[Name: Demon Blade - Shiranui]
[Rank: C]
[Type: Status]
[Effect: A forbidden technique that sacrifices the user's life force to resonate with the weapon in hand, transforming cold weapons like swords into Demon Blades.
When activating the skill, the user will emit a dense crimson aura that vanishes shortly after.
Following this, the user enters a 'Man and Blade as One' mode, transforming into the Demon Blade Shiranui, which drastically enhances combat capabilities. Simultaneously, the user gains a vampiric ability to plunder life force from injured targets.
The Demon Blade requires a continuous, massive supply of the user's life force to sustain itself, an amount that often far exceeds the life force plundered. If the user cannot replenish the consumed life force, there is a risk to their life.
The degree of enhancement is closely related to the individual's strength and vitality. Theoretically, with sufficient supply, the Demon Blade can unleash power tens of times greater than the user's normal state, enough to allow a C-rank Valkyrie's base stats to touch the lower limit of A-rank for a short period.
However, when the user reaches A-rank, the enhancement provided by the Demon Blade will diminish significantly; once the user steps into the Critical-class or above, the Demon Blade will no longer provide any enhancement.]
[Note: Combustion is just a reaction. We spellcasters use magic to control combustion itself directly. This thing you brought me? No, absolutely not.
Look at this, the decomposition diagram, look closely... The combustion phenomenon is just a side effect! In reality, this biological tissue self-immolates because it cannot withstand its own intense activity. It has nothing to do with fire itself.
Simply put, in the first stage, the user's biological tissues all activate rapidly; in the second stage, the biological tissues undergo uncontrollably rapid metabolism; in the third stage, they burst forth with tremendous energy.
The essence of the Demon Blade Shiranui is not fire, but the phenomenon of life running in overdrive! — Charlotte Hermes, Research Assistant at the Association's Helix Workshop]
After reading the information, Prometheus had a strange look on her face. [...It subtly complements the Host.]
[Right? Right? The moment I pulled the Human Immortal Dao, I decided I would come here to exchange for this skill.]
The corners of Fuli's eyes lifted, his brow unable to hide his high spirits.
[The power of Demon Blade Shiranui is far beyond C-rank. The secondary reason it's classified here is that the enhancement drops off significantly after A-rank. The main reason is that it extracts the user's life force too rapidly, to a tragic degree that 'insane' doesn't even begin to describe.]
He still remembered a temporary teammate who had used this move. The girl had looked about his age before, but after the battle, even her dazzling white teeth had all fallen out.
Perhaps part of the reason was that she was a cheap clone created by some medium-sized organization to act as a disposable bomb, but the consumption was still shocking.
Too weak for the strong to care about, too costly for the weak to use—that was why the Demon Blade was rated C-rank.
However, this only applied to ordinary people with limited lifespans.
The characteristics of the Human Immortal Dao gave Fuli a nearly endless lifespan. This allowed him to squander his vitality without heartache, like a prodigal son selling his father's land, confidently entrusting his future to the naked blade.
In this case, the Demon Blade's extreme benefits became apparent.
Fuli thought to himself quite happily, [This is the information advantage brought by being a 'New Game+' player. I can select the most suitable things for myself within a certain range.]
[To be honest, that's true,] the little girl agreed. [Easily acquiring a skill that allows you to challenge higher-level opponents sounds just like a novel protagonist.]
[Easily challenge higher levels?] The latter shook his head. [That's not necessarily true.]
[?]
[Prometheus, let me ask you. What do you think is the fundamental reason ability users learn powerful combat skills? Is it to come out on top among peers, or even to challenge those above their level?]
[Isn't it?]
[That's part of it, but the more important goal,] Fuli raised his index finger and said seriously, [is to avoid getting absolutely destroyed in combat by people lower level than yourself.]
[?]
The little AI indicated that his thought pattern was truly beyond her calculations. Fuli continued calmly:
[Let's clear up a misconception first. In this world, there are no 'goodies' like genetic locks or cultivation realms where you gain power just by breaking through to a corresponding level.]
The Honkai world was different. These guys were more like high school students studying hard for ten years.
Only when one's own foundation was sufficient could they leap over the Dragon Gate (pass the rank assessment) and get into their dream university (obtain the corresponding qualification).
For example, Schicksal's Valkyries had to reach the corresponding range in strength, constitution, agility, and other aspects, and pass an assessment before they could call themselves X-rank Valkyries.
It wasn't that being ranked gave you the strength, but having the strength allowed you to be ranked.
And it didn't end there. The essence of the college entrance exam is the carp leaping over the Dragon Gate.
As long as they got into their desired university, college students didn't have to be as tightly wound as they were during their three years of high school.
But what about the Honkai world? Where was its Dragon Gate?
After C-rank came B-rank, after B-rank came A-rank, and so on and so forth, endlessly.
Precisely because of this, on this single-log bridge to becoming stronger, anyone who didn't want to die, didn't want to be caught by those behind them, and didn't want to be left behind, had to hustle—hustle desperately, hustle brutally.
If you don't learn, if you slack off, if your blade rusts, someone who hustles harder than you will destroy you, snatch everything you have, and make it their own. So tell me, are you going to learn or not?
[You say I can challenge higher levels in the Shiranui state, but how could those other guys who hustled to a higher level than me not have equally high-spec techniques, methods, weapons, and armor?]
Fuli shook his head slightly. [Everyone is seeking a sense of security. If you fail the college entrance exam, you can try again. If your aspirations aren't high, you can go to a vocational school and muddle through. As long as you're willing to endure hardship, in modern China, you won't starve to death.]
But life? You only have one. If it's gone, it's really gone.
[The reason the Honkai side produces so many perverts is based on this. Their minds are constantly in the tense state of preparing for the college entrance exam. It would be abnormal if it didn't drive a few of them crazy.]
At the end, he even cracked a harmless joke. [I remember when I went for a mental evaluation last time, they even issued me a certificate. But I didn't read the content; I just tore it up.]
Fuli was smiling, but Prometheus, worried about her host's mental state, couldn't smile.
A giant maze seemed to appear before her eyes. In the maze, a group of people were running forward desperately. Chasing relentlessly behind them was a rolling stone large enough to crush everyone.
The speeding boulder would occasionally crush those who ran slowly. Meanwhile, many people would emerge from other corners of the maze to join the running crowd.
Everyone was hustling, so the hustle itself became meaningless; but if someone chose not to hustle, they would be crushed and eliminated immediately, one hundred percent.
The girl shared her thoughts with her host. Fuli thought for a moment and replied, [Thinking about it that way isn't wrong, but you should also add an exit at the end of the maze; an exit called 'S-rank' that allows one to escape the maze and gain the power to control one's own destiny.]
S-rank?!
The little AI trembled inwardly. Recovering her senses, she planned to question her host in detail.
A noise came from nearby.
The human and AI, interrupted in their communication, looked up in perfect sync toward the source.
The hooded figure, holding a rectangular storage box, was slowly walking toward them.