Thanks for Mike and NeoSamurai223 for becoming as a Supporter!
===BREAK===
After these past few days of recording various curios, Aventurine arrived at a conclusion that wasn't quite a conclusion.
That was: the stronger a curio was, the stranger its appearance tended to be—and more often than not, these two traits coexisted.
For example, that [Jiki Jiki No Mi] he once obtained that was especially, extraordinarily, utterly peak-level disgusting, or the [Reiji Maigo] from just now.
And the reason he had asked about the tablet first was precisely because it looked far too normal, whereas that multicolored light mass was obviously something good at a glance.
So, in order to avoid having his mood ruined by an abstract curio at the peak of his happiness, he decided to strike first and bravely face this possibly very abstract curio head-on!
This wasn't him overthinking things—he'd personally witnessed situations like this plenty of times before.
But unfortunately, when he finally got serious for once, the curio didn't go the way he expected.
Sylvester looked at the tablet and said calmly, "It's actually not a computer, but an operation and storage device for a special weapon. Once you turn it on, you'll see detailed operating instructions that teach you how to use it. As for the weapon itself, it's called the [Spacium REDOUBLIZER]."
He paused, then shifted the topic. "Mr. Aventurine, you still remember that Miss Bailu opened the [Ultraman's Heart] earlier, right?"
"Of course." Aventurine replied without hesitation. "You even mentioned a civilization called the Land of Light that voluntarily protects the stability of that universe. They… don't tell me—"
As he spoke, realization finally struck him. Even if this curio wasn't made by the Land of Light, it was definitely inseparable from it!
"That's right." Sylvester snapped his fingers and smiled. "This is a special weapon created by the humans of that universe, using technologies from multiple civilizations—including the Land of Light."
"Its true form resembles a satellite, with a height of roughly fifty meters. As for its function—just as the name implies—it doubles the power of light-wave-type attacks fired at it, then reflects them back!"
"There's something like that?!"
Hearing this, Aventurine froze and looked down at the utterly ordinary, unremarkable tablet in his hand.
This thing could amplify the power of an attack by that much?
In the universe, anything that could boost strength even slightly was worth a fortune—especially for someone of his level.
Not to mention doubling the output—even a ten or twenty percent increase would be enough to fetch an astronomical price at an interstellar auction.
And this weapon not only provided a massive boost, but also had extremely high versatility.
Leaving aside everything else—he had just obtained the [Guide to How to Cast a Spirit Bomb, From Beginner to Mastery]!
And that was without even mentioning the IPC's Imaginary Pulse, a true weapon of mass destruction.
Aventurine's gaze lingered on that tablet which, judging by appearance alone, could blend into an electronics store and wouldn't sell for more than a hundred cups of Star Taro Boba.
He couldn't help but sigh inwardly. So, this is what they mean by—numbers are the real beauty.
He had already been bracing himself for a scare, yet instead it delivered a solid, genuine surprise.
Carefully storing it away, he knew rationally that something like this wouldn't be damaged by mere bumps—but the sense of importance rising from the depths of his heart still made him treat it with utmost care.
Aventurine lifted the third curio—the multicolored light mass—and felt somewhat conflicted.
Could it be that this one is actually all flash and no substance?
It wasn't that he was being overly paranoid—his last experience had genuinely given him PTSD.
He'd opened so many trash cans already and hadn't run into a single abstract-style curio. For a moment, he actually felt unaccustomed to it.
Though he couldn't help feeling uneasy, his intuition told him that this was the most powerful of the three curios!
Seeing the flicker in Aventurine's eyes, Sylvester chuckled softly. "This curio is both similar to and the opposite of the Spacium Amplifier. Its name is—[Soul of the Universe]!" (TN:This one is from Terraria's Fargo Souls MOD)
He enunciated slowly. "By 'opposite,' I mean that the amplifier can be used by anyone, while the Universe Soul only takes effect on a single person. But as the Xianzhou like to say—to give is to gain."
The smile in Sylvester's eyes deepened, his voice rising with excitement. "And what you gain is an amplification far beyond that of the amplifier—along with a wide array of special effects!"
Hearing that it was yet another powerful enhancement-type curio, Aventurine felt his mind go blank, standing there in a daze.
Is my luck just that insane? Or have enhancement-type curios become so common that they're worthless now? One after another like this?
But he immediately snapped out of it.
This was a purple curio—how could it possibly be commonplace?!
His voice turned urgent, excitement surging uncontrollably. "How strong are we talking?!"
Sylvester waved his hand broadly and laughed. "Its effects are extremely diverse: increasing the total amount of Path power, accelerating Path power recovery, enhancing melee damage while adding flame damage, extending the effective range of ranged attacks, and so on. There are countless effects. But among them, three stand out the most."
He raised his right hand, and snap—his index finger flicked outward.
"A constant 66% increase to the damage of the weapon you're holding. No conditions whatsoever!"
"—!"
Just hearing the first one, Aventurine's eyes widened.
That alone was already two-thirds of the amplifier's effect, wasn't it?
Even though it only applied to him alone—and even to a single weapon—that ratio was impossible to ignore!
Sylvester brought his index and middle fingers together and said with a soft laugh, "The second one is a special kind of enhancement. Mr. Aventurine, when you fight, have you ever experienced using the same move, where sometimes it hits incredibly hard, sometimes barely at all—sometimes you punch the enemy so hard they don't even recognize their own mother, and other times it's just a harmless tap?"
Aventurine frowned and rejected it outright. "How could that be possible?"
He practically couldn't understand what the point of that question even was.
The same move against the same enemy—how could it possibly result in such wildly different outcomes?
If that were the case, combat would be no different from gambling.
A skill that should've been a clean one-shot instead only breaks an arm; meanwhile, an attack that shouldn't have been lethal suddenly sends someone straight into their next life.
That was far too absurd! If every attack's power were like drawing a lottery, how would anyone fight?
He replied calmly yet firmly. "Speaking for myself, I've never seen such a situation."
"Oh?" Sylvester smiled faintly and pointed at him with his left hand. "Then today, you've seen it."
"The [Soul of the Universe] grants an effect called Critical Rate. That is, it gives your attacks a certain probability of dealing double damage. And the probability increase it provides is—25%!"
"!"
Aventurine almost didn't believe his ears. "That kind of effect actually exists?!"
This sort of… elusive, unpredictable enhancement sounded completely unscientific—like something that shouldn't exist in this universe at all!
But there was no chance Sylvester was lying to him.
Which meant—it was real.
A 25% chance to deal double damage, converted another way, could be considered a flat 25% average increase.
And the unpredictability of it made it even harder for enemies to gauge his true strength—perfect for catching them off guard and securing victory through surprise!
"Don't get happy too soon." Sylvester's single sentence tugged hard on Aventurine's nerves.
The excitement on his face froze instantly, and a trace of gloom slid smoothly into his gaze as he looked at Sylvester.
"I knew it. There's no way it would be this smooth."
But Sylvester's next sentence yanked him straight back out of that dip.
"Because the real excitement is still coming."
"?"
===BREAK===
Like the story and want more chapters?
Join and support me by joining my Patreon!
[email protected]/SiRoasa