Powerful Relic, Thornfire!

Su Yi had no idea how long it had taken him to run out of the cave.

He had poured all his attention into keeping his Void Abyss Projection from collapsing and finding his way.

When he finally came to his senses, he realized he had escaped the scorching cave.

But waves of searing pain still ran through him.

At least he no longer had to worry about his Void Abyss Projection collapsing.

He spared a moment to look. Most of the Dark Matter Eye's obsidian surface had melted, but thankfully, it had not broken apart.

The Ember Branch clung to its surface like a centipede. Its scorching twigs and thorns had pierced the eye like a parasite.

The Dark Matter Eye seemed to have adapted to the fusion. The heat and pain were gradually fading.

Finally free of that terrible pain, Su Yi had time to examine the branch's attributes.

[Name: Ember Branch]

[Grade: S]

[Category: Void Abyss Relic]

[Requirements: Pass its trial and offer 100 Void Abyss Coins each day.]

[Effect 1: Increases maximum bandwidth by 200.]

[Effect 2: Grants the wielder the talent Thornfire.]

(Legend said it was a branch from the top of the Goddess of Black Cinders' Soulfire Throne. It had spent two and a half years adventuring on its own since breaking away.)

After reading its attributes, Su Yi was thrilled.

"This S-grade relic is insane!"

Relics of different grades had different effects.

Ordinary D- and C-grade relics only raised the bandwidth cap a little.

B- and A-grade relics also improved certain physical abilities.

Only S-grade relics and above could grant special talents.

With this thing, Niko Niko Nii had been practically unbeatable in PvP.

He had risen straight to the top among the open-beta players.

When other open-beta players had daily bandwidth caps of just fifty or sixty, his had been nearly three hundred!

And Thornfire was extraordinarily powerful.

Its solid flames struck in strange ways and clung fiercely to anything they touched, taking root and burning into the body.

Getting burned by it would cost you a layer of skin, if not your life.

As Su Yi celebrated, he suddenly noticed two new lines beneath its attributes.

[Wielder possesses the power of pleasure. Special effect activated.]

[Effect 3: Daily use of Self-Reward can water the Ember Branch and help it grow.]

Su Yi's eyes widened. "Ha! Hahaha! Being powerful really does come with surprises everywhere!"

"Even Niko Niko Nii never discovered this hidden ability!"

"Of course! The Twins of Pleasure hold some authority over fertility. It makes perfect sense that their power could help the Ember Branch grow!"

After taking in the Ember Branch's attributes, Su Yi extended his senses and immediately felt the deep connection he had formed with it.

He willed it to move.

A thorny tendril of flame, at least five meters long and made entirely of strange magma, shot from the Dark Matter Eye's pupil.

This was how Thornfire attacked.

Facing a huge boulder, Su Yi lashed it with the fiery thorn.

Crack!

After a piercing impact, the fiery thorn melted into the boulder like a branding iron pressed against ice.

Su Yi swung again...

Crack!

Crack!

He delivered a lightning-fast five-hit whipping.

Crunch! The intense heat and tremendous force melted a pit six meters deep into the boulder's base.

As more stone broke apart, specks of purple starlight appeared and merged into Su Yi's Dark Matter Eye.

That was experience for leveling up.

Destroying these condensations of rules let him absorb the power within them.

Su Yi unleashed more than a dozen five-hit flurries.

The relentless attacks cut straight through the boulder's base.

The entire boulder toppled.

Boom!

As the boulder fell and shattered, all the red thorns on it vanished. Countless purple motes then appeared and streamed toward Su Yi.

As he absorbed the "experience," Su Yi could clearly feel himself growing stronger.

The Dark Matter Eye's melted surface even returned to normal, nourished by the energy.

Su Yi wanted to keep going, but the cloudlike Void Abyss tide receded. The fallen boulder, still rich with material to mine, was completely swallowed by the tide.

Then a wave of dizziness hit him.

He knew his journey was over for the day.

Each day's journey ended when bandwidth reset, at six in the morning.

It began at nine in the evening.

Nobody knew why it worked that way.

Su Yi opened his eyes and immediately felt lighter and more comfortable than ever before.

Leveling up automatically strengthened an ordinary human body, up to level ten.

After that, it strengthened the soul instead.

"I wonder how many levels I gained."

Su Yi looked down at his status panel.

[Name: Su Yi Horus Constantine Gehroth]

[Faction: Black Sun Group]

[Position: Temporary Employee]

[Void Abyss Projection: Dark Matter Eye LV1]

[Level: 8]

[Health: 1100]

[Void Spirit Bandwidth: 60+200]

[Projection Talent: Matter Encoding: Spend 10 bandwidth to rewrite the surface structure of a small amount of matter.]

[Skills: Self-Satisfaction, Thornfire.]

Su Yi marveled. "Ten extra bandwidth per level. As expected of a boss—twice the growth rate of a player!"

"Thornfire is incredible. Without it, I'd have been lucky to gain even one level."

Destructive power in the Void Abyss determined how quickly one leveled up.

After a moment, Su Yi examined his relic skill.

[Name: Thornfire]

[Grade: S]

[Requirements: None.]

[Type: Active.]

[Total Destructive Power: 10,000 entropy]

[Cost: 20 bandwidth/second.]

[Cooldown: 0]

[Effect: Attack by controlling thorn-shaped solid flames of terrifying heat.]

(It was the perfect partner for the Great Memory Restoration Technique.)

"So it's a sustained skill. No cooldown, just on and off."

He was about to activate it when a tiny hand made of red vines appeared. It rubbed its thumb and forefinger together, asking for money.

Su Yi sighed. "That's a little too real."

He took out a hundred-yuan bill and handed it over.

The instant the bill touched the little vine hand, it turned into a stream of purple energy and flowed inside.

Whoosh!

A wave of scorching heat erupted.

Su Yi looked down. A meter-long thorny branch radiating molten heat had grown straight out of his wrist and forearm.

Its appearance alone raised the air temperature by ten degrees!

"Damn. At this range, that's practically an instant kill against anyone below level ten!"

Su Yi stared in shock.

After examining it and giving it a few swings, he nodded in satisfaction and withdrew it.

His bandwidth was too low, so the power he could channel through his body was only a fifth of what he could wield in the Void Abyss.

But that was enough.

He had the Shield Robot for defense and Thornfire for offense.

With those abilities, he could carve out a place for himself in this border region.