Chapter 403: Shadow Silver Hunter Strengthened Again |
Shadow stood quietly before Guan Tong.
Guan Tong looked at it. To strengthen himself, he definitely had to start with this most frequently used ability.
From the moment he obtained the [Wordless Book] until now, he had been continuously strengthening Shadow, gradually adding functions to it step by step.
From initially being just a simple, non-physically interactive phantom, to later being able to switch between Substantial-Ins substantial states, transform, become more resilient, share the Five Senses with Guan Tong... Just like Guan Tong himself, it too had been growing step by step.
Now that Guan Tong had entered the second stage of Ascension, it was time for it to grow alongside him.
"How should I strengthen you?"
Guan Tong looked at Shadow, pondering the direction of enhancement.
First were the most fundamental attributes, namely its own strength, speed, and so on.
These were directly linked to his own body. His own body had been greatly strengthened after entering the second stage of Ascension, so Shadow would automatically undergo corresponding enhancements as well.
Leaving the basic attributes unchanged, could the Substantial-Ins substantial transformation be further enhanced?
"Substantial-Ins substantial... Previously, I could only make it all insubstantial or all substantial at the same time. If it could exist in both states simultaneously, or if Shadow could split and exist independently... that would be a major advancement."
Since Shadow couldn't split into multiple individuals, all separated parts had to remain connected to the main body. This resulted in the inability for insubstantial and substantial states to coexist simultaneously, which was a pain point.
For example, if someone attacked Guan Tong at close range, and Guan Tong simultaneously controlled Shadow to launch a counterattack, if both attacks were synchronized, a problem would arise: while Guan Tong used the substantial Shadow Armor to defend against the enemy's attack, he couldn't also make Shadow insubstantial to enter the enemy's body and use an internal explosion attack.
Either both were substantial simultaneously, or both were insubstantial simultaneously. That was Shadow's current limitation.
After pondering, he didn't pick up a pen to add characters.
Because "Substantial-Ins substantial" was already on the page. What he needed to do was, through concentrated focus, let the [Wordless Book] realize his requirement.
Guan Tong first attempted to articulate the requirement: "Split into two independent individuals."
The Shadow before him began to change, a crack appearing down the middle of its body.
That crack grew larger and larger until it tore apart into two separate individuals standing apart.
However, a thin shadow line still connected these two individual Shadows.
Although that shadow line was as fine as a hair, difficult to detect with the naked eye, it still represented the failure of the requirement's materialization. Shadow couldn't truly split from one into two completely independent individuals.
"It seems 'Shadow' can only exist as a single individual... Then, Substantial and Insubstantial coexistence."
The first requirement failed, but Guan Tong wasn't discouraged. He shifted to trying the second requirement.
His Mind Power was rapidly consumed. His flowable Mind Power, with its high upper limit of a thousand points, was completely depleted within just a few breaths.
Just as he thought it had failed, he saw the Shadow standing on the right begin to gradually turn transparent.
Meanwhile, the Shadow standing on the left firmly maintained its substantial form.
Guan Tong's eyes lit up. Success!
He looked at the semi-transparent Shadow on the right. Although it wasn't completely insubstantial, that was only because his current flowable Mind Power was insufficient.
As long as his Mind Power upper limit became higher in the future, or he used his reserve Mind Power, the substantial and insubstantial Shadows could completely coexist simultaneously!
"Excellent."
Guan Tong was very satisfied with this. This way, when facing enemies, he would have another tricky offensive method at his disposal.
Originally, manipulating a Shadow that could switch between substantial and insubstantial states already made it hard for enemies to defend against. Now, with substantial and insubstantial coexistence, it would become even more elusive, enough to become an enemy's nightmare.
After obtaining the enhancement of Substantial-Insubstantial coexistence, Guan Tong didn't turn the page. He wanted to further develop Shadow's capabilities.
He quickly drew a thousand points from his reserve Mind Power, converting it into his flowable Mind Power.
Then, he set the requirement materialization target on the "Transformation" ability.
Previously, Shadow's transformation ability was mainly reflected in its form.
For example, his most common use was transforming Shadow into hair-thin shadow lines to carry out infiltration, restraint, strangulation assassinations, eavesdropping, surveillance, and other actions.
Now, Guan Tong wanted to try giving it a "disguise" ability, the ability to change appearances.
He concentrated his focus, letting the [Wordless Book] materialize this requirement. Moments later, his thousand points of flowable Mind Power remained completely undiminished.
"...It seems it's completely impossible."
The Mind Power being completely undiminished meant it wasn't a matter of insufficient Mind Power to fulfill the requirement, but rather that this requirement simply couldn't be realized.
This made Guan Tong understand that Shadow could only exist in a "pure black" form. It might be able to imitate the body contours of others, but it couldn't transform into someone else's true appearance.
He wasn't too disappointed. Obtaining the new ability of Substantial-Insubstantial coexistence had already significantly strengthened Shadow.
At this point, he turned to the third page of the book. The ability carried on this page was the Silver Hunter.
This multi-functional scattergun had helped him survive several crises in the early stages. Without it, he probably would have been finished long ago.
Later, as the overall physical capabilities of the stronger Ascendants continuously improved and their abilities were further developed, the lethality of this scattergun against enemies had significantly decreased.
Type 1 ordinary pellets, Type 2 single-headed rounds, Type 3 high-explosive rounds... Among these, the only one Guan Tong still occasionally used now was Type 3.
On the other hand, functional bullets like the Type 4 smoke grenade and Type 5 electromagnetic pulse round could still prove useful in the future.
As for the other "grappling hook" function, it hadn't been used for a long time either.
No wonder. For rapid movement now, he either directly used [Body Swap] or had Shadow transform into a large hand to carry him forward... Where would a grappling hook still be of use?
So the question was, what should be the direction for strengthening it?
Between destructive power and functionality, Guan Tong currently leaned more towards the former.
His current methods of attack, besides Shadow, only included the Small Space and the recently acquired Nano Swarm.
Although the attack power of the first two was strong, they had the problem of Intelligence leaks.
Previous battles with Yuzawa Jun and Lucifer could demonstrate this.
Yuzawa Jun analyzed that his teleportation had a time limit and also analyzed that his Small Space attack had to be used at close range.
Lucifer even specifically prepared a light bead item that could suppress Shadow's diffusion.
These all indicated that enemies wouldn't just passively take hits; they would also collect Intelligence on him and carry out targeted countermeasures.
"A tall tree catches the wind... To maintain my advantage, I must constantly update and master attack methods that enemies don't know about."
Too many people knew about Shadow's attack methods. The Small Space and Nano Swarm had to be used at close range and couldn't be deployed remotely.
Therefore, a new, powerful attack method that could be deployed remotely was exactly what Guan Tong needed now.
He took out the "Silver Hunter" from his storage ring. Its metallic luster was warm yet sharp.
"It's time to add a new Type 6 ammunition."
Having decided to add new ammunition, the next step was to refine the requirements.
Guan Tong's requirements were simple, only two: immense power and remote guidance.
Immense power was easy to understand: it needed to have the ability to decide the outcome with a single blow. Specifically, generating a single round would consume all his flowable Mind Power. Imagine the power of a bullet that required 1000 Mind Power to generate!
Remote guidance was equally important, especially the "guidance" aspect. Guan Tong had tried to write it before but failed. This time, after entering the second stage of Ascension, he wanted to try again.
After specifying the requirements, he concentrated his focus, pouring all his flowable Mind Power into the page.
The page began to emit a glow. Gradually, the silver gun body placed before him also began to change.
Seeing this, Guan Tong thought to himself, this looks promising! Back when he developed the "grappling hook" function for the Silver Hunt, the firearm's appearance had also changed.
Change was a sign of success.
He saw the gun body lengthen by a section. A rectangular bracket appeared on top, and a bulky, torpedo-like oval projectile generated upon it.
Simultaneously, a new line of text appeared on the firearm's built-in electronic small screen.
Type 6 Ammunition *1
It was indeed generated!
Earlier, when Guan Tong saw the firearm's physical transformation, he knew it was a success, but he could only truly confirm it when the small screen displaying ammunition quantity showed the text.
He immediately checked the details. This newly generated Type 6 ammunition was named "Mind-Guided Missile."
Generating one such missile required consuming the maximum upper limit of Mind Power. At Guan Tong's current level, that was 1000 points per missile.
This missile wasn't guided by radar, infrared, or laser. Its guidance method was very special; it required satisfying a "Mind Power lock" on the target.
The prerequisite for this Mind Power lock was first making contact with the target's Mind Power. In other words, for Guan Tong to utilize its guidance capability, he needed to first engage in combat with the target or contact their Mind Power through other means.
Of course, it could also be fired directly. The missile's power wouldn't be affected, but then it wouldn't produce a guidance effect. If the enemy was fast enough, they could dodge it.
"A missile costing 1000 points of Mind Power per shot... Its power must be astonishing."
Guan Tong immediately picked up the gun and went outside, heading deep into the valley.
Testing weapon power in such an uninhabited area was ideal. He raised the Silver Hunt, switched to Type 6 ammunition, and pulled the trigger aimed at a distant mountain wall.
"Whoosh——!"
The black, torpedo-like missile on the bracket shot out with a sharp shriek. Its initial speed was extremely fast, and after being launched, it continuously accelerated, striking the mountain wall hundreds of meters away in an instant.
"BOOM!!!"
A tremendous shockwave. The surrounding forest and wilderness seemed to tremble. Rocks and soil flew everywhere. A large, bowl-shaped cavity appeared on the mountain wall.
The bottom and edges of the cavity had a deep red color caused by high temperatures. Guan Tong controlled Shadow to carry him over to inspect it. As soon as he got close, he could feel a wave of scorching heat hitting his face.
"Such terrifying power... Worthy of a missile costing a thousand points per shot..."
Looking closely at that large cavity that could fit dozens of people lying down, Guan Tong deeply understood the immense power of this missile. Its lethality was dozens of times greater than that of the Type 3 high-explosive rounds.
Of course, the cost of this single shot was also enough to generate dozens of Type 3 rounds.
"Looking at it this way, before going to Fahe, I need to stockpile several of these Type 6 missiles. Those Fire Thief Worship Cult cultists have certainly studied my information extensively. This high-powered attack, completely unknown to them, might prove very useful when the time comes."