Book 1 Chapter 7: Exploded?!
This time Bai Yunfei reached out his hand and said without hesitation: “Give it to me.”
The corners of the old man’s mouth twitched. There seemed to be black vertical lines running down his head too…
Fishing a black ring out of his bosom and giving it to Bai Yunfei, he explained: “This is an interspatial ring with a miniature space inside that can be used to store objects. When your soulforce has fully awakened, you’ll only need to pour your soulforce into it and take out the soul cultivation technique inside. Train your soul according to this technique, you’ll be able to improve your power.”
After observing the ring for a while, Bai Yunfei grasped it in his hand. He then looked at the old man, looking like he wanted to say something but hesitated to do so.
“What’s wrong? Do you still have any questions for me?” The old man said with a smile.
“Do you have money? Give me some…”
“… … … …”
The old man handed over a moneybag. Bai Yunfei opened it to take a look. It was unexpectedly full of gold coins. But he only took out two of them then gave a bow to the old man.
“Senior, later I’ll definitely repay your kindness today tenfold if I have a chance!”
As the old man looked at Bai Yunfei’s silhouette in the distant, the smiling expression on his face dissipated. After keeping silent for a while, he gave a sigh.
“Alas… This is already the forth one… Will he be the person who can negate that tribulation for my Fate School? This little fella is rather special. It’s a pity I can’t interfere in his development too much…”
“You must make sure not to disappoint me, sonny…”
… … … …
After getting back into the city, Bai Yunfei rented a room in an inn. Despite his age, this was the first ‘extravagance’ in his life.
“I haven’t achieved anything, but I’ve already owed two debts of gratitude…” Lying on the bed, Bai Yunfei muttered to himself as he touched the ring in his bosom.
A feeling of exhaustion stole over him, not only physical exhaustion but also mental exhaustion, so he fell into a deep sleep very quickly — To Bai Yunfei, who had lived eighteen years in an ordinary and even ‘lowly’ way, what he had experienced today and the decision as to what path he was going to walk later were really too serious. Let us allow him to rest for a night…
The next day, Bai Yunfei hid in the dark, watching Uncle Wu’s family members bury him in a grave from afar. Afterwards, he rented a simple and crude house on a remote small street in the southern corner of the city to live.
He had taken two gold coins from the old man. A gold coin was equivalent to a hundred silver coins and a silver coin was equivalent to a hundred copper coins. To someone who had previously earned about twenty copper coins a day in wages like Bai Yunfei, these two gold coins was already a very great deal of money, enough for him to live for quite a while.
In the small house, there were only a bed next to the window and a small cabinet. Bai Yunfei was sitting on the bed, his hand holding that special brick.
“Item grade: Normal.”
“Upgrade level: +10.”
“Damage: 9”
“Additional damage: 16”
“+10 Additional effect: Attacks have a 1% chance of stunning the target for a maximum of 3 seconds (when attacking the head, the chance of stunning increases to 5%).”
“Upgrade requirement: 12 soul points.”
He thought about it and a string of information immediately appeared in his mind. Yunfei pondered for a short period of time and said gently: “Upgrade.”
In an instant, something in his body seemed to be drawn out, causing him to almost fall unconscious.
“Indeed, that day I passed out because I spent too many ‘soul points’.”
“Upgrade failed.”
“Item destroyed.”
Two pieces of information appeared in his mind, giving Bai Yunfei a start: “Destroyed? Could it be…”
Right at this moment, he felt his hand lighten. He lowered his head to take a look and saw that the brick in his hand unexpectedly turned into a lump of powder and fell to the floor!
“This…” Bai Yunfei was at a loss for a short while then said to himself in a somewhat bewildered manner: “Destroyed, destroyed… Doesn’t a failure to upgrade cause a drop of 1 level? Why was it destroyed immediately?”
Only after looking in stupefaction at the pile of fine sand at his feet for a long time did he calm down.
“I still don’t understand this Item Upgrade Technique enough…” Bai Yunfei pondered for a while then stood up and walked out of the house.
An hour later, he was still sitting on the bed, his hand holding a brick. But the different between now and then was that, there were several half foot long daggers on the small cabinet on one side, with a dozen bright red bricks beside it in addition…
And in front of him, there was already a small pile of red fine sand on the floor.
“After upgrade level +8, if an upgrade fails, the item will be destroyed. I’ve upgraded three bricks, but none of them could reach +9 successfully. Judging from this, I was really lucky that I was able to upgrade to level 10 that night.” Seeing another brick turn into a pile of fine sand in his hand again, Bai Yunfei said to himself. Afterwards he took a dagger, “Then, let’s try this one.”
After a long time…
“Upgrade successful.”
“Item grade: Normal.”
“Upgrade level: +8.”
“Damage: 21”
“Additional damage: 18”
“Upgrade requirement: 10 soul points.”
Bai Yunfei shook his head which was already in a slight daze: “I have reached the limit? Then, let’s test a conjecture…”
Having said so, he immediately cut a wound into his finger using the dagger.
“Upgrade…”
Afterwards, Bai Yunfei fell onto the pillow he had prepared beforehand, losing consciousness.
… … … …
The next day, when the warm sunlight shone into the house through the window, Bai Yunfei stretched his sluggish waist and sat up on the bed.
“As expected, I passed out after using up my ‘soul points’. But then they would regenerate, and they can even heal my body’s injuries in the regeneration process. This is also the reason why the injuries from the beating the day before were all gone when I woke up in that Coliseum last time.”
“Besides, I can feel that… I’ve become more powerful! It’s not my body. It’s an indescribable feeling. If I’m not mistaken, this should be because my so-called ‘soul points’ have increased somewhat during the regeneration process.”
“Soul points, soul points, could it be…”
Bai Yunfei picked up that dagger from under the bed.
“Item grade: Normal.”
“Upgrade level: +9.”
“Damage: 21”
“Additional damage: 23”
“Upgrade requirement: 12 soul points.”
After pondering for a while, Bai Yunfei took a brick then raised the dagger and brought it down in a chop. A soft clack was heard as a section of the brick fell to the floor. The sturdy brick had unexpectedly been cut up in an instant like a piece of tofu!
Bai Yunfei gently drew a breath of cold air: “The power of +9 is so great!”
“It doesn’t have an additional effect like stun. Could it be it will only appear when I upgrade an item to +10?”
He took another dagger and another brick then upgraded them to +8 separately.
This time he did it very slowly. After each upgrade, he stopped and felt it carefully for a while — now he seemed to be able to vaguely sense the existence of those so-called ‘soul points’.
After a series of upgrades, Bai Yunfei felt a bit exhausted. Most of the ‘soul points’ in his body seemed to have been spent.
“Should I keep upgrading and use up my soul points again to examine them?”
“Alright, more haste less speed. Though I don’t know if passing out like that will do me any harm, it’s best try it only once a day, which is fairly safer…”
Bai Yunfei put the daggers and bricks away then took out the ring given to him by that old man the night before.
“This is an interspatial ring? Why does it feel very familiar? I obviously have never heard of something like this before… There’s a space that can store things inside? I can use it when my soulforce fully awakens and reaches the early Soul Apprentice stage… But when will I be able to achieve this so-called ‘awakening’? What kind of existence is a soul cultivator…?”
“Right…” At this moment, thinking about the Item Upgrade Technique, Bai Yunfei looked at the ring in his hand and gave it a thought.
“Item grade: Superior.”
“Upgrade requirement: 5 soul points.”
Bai Yunfei was stupefied: “Superior? Plus, it has no damage and the initial upgrade takes as many as 5 soul points.”
He considered a bit then decided to upgrade it once to see what would happen…
“Upgrade successful.”
“Item grade: Superior.”
“Upgrade level: +1.”
“Additional attribute: Strength +1.”
“Upgrade requirement: 6 soul points.”
“Strength +1? This means it can increase the physical strength of the user, right? And how much is +1 exactly?”
Bai Yunfei put the ring on the forefinger of his right hand then made a fist. But he did not feel anything special. He immediately upgraded it several more times. Only when the feeling of dizziness became intense did he stop.
“Item grade: Superior.”
“Upgrade level: +5.”
“Additional attribute: Strength +15.”
“Upgrade requirement: 10 soul points.”
After putting the ring on again, Bai Yunfei felt clearly a power rush into his body. In that moment, he even felt that he could split steles and shatter rocks.
But unfortunately, he was mentally exhausted as if he had been carrying rice sacks for a whole day, so he had no choice but to lie down on the bed and have a rest first.
After lying in a dazed, drowsy state for an indefinite period of time, Bai Yunfei finally sat up again. Even though he felt that he had not fully recovered, it was already much better than before.
He looked at the ring on his finger and felt its effect again. The feeling of an increase in strength really did exist.
He took a brick, held both of its ends and bent it with force. The brick immediately broke in two. He then took a +8 brick and tried bending with force a few times, but nothing happened.
“I have really become stronger. Besides, after an item is upgraded, its structure is much sturdier…”
Taking a look at the sky through the window, Bai Yunfei realized that it was already in the evening — an entire day had passed like this.
Afterwards, a kind of feeling rushed up his mind: “I’m so hungry…”
… … … …
In the evening, Bai Yunfei went to Uncle Wu’s grave with a basket of sacrificial offerings and a jug of wine.
After putting them down and arranging them properly, he kowtowed three times respectfully.
“Uncle Wu, I’ve come to see you. Please forgive me for not seeing you off personally when you were buried…”
“Uncle Wu, you saved my life. I definitely won’t let you die in vain for me. Your death and your granddaughter’s death, I’ll definitely make that Zhang Yang pay for everything he did to us!”
Bai Yunfei thought about that short period of time he and Uncle Wu had spent together; thinking about how he had looked at himself kindly and lovingly; thinking about how he had pushed himself away, how his blood had splattered on his own face, and what he had said right before his death…
Tears welled up in his eyes unconsciously. He turned his head to the sky to prevent them from streaming down. There was a rampant, insuppressible surge of indignation and resentment in his heart.
He picked up the jug of wine on one side and took a big gulp resolutely. A scorching feeling flowed straight into his chest from his throat.
Bai Yunfei shook his head and took another gulp. His face was very red and his eyes were also turning red gradually as if blood was rushing into them.
But the indignation and resentment in his heart were like raging flames fueled by oil. They seemed to be about to break out of his body.
“Uncle Wu, I’ll definitely kill Zhang Yang. I’ll definitely kill him with my own hands!”
He raised his head again, drinking up the remaining wine in one go.
“I, Bai Yunfei, swear by my heart that I will never let anyone control my life again! Never endure any humiliation again! I will trample all over anyone who insults me! Anyone who offends me will have to pay the price!”
In the blink of an eye, something in his body seemed to shatter. A force rushed through his entire body. His right hand, which was holding the jug of wine, swelled up instantly, its muscles bulging out.
“Bang!”
The pottery jug of wine was crushed in his grip. The part of it held in the palm of his hand gave off clacking sounds. He loosened his hand, and a small pile of fragments drifted down to the ground.