[You walk up to the two unfamiliar True Shrine Maidens and slowly draw the Dragon Sword Masamune from your waistâŠ]
[You suddenly thrust the sharp blade into the shrine maidenâs chest!]
[Still unconscious, the shrine maiden offered no resistance and quietly diedâŠ]
[You have defeated the Fire-Worshipping True Shrine Maiden of the No-Illusions Shrine. Experience increased slightly.]
[You have obtained Fragrant Attendantâs Undergarment (Junk).]
[You look at the beautiful woman who has died before youâŠ]
[Fire-Worshipping True Shrine Maiden of the No-Illusions Shrine Shell: A beautiful woman born of a noble family, trained from childhood in the arts of the shrine maiden, and unsurprisingly became a True Shrine Maiden of the No-Illusions Shrine. She died to a fatal strike through the chest. Compatibility: 125% (+55%).]
[Do you wish to possess this shell?]
Lin Xun decided to go all the way and killed both True Shrine Maidens except for the senior sister.
He discarded trash shells like the courtesan and the mermaid and stored the two healer shells in the Shell Slots.
Currently, the shells he had in his slots were: Blacksmith, Yellow-Robed Bishop, Dancer, Earth Giant, Direct Vision President, Primordial Hermit, Chunin, Palace Master of Iya Palace, Master Instructor, Ninja Master, and two True Shrine Maidens, twelve shells filling the slots to the brim.
The slots were still relatively spacious for now. If he wanted to possess higher-grade shells later, he could eliminate the Chunin, Dancer, Yellow-Robed Bishop, and the like.
Lin Xun opened the panel to check the shrine maidenâs attributes.
[Shell â Fire-Worshipping True Shrine Maiden of the No-Illusions Shrine]
[True Name: Wagatsuma Nami]
[Compatibility: 125% (+55%) Compatibility exceeds threshold, shell quality upgraded!]
[Shell Quality: Epic]
[Shell Level: 65 (+15)]
[Shell Equipment: True Shrine Maiden Garb of the No-Illusions Shrine (Rare+ Equipment): âŠWearing this equipment slightly increases spell resistance.]
[Shell Equipment: Kagura Bell of Worshipping the Gods (Rare+ Weapon): âŠUsing this weapon slightly increases the power of related divine arts.]
[Shell Skill: Bell Kagura Dance (Rare+ Skill): âŠUsing this skill restores a certain amount of health to a designated shell.]
[Shell Skill: Eternal Kagura Dance (Rare+ Skill): âŠUsing this skill restores a certain amount of health to allied shells within a nearby area.]
âFinally got the healer shell Iâve been longing for!â
Lin Xun felt a wave of emotion.
Ever since he missed out on the nun in the Blood Sun world, he hadnât seen another healer shell in a long time.
Truly, when youâre young you donât understand the value of nuns, when youâre older you weep in the empty sanctum.
He tapped the Bell Kagura Dance skill to test the healing potency.
Like the nun, the shrine maiden could restore health to a designated shell, not only those nearby but also those stored in the Shell Slots.
Back then, to save Holy Water, Lin Xun had used the nun to heal the Guardian Knight shell the same way.
[You shake the golden kagura bell in your hand, using Bell Kagura Dance to heal the Corrupted Earth Giant shellâŠ]
[You are within the range of a divine domain. Related divine arts receive a massive boost!]
[A pleasant bell chime resounds, waves of dark ripples spreading outwardâŠ]
[The Corrupted Earth Giant shellâs injuries have been greatly restored!]
[A pleasant bell chime resounds, waves of dark ripples spreading outwardâŠ]
[The Corrupted Earth Giant shell has been fully healed!]
[You feel a bit fatiguedâŠ]
âItâŠonly took two casts to top it off?â
The Earth Giant had been beaten by Nurarihyon until only a sliver of health remained, and yet the True Shrine Maidenâs skill had restored it to perfect condition in just two uses.
Lin Xun remembered that the senior sister had needed several healing casts just to bring the Earth Giant from severely injured to full health.
âIs this the difference between a top student and a slacker?â
The gameâs text indicated that in this area, the divine domain massively boosted the shrine maidenâs healing skills, resulting in such an exaggerated effect.
During the battle with Nurarihyon, it had looked like they were on an island, but in truth they were still inside the main hall, so the senior sister should have also been benefiting from the divine domain bonus.
This showed that as a shrine maiden who had come into it late, her healing skills were still quite inferior to a true shrine maiden.
âThe healing skill is boosted right now, so this isnât a reliable measurement. Iâll test it again after leaving the shrine.â
Lin Xun rubbed his chin, thinking.
That healing skills consumed a lot of mana was no surprise. Whether the nun from the Blood Sun world or the senior sister in the illusion, both would collapse from exhaustion after repeated use.
Lin Xun cast healing twice on the unconscious senior sister, and the game instantly displayed: [You feel extremely fatigued.]
And this was only the mana cost of the single-target healing skill, he hadnât yet tested the second, area-of-effect heal.
But his rich gaming experience told him that group healing was usually weaker than single-target, and drained even more mana.
âTwo healer shells might still not be enoughâŠâ
[You look at the only remaining True Shrine Maiden in the hall, Tsukishiro MurasakiyoâŠ]
[Do you wish to take advantage of her unconscious state and kill her?]
Lin Xun twitched his lips and pressed âNo.â
In this infernal game, any named character was an important story figure. For the sake of a âslackerâ healer shell, killing the goose that laid the golden eggs seemed like a poor bargain.
He checked over the two healer shells and the Ninja Master shell again to see if there was anything else he could reinforce.
After rummaging in his inventory for a while, he found a Rare+ grade weapon called Prayer Book of Blazing Sun, whose effect slightly increased healing skill effectiveness.
Since this weapon, like the Kagura Bell, was a one-handed weapon, Lin Xun simply placed it in the healerâs equipment slot to complete a dual-wield setup.
[You have equipped Prayer Book of Blazing Sun. Related healing skills have been slightly enhanced!]
The Ninja Master was already armed to the teeth; there was practically nothing left to improve in terms of equipment.
Lin Xun thought for a long while and felt that transplanting the special skill Weak Point Insight into the Ninja Master might be even more fitting.
He pictured the Ninja Master stealthily approaching an enemy, activating Weak Point Insight so a conspicuous red spot appeared on the targetâs body, then drawing the blade for a clean, efficient backstab assassination.
However, this skill, like Pleasure-Hazed Sight, required directly viewing the target to trigger, so it had to be transplanted somewhere on the shellâs exposed surfaceâŠ
He once again directed the Valkyrie to begin the transplant surgery.
Facing the densely packed list of transplant locations, Lin Xun deliberated for quite a while. He clicked on the limb options and finally chose the sub-option of the left palm.
The benefit of this was that it could remain hidden most of the time and would still be very convenient to use, he just had to open his palm toward the enemy to activate it.
There were other locations that were also convenient, such as the tongue, but he felt that would be far too disgusting and might leave him with psychological trauma whenever he manifested the shell laterâŠ