BXBX NOVEL Chapter 53 - 53: 45. Soul Shield
“View the upgrade information for ‘Soul Frost’.”
Noland Lee murmured the command, letting the system bring up the spell interface to evaluate the pros and cons of upgrading ‘Soul Frost’. ‘Soul Frost’, as a unique contract skill, has no consumption and is instant.
But it has a daily usage limit.
Noland had used ‘Soul Frost’ once when dealing with Pig Cook.
Now, the daily availability of this skill is 0/1.
When Noland checked the upgrade information, the system sent two paragraphs of text:
[You can consume 10 Energy Points to raise ‘Soul Frost’ to level 2 and choose one of the following two upgrade effects:]
[Option 1: Immediately gain one usage count and increase the daily usage limit to 2 times.]
[Option 2: Increase the control time of ‘Soul Frost’ to 2 seconds.]
Noland had no choice but to choose the first option to meet his needs.
He glanced at his Personal Panel.
He had 15 Energy Points on hand, enough to upgrade Soul Frost to level 2, and the skill would have one more use.
But there’s one problem that can’t be avoided:
The activation condition of ‘Soul Frost’ is very strict. Noland must have direct contact with Pim to trigger the skill’s control effect.
This is undoubtedly a dangerous casting method.
With Pig Cook’s death, Pim would definitely be more vigilant against Sin Soldier No. 888.
For Noland to use the same method to let Pim die at the hands of the undead would undoubtedly be much more difficult.
Moreover, Pim, who was already on guard, might have set up a backup plan in advance to deal with any possible emergencies, or even lay traps to counterkill Sin Soldier No. 888.
Based on this consideration, Noland abandoned the idea of upgrading ‘Soul
Frost’ and turned to think about the second coping strategy.
The new strategy has a great deal of uncertainty.
That is to deconstruct the Spirit Pivot in front of him, the Intermediate
Necromancer, Death Notice assassin, or Imperial Soldiers such as Corporal
Mars and Lieutenant Grett.
If he can randomly deconstruct useful knowledge or key information from these people and objects, Noland can handle Pim without leaving any traces by setting up in advance.
Huge randomness is the only drawback of this strategy.
The good news is that Noland can choose the magic protective cover of the Spirit Pivot as his target.
Not only can he do this to find a way to deal with Pim, but also increase the success rate of cracking the magic protective cover.
With good luck, he may get a deconstruction result he has never imagined.
With full energy points in Noland’s hand, after weighing the pros and cons, he finally made a decision.
Deconstructing the Magic Protective Cover is safer.
“Chief Officer, do you have a telescope? I want to study the Magic Protective Cover,” Noland Lee asked.
Corporal Mars reached into his pocket and pulled out a retractable monocular telescope, saying:
“Jarvis, don’t worry, we’ve arranged for the modification of the Undead Runes. Before you officially start modifying the runes, I’ll bring you a detailed investigation report on the Magic Protective Cover. Intelligence Department 4 and the Undead Cult have been fighting for so many years, and we’ve basically figured out the weaknesses and key points of the Magic Protective Cover.”
Noland Lee took the monocular telescope and was struck by an idea upon hearing Mars’s words. Then he asked with a bitter smile:
“Chief Officer, as you know, if I accidentally modify the Undead Runes wrong, I’ll have to meet my ancestors on the spot… Can you reveal more knowledge about the Magic Protective Cover, so I can mentally prepare myself?”
Corporal Mars thought for half a second:
“That’s not impossible, you’ll know sooner or later anyway.”
Corporal Mars raised his hand and pointed to a corner of the Spirit Pivot, guiding Noland Lee to observe the direction he was pointing with the telescope.
. Look there, look carefully. When the Undead Cult built the Spirit Pivot, they deliberately concealed the Energy Nodes.. Hmm, you might not know what Energy Nodes are. It doesn’t matter, it won’t affect anything. You can consider them as valves of the steam pipeline.”
Noland Lee raised the telescope, closed one eye, and looked in the direction Mars pointed with the other eye.
Indeed, the thickness of the Magic Protective Cover in that area was thicker and darker than other places.
It would not be easy to find it in a dimly lit environment without being told about this peculiar area.
Corporal Mars said:
“The place I pointed out to you is a relatively important Energy Node, which is a necessary path for the death energy to flow in and out of the Spirit Pivot. If you modify the Undead Runes in that area, the Magic Protective Cover will be significantly weakened. However, you may not recognize the Undead Runes in that small area. We’ll talk about it then.’
Noland Lee nodded and thanked him casually.
He focused his gaze on the unique area and cast the Deconstruction technique.
[System Message: You are about to cast Deconstruction on the “Energy Node of the Magic Protective Cover”.]
[As your Undead Rune Studies level is 1, the energy points consumed for this deconstruction are reduced by 10%.]
[Estimated consumption of 90 points of energy to achieve a 100% degree of deconstruction.]
[You currently have 15 points of energy available, do you wish to proceed with the deconstruction?]
Noland Lee reserved 5 points of energy for backup, inputting 10 points into the
Deconstruction Technique.
A moment of dizziness passed, and a stream of information poured out from the depths of his mind.
[System Message: Deconstruction successful!]
[Your deconstruction completion rate for the energy node has reached 11.1%. At the same time, the deconstruction completion rate for the entire Magic Protective Cover has reached 0.3%.]
[You have achieved the following deconstruction results:]
Your Undead Rune Studies skill experience has slightly increased, allowing you to recognize more Undead Runes.]
You have obtained the “Incomplete Spell Blueprint of Soul Shield” with a completeness of 50%.]
Spell Blueprints?!
Noland Lee slightly opened his mouth, his heart full of astonishment. He quickly suppressed the joy in his heart, not allowing it to show on his face.
Maintaining the observation of the Magic Protective Cover, he multitasked in his mind, opening the just-received spell blueprint.
A three-dimensional figure, composed of dozens of black light spots and black lines, appeared before him.
Unfortunately:
This three-dimensional figure was clearly missing half of it – while the left side was complete, the right side was marked with a question mark by the system.
But!
The incomplete spell blueprint did not make Noland Lee feel discouraged.
After he consumed 1 point of energy and completely deconstructed this spell blueprint, the system sent him an exciting message: [You have acquired a death-related spell, details as follows:]
[Name]Soul Shield
[Type]Death-related protective spell
[Level]l, can be leveled up to 100
[Casting requirements]
“Energy Points” are the “mana” and “blue bar” required for casting spells.
“Soul Strength” is the casting material required for casting death-related spells.
By drawing the spell blueprint, consume 1 point of energy and 0.1 point of Soul Strength to cast the spell.
[Effect]
After casting this spell, your soul will be wrapped in a shield.
Any negative effect and damage applied to the soul, regardless of its potency and effect, will be completely blocked by the shield.
As this skill is at Level 1, the “Soul Shield” can block 1 soul-targeted attack for you.]
[Flaw]
The shield’s duration is reduced from 60 seconds to 30 seconds.
Noland Lee considered the flaw in this spell to be acceptable.
The duration reduction of 30 seconds dramatically decreased the margin for error when casting.
However, as long as his operation awareness was in place, he should still be able to use it to block damage and control effects.
The damage to the soul from effects like the Stone Tomb Bound Spirits’ “Soul Sacrifice” can be blocked by “Soul Shield”.
Noland Lee raised an eyebrow, a smile forming in his heart.
The Stone Tomb of Underground Layer 2 was about to resurrect soon.
‘I’ne “Soul smeld” spell came Just In time, providing mm witn a combat advantage in Underground Layer 2.
If he could lure Pim into the Underground Layer 2, the “Soul Shield” might have miraculous effects.
Not bad, quite clever..