Tokyo underground city

Chapter 78 Absorbing the Curse

After choosing [Sword Theory], Lin Huai'en tried the Gray Wrath, but didn't feel anything strange.

"Perhaps it can only be activated when facing the enemy...?"

He was a little unsure, but he comforted himself in his heart and turned his attention to his talent value.

Since he chose the bronze level [Sword Theory], he was prepared for a long-term war of resistance. Instead of upgrading his skills, what he has to do now is to improve his understanding of sword theory and strive to promote [Sword Theory] from bronze level to silver level.

When he thought that he had already obtained the bronze level [Sword Theory] from the Mummy Swordsman for less than a month, he felt that this should not be a difficult task.

For now, the cursed body is still the focus of his improvement.

Now, his cursed body is level 1.9, and the pain bonus of the Scar of Pain is 180%. After counting the [Enhanced Curse] of Gray Fury, the actual bonus is 360%.

Today's curse resistance is 51, and the actual pain bonus obtained in the end is [108.5% (-251.5%)].

"Sure enough, just relying on the 'To Diana' piece of equipment is still too heavy a burden..."

Lin Huai'en felt a little helpless when he saw that he finally had a 100% pain bonus.

"51 points of curse resistance is just barely enough. It's fine when you don't use Gray Cyan Wrath - the pain bonus is only [3.6%] - once you put your hand on Gray Cyan Wrath, the pain bonus will be immediate It becomes [108.5%]..."

Thinking of this, Lin Huai'en glanced at the Gray Wrath in his hand, and reacted with some hindsight: "It turns out that it's not the pain mark that has been disgusting me... but this guy like you..."

But he didn't have a good solution for this situation. After all, if he wanted to improve his [Sword Skill], he would have to rely on the form transformation function of the Gray Fury, and there was no way he would give up such a handy weapon.

But he always felt that if he continued to improve his cursed body, sooner or later he would have to face the problem of "having the best of both worlds".

"Forget it, just get used to it anyway."

"As long as you avoid getting hurt, it's not a big deal."

Lin Huai'en comforted himself somewhat helplessly, and clicked 0.1 talent points on the Cursed Body.

Nothing happens, as if this is just an ordinary upgrade.

However, after he opened the attribute panel of [Cursed Body], he discovered that the skill description had changed.

[Cursed Body (Lv.2.0): You can use the true power of cursed items and absorb the curses attached to certain items. As the skill level increases, further benefits will be obtained. 】

[Cursed items that can currently be absorbed: Kiss of Salt, To Diana, Cursed Heart of the Wilderness (Anruson)]

"Absorb the curse attached to certain items..."

Seeing the new skill description, Lin Huai'en was stunned for a moment: "Is this the new ability that the Mummy Swordsman mentioned before, used to purify the 'Heart of the Wilderness'..."

He tried to click on "The Cursed Heart of the Wilderness" and took a look.

[The Cursed Heart of the Wilderness (Anruson)]

[Status: Contaminated, unusable, to be absorbed]

[Absorption time: 6 days and 12 hours]

[Absorption cost: Magic quality permanently reduced by 0.1]

[Absorption reward: Curse resistance permanently increased by 2]

"The magic quality is permanently reduced, and the curse resistance is permanently increased!"

When Lin Huai'en saw the "absorption price", his pupils shrank suddenly.

But the "absorption reward" made his pupils relax again.

"Although the price of absorption is a bit too heavy, the reward of absorption is indeed what I urgently need..."

Lin Huai'en blinked and suddenly noticed that there was a small reminder of "replaceable" in the "absorption cost" column.

He subconsciously poked a small prompt with his finger, and then unfolded a "list of alternative sacrifices."

[List of alternative sacrifices]

【Salt Kiss】

【Green Man Wristband】

【Lover's Crown】

【To Diana】

【Gray Green Fury】

…

"These are...the equipment on me?!"

Lin Huai'en was stunned for a moment, looked at the list, and finally tried to choose Salt Kiss, and then a line of prompts popped up on his attribute panel——

["Salt Kiss" has been selected. After this prop is used to absorb the curse, it will be completely destroyed. Are you sure to start absorbing it? 】

Lin Huai'en was startled and quickly clicked cancel.

"After absorbing the curse, it will be completely destroyed..."

"In other words, by consuming equipment, I can improve my curse resistance and purify a cursed item..."

Lin Huai'en quickly understood the upgraded new abilities of the Cursed Body.

He looked at [Kiss of Salt] and [To Diana]. These two pieces of equipment were the only two pieces of equipment on his body that could be absorbed, apart from the Heart of the Wilderness.

【Salt Kiss】

[Status: Contaminated, waiting to be absorbed]

[Absorption time: 3 days and 1 hour]

[Absorption cost: thinking memory permanently reduced by 0.2]

[Absorption reward: Magic quality permanently increased by 0.1]

.

【To Diana】

[Status: Contaminated, waiting to be absorbed]

[Absorption time: 10 days and 15 hours]

[Cost of absorption: Curse resistance permanently reduced by 6]

[Absorption reward: Curse resistance permanently increased by 3]

"6 for 3..."

Lin Huai'en saw the absorption costs and rewards of [Salt Kiss] and [To Diana], and immediately understood the meaning of this mechanism.

"The purification bracelet requires 6 points of curse resistance, and then it can increase the curse resistance by 3 points."

"This seems like a loss-making deal, but if you think about it carefully, the price can be provided through equipment, but the reward is obtained by yourself. In other words -

"It's just waste utilization..."

Lin Huaien threw the bow and arrow set he got from Sen Yan onto the sacrifice list and tried it. The attribute panel prompted him——

[The value of this item is insufficient and cannot be used for sacrifice. 】

"So, not all equipment can be used for absorption..."

Lin Huai'en tried the Cuiman wristband again, but this time no beep sounded.

"Non-cursed items can also be used as sacrifices..."

Then he tried the Beloved Crown, and the results showed that [Salt Kiss] could be used, and [To Diana] and [Cursed Wild Heart] both indicated that the price was insufficient.

"Damaged items do not affect the sacrifice, but the performance of the item affects the price paid. If the performance of the item is too poor, it cannot be used for sacrifice..."

"How many more sacrifices should we choose?"

Lin Huai'en tried it and found that there seemed to be no such operation.

"You can only choose one sacrifice at a time... This is quite reasonable."

Otherwise, he could just buy a bunch of miscellaneous dungeon equipment, or even choose a bunch of healing potions, and then use them for sacrifice.

"That would turn it into a rubbish mobile card game."

But the dungeon is a real system after all, and it is impossible for such a dramatic function to appear.

"In a sense, the 'dungeon system' only simplifies and assists explorers in understanding the rules in the dungeon, and does not change reality in the true sense..."

Lin Huai'en thought for a moment, put [Salt Kiss] up, and clicked to confirm.

Then, he felt an extremely fine black mist rising from the cursed heart of the wilderness. This black mist circled him twice and wrapped around the Salt Kiss in his hand.

The Salt Kiss trembled slightly, a crack suddenly appeared on the top of the cane, and the dark brown cane gradually turned gray, as if it might break at any time.

"Is this the 'absorption curse'..."

Lin Huai'en saw that the black mist rising from the cursed heart of the wilderness, after being filtered by the kiss of salt, turned into an unusually pure gray mist, and then followed his arm, wrapped around his body, and was His body absorbed it.

"You can actually increase your own attributes and resistance by consuming equipment... What a magical skill."

Lin Huai'en looked at the 0.4 talent points left after the upgrade, hesitated for a moment, and even came up with an idea——

From now on, he will no longer rely on talent points to improve his attributes.

But thinking of this, he briefly calculated that the cursed body can increase its basic attributes by 0.1 almost every 3 to 5 days. As for the five basic attributes, the talent points required to increase from 1.0 to 10.0 are 45.0 points. It will take almost 4 to 5 years to fully upgrade them just by relying on the cursed body.

"In other words, too slow."

He sighed, gave up the idea, and focused the remaining 0.4 talent points on muscle strength, visceral endurance, and nerve reflexes in a ratio of 2:1:1.

Now his basic attributes are——

[Muscle strength (evaluation E): 2.38]

[Organ toughness (evaluation F): 1.87] (Whistle +0.3)

[Nerve reflex (evaluation E): 2.50] (wrist guard +0.3)

[Thinking memory (evaluation F): 1.45] (map +0.5)

[Magic quality (evaluation F-): 1.3] (wrist guard +0.5 bracelet +0.2)

"Two E-level attributes and two F-level attributes, among which the nerve reflex is the highest...with 2.59 points..."

Lin Huai'en looked at his attributes with some satisfaction.

Then, he suddenly froze.

"Nerve reflex 2.50?! Why is my nerve reflex attribute only 2.50? I remember it was already 2.49 before..."

Lin Huai'en had a bad feeling in his heart——

"Could it be said that... the rise is suppressed?!"

He quickly took off the Cuiman wristband, and sure enough, his nerve reflex changed from 2.50 points to 2.29 points.

"Is this...is this the dungeon's rise suppression..."

Lin Huai'en shuddered subconsciously, and he suddenly remembered that he had heard similar statements at Wilderness House.

In addition to the experience value limit, the dungeon's upward suppression is also reflected in the "attribute suppression" and "skill suppression" of explorers.

[To put it simply, in the "very shallow" dungeon, the maximum limit for all attributes and skills of the explorer is 2.5; in the "shallow" dungeon. The maximum limit is 5.0; for "mid-level" dungeons, the maximum limit is 7.5; for "deep" dungeons, the maximum limit is 10.0. 】

[Once this limit is exceeded, especially if one's own basic attributes exceed this limit, the explorer will immediately feel the effect of rising suppression. 】

[Specifically reflected in the body are "fatigue", "vomiting", "dizziness", "hallucinations" and "hemorrhage". 】

[Each negative state corresponds to a basic attribute. When all attributes exceed the limit, all negative effects will act on the explorer at the same time, and as the upward suppression increases, they will gradually become stronger and even cause death. 】

[So, in the blue card stage, most explorers can still tolerate the negative effects of ascent suppression and often return to the surface world. But starting from "Profound Purple", there will be fewer and fewer explorers willing to return to the ground frequently. So much so that when it comes to the black card stage, most people will only go back once every five or six years on average if it is not necessary. 】

"The more powerful the explorer, the more restrictions he will be subject to..."

"Is this rising suppression..."

Lin Huai'en sighed, suddenly feeling a bit sad.

"From this perspective, the original intention of the Salt Goddess to establish the 'Eternal Kingdom' does not seem to be incomprehensible."

"But...thinking about these is too far away for me. After all, I am only a trainee explorer at the gray card level now."