dhibooks Chapter 305 - 259: 6-Star Combat (2)
Chapter 305 - 259: 6-Star Combat (2)
He had gotten lucky last month, running into a peak mid-stage, Second Tier Hundred-legged Rabbit.
Without that Hundred-legged Rabbit, he had no idea when he would have been able to gather all the Spiritual Materials needed to refine the Upper Grade Spiritual Artifact, the Half-Hidden Spirit Boots.
’The fur from the Hundred-legged Rabbit’s legs, one of the main Spiritual Materials, is still a bit subpar. It would have been even better if I’d found a late-stage Second Tier Hundred-legged Rabbit last month.’
Still, his luck last month had been good enough, and Fang Yun was quite content.
At his current Artifact Refining level, paired with his seven-star Artifact Refining talent, it would be no problem to use these Spiritual Materials to refine Half-Hidden Spirit Boots with seven Spirit Patterns.
If the Refining process went well enough, it might even be possible to create a pair with Eight Spirit Patterns.
Trying to refine Half-Hidden Spirit Boots with nine Spirit Patterns, however, would be extremely difficult. His current combination of Spiritual Materials was the absolute bare minimum for forging an Upper Grade Spiritual Artifact. A normal Artifact Refiner would only be able to turn these materials into a Middle Grade Spiritual Artifact with five or six Spirit Patterns.
Once Fang Yun entered the zone, the Refining of the Upper Grade Spiritual Artifact, the Half-Hidden Spirit Boots, began.
Throughout the entire Refining process, Fang Yun’s movements were as smooth as flowing water. Even someone who wasn’t an Artifact Refiner could tell his technique was superb.
Time passed, and soon, he finished carving the seventh Spirit Pattern.
’I can still carve one more Spirit Pattern.’
Before he had even started refining the Half-Hidden Spirit Boots, Fang Yun had already planned for three possible outcomes: a result with seven, eight, or nine Spirit Patterns.
So, at this moment, Fang Yun knew exactly what kind of pattern to carve for the eighth Spirit Pattern.
Carving this eighth Spirit Pattern was extremely difficult for him at his current level.
The process was time-consuming; in fact, it took longer than carving the fifth, sixth, and seventh Spirit Patterns combined.
’I’m getting close to my limit.’
Based on the state of the Refining, Fang Yun quickly ruled out the possibility of carving a ninth Spirit Pattern and immediately moved on to the final steps of the process.
「Several hours later.」
A pair of Upper Grade, Spiritual Artifact-level Half-Hidden Spirit Boots had been crafted by his hands.
These Half-Hidden Spirit Boots with Eight Spirit Patterns greatly surpassed the Middle Grade, four-pattern version in terms of both speed and concealment.
With the newest Half-Hidden Spirit Boots complete, Fang Yun first bound them to himself, then immediately tested their effects.
A typical early-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator would struggle to unleash the full power of a Middle Grade Spiritual Artifact, to say nothing of an Upper Grade one.
Based on the experience he had accumulated, Fang Yun knew that as an early-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator, he would need to upgrade his Combat Talent to three stars to unleash the full power of an Upper Grade Spiritual Artifact.
At the Foundation Establishment Stage, that level of Combat Talent was just barely adequate.
A four-star Combat Talent, on the other hand, was more than sufficient. Not only could it unleash the full power of an Upper Grade Spiritual Artifact, but it could also increase its power ceiling to a certain degree.
Therefore, as part of his planning, Fang Yun had always prioritized upgrading his talents, keeping them ahead of his cultivation level.
His Shoe Combat Talent had not yet been upgraded to six stars.
Fang Yun decided to test the boots by activating all eight of their Spirit Patterns at once.
He then carefully monitored the Spiritual Power consumption.
’With the boost from my five-star Combat Talent, the Spiritual Power cost reduction for using an Upper Grade Spiritual Artifact is about seventy percent.’
He only needed to expend thirty percent of the normal Spiritual Power to unleash the artifact’s full power.
However, even that thirty percent was still a significant drain for an early-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator like him.
He wouldn’t be able to sustain it for an extended period.
’I’ll check the effect again after my Shoe Combat Talent reaches six stars. For now, I can’t use these Half-Hidden Spirit Boots for long-distance travel.’
After the simple test, Fang Yun took off the Upper Grade Half-Hidden Spirit Boots.
For the time being, he would have to continue using his four-pattern Half-Hidden Spirit Boots for travel. The eight-pattern ones could be saved for critical moments.
For instance, he could switch to them just before entering the core territory of a Demon influence.
There were still three days until the beginning of the twelfth month.
During these three days, Fang Yun planned to spend one day cultivating and two days Refining Spirit Ascension Pills.
He decided to cultivate first.
Not long after he perfectly refined a batch of Spirit Ascension Pills, the calendar turned to the beginning of the twelfth month.
The settlement for the eleventh month had begun.
Fang Yun quickly opened the light screen.
——
Refined Upper Grade Spiritual Artifact: Half-Hidden Spirit Boots x1. Talent Points +21,863
...
Sect Influence: 70%
Talent Point Bonus: 390%
Settlement: Talent Points +163,118
——
An Upper Grade Spiritual Artifact with Eight Spirit Patterns typically provided over 20,000 base Talent Points, but rarely more than 23,000.
His pair of Half-Hidden Spirit Boots was considered quite good among Upper Grade Spiritual Artifacts with Eight Spirit Patterns.
The settlement granting him nearly 22,000 base Talent Points was a testament to the quality of his work.
With the new Talent Points from the settlement, he could now draw for Combat Talents one hundred and sixty-three times. With a single thought, Fang Yun navigated to the Combat Talent interface.
Without a moment’s hesitation, he began drawing one at a time.
The pain of upgrading one Combat Talent was already hard enough to endure; he was afraid he wouldn’t be able to handle two upgrading at once.
He would take it slow.
On the one hundred and twelfth draw, Fang Yun’s Shield Combat Talent finally upgraded.
After the searing heat from the upgrade subsided, he rested for a moment before continuing to draw for talents.
This time, there was no need to draw one by one.
The only remaining Combat Talent that hadn’t been upgraded was his Shoe Combat Talent.
Fang Yun looked at his fifty-one remaining draws and his Shoe Combat Talent, which needed thirteen more successful draws to upgrade.
’If my luck is bad, I won’t be able to upgrade the Shoe Combat Talent this month.’
Fortunately, Fang Yun’s luck with drawing talents wasn’t too bad.
With his fifty-one remaining chances, he performed all the draws at once.
The Shoe Combat Talent successfully upgraded, with three fragments to spare.
As another wave of searing heat subsided, all of his Combat Talents had been upgraded to six stars.
Next month, he would go back to focusing on his Life Talents.
Upgrading all his seven-star Life Talents to eight stars would require approximately one hundred and ten million Talent Points.
Unlike before, excluding the months where he earned over a million points in one go, his average monthly gain of Talent Points had now reached around one hundred and forty thousand.
At a rate of one hundred and forty thousand per month, it would take about sixty-five years of accumulation to upgrade all his Life Talents to eight stars.
However, considering that his average yearly gain was steadily increasing, and that there were occasional windfalls of points, the actual time to upgrade all his seven-star Life Talents to eight stars would likely be less than fifty years.
After closing the light screen, Fang Yun took a short break.
Then, he began a new test.
His Shoe Combat Talent was now at six stars, and he had a pair of Upper Grade Half-Hidden Spirit Boots.
’Time to see how much Spiritual Power I’ll consume using an Upper Grade Spiritual Artifact now, as an early-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator with the support of a six-star Combat Talent.’
Fang Yun quickly put on the Half-Hidden Spirit Boots with Eight Spirit Patterns and activated them at full power.
"The Spiritual Power consumption reduction has reached eighty-five percent. Excellent!"
Fang Yun was very satisfied with the change brought by his Combat Talent upgrade.
The Spiritual Power reduction had increased from seventy percent to eighty-five percent. At first glance, that might seem like a fifteen-percent improvement, but in reality, it meant he now consumed half the Spiritual Power he did before when using the Upper Grade Spiritual Artifact.
Being able to use it for twice as long meant he could accomplish much more.
After concluding the simple test, Fang Yun was already considering his next move: annihilating another Demon’s Foundation Establishment Influence.
For him, this was the best way to acquire a large number of Talent Points.
The Upper Grade Half-Hidden Spirit Boots already possessed a powerful concealment effect. Now, boosted by his upgraded talent, that effect would be even more astonishing.
’...But I shouldn’t be hasty. I’ll wait until I break through to the mid-Foundation Establishment Stage.’
As he thought it over, Fang Yun decided to play it safe for now.
He wasn’t far from reaching the peak of the early Foundation Establishment Stage. In a year and a half at most, he should reach that peak. Then, with the help of an Upper Grade Cyan Clarity Pill, he could complete his breakthrough to the mid-Foundation Establishment Stage.
In the meantime, he could gather better intelligence, making it easier to select a more advantageous target.
Looking at the current situation, Fang Yun felt that the Demons were biding their time, preparing for something big. Ever since their last large-scale offensive, there had been very few Foundation Establishment Level battles.