Phoenix Nirvana

All holders of Earth Grade Innate Sparks were escorted away separately by the City Lord's Mansion guards.

Clearly, they would all be invited to join the City Lord's Mansion.

The remaining Profound Grade holders could choose freely. Although Frostfire City was dominated by the City Lord's Mansion, it still had several independent extraordinary factions. Not everyone was willing to serve under another, and quite a few preferred being the head of a chicken over the tail of an ox.

If everyone were forced to join, some Profound Grade HuoZhong Professionals would inevitably leave Frostfire City.

Although the Profound Grade was the lowest tier among combat professionals, Innate Sparks could still grow after awakening.

Thus, even a large-scale departure of Profound Grade Innate Spark holders would weaken Frostfire City as a whole.

Given enough time, Frostfire City would surely lose its current prosperity.

After the last youth completed his test, the City Lord's Mansion guards brought out sealed metal boxes one after another.

Li Mu immediately looked over excitedly, because he knew that these contained the first Acquired HuoZhong he was about to fuse with.

This was also Frostfire City's final free gift. If he wanted more Acquired HuoZhong afterward, he could either join the City Lord's Mansion as a low-ranking soldier and climb his way up, join one of the city's factions, or have a mine at home and buy them outright.

The sealed metal boxes were opened, revealing transparent hollow glass spheres.

A tiny red-and-blue flame floated inside each one. These were Frostfire City's specialty Acquired HuoZhong.

A few minutes later, Li Mu received his own Acquired HuoZhong.

The instant he took it, he followed the Spark Academy's teachings and used his Mental Power to draw the Spark Energy within his Innate Spark through his hands and into the hollow glass sphere. The moment the Spark Energy touched the Acquired HuoZhong and resonated with it, its attributes appeared in his mind.

[HuoZhong Name: Frostfire Gunner]

[HuoZhong Category: Extraordinary Profession]

[HuoZhong Strength: Profound Grade]

[HuoZhong Skill: Frostfire Gun Fu LV1 (Profound Grade)]

[HuoZhong Slot: 1]

Li Mu crushed the glass sphere with his bare hand, and the Acquired HuoZhong inside immediately entered his Innate Spark through his HuoZhong Source Power.

The Frostfire Gunner's HuoZhong Strength was Profound Grade, which meant a Profound Grade Innate Spark could control only one such Acquired HuoZhong. Unless one raised their Transcendence Level, they could not load additional Acquired HuoZhong. His Earth Grade Innate Spark was twice as strong as a Profound Grade one, so after loading this one, he could still load another Profound Grade Acquired HuoZhong.

Moments later, his Innate Spark had completely fused with the Acquired HuoZhong.

Memories related to Frostfire Gun Fu LV1 immediately appeared in Li Mu's mind.

As long as he held a gun, he could imbue fired bullets with burning and freezing power. Frostfire Gun Fu also came with a close-quarters combat technique designed to work with shooting, and it could ultimately double his shooting accuracy.

Once all the youths had fused with their Acquired HuoZhong, City Lord Bo Yi launched into another long-winded speech.

It was nearly evening before he regretfully announced that the Awakening Ceremony had officially ended.

Following the way they had come, they returned to the Spark Academy. By then, the academy was already packed with representatives sent by factions large and small throughout the city to recruit newcomers.

Li Mu roughly reviewed the terms and contact information offered by the various factions, then boarded the Trolleybus home with a thick stack of brochures. The entire way, he carefully resisted checking on the changes to his Seedship.

The moment he finally got home, Li Mu entered his Seedship through the Spark Meditation Technique.

Only his spiritual consciousness could enter as before, but this time, a Second Origin HuoZhong floated in the Seedship's main control cockpit. At the same time, many more indicator lights had lit up on the equipment that had always remained dormant there.

[Beep... Pure-blooded Blue Star human detected. Shipboard Spark activation commencing...]

[Activation failed... Shipboard Spark extinguished...]

[Activating ship structure talent Nirvana. The Seedship Phoenix is automatically commencing Nirvana...]

Before Li Mu could react, the entire Seedship was engulfed in black flames.

He felt incredibly warm within them and suffered no discomfort at all. He watched helplessly as the Seedship turned to nothingness in the black flames, then reappeared from nothing within those flames. During the process, his Second Origin HuoZhong fused with the Seedship.

More precisely, his Second Origin HuoZhong had become the Seedship's Shipboard Spark.

[Li Mu: Human] [Mental: 3.9]

[Physique: 3.5] [Transcendence Level: LV1 (0/100)]

[Notice: Normal humans have Mental and Physique attributes of around one point. Normal HuoZhong Awakeners have both attributes at around two points. Each increase in Transcendence Level grants one Free Attribute Point. Self-training and External Enhancement can provide additional attribute increases.]

[First Origin HuoZhong: Earth Grade]

[Seed Talent: Camouflage—freely disguises one's own HuoZhong fluctuations]

[Second Origin HuoZhong: Heaven Grade]

[Seed Talent: Nirvana]

[Acquired HuoZhong: Frostfire Gunner (Profound Grade)]

[Seedship: Phoenix Seed Destroyer LV1]

His Mental attribute had increased by nearly one point, and the talent of his Second Origin HuoZhong had been born as well.

This Nirvana talent was incredibly powerful. If he died outside the Phoenix, he could use the Second Origin HuoZhong that had replaced the Shipboard Spark to undergo Nirvana and revive. If the Phoenix suffered severe damage that could not be repaired, it could also undergo Nirvana and start everything anew.

Personal Nirvana meant his survivability had increased enormously.

Seedship Nirvana meant everything could start over from scratch.

As far as he knew, every time a Seedship changed owners, its overall performance would weaken by one-tenth. Thus, no matter how good a Seedship was, once it had been passed down through generations, it would lose its cultivation value. Generally speaking, only first-generation ships were worth cultivating.

Although the Phoenix would return to its initial state after Nirvana, it had genuinely become a first-generation ship.

[Beep... Phoenix Nirvana complete...]

[New Captain's highest authority confirmed. Phoenix self-diagnostic commencing...]

[Self-diagnostic complete... Compiling basic ship data...]

[Phoenix: Seed Destroyer LV1]

[Ship Structure (Red LV0), Armor (LV0), Main Cannon (LV0), Engine (LV0), Deep Space Radar (LV0)]

[Subordinate Module: Anchor of Fantasy (Prismatic)]

[Spark Energy: 0]

[HuoZhong Source Power: 0]

"Red... Prismatic..."

Li Mu's eyes nearly popped out of his head.

Although Frostfire City's Spark Academy did not teach much about Seedships, the Nine-Colored ranking for all treasures in the Spark World was universal. Starting with the lowest-quality white, the ranks above it were the seven rainbow colors: red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and purple.

Purple was the lowest among them, while scarlet, or red, was the highest.

Beyond red, there were no higher-quality ranks.

As for black, the final color in the Nine-Colored ranking, black-quality treasures were extremely special. Weak ones were inferior even to white-quality items, but powerful ones could rival red-quality items. All black-quality treasures possessed the potential to evolve. This was the Nine-Colored ranking known to everyone in the Spark World.

Throughout Frostfire City, he had never even heard of a green-quality treasure, let alone a red one.

And yet the Phoenix Seed Destroyer's Subordinate Module was Prismatic, a quality that exceeded the universal Nine-Colored ranking.

The Seedship Phoenix was only the lowest-tier Seed Destroyer.

Yet its ship structure was of red quality. Even among all first-generation ships, that placed it at the very top. Therefore, it definitely had not possessed only one Subordinate Module. Based on his analysis, the other modules had either been destroyed in battle or vanished during Nirvana.

Only the Prismatic Anchor of Fantasy had remained. For all he knew, the Phoenix might have nearly been destroyed because of this Subordinate Module.