Having completed his core attribute enhancements, Lu Li turned his attention to his remaining stash of Inheritance Crystals (Small).
He had no intention of wasting them to forcefully level up his Combat Proficiencies. His innate talent allowed him to grind those manually through intense combat and practice. However, simply using the crystals as raw currency on the Player Trade Market felt like a tremendous waste of their intrinsic value.
After a moment's consideration, he decided to use the crystals to further enhance his [Armament Haki].
Currently, his Armament Haki sat at Level 6. Because he hadn't actively practiced it while traversing the Kengan world—having completely relied on the system's baseline—he had managed to save a few crystals.
However, he noticed a sharp spike in the system's enhancement cost.
From Level 6 onward, upgrading Armament Haki was significantly more expensive.
Previously, leveling up Armament Haki required only 1 Inheritance Crystal (Small).
Now, the system demanded 3 crystals per level.
Lu Li theorized this was a standard mechanic: the higher the tier of the Haki system, the more profoundly powerful the resulting qualitative changes would be, thus requiring exponentially more resources.
"Terminus. Enhance Armament Haki by one level," Lu Li commanded.
[Request Acknowledged. Confirm the deduction of Inheritance Crystal (Small) x3 and 1,200 Terminus Coins for the enhancement?]
Lu Li confirmed the transaction.
He intended to burn through his resources to instantly boost his Armament Haki to Level 9. During his subsequent downtime in the Terminus Space hub, he planned to manually train it to breach the Level 10 threshold.
A short while later, the enhancement process was complete.
Lu Li was left with only 1 Inheritance Crystal (Small), and his wallet had shrunk to 37,800 Terminus Coins.
The results, however, were highly gratifying.
Armament Haki naturally underwent a massive qualitative leap after crossing Level 5. Now, pushing it all the way to Level 9 made the structural density changes incredibly obvious.
He drew Qiu Mo and slashed the edge of the blade forcefully against his own Armament Haki-coated forearm.
The metallic screech echoed loudly.
Yet, on his skin, there was only a faint, microscopic white scratch.
And this was against the upgraded, newly evolved Qiu Mo.
Yes.
After executing Shen Wulong, the Growth Progression of his Zanpakuto had finally hit 100%.
Following a few hours of intense, silent metamorphosis inside his Spatial Inventory, the blade had successfully evolved into a Purple-Grade Main Weapon.
---
**[Qiu Mo]**
**Origin:** Bleach
**Rarity:** Purple
**Main Weapon Type:** Sword/Katana
**Durability:** 100/100
**Sharpness:** 32 (+12)
**Toughness:** 31 (+11)
**Usage Requirement:** Strictly limited to Pioneer #008.
**Details:** A Zanpakuto forged by Pioneer #008 by injecting his own soul essence into an Asauchi. It is intrinsically bound to his soul. This equipment cannot be sold, traded, or dropped. No other entity can activate or wield this weapon.
**Weapon Skill 1 (Passive): Soul Nourishment**
**Description:** Whenever the Pioneer executes an enemy using Qiu Mo, the blade will devour a fraction of the enemy's soul essence to nourish itself, thereby increasing its Growth Progression. The Pioneer may also choose to actively feed their own soul essence to Qiu Mo to rapidly accelerate its growth.
*(Warning: This method is incredibly dangerous and highly discouraged.)*
**Current Growth Progression:** 3.91%
**Weapon Skill 2 (Active): Shikai**
**Description:** Upon releasing the Shikai, the Pioneer will continuously consume Reiryoku (Soul Source) to manifest Qiu Mo's true form. While in the Shikai state, all of the Pioneer's core combat attributes are temporarily boosted by +3. Neural reflex speed is significantly enhanced, and Qiu Mo's Sharpness and Toughness receive massive multipliers.
**Shikai Skill (Passive): Demonic Miasma**
**Description:** When Qiu Mo inflicts physical damage upon an enemy, it applies a 'Corrosion' debuff. Enemies afflicted with Corrosion suffer a 50% reduction to all natural healing/regeneration rates. Furthermore, they endure continuous 'Corrosion Damage' equal to 20% of the initial strike's maximum damage every single second. The Corrosion effect lasts for 10 seconds. Multiple Corrosion stacks can be applied to the same wound.
**Cooldown:** None
**System Rating:** 200+ (Purple Scale: 100 ~ 200)
**Evaluation:** There is a demon god imprisoned within your heart.
---
Qiu Mo had successfully ascended to Purple-Grade rarity.
Even more impressively, it had instantly hit the absolute maximum rating cap for its new tier.
The sheer magnitude of its enhanced capabilities was staggering.
The baseline Sharpness and Toughness had skyrocketed.
The attribute buff provided by the Shikai activation had also evolved, increasing from +2 to a devastating +3 across all core combat stats.
Furthermore, the secondary effect of the Shikai had been formally separated into an exclusive, highly lethal third passive skill.
The difference between the old and new effects was like night and day.
The anti-healing debuff had violently spiked from a negligible 10% to a crippling 50%.
The continuous 'Corrosion Damage' DOT (Damage Over Time) had literally doubled, and its duration had also doubled.
Taking everything into account, the overall lethal output of the blade had jumped several massive tiers.
This was the terrifying, absolute power of Purple-Grade equipment.
Normally, it was functionally impossible for a Tier 1 Explorer to acquire gear of this caliber.
During his previous strolls through the Player Trade Market, Lu Li had only ever spotted two or three Purple-Grade items on display, and their owners simply couldn't find a buyer.
Based on the current market economy within the Terminus Space hub, a Purple-Grade Main Weapon generally sold for anywhere between 10,000 and 30,000 Terminus Coins.
An ordinary Tier 1 Explorer practically never possessed that kind of astronomical liquid capital to purchase one outright.
But Lu Li absolutely possessed that capital.
Sitting on a war chest of over 37,000 Terminus Coins, he was more than capable of purchasing one or two premium Purple-Grade items specifically tailored for his build.
During his time in the Kengan world, he had rapidly acquired and mastered numerous martial arts, many of which the system officially recognized as active 'Skills'.
Therefore, he had no immediate need to purchase random Skill Scrolls from the market to feed the Origin Seed.
The Origin Seed's 'Cultivation' process also required a significant amount of natural time.
It would take several weeks, if not months, for the Seed to fully scan and assimilate the conceptual knowledge of the Skills he had already mastered.
Thus, aggressively buying new Skill Scrolls was completely unnecessary for now.
However, as a highly wealthy Pioneer flush with cash, relying entirely on a single Main Weapon was a massive tactical flaw.
He needed auxiliary gear.
After taking a quick, refreshing shower, Lu Li headed straight for the Tier 1 Player Trade Market.
The moment he arrived at the bustling bazaar, a system mail notification chimed in his ear.
[In accordance with the finalized System Contract, the Terminus Coins owed to you by Explorer 'Kurei' have been successfully transferred to your account. Please review your balance.]
A bright smile spread across Lu Li's face.
He had almost completely forgotten about that.
Kurei had extracted immediately after the Kengan Annihilation Tournament concluded. Given the temporal mechanics of the Terminus Space, even though they had extracted several days apart from the perspective of the Mission World, they had arrived back at the Hub at roughly the exact same time.
Kurei must have just finished his own Mission Settlement.
The second the system deposited his rewards, the automated contract instantly seized the owed funds and transferred them to Lu Li.
With that final payment clearing, Lu Li's total liquid capital surged to just over 39,000 Terminus Coins.
He could definitely afford to buy two premium Purple-Grade items now.
After strolling through the market for a while, Lu Li noticed a massive crowd of Explorers gathered tightly around a specific vendor stall.
Intrigued, he walked over.
"Your asking price is completely absurd! No one in the Tier 1 bracket can afford that!"
"Cut the price down! I'll give you 10,000 right now!"
"Hey sister, why don't you pack up and head to the upper-level Hub? Try your luck selling that to the Tier 2 Explorers."
The surrounding Explorers were aggressively haggling and complaining.
After squeezing his way to the front of the crowd, Lu Li finally got a good look at the vendor.
He paused in surprise.
He actually recognized her.
The vendor was a stunningly beautiful woman with a cold, aloof temperament, her hair tied back in a high ponytail.
It was none other than 'Tuantuan'—the Queen of Assassins from the Kengan world.
"Boss?!"
Seeing Lu Li, Tuantuan was equally shocked.
She hadn't expected to run into him so soon after returning.
Hearing her loudly exclaim "Boss," the surrounding Explorers immediately took several cautious steps back, looking at Lu Li with expressions of profound awe and deep wariness.
Tuantuan was openly selling a Purple-Grade item in the Tier 1 market.
That alone proved she was either incredibly strong or backed by a massive, wealthy faction.
She was undeniably part of the upper echelon of Tier 1 Explorers.
Yet, this elite operative had just reverently called the man in the black trench coat "Boss."
What exactly did that imply?
Explorers who had managed to survive multiple Mission Worlds were absolutely not stupid.
They all immediately memorized Lu Li's face.
If they ever ran into this monster in a future Mission World, they would absolutely run the other way.
"That's a very nice piece of gear. Is it yours?" Lu Li asked, casually inspecting the accessory displayed on the stall, his tone laced with mild suspicion.
He knew exactly what level of strength Tuantuan possessed.
Furthermore, it was functionally impossible for a grounded martial arts universe like Kengan to drop an item with these specific magical properties.
Where did she get a Purple-Grade accessory?
"Oh! You misunderstood, Boss. I'm just acting as a proxy for a senior member of my Faction. She needs liquid cash urgently, so I'm selling it at the absolute floor price," Tuantuan quickly explained.
She stood up, picked up the dark red ring, and respectfully handed it to Lu Li so he could inspect the system stats.
---
**[The Slaughterer]**
**Origin:** Berserk (Derivative World)
**Rarity:** Purple
**Equipment Type:** Accessory (Ring)
**Usage Requirement:** 24 Strength, 26 Spirit
**Details:** A cursed ring forged by the God Hand, deeply saturated with demonic energy. It harbors a highly ominous, violently bloodthirsty power.
**Equipment Skill 1: Frenzy (Passive)**
**Effect:** While wearing The Slaughterer, the Pioneer gains a 20% base chance to land a Critical Strike on all offensive actions. Critical Strikes inflict 200% bonus damage.
**Equipment Skill 2: Butchery (Passive)**
**Effect:** While wearing The Slaughterer, all physical attacks inflict an additional 10% Magic Damage and 10% Physical Damage. Furthermore, all attacks apply a 'Tear' effect, significantly increasing the probability of successfully severing or destroying an enemy's limbs.
**System Rating:** 200 Points
**Evaluation:** Slaughter everything in the pool of blood!
---
Although this piece of equipment didn't have a "+" attached to its rating, hitting a flat 200 meant it was completely maxed out for its tier.
It was an absolutely god-tier accessory.
"How much?" Lu Li asked flatly.
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