Chapter 170 - 118: Silver Quality Thorny Sparrow Hunter
The Sun Wheel Thorns used its thorny vines to precisely cut the two Thorny Sparrow Hunters free.
If there were only one Thorny Sparrow Hunter, it might have been hesitant upon encountering the thorns.
But when a pair of Thorny Sparrow Hunters discovers a thorn plant with astonishing potential, their first instinct is to use their Basic Skill, Sparrow Companion Thorn, to form a Contract with it.
This would not only grant them power but also allow them to build a nest on the thorns and raise their offspring.
Before long, the Sun Wheel Thorns unfurled its thorny vines.
The two Thorny Sparrow Hunters, which had originally resembled small sparrows, appeared before Zhong Yi once more.
This time, the appearance of the two Thorny Sparrow Hunters had changed dramatically.
Their size hadn’t changed much, but their beaks had grown more slender and their talons sharper.
Their feathers had turned the same black-green as the thorny vines, and they now bore golden ring-like patterns similar to those on the Sun Wheel Thorns’ vines.
Their bodies were wreathed in a brilliant, orange, flaming light.
It was truly hard to believe that two Mortal Beast Level avian Guardian Beasts could possess such a stunning appearance.
The two Thorny Sparrow Hunters had received instructions from the Sun Wheel Thorns beforehand. When they saw Zhong Yi again, not only did they show no hostility, but they even circled in front of him like guards before landing back on the thorny vines.
Zhong Yi used All Things Exploration to once again inspect the Thorny Sparrow Hunters, whose appearances had changed so drastically.
[Guardian Beast Name]: Thorny Sparrow Hunter
[Guardian Beast Species]: Parasitic Finch Species/Weiqie Genus
[Guardian Beast Level]: Mortal Beast Level (1/10)
[Guardian Beast Type]: Light Element/Fire Element
[Guardian Beast Quality]: Silver Quality
Skills:
[Sparrow Companion Thorn]: Seeks out a primary thorn plant to parasitize. After parasitizing the thorn, the user will gain the thorn’s attributes and power. If the thorn dies, the user will also perish due to their Contractual Relationship.
Exclusive Traits:
[Life-Sacrifice Burst]: Sacrifices its own Energy to enter a burst state, gaining a temporary increase in power. After the burst state ends, it will become completely exhausted.
[Fire Feather Life-Burning]: Uses Flame to temper its specialized Parasitic Feathers. In combat, after these feathers are embedded into an enemy’s body, they will continuously burn the target’s Life Force. The burning intensity is determined by the number of feathers embedded in the target.
A Thorny Sparrow Hunter’s Tier and Quality will always match those of the Sun Wheel Thorns it has a Contract with.
The Quality of both Thorny Sparrow Hunters had increased from Unranked to Silver Quality.
An irrepressible smile spread across Zhong Yi’s face as he saw the Thorny Sparrow Hunters’ new Exclusive Traits: Life-Sacrifice Burst and Fire Feather Life-Burning.
’When I first got the Sunlight Thorn, I didn’t just see it as a Functional Guardian Beast for rapidly increasing its power.’
’Back then, I hoped that as the Sunlight Thorn’s Tier and Quality increased, it would gain some combat power of its own.’
’But after obtaining the Thorny Sparrow Hunters, the Sun Wheel Thorns has become their host.’
’In the defensive system formed by the Sun Wheel Thorns and the Thorny Sparrow Hunters, the sparrows are the ones responsible for offense and guarding.’
’The optimal strategy for this combination is for the Sun Wheel Thorns to use its Skills and Exclusive Traits to rapidly increase its Tier and Quality, thereby guaranteeing the strength of the Thorny Sparrow Hunters.’
Normally, when a mated pair of Thorny Sparrow Hunters parasitizes the same thorn plant, the Skills and Exclusive Traits they obtain are often identical.
After their Quality was promoted, the Exclusive Traits these two Thorny Sparrow Hunters obtained were indeed completely identical.
Both Life-Sacrifice Burst and Fire Feather Life-Burning were extremely powerful offensive Exclusive Traits.
The Thorny Sparrow Hunter could use Life-Sacrifice Burst to sacrifice its internal Energy and raise the upper limits of its power.
For a short period, it could gain the ability to fight opponents of a higher Tier.
A burst-type Exclusive Trait like Life-Sacrifice Burst, which temporarily increases combat ability, was a perfect fit for any Combat-type Guardian Beast.
However, this kind of burst-type Exclusive Trait wasn’t without its drawbacks. After the burst, the Thorny Sparrow Hunter would fall into a state of exhaustion.
Once exhausted, it would need a long time to recover its stamina and replenish its Energy.
During this period, the Thorny Sparrow Hunter would lose its basic combat capabilities.
However, compared to a burst ability that allowed it to fight beyond its Tier for a short time, a side effect like exhaustion was negligible.
After all, the exhaustion wouldn’t cause any damage to the Thorny Sparrow Hunter’s Origin.
The Exclusive Trait Fire Feather Life-Burning, gained upon promotion to Silver Quality, allowed the Thorny Sparrow Hunter to make excellent use of the Flame Attribute it acquired from parasitizing the Sun Wheel Thorns.
Normally, the Thorny Sparrow Hunter could use its Flame Energy to temper the special feathers growing on its body, known as Parasitic Feathers.
Once these tempered Parasitic Feathers were embedded in an enemy’s body, these feathers, filled with Flame Energy, would continuously burn the target’s Life Force.
Furthermore, this method of burning an enemy’s Life Force using Parasitic Feathers could be stacked continuously.
The more feathers embedded in the enemy’s body, the more efficiently the target’s Life Force would be burned.
Besides the short-term burst provided by Life-Sacrifice Burst, the Exclusive Trait Fire Feather Life-Burning allowed the Thorny Sparrow Hunter to constantly wear down its opponent in battle, making it perfect for wars of attrition.
Because of the Star-pointing Plum Garden and the medicinal properties contained within the Star-pointing Plum blossoms, ordinary insects wouldn’t dare intrude upon Zhong Yi’s residence, no matter how well-landscaped it was.