The Indestructible Armor now felt almost identical to solid metal, indicating a massive leap in its defensive tier.
"If I strengthen it further, and then perform a three-in-one defense, I can definitely withstand Wu Yang head-on."
Using Wu Yang as a reference point, Su Chen could now make a definitive judgment. It was just that the absolute upper limit was difficult to estimate.
Su Chen rubbed his temples. "Although this ability is powerful, squeezing out my entire mental energy means it's a life-on-the-line trump card that can only be used as a last resort. If it fails to achieve its objective, I'll be the one lying on the ground."
"However, if combined with Origin Reverser and Glutton, it wouldn't be considered a life-on-the-line trump card for me. In a single battle, I could use it at least two or even three times and still have strength to spare..."
"This is the immense power of profession synergy!"
Su Chen couldn't help but sigh with emotion, even feeling as though the exhaustion in his brain had lessened somewhat. He opened the panel again and glanced at the [Origin Reverser] requirements: already at 99%.
"Perfect, just missing the last instance. My mental energy is currently drained dry, so let's exhaust my physical body a bit longer."
Su Chen stopped circulating the meditation method and focused solely on the body forging method, thoroughly exhausting his stamina until he finally completed the requirement.
"Ugh... The Glutton can restore my stamina, but my mental energy still needs more time to recover. Let's wait. I'll assume it once I'm back at my peak state." Panting heavily, Su Chen harbored implicit expectations but wasn't impatient.
After chugging a few vials of potion, he only had to wait three to four hours before his body gradually recovered to its peak state.
"Phewâ" Calming his state of mind, Su Chen stood up straight.
Origin Reverser, assumption begin!
Su Chen was fully mentally prepared, but the assumption process of the Origin Reverser was quite bizarre.
The Fragment of the Void Star floated before him and gradually melted into purple ripples. It gently washed over Su Chen's entire body, like snowmelt in early spring seeping into the earth.
Every cell in his body acted like a seed receiving rain after a long drought, expanding and stretching within the warm current. Fine purple veins surfaced on his skin.
His spirit body rippled in tandem. He could "see" his mental energy flowing through his limbs and bones like a swarm of fireflies. The sensation was so comfortable he almost moaned out loud.
But suddenly, the warmth instantly solidified into hundreds of millions of ice needles, viciously piercing into every single cell.
"Ahâ"
The abrupt shift made Su Chen unable to hold back a muffled howl. The purple veins on the surface of his skin emitted a blinding light, like an overloaded circuit.
A violent, searing sensation surged from his limbs and bones towards his heart. He felt as though his consciousness had been torn in half and forcibly stuffed into every cell.
The purple veins rapidly covered his entire body, then belched forth a dark golden radiance. His physical structure and spirit body, which had been on the verge of collapse, stabilized within the golden light and gradually healed.
With the panel present, as long as all requirements were met, there was no such thing as failure; the only variable was whether the process was agonizing or not.
ăAssumption of Origin Reverser successful. Obtained Professional Ability â Inverse Origin Conversion: You can squeeze out your mental energy or physical stamina and convert them into one another.ă
"Phewâ" Su Chen let out a long breath, lingering fear in his heart. The transformation just now wasn't ordinary pain. Accompanied by the tearing of his spirit body, the sensation reminded him of the Somniloquy Trial.
Even so, a smile blossomed on his face. "Finally... succeeded."
He eagerly tested his brand-new ability. With just a thought, his body felt inexplicably empty, as if he had just undergone intense physical training. A portion of his stamina was drained away, while his mental energy surged drastically out of thin air.
Following this, he converted his mental energy back into stamina, and his slightly empty body rapidly recovered.
"Hmmâ The loss rate isn't highâ" Su Chen realized his stamina hadn't recovered to its absolute peak. "It didn't reach the immense 30-40% loss that Old Qin mentioned; it's only around 20%. This relies on the perfect completion of the assumption requirements."
Next, Su Chen continuously experimented. Glutton restored his stamina, then the stamina was converted into mental energy. He had a blast playing around with it.
"This set of combinations is equivalent to establishing a complete circuit. It can serve as a foundation to accommodate all of my currentâand even futureâabilities. It's an overwhelmingly important foundation."
Su Chen clenched his fists, already unable to hold back his imagination from running wild.
He even tried using [Holy Hand] to enhance [Inverse Origin Conversion]. It did indeed have an effect; the converted mental energy or stamina would inexplicably increase by a significant amount.
However, the [Holy Hand] ability consumed far more to accomplish this.
As for a continuous ability like Glutton, it also possessed a certain strengthening effect, allowing him to drink three extra vials of compressed nutrient fluid.
But as time passedâjust a few hoursâthe stored nutritional substances would overflow, forcing him to expend them.
At the same time, this period allowed him to confirm that the extra nutritional substances stored by the Abyssal Stomach, if not consumed, could be preserved for roughly twenty daysâdouble what Ming Lin had stated.
Only after thoroughly adapting to the conversion amongst his various abilities did Su Chen take out the talent testing device he had prepared long ago from his storage space.
He prepared to see exactly what forcibly averaging out his talents entailed.
He placed one hand on each of the two device spheres. Exceeding his expectations, two somewhat dim, dark green pillars of light shot out.
"Hehâ" Su Chen grinned. "They actually both became Ink Jade."
Although surprising, it stood to reason; he roughly understood what happened.
According to his deduction, the threshold for the Ink Jade talent was having at least an additional 250% class development boost on top of a colorless talent.
When the two were averaged out, his mental talent barely dropped to the Ink Jade threshold, while his physical talent was pulled up to the Ink Jade threshold. This resulted in it outwardly appearing as though his physical talent had been raised to the Ink Jade level.
"If Old Qin and Old Sang knew about this, they'd probably turn pale with shock." Su Chen chuckled and put the talent testing device away.
He then glanced at his panel againâ
ăAzure Thunder Sovereign: 42%ă
ăMystic Holy Hand: 50%ă
ăD-rank Profound Ice Soul-Cleansing Meditation Method â Mastered: 40%ă
ăD-rank Thunder Aura Body Forging Method â Skilled: 70%ă
"Azure Thunder Sovereign is also about to hit 50%. Next, I should start preparing for the advancement to 4th-tier professions," Su Chen pondered.
Special professions could continuously exert their effects after being assumed, and could even grow stronger as the main profession advanced. However, the advancement of the main profession still held the highest priority.
The prerequisite for completing requirements for other professions was always that it shouldn't waste too much development time.
Otherwise, it would be putting the cart before the horse.
Although the Adjudication Court's professions couldn't be exchanged for without reason, given his status, if he forcefully demanded one, the Adjudication Court would definitely give it to him.
That wasn't the issue. The issue wasâ
"My reserves of Evil God Power are too low. I only have two portions of low-tier Black Buddha power, which absolutely can't be used for a 4th-tier profession."
Su Chen frowned. Because of Jiang Shumo, he had been very well-behaved lately, not daring to secretly visit the remaining Black Buddha sub-nests.
Although he put it on the agenda, he couldn't think of any good methods in the short term. He didn't know if Jiang Shumo was still keeping an eye on him, so it was better to play it safe.
"If all else fails, I'll figure out a way to subjugate them openly. Purging Evil God cultists is absolute political correctness no matter how you look at it." Thinking of this, Su Chen stepped out of the gravity room.
Having completed several profession requirements, he finally no longer had to endure that empty, insecure feeling of having both his stamina and mental energy drained dry.
In a fantastic mood, he had Zero contact the cafeteria to deliver a table full of delicacies and began to feast heartily.
"...Tsk, not as good as Gu Bing's cooking. The culinary skill is one aspect, the ingredients are another. At the very least, the meat Gu Bing brought over definitely wasn't older than me." Su Chen shook his head, but he wasn't overly picky.
After all, they were prepared for a Core Seed, so the taste was already very good.
Taking a sip of the leftover Golden Quicksand from the Yuanqing FestivalâOld Bai had left in a hurry and didn't take it with her the next day, so Su Chen occasionally had a taste.
Gorged and inebriated, Su Chen let out a satisfied burp, sighing, "Nutritional potions just can't bring this kind of psychological satisfaction."
He instructed Zero to summarize the news. On the internal forums of the Adjudication Court, a major event was currently being discussed.
"A public execution for the Priest of Black Buddha?"
Surprised, Su Chen had Zero explain in detail. This was an announcement issued by the Adjudication Court just two days prior, jointly released with the Security Bureau.
It stated that to deter the increasingly rampant Evil God cults, they had decided to publicly execute the captured Priest of Black Buddha.
"The one I caughtâuh, discovered?" Su Chen read the announcement carefully and found that it really was.
It specifically noted that it was led and captured by Su Chen, a Core Seed of the Adjudication Court.
"They really know how to gild my reputation..." Su Chen muttered internally. "Public execution... why does this feel so bizarre?"
'...'
"It looks like they're fishing. Dropping a straight line... can they really hook anything?"
He had serious doubts, but then recalling the fanatic nature of Evil God cultists, it was hard to say they wouldn't take the bait.
To them, a Priest was the earthly representative of their god. How could they allow them to suffer such humiliation?
This matter had nothing to do with him; whether it was fishing or not, he didn't plan on watching the spectacle.
"However, let's see if the Believers of Black Buddha make a move first. If the blood rushes to their heads and they use all the Evil God Artifacts, where am I supposed to find another Black Buddha artifact?"
Su Chen reconsidered, realizing that this matter did indeed concern him, and couldn't help but feel a bit anxious.
Returning to the gravity room and closing the door, his body gradually vanished into the void, subsequently transforming into the "Priest of Black Buddha" state.
During the process, he had a thought. After successfully assuming Origin Reverser, coupled with Glutton and his gradually rising Class Development Degree...
Without taking any significant actions, he estimated he could currently hide in the spatial layer for over an hourâa nearly five or six-fold increase.
"If I continue to chug compressed nutrient fluids while in the spatial layer, doesn't that make me a perpetual motion machine?" Su Chen suddenly thought. Compressed fluids, compared to normal food, heavily reduced digestion time.
"Although converting it into stored nutritional reserves still takes time, as long as the bodily consumption isn't too great, I really could achieve a level akin to perpetual motion."
Tsk tsk. Half an hour ago, he could only hide in the spatial layer for a dozen minutes or so. In the blink of an eye, he had become a "perpetual motion machine." Profession synergy... he sighed with emotion once again.
"Let me see where the believers are... Hmm!?"
The moment he fully transformed into the Priest of Black Buddha, Su Chen abruptly turned his head within the spatial layer, staring in a certain direction with astonishment.
"What is this... to actually be right here inside the Adjudication Court, and so close?"
This was a sensation he had never experienced before. It wasn't an Evil God Artifact, nor was it a believer, but it was incredibly intense and clear, as if it was right in front of his eyes.
"It's not the Priest of Black Buddha. He's under Chief You's seal, so I can't sense him at all, and the feeling is completely different."
Su Chen's brow furrowed tightly. Compared to his previous fuzzy sensations, this intense and clear perception even reminded him of when he was in Nanfeng City and sensed a divine statue up close.
"How can this be? It wasn't there before. It must be something that Old Chong and the others are paying attention to..."
Su Chen figured Chong Jingtian and the others must be aware. The signal was far too strong; the sensory equipment of the Adjudication Court could definitely capture it.
He retracted his state to surface from the void. After a moment of hesitation, he went to the potion room and flooded his Glutton's stomach with nutrient fluids.
Once prepared, he stepped out and headed towards the direction he had just sensed.
âTurn leftâ
âTurn rightâ
"Your Excellency Su Chenâ"
People along the way greeted him, and Su Chen nodded in response.
Having not wandered outside for a while, even more people seemed to recognize him. The vast majority of people passing by would greet him.
This inexplicable sense of familiarity reminded him of the first time he walked through the Adjudication Court with Ming Lin.
"I don't think I've done anything major recently..."
Walking along, Su Chen couldn't help but mutter to himself. He opened his bracelet, rummaged through it for a while, and finally understood.
It turned out it was still due to Wei Yinshuo's reappearance. Prior to this, while Wei Yinshuo was completely out of contact, the news of two cities being blood-sacrificed had been placed under absolute lockdown, with no one knowing about it.
But the moment Wei Yinshuo reappeared, there would invariably be people wanting to know exactly what mission this Chief Inquisitor was executing to end up so heavily injured.
Certain pieces of information subsequently surfaced. The failure of Wei Yinshuo was one aspect; the far-sightedness of Chief Inquisitor Xia Hanshi was another.
By extension, Su Chen received increasingly more attention.
"So it's like this..." Having summarized the general news on the forum, Su Chen figured out the ins and outs.
Meanwhile, he encountered fewer and fewer Adjudicators along the path, indicating he had arrived at a relatively remote area within the Adjudication Court.
"Is that... Xue Fei?" Su Chen halted his steps, spotting a figure entering a white building a short distance away.
The entity he had sensed earlier was roughly located in this precise spot.
"Medical Department? Could it be... Wei Yinshuo?" He looked up at the name on the building before him, his heart pounding violently. He had a strong premonition.
He hadn't been following Wei Yinshuo's recent situation, but a quick search yielded results.
Because his injuries were too severe, ever since returning to the Adjudication Court, he had stayed continuously within the Medical Department.
Su Chen was fluctuating between dread and uncertainty. "Has this guy degenerated? Did he become one of Black Buddha's people? Do Chong Jingtian and the others know?"