After finishing his attribute enhancements, Gusion shifted his attention to the remaining inheritance crystals in his possession.
He wasn't planning to use them to enhance his specialized abilities, but simply using them as currency in the trading market seemed a bit wasteful. After thinking it over, he decided to use the inheritance crystals to further enhance his Armament Haki.
Currently, his Armament Haki was at level 6. This was the result of training it in the Kengan world, which saved him some inheritance crystals.
However, he discovered that starting from level 6, using inheritance crystals to enhance Armament Haki became more expensive.
Previously, it only took one small inheritance crystal to enhance Armament Haki by one level, but now it required three. Gusion speculated that this was because the Haki system became stronger at higher tiers.
"End Space, help me enhance Armament Haki by one level."
[Request received. Confirm use of 3x Small Inheritance Crystals plus 1200 End Coins for enhancement?]
Gusion chose to confirm. He planned to enhance his Armament Haki straight to level 9, then use time spent in the space to train it up to level 10.
After a while, Gusion was left with just one small inheritance crystal, and his wallet had shrunk to 37,800 End Coins.
The results were gratifying. After level 5, the strength of Armament Haki increased noticeably. This time, being enhanced up to level 9 made a clear difference.
He used Mazuko to slash his own arm, producing the sound of metal clashing. Only a faint white mark appeared on his arm, and that was even after Mazuko had been upgraded.
Yes, after killing Shen Wulong, his Mazuko's growth reached 100%. After several hours of transformation, it had now evolved into a purple-quality main weapon.
[Mazuko]
Origin: Bleach
Rarity: Purple
Main Weapon Type: Sword
Durability: 100/100
Sharpness: 32 (+12)
Tenacity: 31 (+11)
Usage Requirement: Explorer 40440404
Details: Zanpakutō forged by Explorer 40440404 injecting soul into an Asauchi. Bound automatically. Not for sale or trade. Only the owner can activate it.
Weapon Skill 1 (Passive): Soul Nourishment
Description: When the explorer uses Mazuko to kill an enemy, it devours a small amount of the enemy's soul power, nourishing and increasing its growth. The explorer may also feed their own soul to Demon Prison for a much higher growth rate (Warning: This is extremely dangerous).
Current Growth Progress: 3.91%
Weapon Skill 2 (Active): Shikai (Initial Release)
Description: Activating Shikai continuously consumes the explorer's soul source, manifesting Mazuko's true form. In the Shikai state, all combat attributes temporarily increase by 3 points, neural reflexes are improved, and Mazuko's sharpness and toughness are increased.
Shikai Skill (Passive): Demonic Scourge
When Demon Prison damages an enemy, it inflicts a Corrosion effect. Enemies with Corrosion recover 50% slower and take corrosion damage per second equal to 20% of the attack's max damage. Corrosion lasts 10 seconds and can stack on the same wound.
Cooldown: None
Rating: 200+ (Range: 100–200)
Evaluation: There's a demon god imprisoned in your heart.
[]
With this evolution, Mazuko became a top-tier, max-rated purple-quality main weapon, showing how much its abilities had improved.
Sharpness and toughness saw significant boosts. The Shikai effect was also much stronger, with the all-attribute bonus increasing to 3 points.
The previous Shikai effect was now listed as a unique third skill, exclusive to Demon Prison's Shikai. The effect was drastically improved: healing reduction jumped from 10% to 50%; corrosion damage doubled, and duration doubled too. Overall, the damage was now several tiers higher.
That's the power of purple gear—gear that is usually unattainable for first-tier explorers. When Gusion browsed the trading market earlier, he'd only seen two or three pieces of purple gear, and even those sellers struggled to find buyers.
Currently, in End Space, the market price for a purple-quality main weapon starts at 10,000–30,000 End Coins. Most first-tier explorers can hardly afford such a huge sum.
But Gusion had the means. He still had over 30,000 End Coins, enough to buy one or two pieces of purple equipment suitable for himself.
In the Kengan Ashura world, he learned many martial arts, some of which the space recognized as skills, so there was no rush to feed his Origin Seed with new skills.
Feeding the Origin Seed also takes time; absorbing his current skills would take dozens of days. Therefore, he didn't need to buy more skill scrolls in the space for now.
As a well-off Pioneer, he couldn't rely on just a main weapon.
So, after freshening up, Gusion headed straight for the first-tier explorer's trade market.
Just as he arrived, he heard the End Space mail alert.
[According to the contract, Explorer Exchange has repaid the owed End Coins. Please check your mailbox.]
Gusion smiled, almost forgetting about this. After the Kengan elimination tournament, Exchange had returned. Despite returning at different times, in terms of space time, they should have arrived back almost simultaneously.
Exchange must have just settled accounts and, with End Coins in hand, promptly repaid his debt.
Now, Gusion had over 39,000 End Coins—perhaps enough to buy two pieces of purple gear.
After browsing for a while, Gusion noticed a crowd at a particular stall, so he went over out of curiosity.
"Your asking price is too high! No one here can afford that."
"Lower it, I'll take it for 10,000!"
"Sister, maybe you should try the upper levels with the second-tier explorers?"
"…"
The onlookers were haggling from all sides. When Gusion squeezed in and saw the stall owner, he was surprised—he recognized her.
The stall owner was a cool-looking woman with a single ponytail—Eve, whom he'd met in the Kengan world.
"Goshujin-sama!"
Eve was also surprised to see Gusion, not expecting to meet him again so soon.
Her exclamation caused others to back away slightly, looking at Gusion with some awe.
After all, a beautiful girl with a purple item for sale, meaning she was either very strong or had a powerful team behind her. People like that were top-tier among first-tier explorers. Yet she called this man "Goshujinsama"—what did that mean?
Any explorer who survived several worlds in the End space wasn't stupid; they all took note of Gusion's appearance, determined to steer clear if they ever met him in a mission world.
"Nice stuff. Is it yours?"
Gusion looked at the accessory on the stall, both praising and curious.
He knew Eve's level, and Kengan world wouldn't produce such an item. Where did she get a purple accessory?
"Goshujinsama. This is being sold for a senior in our adventure group. She's in urgent need of cash, so this is already the lowest price."
Eve explained, picking up a dark red ring and handing it to Gusion for inspection.
[Executioner]
Origin: Berserk (Derivative World)
Quality: Purple
Equipment Type: Accessory
Requirement: Strength 24, Spirit 26
Details: A ring created by the Hand of God, imbued with demonic power and a bloody, ominous force.
Skill 1: Berserk (Passive)
Effect: When equipped, attacks have a 20% chance to critically hit, dealing 200% extra damage.
Skill 2: Execution (Passive)
Effect: Attacks deal an extra 10% magic damage and 10% physical damage, and inflict a tearing effect, making it easier to destroy enemy limbs.
Rating: 200
Evaluation: Slaughter in the blood pool!
[]
This item, although not with a "+" rating, was still max-rated and a top-tier piece of equipment.
"How much?" Gusion asked.