Chapter 183, Cataclysmic integrations
[Heavenly Appraisal — Item Result]
Sovereign’s Blood Crystal (Cataclysmic Rank):
Type: Attribute Enhancement — Permanent Assimilation
A crystal formed from the condensed blood energy of a high level entity, preserved within a dimensional container until assimilation. Upon assimilation, permanently increases all four primary attributes by a flat value that scales with the crystal’s grade. At Cataclysmic rank, the flat increase per attribute is +1,200. This enhancement applies directly to the user’s base attribute values before any skill scaling calculations, meaning the +1,200 per attribute multiplies through every scaling formula in the user’s skill framework.
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He looked at this one for a longer moment.
Plus twelve hundred to all four attributes. Directly to base values, before scaling. His Strength was currently 5,924. Post-assimilation it would be 7,124. His Agility, Constitution, and Spirit would receive the same absolute increase. Every skill that scaled with those attributes would recalculate from the new base.
And every skill scaling formula in his possession multiplied through from there.
"That is very much not crap," he said.
He moved to the third.
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[Heavenly Appraisal — Item Result]
Void Step Compression Stone (Cataclysmic Rank):
Type: Movement Technique Enhancement — Permanent Integration
A stone formed from compressed void spatial energy, crystallized within the deepest atmospheric layers of a high-tier dimensional space. When integrated, permanently enhances all spatial movement techniques in the user’s possession. Effective range per step increased by sixty percent across all spatial techniques. Activation energy cost reduced by forty percent across all spatial techniques. Chain usage window for techniques with chain components extended from five seconds to twelve seconds. Additionally, spatial distortion residue from technique activation is reduced to levels undetectable by standard hunter perception, including passive perception up to level 220.
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He looked at this one and the specific thought that arrived was precise.
The Buddha Step had arrived in front of him during the pursuit because Cang Yutian had observed the destination. Void Step Compression Stone’s final property, spatial distortion residue reduction to levels undetectable by standard perception up to level 220, was not relevant against a level 240 Deity class. But the sixty percent range increase and the twelve-second chain window changed his operational movement profile in every context where Buddha Step was not the relevant threat.
And the forty percent energy cost reduction, applied to Boundless Step’s layered technique combination, changed the sustainability of his maximum movement output significantly.
"Useful," he said. He had moved beyond the crap and not-crap comment and into the mode of genuine evaluation.
He moved to the fourth.
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[Heavenly Appraisal — Item Result]
Guardian’s Undying Core (Cataclysmic Rank)
Type: Vitality Fortification — Permanent Integration
A core formed from the accumulated survival essence of a guardian-tier entity that existed for an extraordinary duration, its vitality compressed and crystallized upon its eventual dissolution. When integrated, permanently increases the user’s effective HP pool by a multiplier of 2.5 applied to the Constitution-derived HP calculation. Additionally, Second Wind’s restoration increases from thirty percent to sixty percent of maximum HP, and Soul Anchor’s invulnerability window increases from three seconds to eight seconds. The regeneration rate from Eternal Spirit Core is enhanced by a factor of 1.8 during and immediately following combat engagements.
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He read this one slowly.
HP pool multiplied by 2.5 based on Constitution. His Constitution was currently 5,242, and the Guardian’s Undying Core’s multiplier applied to the Constitution-derived HP calculation meant the effective HP pool nearly tripled from the base value. Second Wind restoring sixty percent instead of thirty percent. Soul Anchor’s invulnerability window becoming eight seconds instead of three. Eternal Spirit Core running at 1.8 times its regeneration rate during combat.
He thought about the engagement with Cang Yutian. About the point where the accumulated damage across all the cuts had reduced his functional capacity to a level where the decision to enter the storage token was the only remaining option. About Second Wind activating once and the thirty percent restoration being the finite resource it was.
If he had possessed the Guardian’s Undying Core during that engagement, the effective HP pool would have been 2.5 times larger. Second Wind would have restored sixty percent of a 2.5 times larger pool. Soul Anchor’s window would have been eight seconds.
He could not calculate whether those changes would have been sufficient to change the outcome of the engagement with the watcher. The margin was not something he could reverse-engineer precisely. But the direction of the change was not ambiguous.
He held all four Cataclysmic items in his awareness simultaneously and looked at what they represented collectively.
Dragon God’s Eye. Sovereign’s Blood Crystal. Void Step Compression Stone. Guardian’s Undying Core.
Four items that Long Tianyu had been carrying, acquired through years of active hunting and the specific access to high-tier dungeon that the Heavenfall Guild’s operations provided.
He looked at the cave wall for a moment.
"You had no idea what you were carrying for me," he said.
He did not say it with satisfaction. He said it with the honest observation quality of someone noting a perfect coincidence.
He began the assimilation process.
The Dragon God’s Eye first. Then the Sovereign’s Blood Crystal. Then the Void Step Compression Stone. Then the Guardian’s Undying Core. Each one in sequence, the assimilation time brief for the first and third, slightly longer for the second and fourth as the permanent attribute changes and the HP pool increase settled.
The Sovereign’s Blood Crystal’s attribute increase registered last, the +1,200 per attribute arriving in the system panel with the quality of a large permanent change expressing itself across every skill’s scaling simultaneously.
He opened his panel to confirm the update.
Level 230. The EXP field still showed zero accumulation because the slave mark was routing everything. But the attributes had changed.
Strength: 7,124. Agility: 6,408. Constitution: 6,564. Spirit: 6,131.
And the effective HP pool from Constitution, now multiplied by 2.5 from the Guardian’s Undying Core’s integration, was a number that the engagement with Cang Yutian’s attack would have to work significantly harder to deplete.
He closed the panel.
Outside the cave, somewhere in the cluster zones to the east, the Dragon Knight Guardian was still moving through monster populations and generating experience for a level 248 watcher who needed two more levels to release a slave mark.
Eleven days.
Lin Yi put Long Tianyu’s now-considerably-less-significant storage token in his inventory, stood up, and walked toward the cave exit.
The Abyssal Celestial Lord Blade was at his waist. The four Cataclysmic integrations were complete. The slave mark was on his forehead. The watcher was two levels from the condition that released it.
He activated Heaven Step and went back to work.