GA: Chapter 120: The Chat Group's Enhancement Function — The Terrifying Star-Absorbing Technique After Enhancement!
With the power of the Twelve Authorities fully restored and his strength back at its peak, the Holy Lord paid Uchiha Madara's challenge no particular mind.
As far as he was concerned, there were only two members of the current chat group worth taking seriously.
The first was Sacred Guard Left Wing, Tenshi Hikari — backed by the full resources of an entire civilization, and no one knew just how far she'd already come.
The second was Child of Nature, Bai Xuan — the sheer weight of malice that had pressed in on him from nearly the entire world back then still gave the Holy Lord pause even now.
Everyone else?
Heh.
The Holy Lord was just about to say something dismissive when he suddenly remembered the dog that went by the name Thor, God of Thunder.
...Fine. There were three people in the chat group worth taking seriously.
"Ding — group member Holy Lord has entered the virtual combat space."
"Ding — group member Uchiha Dance King has entered the virtual combat space."
Lighthouse Richest: "The Holy Lord's been a little full of himself lately, hasn't he?"
Electromaster: "Has he? Isn't that just how a devil is supposed to act?"
Lighthouse Richest: "..."
Lighthouse Richest: "Annoyingly hard to argue with."
The Holy Lord was a devil, after all.
Ordinary Group Leader: "I really want to try that enhancement function — has anyone actually succeeded with it?"
The enhancement function could strengthen far more than just abilities — bloodlines, talent, constitution, even divine rank were all on the table. The only unknown was the success rate.
But the most important detail was that the point cost wasn't outrageous — just one thousand points per attempt. If it worked, the value was through the roof.
The group shop's functions allowed purchasing items from other worlds, but every power system had its limits, its plateaus — whether technological or mystical, that was equally true.
The enhancement function, however, could let you shatter those plateaus directly and break through to a new realm.
One thousand points wasn't steep by any measure — but with not a single successful example anywhere in the group so far, it was very hard to work up the nerve to try.
Lighthouse Richest: "The success rate on that thing has to be absolutely tiny."
Lighthouse Richest: "I used it three times on my Iron Man armor. All three failed."
Lighthouse Richest: "Three thousand points! That was THREE THOUSAND POINTS!"
Tony Stark's message practically wept.
If he could go back, he would never in a million years spend three thousand points on that function.
It wasn't like the other group members — he didn't exactly have an endless supply of things to trade.
Three thousand points was not cheap for him.
Gone. All gone at once. How was anyone supposed to cope with that?
Worst Spirit: "I haven't tried it yet. After watching Tony's experience, I don't think I will anytime soon either."
Tokisaki Kurumi's point reserves weren't exactly sparse, but the idea of gambling them on a probability-based function felt deeply unreliable to her.
She much preferred spending points on things she could see results from.
Like the group shop.
Be My Son: "This old man tried to enhance the Tremor-Tremor Fruit. Also failed."
Turn Da Gu Into Soup: "I wanted to enhance the Spacium Beam, but..."
Of everyone who'd tried, he'd probably spent the most — a full ten thousand points.
Ten attempts. Every single one a failure.
His feelings were... complicated.
It was looking like he wasn't going to touch that function again until someone actually succeeded.
Golden Flash: "I tried once — enhancement on the Flying Thunder God Technique. Same result."
Worst Spirit: "I envy all of you who at least have points to try enhancing things. I don't even have that."
Worst Spirit: "Crying .jpg"
Though even if she had a thousand points, she definitely wouldn't spend them on enhancement attempts. She'd put them straight into the group shop — pick up something mystical on the cheaper end, maybe chakra seeds, spiritual energy, or a martial arts manual.
Even basic mystical items like those would be enough to improve her physical condition.
Though what she wanted most of all was still a Pokémon.
Wuwuwu — why were those little creatures so unbearably cute? And she couldn't afford one!
Dongfang Bubai: "The lower-grade the item, the higher the chance of successful enhancement."
Dongfang Bubai: "My last attempt to enhance the Glint-Glint Fruit failed — but this time, I succeeded."
Ordinary Group Leader: "Dongfang-jiejie actually got one?!"
Ordinary Group Leader: "What did you enhance? Curious .jpg"
Dongfang Bubai: "Ren Woxing's Star-Absorbing Technique."
Lighthouse Richest: "The Star-Absorbing Technique?"
Lighthouse Richest: "Why didn't you enhance your own Sunflower Manual?"
Tony Stark was genuinely puzzled. Shouldn't you enhance your own abilities with something like this? Why would she enhance a martial arts manual she hadn't even cultivated?
Dongfang Bubai: "I'd also like to know why I didn't enhance the Sunflower Manual..."
Dongfang Bai stared at the newly upgraded Star-Absorbing Technique in her hands, her feelings thoroughly mixed.
What was she supposed to say?
She'd just felt like trying it on a whim?
Except for someone from a martial arts world like hers, converting points was considerably harder than it was for the vast majority of group members. Where did she get off making casual attempts like this?
And yet — that was precisely what had happened.
In one fleeting moment, she'd suddenly felt the urge to try enhancing the Star-Absorbing Technique. And it had worked.
The result of that enhancement, though, left her feeling more than a little regretful.
If only it had been the Sunflower Manual.
[Star-Absorbing Technique · Enhanced +1]
[Effect: Can plunder the three souls of essence, energy, and spirit from enemies, nourishing oneself, while seizing all martial arts knowledge from them and converting it for personal use.]
[Note: No negative side effects whatsoever.]
The original Star-Absorbing Technique could only absorb internal energy, and came with significant limitations and serious after-effects. This version was more than double the power in every dimension.
Plundering the three souls of essence, energy, and spirit — that encompassed far more than internal energy. It included mental power and physical constitution as well. Even in Taoist cultivation, the three souls were considered foundational — the most powerful cultivators could project their consciousness outside their bodies through sheer strength of will alone.
And then there was seizing all martial arts knowledge and making it your own — while draining an opponent's three souls, every scrap of martial cultivation they possessed would be stripped away simultaneously. Whatever art they practiced, it would be perfectly absorbed and converted into her own ability without exception.
To put it simply: if she killed Feng Qingyang of the Huashan Sect right now, decades of sword mastery would become hers on the spot.
Every technique — whether the Nine Swords of Dugu or Huashan's own sword forms — would be hers to use freely, performing at exactly the same level Feng Qingyang had reached.
Given enough time, she could walk a path in the martial arts that no one before or after her would ever match.
She'd been half-worried at first that such a terrifying ability would come with some hidden drawback — some cost that would turn back on her. But the chat group's final note had dissolved that concern entirely.
No negative side effects whatsoever.
Nothing in the world was more reassuring than those five words.
But that was also precisely why the true horror of the enhanced Star-Absorbing Technique was so clear to her now.
Even the original, unenhanced version was coveted by every martial artist in the jianghu. An enhanced version like this — the temptation it would pose to every person in the entire world would be almost impossible to resist.
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