

However, Black Charcoal's words reminded Li Xia that he remembered that in the upgraded world, Black Charcoal's lightning field would activate for a period of time.

It directly attracted natural lightning, and then relied on the Night's Silence's electrical control properties and considerable lightning resistance.

Guide the lightning bolt to the spear, and then fling it out.

The power is quite amazing.

Perhaps we should try to improve Black Charcoal's abilities in dealing with lightning?
It can complement myself perfectly.

Regarding Heitan's role, Li Xia is positioned as a backline support. If he can be a secondary carry to supplement his damage output, that would be ideal.

Having made up his mind, Li Xia, who had just left the arena, immediately headed straight for the forging area.

A faint wisp of smoke seemed to perpetually hang over the forging area.

The clanging and banging sounds rose and fell, and the air here was scorching hot.

Li Xia carried the charcoal and moved through the alleys with practiced ease.

Many apostles were still waiting at the entrance of Madaro's courtyard.

At least in the second tier, this little old man is quite famous.

Casual players and small guilds like the Knights of the Round Table love to come here.

Unfortunately, the old man's eccentric temperament made many people keep their distance.

This is both a marketing strategy and a way of rejecting people.

Amidst the astonished gazes of those around her, Li Xia went straight up and pushed open the door.

Since we've already decided to form an alliance, there's no need to be too polite. Going around in circles is too tiring; it's better to be direct and straightforward.

The furnace for forging parts is a little bigger than last time.

Madao was shirtless, unlike the short and thin man he usually appeared to be.

His muscles bulged high as he hammered something, one blow at a time.

"Hold on--"

As he spoke, he raised the hammer high, and a faint light suddenly rose from the dark iron hammer.

It seemed to leave a dazzling trail as it crashed down.

The red-hot metal blank on the anvil flattened out like putty.

Mada picked up the thin, paper-like blank with pliers, examined it for a while, and then nodded in satisfaction.

He tossed it into the clear, watery oil, clapped his hands, and walked out of the forging area.

A wisp of smoke rose from his sweat-covered body.

"Tier 3? Congratulations."

Madaro only glanced at it before nodding in congratulations.

On the side of the courtyard stands a thriving pear tree, currently blooming with delicate white pear blossoms.

There was a small table and two comfortable-looking rocking chairs placed under the tree.

Black Charcoal's eyes lit up, and in a few swift movements, it darted to the treetop, yawned, and lay comfortably on a branch.

The branch was pressed down by the kitten, sank downwards, and then bounced upwards again.

The back and forth motion was like a small cradle, and soon it let out a big yawn and fell asleep with its little paws as a pillow.

After gulping down a large glass of water, Madaro smiled and said:

"No need to guess, they're here for the armor, right?"

Li Xia hummed in agreement.
"The armor definitely needs an upgrade."

After a pause, Li Xia, who felt that this kind of upgrade was a bottomless pit, frowned and asked:
"Could the Lava Armor also be transformed into a Soul Equipment?"

If A's rank cannot keep up with Li Xia's rank, then the rank will be reduced by 20%.

Even though it's still useful after being upgraded from a top-tier item to a regular top-tier item, it just doesn't feel quite the same.

"Soul Equipment?"

Madao immediately shook his head and said seriously:
"I don't recommend you do this, absolutely not. If I'm not mistaken, the gloves on your hands are also soul equipment, even though they're constantly emitting black aura."

And that spear of yours, it must be the essence of a Zanpakuto produced by the Nightingale Guild, right?

"How did you get it?"

Li Xia asked with great interest, feeling that Madaro seemed to have eyes that could see through all equipment.

Fantastic.

"The effect that comes with the forging technique I learned, the Weapon Observation Technique, doesn't show the specific attributes, but only the general outline."

Madao made no attempt to hide anything, waved his hand dismissively, and poured Li Xia a cup of water from the kettle.

Continuing from the previous topic:
"Generally speaking, even the top apostles can only raise one soul equipment without the help of a guild."

It's like the essence of a Zanpakuto; it's incredibly famous, but very few dare to use it.

At lower levels, it's fine, but once you reach higher levels, the value of those rare materials becomes quite substantial.

This is because the weapon itself can absorb materials, which has already reduced the difficulty considerably.

To upgrade a simple soul equipment piece, besides materials, you also need soul crystals.

Madao pointed to Li Xia's gloves:
"Upgrading your gloves will be very difficult. This kind of woven material is different from forged material, and upgrading and maintaining it is quite difficult."

And it was in a filthy state—”

He looked at the gloves billowing black smoke; they were almost as powerful as a chimney.

"No, how did you cope with the negative effects of such intense resentment?"

Negative state?
Li Xia pondered for a while. It seemed that there was a negative status effect, but his mental strength level was a billion points high.

In addition, there is the powerful abnormal status resistance of the Eight-Nine Arcane Arts.

I didn't feel anything at all.

Do you have a way to remove this filth?

However, even if it's manageable, it's best to remove this landmine as soon as possible, otherwise it wouldn't be good if it actually exploded one day. "I'm not too sure. I rarely touch woven fabrics. How about this, you can leave it here for me to study and do some maintenance while you're at it."

also.

After handing over the gloves, Madaro pondered for a moment:

"If you're upgrading the Lava Armor, what aspects do you mainly want to increase or retain?"

"Maintaining the status quo is fine. If there's any improvement, it would just be a slight increase in defensive capabilities?"

"Well, the main materials are fire-type biological materials, such as the blood crystals of powerful fire-type monsters, or materials from special parts of the body, preferably scales."

If not, monsters with high defense will also work, but then you'll need to add some fire-type energy bodies. Pay attention to compatibility; monsters with the opposite element will definitely not work.

Li Xia nodded and made a mental note of it.

Then he took out the Qilin set from Black Charcoal's body: "This set of equipment also needs to be upgraded."

"Armored animals?"

Madaro frowned. As a blacksmith, he disliked leather armor, which was neither aesthetically pleasing nor had a metallic feel.

But who can blame them when these are carefully chosen ally?

"Hmm? Felyne equipment?"

He was somewhat surprised. He looked at the attributes of the Qilin set, then looked up at the kitten sleeping soundly on the pear tree.

"You're the first person I've ever seen who would be willing to equip an Palico with such good gear."

This kitten is lucky to have met you.

The other Palicoes I've seen that belong to the Apostles all died pretty quickly; many were made to wear heavy armor to attract the attention of monsters.

Li Xia looked at the black charcoal, a rare smile appearing on his face:
"Charcoal is a partner, not a tool."

"Okay, I understand!"

Madaro patted his knees and stood up:

"So you mean you're willing to spend any amount of money and only want the best, right? The leather armor can be modified; you can use a metal lining as a cover."

I suggest modifying the design to retain the cat-like agility, since the most important aspect of this equipment is its aura.

specialized!

This is professionalism!
Li Xia had no objection and reached out to take the equipment back:
"What materials do I need? I'll prepare the materials for the upgrade next time I come back from the derivative world."

"Just leave it here, I'll upgrade it for you right away. We can talk about the cost, no rush."

Madaro waved his hand:
"I do know that the only benefit of upgrading a world is attribute points."

It should be ready in about a week. Come pick it up before your next dungeon run.

Li Xia thanked her without any pretense.

After carrying the sleeping black charcoal down, he said goodbye and left.

Executioner, you are about to return to reality.

The familiar feeling, the familiar front-loading washing machine.

A dizzying sensation that feels like it's shaking your soul out of your body.

The world before my eyes gradually became clear, as the main building was completed.

Li Xia's return point was no longer the grove of trees, but instead she appeared directly in her bedroom of her luxurious villa.

It has to be said that there is some truth to the saying that the speed of payment determines the speed of construction.

Especially when there are time-saving bonuses of up to one billion US dollars.

This immediately awakened the DNA of the infrastructure maniac. With five times the normal wage, those hardworking construction workers were doing far more than six blows per second.

They were all yelling and screaming while working, and the little cart was almost smoking from pushing it.

The legend of Li Xia is now everywhere in China's construction industry.

Legend has it that there's a tycoon in the open sea who treats money like dirt, casually throwing around hundreds of billions of dollars.

It can only be said that the legend is entirely true.

Li Xia certainly didn't treat money like money.
I picked up my phone and briefly communicated with Vice President Tu about the project's progress.

Indeed, it's fast. The main buildings of the manor have all been completed. Currently, the focus is on supporting facilities, such as a simple airport and dock.

"Your Highness, can we pack the things we bought earlier?"

Awoo rubbed its paws together, looking eager to try.

Maintaining such a large estate is a major problem, and hiring people is impractical.

Therefore, the decision was made from the outset to use artificial intelligence to replace human labor.

These home-use items weren't expensive; I only spent a few thousand dollars to get everything done.

"Okay, let's deploy it directly."

Li Xia agreed, watching as Aowu and Heitan seemed to have received some new and interesting toys.

He excitedly pulled something that looked like a briefcase from his personal space.

Foolproof setup, one-click deployment.

With a whoosh, the entire suitcase suddenly unfolds, revealing its complex, layered structure.

It looks like a flower has bloomed.

Soon, something resembling a shipping container appeared before their eyes.

Thankfully, the manor's living room is large enough and has a high ceiling.

"buzzing"

A low humming sound came from the container-like box.

A moment later, the hatch opened, and an android that looked no different from a real person stepped out.

With bright eyes and white teeth, she was so beautiful it almost seemed unreal.

She walked up to Li Xia completely naked, bent down, and spoke in a soft voice that sounded carefully crafted:

"Owner"

Li Xia frowned, feeling that this person didn't seem capable of doing any work.

But robots might have different settings.

But when the second woman to walk out was also a beautiful woman, Li Xia felt something was wrong.

"Damn it, why is it set to android partner mode by default?"

Aowu frantically pressed pause, adjusted the mode, and finally pressed confirm after a while.

Now it's finally back to normal; the skin isn't smooth anymore, it's a bit rough.

"I clearly told the seller that I wanted a household appliance that could do housework and handle miscellaneous tasks."

Li Xia's expression became subtle. He opened his mouth, as if to say something in response.

But in the end, he shook his head.

This can only be blamed on the seller's overactive imagination.

Soon, the entire living room was filled with robots, each with different skin types but lacking any uniqueness.

It looks like an NPC.

After the robots were produced, the expanded production units did not shrink directly, but transformed into something similar to a main unit.

This is the main unit, with incredibly high intelligence, at least three generations more advanced than Iron Man's smart butler, Friday.

In other words, you can treat this kind of host as a human being.

"Awoo, I'm leaving it to you. I'm going to the Time Chamber."

"okay!"

Aowu was in high spirits and had already leaned on the computer, asking if he could help him argue with people on Tieba.

This little dragon is beyond saving!
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(End of this chapter)