**Berserker: The more severe the injuries you suffer, the more your physique grows, and the faster your injuries recover.**
A simple description, yet wonderfully powerful!
As for why it was so powerful...
Uesugi Tetsu merely used Kaga Kiyomitsu to cut a thumb-thick gash into his arm, only to discover that his physique had jumped from twenty-nine points to exactly thirty.
He didn't even dare imagine how much his physique would grow if he were beaten half to death—anyway, he expected it to be around ten points or more.
On top of that, Uesugi Tetsu now only needed to circulate the Ki-ai Technique slightly to push the energy within his body to its limit and achieve the same amplification he felt before transforming into Laughing Brahma.
He couldn't help sighing—humans truly did have limits.
While adapting to the surging power within him, Uesugi Tetsu continued reading with a pleased mood.
[Your Demon Incarnation Brahma has reached one star. One-star limited salvage is now available!] [One-star limited salvage: Abandoned Shrine!]
The instant this notification appeared, Uesugi Tetsu saw the phantom image of a desolate, dilapidated shrine settle behind the title, replacing the original bamboo forest as the new card pool.
Huh... Why did this shrine look a little familiar?
Uesugi Tetsu leaned closer and studied it for quite some time. When he saw the two Three-tailed Fox stone statues at the entrance, he confirmed his suspicion.
Wasn't this the Abandoned Shrine in Edo Castle he'd visited not long ago?
But was there some connection between them?
Uesugi Tetsu couldn't figure it out for the moment, so he could only bury the doubt in the depths of his heart.
[Each salvage costs 50 Soul Soothing Incense Ash.] [The first ten-pull salvage only costs 70%!]
After the two lines of notifications faded, numerous translucent phantoms appeared within the previously desolate shrine.
The largest was a phantom standing at the center of the card pool, wearing a fox mask and holding a folding fan. However, because of the mask, Uesugi Tetsu couldn't tell what kind of demon it was.
He tried clicking the phantom with his mind.
[Three-tailed Fox] [Quality: Rare]
This notification immediately popped up above the phantom's head, leaving Uesugi Tetsu both pleasantly surprised and somewhat speechless.
The pleasant surprise was that he could now know how many good things remained in the card pool.
But what did it mean for the notification to stop halfway through?
Was it trying to whet his appetite?
Next, he tried clicking the equipment worn by the Three-tailed Fox and discovered that each item was either an Excellent- or Rare-grade item, all of them looking exceptionally tempting.
But it simply refused to tell him their specific effects and attributes.
Uesugi Tetsu narrowed his eyes and snorted—only 350 Soul Soothing Incense Ash, was it? He'd show this little card pool how he'd drain it dry with a huge pull!
Without the slightest hesitation, Uesugi Tetsu used his mind to click hard on the black, billowing [Salvage Ten Times].
—Ten-pull, initiate!
Rumble... rumble-rumble...
As a full 350 points of Soul Soothing Incense Ash disappeared, the previously silent and deserted ruined shrine gradually began to tremble.
The damp moss rapidly receded, while dust and debris were swept away by a powerful wind. The disorderly branches on both sides became neat, as if they had been freshly trimmed.
Almost instantly, the shrine took on an entirely new appearance.
Uesugi Tetsu thought that the card-pulling animation was pretty impressive, with every detail rendered vividly.
Then, under his gaze, the two fox stone statues at the entrance suddenly lit up in the eyes and began to move. They ran into the shrine, then carried one item after another back outside in their mouths.
Before long, ten items of various colors had been arranged outside the shrine. Unfortunately, this ten-pull hadn't produced the demon Three-tailed Fox.
After the shrine slowly returned to its original appearance, Uesugi Tetsu looked at the various items that felt both unfamiliar and familiar.
[Soul Soothing Incense Ash (Tiny)] ×3, [Soul Soothing Incense Ash (Small)] ×3, [Soul Soothing Incense Ash (Medium)]. [Calming Charm], [Blessed Folding Fan], [Performance Scroll (Fragment)].
Seven of them were familiar Soul Soothing Incense Ash items, though this time they were no longer just a large pile of white lights there to make up the numbers.
The Soul Soothing Incense Ash marked "Small" emitted a faint green light, while the [Soul Soothing Incense Ash (Medium)] glowed a deep green.
Opening the panel revealed its description—
[Soul Soothing Incense Ash (Medium)] [Quality: Superior] [Effect: One of the essential materials required to advance from two stars to three stars.]
So Soul Soothing Incense Ash (Small) was an essential material for advancing from one star to two stars.
Uesugi Tetsu glanced at Laughing Brahma's upgrade requirements and found that they had changed slightly from before.
[Required for Upgrade: Soul Soothing Incense Ash (0/50)] [Estimated upgrade time: 168 hours (one week).]
The upgrade requirement hadn't gone insane and become ten portions of Soul Soothing Incense Ash (Small). Instead, the fixed quantity had been changed into a progress bar.
He tried it out and discovered that adding Soul Soothing Incense Ash (Small) counted as ten points of progress, while Soul Soothing Incense Ash (Tiny) only counted as two.
What a rare bit of conscience in the design.
Uesugi Tetsu sighed in admiration.
However, the time required for upgrading had doubled as well. He didn't know whether there were any items that could speed it up.
Without thinking too much about it, Uesugi Tetsu looked at the remaining three items.
[Calming Charm] [Quality: Excellent] [Effect One: Serenity. While wearing the Calming Charm, the wearer's spirit will receive slight nourishment.] [Effect Two: Sense. When a supernatural entity appears nearby, the Calming Charm will grow slightly warm.] [—A charm that had been worshipped in a shrine for a long time, granting it certain miraculous effects.]
It was an item that allowed ordinary people to discover demons. However, for Uesugi Tetsu, who could sense demonic auras and see the stars above other demons' heads, it was better than nothing.
He'd give this charm to Ririko when he got back.
Uesugi Tetsu thought that Ririko was only skilled with the sword, unlike an Onmyoji, who possessed numerous methods of detecting demons and Supernatural Phenomena.
Next came the main attraction—the folding fan held by the Three-tailed Fox, radiating a faint blue glow.
[Blessed Folding Fan] [Quality: Rare] [Effect One: Gentle Breeze Walk. Consumes Spiritual Power to accelerate movement a certain distance in a designated direction without chanting. The distance and speed increase with the amount of Spiritual Power consumed. Can only be released once every thirty seconds.] [Effect Two: Heavenly Thunder. Consumes Spiritual Power to release a bolt of heavenly thunder at a designated target without chanting. The thunder's power increases with the amount of Spiritual Power consumed. Can only be released once every five minutes.] [—A folding fan belonging to the shrine's chief priest, once blessed by the worshipped Kami.]
Good stuff.
Anyone who had played games knew how important the "raising one's hand" moment was. Many bosses had died because they raised their hands too slowly.
Just the two instant, no-chanting skills alone were enough to make this folding fan worthy of its Rare quality.
Not to mention that one was a movement skill while the other was a high-damage burst skill.
Unfortunately, this folding fan was probably the signature weapon of a spellcasting demon like the Three-tailed Fox, making it completely incompatible with his muscle-bound Laughing Brahma, whose Spiritual Power attribute was a mere four points.
The weapon was excellent, but he could only send it, along with the Priest's Robe, to support his future Three-tailed Fox incarnation.
Thinking of this, Uesugi Tetsu sighed and looked at the last item—
[Performance Scroll (Fragment)] [Quality: Excellent] [Effect: After use, provides 100 proficiency to a designated skill.]
He froze for a moment, then looked at the proficiency of his Ki-ai Technique.
—[Incomplete Ki-ai Technique (Proficiency 201/300)].
Before you continue