Infinite Anime [128-130] (Patreon)

Chapter 128: Not Enough Slots!

Gusion wasn’t sure what kind of mechanism this was. Although this outward-firing skill had become a passive, it wasn’t the ideal state he’d envisioned—the kind that would coil around his body and let him fire endlessly.

Instead, it had turned into a passive that could be toggled on or off, just like most passives. The moment he activated the Red Flame Cannon kiddo spell passive, he could manually release it once.

This was different from the unlimited Red Flame Cannon state he’d originally imagined, and the passive’s activation switch had a 2-second cooldown, which left Gusion somewhat dissatisfied.

He’d guessed this was likely because the Origin Spirit Seed’s growth level was insufficient. That theory was now confirmed: as soon as he slotted the Red Flame Cannon, its cooldown dropped to 1 second.

If the Origin Spirit Seed could continue to sprout and grow, perhaps the skill’s cooldown would eventually disappear and merge with his body, becoming the true passive he desired.

Of course, Gusion was only doing comparison experiments. In actual combat, he didn’t intend to slot the Red Flame Cannon; instead, he’d choose one of his high-consumption kido spells that would normally drain him with a single use—such as the defensive bakudō #1 "Splitting Void".

Depending on the battlefield, Gusion might also choose to slot a Kaido. He’d tested before, and guessed that because Kaido was meant for self-repair, it could be perfectly converted into a passive ability.

When Kaido was slotted, it became a passive akin to rapid regeneration, which was very useful in tough battles.

However, Gusion previously only had a single slot, which he prioritized for Armament Haki. After all, Armament Haki provided both offense and defense, and with its high defense, he usually didn’t suffer serious injuries.

“Not enough slots...”

Gusion muttered to himself, feeling more and more that the Origin Spirit Seed didn’t provide enough slots—so many good skills, and he wanted to cram them all in.

Unfortunately, there were only two slots for now, and the cooldown for swapping skills was very long, making it impossible to switch freely in combat. Most of the time, he had to use the abilities he’d allocated in advance.

At this moment, Gusion was sitting on his bed catching up on anime. He naturally used the breathing technique he’d learned from Demon Slayer while simultaneously cultivating with his spiritual pressure training method. He had no choice—he’d just used Red Flame Cannon to test cooldown changes, so he’d have to wait until tomorrow to use the spiritual pressure training method.

…

The next morning, Gusion finished his all-night anime marathon. Because spiritual pressure training was also a kind of meditation, he didn’t feel particularly tired.

[The items you consigned as a Pioneer have been successfully sold. Please collect your End Coins from your mailbox.]

He hadn’t even eaten breakfast yet when Gusion received a prompt from End Space.

He checked his mailbox—all the items he’d listed had sold. He’d refused a few haggling emails, so everything had sold at the original price.

That netted him another 63,000 End Coins, making him flush with cash again. Counting his previous savings, he now had over 140,000 End Coins.

After washing up, Gusion sent a request to End Space.

[End Space, please enhance my Armament Haki.]

His Armament Haki was currently level 12; upgrading to level 13 required 2,800 End Coins and 5 Small Inheritance Crystals, and each subsequent upgrade cost 400 more End Coins per level.

He upgraded three times in a row, spending a total of 9,600 End Coins and using up all his Small Inheritance Crystals.

After reaching level 15, Gusion felt Armament Haki had hit another limit. When he asked the End Space, he learned that further upgrades would require Medium Inheritance Crystals instead.

He could clearly sense that his Armament Haki had reached its limit in its current domain—without a qualitative breakthrough, its power wouldn’t increase any further.

He tried to deduce and mimic Ryuo as he’d seen in the Wano Arc but failed. Maybe it was because there’s a difference between anime and reality; without seeing how the power worked firsthand, it was hard to break through just by imagination and imitation.

Still, Gusion didn’t give up—he felt he was close to the trick. Regular practice wouldn’t go to waste; once he broke through, his Armament Haki would level up rapidly.

Having upgraded such an important passive skill for battle, Gusion turned off the TV and went to browse the trading market.

Maybe his luck stat had increased, because he quickly found something that suited him.

The first item was a pair of boots—footwear equipment. The vendor was probably from an adventure group offloading goods; their stall had all kinds of stuff.

[Cloud-Step Boots]

Origin: Native World #339185

Rarity: Legendary

Equipment Type: Footwear

Durability: 200/200

Toughness: 39

Requirements: 35 Agility, 35 Spirit

Details: Crafted by legendary artisan Miersis, made from cloud silkworm thread and floating cotton. While worn, the covered parts gain strong physical and magical resistance.

Skill 1: Riding the Wind (Passive): Reduces air resistance by 50% while moving.

Skill 2: Treading on Clouds (Passive): Reduces gravity’s effect by 80%. This passive can be toggled at any time, with no cooldown.

Skill 3: Piercing Clouds (Active): Consumes some soul energy, allowing the Pioneer to blink instantly within 50 meters of their line of sight. Cooldown: 60 minutes.

Rating: 330

Evaluation: Ride the wind, walk upon the clouds.

[]

End Space’s evaluation was unusually serious, but that wasn’t what attracted Gusion. He simply thought the boots’ abilities suited a solo player like him.

The overall rating wasn’t high for Legendary gear, and many explorers might not need such functionality—but Gusion could make use of all three skills.

First, because he’d mastered advanced Shunpo and Thunder Breathing, his full-speed bursts were extremely fast. This created problems: the faster he went, the greater the air resistance, which limited his speed and drained stamina faster.

So Riding the Wind was a top-tier passive for him. In fact, anyone with high speed would love it, but among second-tier explorers, few had his level of speed.

The second skill, Treading on Clouds, was also mostly useless to others. Reducing gravity wouldn’t let them float; at best, it’d slow falls and reduce impact. But for Gusion, it was different.

In the Bleach world, Shunpo allowed stepping on air, but only by creating spirit particle footholds.

With his current spiritual pressure, that was taxing, so most Shinigami ran on the ground; only officers or above could step on air in battle.

With the Cloud-Step Boots, he’d need only a little soul energy to create footholds, letting him achieve step in the air—essentially, he’d gain a semi-flight ability.

Gaining the ability to step in the air was a huge tactical advantage.

As for the last skill, Piercing Clouds, that was even more precious—a blink with a long cooldown, but a single blink at a critical moment could save his life or win a battle.

All in all, this was an excellent piece of gear for regular second-tier explorers, so the vendor asked for a steep price: 70,000 End Coins.

“Fifty thousand. I’ll take it.”

Gusion tried to haggle. According to the market, a Legendary piece was worth 30,000–100,000; boots weren’t a main weapon, so it was a bit pricey.

“No way. That’s my lowest price.”

The vendor shook his head.

“Piercing Clouds is a strong skill, but this is just footwear. Its overall value isn’t that high, and not many people can afford Legendary gear. How long have you been trying to sell it?”

Gusion explained and then countered. He’d observed the market; Legendary Gear was elite among second-tier explorers, but few could use it.

The last time he’d seen Snow Wind, the second-ranked in the second-tier arena, she was a guild leader with a full set of Legendary gear. Ordinary explorers couldn’t afford it.

Seventy thousand could buy a good main weapon. Big adventure groups would prefer shields or spell over boots.

This kind of gear only appealed to two types: wealthy guild leaders or powerful soloists like Gusion.

There weren’t many such buyers, and each had different needs—so the chance of selling these boots at a high price was slim.

Sure enough, the vendor looked uncomfortable. “Fifty thousand isn’t enough.”

He was in charge of sales for the Mammoth Adventure Group. They wanted to sell the boots for cash to buy a new shield for their main tank. He knew Gusion’s point was valid; he’d been trying to sell for a week, and few showed interest—even fewer after hearing the price.

“Fifty-five thousand. That’s my final offer.”

Gusion said plainly.

The vendor hesitated. Their group was about to enter a new world in a week—they couldn’t keep holding onto inventory.

“One moment.”

He turned away, seemingly to consult with his team. After a while, a giant over two meters tall strode over. The vendor stood up respectfully. “Leader.”

The big man was bare-chested, draped in animal hide, with a hearty smile. He looked at Gusion. “How about this? Join our group, and the boots are yours.”

Gusion was briefly stunned but shook his head. “I’m not planning to join a group for now.”

Offering a Legendary piece to recruit him showed real sincerity. But as a Pioneer, Gusion had personal quests he couldn’t share with teammates; he wasn’t suited for team actions.

If he ever needed a group, he’d make his own, just to get the group skills.

“Haha, I guessed right—you’re a lone wolf.”

The big man wasn’t upset, just laughed. “No problem, let’s be friends. Fifty-five thousand, Little Wolf, go ahead with the deal.”

The vendor picked up the boots and traded with Gusion, who paid without further haggling.

“I’m Titan. What should I call you, friend?”

“Mazuko,” Gusion replied with his End Space nickname—few used their real names here.

He was about to leave, but Titan stopped him, making him a bit puzzled.

“Mazuko, you seem like a strong soloist. Are you interested in a ranged weapon?”

Titan explained.

Chapter 129: Barbarian King’s Bow, a Twist

“Ranged weapon? What kind?”

Gusion paused. He’d just sold his Godslayer Sniper Rifle—not because he didn’t need a ranged weapon, but because he wasn’t good with guns.

“Bow and arrow. Do you have a specialty? If not, maybe ask your friends.”

Titan took out a longbow from his storage, his expression tinged with sadness. “This was my brother’s bow. He fell in the last world, and traded it to me with his dying breath. We’d wanted to recruit a new ranged physical DPS, but most ranged explorers now use sniper rifles. We have no choice but to sell it.”

“Leader... can’t we wait a bit longer?” The vendor, Little Wolf, looked moved at the sight of the bow, clearly holding special feelings for it.

“No point waiting. We can’t recruit the right person, and I’ve just bought new guns for our two snipers. Not many use bows these days.”

Titan waved. He was only asking Gusion out of hope—maybe Gusion would know someone who could use it.

Bows were hard to sell because they required real skill, unlike modern guns, which, with a bit of training and an aiming system, anyone could use. Whether you could hit anything with a bow was another matter.

Their previous third-in-command, the master archer, had been a triple Olympic gold medalist in archery before entering End Space.

“Let me see.”

Gusion didn’t refuse, looking at the black-brown longbow.

It had a simple design with hornlike curves at the ends, exuding a sense of great power. Clearly, it wasn’t something easily drawn.

[Barbarian King’s Bow]

Origin: Native World #87123

Rarity: Legendary

Equipment Type: Main Weapon (Bow)

Durability: 200/200

Enhancement: +8

Special Effect: Godspeed—Initial arrow speed +30%

Toughness: 45

Effective Range: 10–30 km

Requirements: 40 Strength, 40 Agility, Master-level Bow Specialization

Description: Passed down through generations in the Kabak tribe. Drawing this bow requires immense strength; whoever can draw it becomes the new Barbarian King. Don’t try unless you’re strong enough, or you’ll be seriously injured.

Skill 1: Arrow of Nature (Active): Ordinary arrows can’t handle the bow’s power. Besides special arrows, the Pioneer can consume soul energy to conjure a high-density energy arrow. If it hits and inflicts effective damage, the arrow explodes inside, dealing 400% mixed damage based on the user's Strength.

Cooldown: None

Skill 2: Brute Force (Passive): Arrows shot from this bow gain immense force, with strong penetration. If not fully penetrating, they deal powerful knockback.

Skill 3: Enchant (Active): Pioneer can enchant arrows in various ways; the effect lasts one second after the arrow leaves the bowstring.

Rating: 400+

Evaluation: Take violence to the extreme—one shot pierces the earth!

[]

Gusion was amazed—he fell in love with the bow at first sight.

He wasn’t lacking in ranged attack methods—kido worked at range, but Kido was more spell-like and, except for a few high-level ones, usually didn’t hit hard. So he rarely used destructive kido for ranged attacks, mostly relying on binding spells for support.

The Barbarian King’s Bow was a classic ranged weapon—simple, direct, and violent. It matched Gusion’s taste in weapons.

As for the requirements, his normal Strength and Agility weren’t enough, but if he activated his states, he could easily meet them, and he had Master-level bow specialization.

His firearms skill was only average, but his archery was truly Master-level. His old-fashioned master had taught him archery as part of the traditional six arts. If not for circumstances, he’d have learned mounted archery too.

He was a fast learner in martial arts, hitting targets at a hundred paces as a child. Compared to cold guns, traditional bows felt more natural.

This bow would perfectly fill his mid- and long-range combat gap. With it, he’d have no combat weaknesses and could handle any mission world.

The only problem was, this bow was too good—even enhanced to +8. It wouldn’t be cheap.

He only had 90,000 coins left, and needed to keep at least 10,000 as a reserve for preparations and consumables, leaving only 80,000 to spend.

“Well, Mazuko, what do you think?”

Titan asked. Despite his burly appearance, he was perceptive—he could tell Gusion liked the bow.

That surprised Titan; he’d only asked Gusion on a whim, hoping he’d spread the word.

But Gusion’s gaze said it all—he not only liked it, he met the requirements!

Titan glanced at the sword at Gusion’s waist and realized this man was no ordinary explorer. If his bow mastery was this high but his main weapon was a sword, it meant his sword mastery was at least also Master-level—maybe more!

Was this really just a second-tier explorer?

Turns out, all the successful soloists were monsters.

“Great bow. Frankly, I really want it,” Gusion finally said. “But I probably can’t afford it. How much are you asking?”

“100,000.”

Titan replied bluntly.

“A shame—it’s worth that to the right person.” Gusion shook his head. He needed to keep some reserves, so he could only offer 80,000.

Titan hesitated for a few seconds, then said, “How much can you pay?”

“80,000. I need some for preparations.”

Gusion said honestly.

Titan looked conflicted, but quickly decided, “Fine. 80,000 it is!”

Gusion was surprised. This was a full-score Legendary main weapon, enhanced to +8.

He had a Luck Stone, so +8 wasn’t hard for him, but normally, it’d cost 20,000 coins to enhance this far.

“You’re sure?”

Gusion asked.

Titan smiled bitterly. “Don’t ask again, or I’ll change my mind.”

He knew he was selling it cheap, but they couldn’t find a bow user, and few could use such a weapon. The team was entering a world next week—they couldn’t let the bow go unsold. 80,000 was acceptable; it’d help the next member survive.

Gusion said no more, completed the trade, and received the Barbarian King’s Bow.

“Mazuko, let’s add each other as friends. Next time we get good stuff, we’ll contact each other first.”

Titan suggested.

Gusion agreed. More contacts meant more business opportunities.

Now broke, Gusion didn’t have to worry about spending money—he could just focus on training.

Leaving the market, he headed for the arena. He’d lost his title after advancing, so he wanted to see if he could earn a new one in the second-tier arena.

…

…

…

[Pioneer has reached 300 victories in the arena, now ranked 29th.]

With the prompt, Gusion was teleported out of the arena and back to the lounge.

He’d spent the past two weeks grinding in the second-tier arena. Compared to the first tier, the second was much harder. After reaching the top 30, he struggled—many opponents now had 50 points in their main attributes, waiting to rank up after the next world.

Gusion could hit 45 points with all his buffs, so reaching this rank was already impressive—he relied on skill, outmaneuvering opponents, and seizing chances to win.

He wasn’t worried; there were two weeks before the next world. He felt his attributes would soon rise, and then he could try for the top spot.

Leaving the arena, he went to the commercial street—today was the pickup day he’d agreed on with the sailor-uniform girl.

He walked through the alley to find her shop closed, which puzzled him.

Just as he was about to email her, the door opened. The sailor-uniform girl, disheveled and dazed, looked at him blankly.

When she recognized him, her expression changed—she looked awkward.

“What’s wrong?”

Gusion felt uneasy—surely something hadn’t gone wrong? The contract protected him, but he didn’t have two weeks to wait for new equipment.

“There was... a bit of a problem.”

She said awkwardly. “Come in and I’ll explain.”

“What kind of ‘problem’?” Gusion frowned. Had he overestimated her skills? Were all her skill points in making beds instead of equipment?

She led Gusion inside and pulled out a tray, lifting a cloth. “The quality... isn’t quite up to standard.”

“What do you mean, ‘not quite’ up to standard?” Gusion emphasized the words.

“I mean... I made a purple item.” She fidgeted with her skirt, looking ashamed. “It’s a disgrace—using such good materials, and I only made a purple.”

Gusion felt disappointed too, but didn’t cancel the order—he was curious what she’d made.

He looked at the tray: a white-blue, translucent ring.

He was shocked. She hadn’t lied—it was a purple item.

But it was a growth equipment...

Chapter 130: Growth Equipment, Arena Champion

Gusion picked up the ring and examined its details.

[Soul Devourer]

Origin: End Space

Rarity: Purple

Equipment Type: Accessory

Durability: 100/100

Requirement: 30 Spirit

Details: Made by Supporter █████ using Thunder Gold and Clearstone as main materials. Has excellent growth potential.

Skill 1: Soul Devour (Passive): Can absorb high-quality energy (natural, dark matter, etc.) to grow. First time absorbing new energy yields more growth; subsequent absorption is less effective.

Current Growth: 0%

Skill 2: Spirituality (Passive): Increases spell resistance and boosts nerve reflex speed by 30%.

Skill 3: Soul Surge (Passive/Active): While worn, attacks deal extra true damage equal to 3% of max soul energy. When actively triggered, consumes 10% soul energy per second, and attacks deal extra true damage equal to 10% of max soul energy.

[Note: Can only trigger once per second]

Rating: 200+

Evaluation: Enough talk, show your blue bar!

[]

Although only purple, this item’s effects were powerful, and its mechanism was excellent.

The sailor-uniform girl had tailored it to his needs. Skill 2, Spirituality, was a standard accessory bonus—but a good one, showing her skill.

Skill 3, Soul Surge, was insane—a purple item that inflicted true damage! The amount scaled with soul energy; the higher the Spirit stat, the more blue bar he had, and the more true damage he’d deal.

End Space didn’t fully quantify soul and life energy, but in battle logs, you could check temporary numbers.

For example, if he slashed an enemy, the log would show how much damage he dealt.

By his calculations, for equal Spirit and Physique, soul and life energy were about the same numerically.

So, with Soul Surge active, just 10 procs would nearly kill an explorer with equal stats.

Of course, it wasn’t overpowered yet—using it drained 10% soul energy per second, so he’d be empty in ten seconds.

Once soul energy hit zero, you’d faint or suffer severe fatigue—so you couldn’t win just by spamming this effect.

But Gusion could recover soul energy in battle—his Mazuko skill could drain. He could activate Soul Surge and drain at the same time—a perpetual motion machine.

The 10% soul energy true damage per hit was significant, a reliable way to chip down an enemy’s life.

Most importantly, Soul Devourer was only purple now. Once it ranked up to Legendary, all skills would get even stronger—and Soul Surge would be far more practical.

In short, this item had huge growth potential; at higher rarities, the trigger limit might even be lifted.

Seeing Gusion silent, the sailor-uniform girl asked nervously, “Just so you know, you can cancel the order, but can we at least not cancel the bed?”

But Gusion shook his head. “I’m satisfied. Let’s settle the final payment.”

Though not Legendary, Soul Devourer was excellent. Growth equipment was a permanent investment—long-term benefits surpassed a single Legendary accessory.

The girl beamed. “Great! I was afraid you wouldn’t recognize its value. Don’t mind the slow leveling—growth gear is king!”

“It does save money in the long run—if I live long enough.”

“You’d better live long—I need you as a customer!”

She tidied her messy workbench. “Besides, it’s not just about saving money.”

“Oh? What do you mean?”

But she waved him off. “Too complicated to explain now—I’m exhausted and need sleep.”

Gusion saw her panda eyes and figured she’d worked days to finish Soul Devourer, so he let it go.

Leaving her shop, he equipped the ring and used End Space’s hide function to make it invisible—no foreign object feel, very convenient.

He tried injecting his soul energy into it, but its growth didn’t budge. Clearly, feeding it his own energy didn’t work, or pure soul energy was already his.

Back in his room, he used Thunder Breathing to generate some rough lightning and fed that to the ring—this time, its growth ticked up by 0.01%.

Seeing how slow these methods were, Gusion gave up on leveling it in End Space—he’d wait for a mission world with proper energy sources.

[Your share of the Kengan Ashura world’s profits this cycle has been settled: 14,000 End Coins. Please check your mailbox.]

Just after studying the ring, Gusion got another prompt. He’d nearly forgotten his monthly rental income.

After conquering Demon Slayer, he’d acquired its world core too. That world now generated 31,800 End Coins per month—over twice Kengan’s yield. But that income wouldn’t arrive until next month, since the world was still being integrated.

With the new rent, he suddenly had spending money again. He went to the equipment enhancement hall, spent over 5,000 coins upgrading Soul Devourer to +8, and then headed to the training ground.

With money, he splurged on a paid mirror field, sparring with Kengan world’s Ohma Tokita, adjusting his opponent’s stats to match his own.

He felt this was the best way to improve his combat skills—a few days’ sparring and all his combat masteries would go up a level.

The day before entering a new world, Gusion finished his training and checked his results.

After several worlds and practice with Ohma Tokita, his top combat mastery had reached level 37.

[Master-level Swordsmanship]:

Level: 37/40

Effect: Explorer is a true master of swordsmanship; attacks with sword-type main weapons deal 74% additional damage.

At this rate, after one more world, he might reach Grandmaster level for combat skills.

Besides combat, he kept up his physical training. With his divine bed and the Origin Spirit Seed’s spiritual pressure passive, his stats had improved again.

[Pioneer #008 (including equipment and title bonuses):]

Constitution: 44 (+1)

Strength: 37 (+1)

Agility: 37 (+1)

Spirit: 40 (+3)

Charisma: 5

Luck: 2

[]

Spirit increased the most, mainly due to spiritual pressure training—the divine bed sped this up.

His Constitution stats rose more slowly now, probably because higher strength meant smaller gains from regular training.

After leveling up, Gusion returned to the arena. In half a day, he defeated his last opponent, Snow Wind, with a headshot from the Barbarian King’s Bow.

Spectators witnessed two title changes in a single day.

Snow Wind had just reached first in the morning—she’d gone through another world since last meeting Gusion, improving greatly, and defeated the previous champion.

But before she could enjoy her title, End Space prompted her that a new challenger was about to face her mirror, and asked if she wanted to defend in person.

Since she was around, Snow Wind chose to fight herself, curious about her challenger.

When she entered the arena, she saw a familiar face.

Everyone used scouting skills in the arena. When she saw Gusion’s stats under 40, she thought he was hiding his real power.

But then Gusion’s aura began to surge—first Zanpakutō release, then Breathing Technique, then Demon God state—his stats shot up to 46 or 47.

Even so, Snow Wind was puzzled—how could Gusion rank so high? She was a four-max-stats second-tier; the top ten all had 50 points.

How had Gusion reached this rank?

Very soon, she understood.

Although Gusion had lower stats, he fought like a berserker, yet every move was subtle and precise. Each exchange he made the optimal choice, eventually forcing her into a corner.

When she used a skill to pull away for a breather, Gusion drew his heavy longbow. In the next instant, she was teleported out of the arena.

Leaving the lounge, Snow Wind looked at Gusion with a strange expression. She opened her mouth, but couldn’t find the words.

She was normally calm and quiet, but this time, she really wanted to curse—she’d only had the title for half a day! She hadn’t even used it in a mission world!

Gusion greeted her politely. “Thanks for the match.”

“Let’s hope we don’t meet in a mission world,” Snow Wind said again, with a new meaning.

Gusion smiled and waved goodbye. On his way back, he got a prompt.

[Mission world will open in 2 hours. Please prepare.]

[Target world: Derivative World—One Piece]