Chapter 81 - 78: Enhancing Ghost Staff, Blood Demon Incarnation

Chapter 81: Chapter 78: Enhancing Ghost Staff, Blood Demon Incarnation

Shi An opened his panel.

[Safe Zone]

[Tier: Level 2]

[Upgrade Requirements: Belief Value 680/1,000; Dream Crystal 20/20; Dream Descender Guests 73/100.]

[Nightmares Conquered: 20]

Over the past two or three days, the Dream Descenders relying on the Safe Zone had seen a significant increase in their Nightmare-conquering efficiency.

Shi An didn’t need to specifically organize the Dream Descenders to conquer Nightmares. Even if they luckily stumbled upon a large-scale Nightmare, he believed that the few powerhouses, whose strength had increased by a large margin, would voluntarily organize a team to conquer it.

All Manager Shi needed to do was provide a little guidance, and the Nightmare could be refined in an instant.

Conquering 20 Nightmares didn’t trigger any special rewards. Most of the spoils Shi An chose were Member Cards. Occasionally, he would select complete Curse Objects or Curse Templates with decent Ability descriptions.

The task platform constantly displayed the official "Nightmare Conquest" tasks issued by the Safe Zone. Conquering Nightmares earned Contribution Points.

Not to mention the free sanctuary and numerous benefits. In the eyes of the Dream Descenders, this was practically giving money away. While they were grateful, they were also worried. If he kept giving things away like this, would the Safe Zone go bankrupt? Would there come a day when it couldn’t sustain its operations?

Several Dream Descenders had already approached Shi An to advise him, "Manager, maybe you should raise the fees."

They were genuinely afraid the Safe Zone would go under. They could no longer adapt to a Nightmare World without the Safe Zone.

However, as far as Shi An was concerned, the Dream Descenders were certainly profiting, but he was earning far more. As long as these batches of Dream Descenders flocking to the Safe Zone continued to conquer Nightmares, Manager Shi would earn far more than he was giving away.

It wasn’t just money.

The Contribution Points he gave away were both bait and a reasonable excuse to distribute Member Cards. The more Member Cards he distributed, the more die-hard supporters the Safe Zone would gain, and the greater its influence would become. At the same time, this allowed him to connect to more Nightmares, expanding his channels for attracting customers.

Even so, the number of Member Cards in Shi An’s possession kept growing. He currently had over ten spare Member Cards once again.

"I can’t hand them all out. There’s just too many of them."

Shi An looked at the upgrade requirements. At first glance, the Belief Value had the largest deficit, but in reality, the biggest shortfall was the third item, "Dream Descender Guests."

As the Dream Descenders conquered Nightmares faster and faster, the Belief Value grew rapidly as well. The Dream Descender Guests requirement, however, counted the number of people, not the number of visits. Moreover, this number sometimes dropped.

A drop in numbers meant...

"Some Dream Descenders died," Shi An muttered.

Aside from the man in the black suit, Shi An had experienced this three other times.

Once, a Dream Descender had an accident while conquering a Nightmare and was instantly killed by a ghost before anyone could save them. This was also the daily reality for Dream Descenders. No matter how well-prepared they were, accidents could still happen, and accidents were often accompanied by death.

But on the other two occasions, the two Dream Descenders didn’t die in the Nightmare World, but in reality. They died in reality, amidst the disasters of ghostly invasions!

"The real world is still too dangerous. I need to strengthen the power of the people around me... the ghosts around me," he thought.

Shi An opened the Nether Robe’s panel.

[Nether Robe]

[Skills: Red Sleeve, Candle Shadow Flash, Senluo Red Silk]

He wondered, "I wonder what Stage of Dream Descender the current power of the Nether Robe and the Blood Hand Seal is comparable to?

"Speaking of which, Dream Descenders have a clear and obvious path from utilizing Curse Objects to Refining them, and then to Extraordinary transformation. What about ghosts?

"Ghosts also have Tiers, and the power of both ghosts and Dream Descenders originates from Nightmares."

Theoretically, if Dream Descenders could achieve a breakthrough, ghosts naturally could too. However, Shi An truly had no idea about the breakthrough methods for ghosts. The Countermeasures Bureau couldn’t possibly have them either.

He could only...

"Belief Value, show me your limits!" he exclaimed.

[Prompt: Nether Robe’s Candle Shadow Flash has been upgraded.]

[Prompt: Nether Robe’s Senluo Red Silk has been upgraded.]

A bridal dress floated in the training room. A majestic and invisible power poured into it, causing the entire bridal dress to billow.

The next moment, the red dress began to flicker within the training room. The frequency grew faster and faster, and in the blink of an eye, it formed six or seven afterimages. The afterimages froze in mid-air, slowly dissipating only after several seconds.

"Ying~"

"Are you saying that this training room is too small to test the limits of Candle Shadow Flash?"

"Ying! (Of course!)" The Nether Robe put its hands on its hips.

The changes to the Senluo Red Silk were also significant. It seemed to have enhanced the defensive power of the bridal dress itself, and at the same time...

"It can’t only change size, but also color?" Shi An noted. "This upgrade... is brilliant!"

In the future, when Shi An piloted the Nether Robe Mecha, he wouldn’t have to use bright red. This was absolutely not because he felt embarrassed about cross-dressing. The main reason was to keep a low profile. Changing it to black or something similar would make it easier to blend into the night.

Shi An didn’t upgrade all of the Nether Robe’s Skills; the ones he enhanced were all life-saving Abilities. After all, the Nether Robe’s role was to be Mr. Shi’s personal bodyguard.

Afterwards, he called over the Blood Hand Seal.

[Prompt: Spend 200 Belief Value to upgrade the "Little Blood - Blood Hand Brand" Skill again?]

[Yes!]

This upgrade seemed to be even more intense. Little Blood’s entire body began to steam. With a POP, it transformed into a Blood Mist, and then molded a muscular body from within the Blood Mist. It had a tiny head and a body like an iron tower.

The Blood Hand Seal stretched out its hand.

Instantly... BOOM!

A majestic wave of Blood Mist surged forth, coalescing into a giant hand measuring three or four meters long in the blink of an eye. Its speed of condensation and imposing aura were more than just a little bit stronger than when Little Blood suppressed the "Wildman"!

But the upgrade didn’t seem to be over.

[Prompt: Spend 89 Belief Value to mend the flaws of Staff Blood Hand Seal?]

Wisps of the Power of Faith poured into it once more. The Blood Hand Seal’s entire body turned red like a glowing hot soldering iron, steaming scorching clouds of smoke. It let out a Roar that was three parts pain, three parts excitement, and four parts exuberance.

After a long while, its body shrank inch by inch, returning to its adorable mascot form.

However...

[Prompt: Staff Blood Hand Seal has awakened its third Skill, "Blood Demon Incarnation".]

—

[Blood Demon Incarnation: Consume more than half of its own Blood Mist to enter the Blood Demon’s explosive form. In this state, the Blood Hand Seal can manipulate more Blood Mist, breaking through the upper limits of its volume and extension range. The duration of this state is relatively short, but absorbing external blood can extend the duration of the Blood Demon Incarnation.]

With its flaws mended, the Blood Hand Seal now possessed three major Skills. The Nether Robe also had three.

Shi An stroked his chin. "Ghosts have three Lifebound Skills, and Dream Descenders Refine three Lifebound Curse Objects. Is there a connection between the two?

"Does this mean that if I upgrade all three of a ghost’s major Skills to their peak, I can touch the threshold of the ghost’s path to the Extraordinary?"

But setting aside the distant Extraordinary, just the imposing aura that the Blood Hand Seal had erupted with a moment ago was enough to shock him. It hadn’t even truly used its new Skill, "Blood Demon Incarnation," yet. If it activated its ultimate move and then used Blood Hand Brand to Attack, how powerful would it be?

Shi An didn’t know. He hadn’t had a chance to test it. On the one hand, he wanted a chance for Little Blood to try out its new moves. On the other hand, he felt that having no chance to use them meant that the world was peaceful.

...

At the same time.

Next door, in the Blood-colored Bus Nightmare, at the Countermeasures Bureau’s logistics camp.

Elites from the Countermeasures Bureau were fully equipped and ready to go.