Infinite Anime [209] (Patreon)

Chapter 209: The World Conquest Battle

The Sailor Moon Uniform Girl's eyes lit up at those words, clapping her hands in excitement. "That's perfect!"

Truth be told, she wasn't short on End Coins, but she did lack Inheritance Crystals for upgrading her life skills. However, those were always valuable but rarely available, making them hard to acquire.

Plus, since she was a bit of a homebody, she rarely browsed the market for resales, so after arriving in the End Space, Gusion was currently her only customer who could provide her with Inheritance Crystals.

"By the way, aren't you worried I might die in a mission world?"

Gusion asked as he signed the contract with the sailor girl. After all, low-tier explorers had a high mortality rate. If she spent resources on his custom gear, only for him to die in a mission world and not pay the balance, she'd be at a loss.

Because destiny-altering custom gear was unique to each person—his set would be useless to anyone else and absolutely unsellable.

"You? Die? You change every month. Who'd believe you'd die?"

The sailor girl retorted. "Anyone who didn't know better would think you were breaking the rules, earning money so fast."

She double-checked the contract after signing it, then put it away with a satisfied look. Her face grew more serious. "But honestly, don't die, okay? I don't have many customers."

"I think with my current strength, I should be among the top of my tier. I won't die for now," Gusion replied with a smile.

"By the way, when do you have time? I need to check your room for the customization."

She packed up her things—mostly feng shui items that Gusion couldn't make heads or tails of.

"Tonight works. I need to strengthen my equipment this afternoon, then swing by the arena."

Gusion looked forward to it; he couldn't wait to change his fate.

He'd always thought his luck was decent, but if it could be multiplied a few times over, he'd be unstoppable.

"Alright, see you tonight."

The sailor girl started shooing him away, needing to prepare materials for a few pieces of his equipment that afternoon.

…

Enhancement Hall.

 ["Strengthening successful. Soul Devourer is now +8. Next strengthen costs 3,000 End Coins, success rate: 9.91%. Continue?"]

Gusion chose cancel after hearing the prompt and removed the Soul Devourer ring.

He had a good stone, so reaching +8 was easy, but he didn't want to gamble further, especially with limited funds.

He put the Soul Devourer ring back on and checked its new status.

[Soul Devourer]

 Origin: End Space

 Quality: Legendary

 Type: Accessory

 Durability: 200/200

 Strengthen Level: +8

 Requirement: Pioneer #008 exclusive

Details:

 A ring crafted by Supporter █████, mainly from Thunder Spirit Gold and Clearstone, with excellent growth potential.

Skill 1: Devour (Passive)

 Soul Devourer can absorb high-quality spiritual energy to grow—including but not limited to natural energy, dark matter energy, etc. The first time it devours a new energy, it gains significant growth; subsequent devourings of the same energy provide diminishing returns.

Current Growth: 11.97%

Skill 2: Spirituality (Passive)

 Wearing Soul Devourer greatly increases the pioneer's spell resistance and boosts neural response speed by 50%.

Skill 3: Spiritual Resonance (Passive/Active)

 When attacking, deals an additional true damage equal to 5% of max soul value. When actively triggered, Soul Devourer consumes 10% of the pioneer's soul per second, and attacks deal an extra 18% of max soul as true damage.

Strengthen Trait: Ingenuity

 When using this item's skills, costs are reduced by 50%.

 [Note: This skill can trigger a maximum of 2 times per second.]

Equipment Score: 400+

 Evaluation: If I touch you, you might die.

[]

After being upgraded to Legendary, the Soul Devourer ring's effects improved greatly. The passive now dealt 5% true damage, and when activated, attacks did 18% of max soul as true damage.

The only downside: after upgrading quality, the strengthen level reset, and once re-strengthened, the special effect changed from a 50% effect boost to a 50% cost reduction. So overall, the active skill's output only increased from 15% to 18%—but now triggered twice per second, more than doubling damage per second.

The Ingenuity trait let him use Spiritual Resonance much more freely; at only 5% soul drained per second and with his soul-absorbing skills, it was essentially perpetual motion.

At Legendary quality, this gear finally felt normal—even a regular explorer could use it well.

Of course, it was his exclusive gear and would become more tailored to his style as it grew.

For feeding Soul Devourer, he tried using the Raijin fruit's lightning, but since it had already absorbed lots of lightning before, growth was slow, though not zero. He could simply wear it and feed it over time.

With the ring strengthened, Gusion was about to head to the arena to update his mirror.

The arena's mirror system saved his strongest state from his last arena appearance. Currently, with his boosted stats and title, and unable to enter the third-tier arena, he needed to maintain his current title.

Frankly, Gusion felt he wasn't that strong last time; it was just that Snow Wind wasn't strong enough, so he won first place. Just in case, he wanted to upload his new version mirror.

Soon, Gusion arrived at the arena and chose ranked mode.

Even as first place, he could still queue for ranked battles, but no one would challenge him directly—he'd only match against other top-ten mirrors.

Entering the battlefield, he saw the mirror of the second place—who wasn't Snow Wind, as she'd already ranked up to third-tier explorer.

Gusion stood still, sent out a bolt of lightning, instantly frying the second-place mirror, and left the arena.

He stretched, thinking about adapting to his new attributes and abilities in the training ground, when suddenly a prompt appeared from End Space.

[Prompt]

 ["Second-tier World Conquest Battle is about to begin. As per End Space rules, Pioneer #008 will be forcibly drafted into the battlefield. Prepare yourself."]

["The World Conquest Battle will begin in 24 hours. Basic information and battlefield status have been displayed."]

Gusion paused, suddenly realizing his previously boring afternoon now had something to do.

World Conquest Battle?

He'd seen the clause in the pioneer contract but had never been summoned for it since entering End Space, so he had no idea what it entailed.

Walking to the market, Gusion checked the information sent by End Space.

[Target World: Native World #778231]

 Type: Low-martial fantasy

 End Space participants: 1

 Divine Space participants: 168

 Pioneer Mission: War

Mission: Defeat the Divine Space explorers in the World Conquest Battle. Achieve the required war points for victory. End Space will win the Native World #778231.

Difficulty: Easy–Normal

 Rewards: Pioneer Mark rank up, Gold Pioneer Medal ×1, Gold War Medal ×1

 Failure Penalty: Erasure

[]

Gusion pondered his mission. It looked simple, which explained the harsh punishment: erasure—if you can't even do this, you deserve to die.

But the participant numbers showed End Space's arrogance and mockery.

Not even concealed—he was the only one notified and tasked, meaning he was the sole fighter. End Space would send no other support.

Divine Space fielded a corps of 168 explorers. On paper, overwhelming numbers, but as long as they were second-tier, could they really be stronger than that Body Killer?

Even if Body Killer returned, he could finish him with a single attack now—in fact, he didn't even need to attack.

So, with End Space telling him to prepare, what was he supposed to do? Go on a shopping spree in the market? He paused—maybe there was no need. He could just go in and kill them.

…

…

Meanwhile, in Divine Space—

Upon receiving the World Conquest Battle notice, the explorers instinctively went to the market to prepare supplies, but seeing the battle info, they were all baffled.

"The hell, is End Space stupid? Why only send one person?"

"Maybe it's a misclick? Can the system even misclick?"

"What's going on? Just one guy on the other side? Easy win, right?"

"Hey, don't jinx it, you're making us sound like cannon fodder villains."

"Haha, this war's gonna be chill, no need for meds, just mob the guy and it's over!"

…

The explorers gathered in the market, joking and confused, but few felt nervous.

After all, only one opponent—seemed like victory was assured.

But half an hour later, as they shopped and laughed, all those who'd received the war mission got a new prompt.

[Prompt]

["Divine Space has conceded. This World Conquest Battle defaults to End Space victory."]

A brief silence, then the market filled with curses and angry howls.

"The hell, we lost before fighting? Divine Space, are you brain-dead?"

"The other side screwed up, 168 vs 1 is easy, but we just surrender? Am I crazy, or is Divine Space crazy?"

"Damn, with Divine Space giving in, our war mission counts as failed, and we lose a stat point! This sucks!"

…

The explorers cursed, mainly because their own missions counted as failed, costing them a stat point.

However, some sharp explorers frowned, sensing something off.

Their war mission was labeled Nightmare–Certain Death, a rarity even among the world battles with the highest death rates.

Plus, their penalty for failure was light: just lose a stat point of choice—many simply chose to lose charisma, which didn't matter much.

This light penalty, combined with Divine Space's surrender and End Space's one-man strategy, made some realize: End Space… must have spawned a real monster!

Someone so strong that End Space was confident sending only one would guarantee victory, and Divine Space knew they couldn't win, so to avoid mass deaths, they surrendered directly.

…

Meanwhile, Gusion was also stunned by the prompt.

 ["Divine Space has conceded. End Space wins. Pioneer mission complete."]

Gusion thought: What the hell? I didn't even fight and it's over?

Chapter 210: Charging For First Place

[ "Calculating rewards for World Conquest Battle…"]

["Pioneer mission complete. Rewards: Gold Pioneer Medal ×1, Gold War Medal ×1."]

["Pioneer leveled up to 21."]

Gusion listened to the string of announcements, completely dazed.

Divine Space surrendered before the fight even began?

He'd heard that killing opposing explorers in World Conquest Battles tripled the drop rate of Deadman's Chest.

Thinking of this, Gusion suddenly felt like he'd suffered a huge loss.

Divine Space's surrender cost him a great opportunity for loot. He felt a bit indignant.

But he soon calmed down. After all, he got rewards without lifting a finger—still a win.

Especially since his Pioneer Mark ranked up, meaning he could now use the 7 free attribute points he'd saved.

He rushed to the physical enhancement hall for a new round of upgrades.

He chose +4 Strength, +3 Agility, making himself a little more balanced.

With his stats greatly improved, his overall power transformed dramatically. But he also noticed some issues.

First, his attribute gains from basic training had slowed at third-tier—no longer gaining a point every few weeks.

Gusion guessed this was because End Space attributes grew exponentially, not linearly, so each point was worth more at higher tiers. Even though his training speed stayed the same, it seemed slower in points.

He also suspected his limiter-release talent might have room for improvement. End Space rated talents from E- to SSS+, and his was only S.

Gusion felt that after reaching fourth tier, the talent's help would be less obvious, so he wanted to find a way to upgrade it.

He'd read that talents could be upgraded through certain missions, but he hadn't yet triggered such a quest.

Also, explorers weren't limited to one talent—everyone could theoretically awaken a second, if the right conditions were met.

After enhancing himself, Gusion headed straight for the third-tier arena to test his new abilities and try to reclaim his title.

Since he'd advanced to third-tier, his previous second-tier "Unmatched" arena title had expired, lowering his stats a bit—he hoped to get them back soon.

["Pioneer #008, your current ranking is 73,918. Matching you with an evenly matched opponent."]

Gusion was pulled into an arena field—amid skyscrapers, facing another third-tier explorer on the street.

His opponent seemed to be a warrior-type with a heavy hammer. Upon seeing Gusion, he immediately used a scouting skill—a standard arena habit.

He too had just reached third tier, aiming to climb the ladder and practice combat skills.

In theory, new third-tiers all start ranked low, so everyone's about equal, perfect for testing each other.

But when he scouted the black-clad man opposite him, he froze—just a row of question marks.

Gusion frowned too; he thought his opponent was too weak—was this really evenly matched?

The warrior, thinking it was just anti-scouting, or that he'd met some rare, unranked third-tier, charged forward with a battle cry to test Gusion's strength.

But the next moment, Gusion merely narrowed his eyes, and an invisible, dark red aura erupted, crushing the warrior's soul. He blacked out.

When he woke up in the rest room, he muttered, "What the hell just happened?!"

He replayed the match to see how he died:

["You were suppressed by Conqueror's Haki.]

[ Your Spirit: 24. Opponent's Spirit: 65.]

[ Difference over 40 points…]

[ Judgment passed: You were scared to death."]

The warrior sat there dumbfounded. "Seriously? I got scared to death in the arena?"

He felt ridiculous—his build mainly invested in strength and constitution, not spirit. He had good combat skills, and with teammates, he'd avoid magic enemies. In his team, he wasn't expected to tank magic, just find chances for melee DPS.

But against Conqueror's Haki, he had no resistance—insta-killed by fear.

He decided to keep this embarrassing defeat to himself.

But he was puzzled: the guy had Conqueror's Haki and such high spirit? Was he really just a new third-tier?

…

Meanwhile, Gusion kept matching, and as expected, climbing from low ranks was boring.

Most low-tier explorers were mediocre, not even as good as those he'd met on Birka—at least those were elite new third-tiers.

End Space's explorer death rate was high, but some did reach third tier with a team; these were often weak solo fighters.

Gusion barely bothered drawing his blade—he'd just use Conqueror's Haki to instantly down those with low spirit, or stun the strong, then finish them with lightning.

Now he understood why Enel was lazy in hand-to-hand—if you could kill with lightning, you'd get lazy too, especially against weaklings.

After dozens of matches, Gusion got a clear sense of his lightning's power.

Thunder was truly the bane of carbon-based life. Even heavily magic-resistant tanks would spasm under his lightning; if he amped it up, they'd die in seconds.

Most opponents, hit by a single bolt, had their hearts stop briefly and went into shock—basically a death sentence.

No wonder Body Killer didn't dare kill Enel earlier—it was incredibly hard. If a sneak attack failed, no matter what she tried, she couldn't survive against him.

If you get hit by lightning once, it's over.

…

After three days, Gusion began facing late-stage third-tiers, including a magic tank with insanely high spirit (66) and magic resistance.

But even that guy couldn't handle several bolts—just being hit caused stiffening, then he'd be finished off with a blade.

In practice, Gusion realized that thunder abilities were OP at low tiers.

If Divine Space had known his true state, their surrender was logical—even with numbers, they were just second-tiers.

One blast of Conqueror's Haki and half would drop, then he could sweep with lightning—a massacre.

In any normal, physical-combat world, thunder ruled. Even in Bleach or Naruto, it would be formidable.

All in all, eating the Raijin Fruit was worthwhile. He didn't have to worry about late-game ceilings yet—his current strength was maxed out.

So, Gusion continued climbing the arena, adapting to his new stats and abilities, fighting for seven days straight.

[Prompt]

[ "Pioneer #008, you are on a 318-win streak. Current rank: 3. Continue matching?"]

"Continue," Gusion replied. The last match had been his first of the day—he'd rested well, ready to charge for the top.

Once he reached the top 100, all opponents were maxed third-tiers, yet he kept winning.

Gusion now had too many stackable buffs; fully powered, he wasn't suppressed by other third-tiers, and his powers were clearly superior.

[Prompt]

 ["Matching… Success. Your opponent: current third-tier arena #1."]

Gusion focused. From the top 10 onwards, all opponents were skillful, never just stat blocks.

How strong would number one be?

As white light flashed, Gusion appeared in a maple forest. Through the falling leaves, he saw his opponent.

A surprise—it was someone he knew.

"It's you? Shouldn't you be second-tier…?"

Mandrake spoke in a hoarse voice, eyes suspicious. She'd received the challenge notice and came herself, only to see Gusion.

"Just advanced last world," Gusion replied, hand on his blade, a maple leaf falling on his shoulder.

"Doesn't matter, I need that title. Time to knock you out."

With that, Mandrake vanished amid the falling red leaves.

Gusion tensed, using Observation Haki to the max, but couldn't sense her.

Devil Fruit power? No, probably her own unique ability.

Gusion grinned—finally, an opponent worth going all out.

Blue lightning flickered across him, splitting into countless fine currents, extending through the area to detect Mandrake.

She was an assassin-type, and #1 for a reason—her attacks would be fierce. If she caught him off guard, even Gusion might be instantly killed.

So he prepared to go all out from the start.

Chapter 211: What a Monster

Maple leaves fell like rain.

Tiny electric sounds filled the air, bringing Gusion information from the currents.

But he sensed nothing alive—either Mandrake was perfectly still and suppressed her life signs, or had a high-level concealment skill.

Either way, Gusion didn't believe Mandrake had truly vanished—she had to be somewhere nearby.

Because hiding alone would never win; she had to strike to win.

Gusion crouched slightly, the color of the lightning around him changing from gentle blue to violent dark red.

This was both increased lightning output and the effect of his Conqueror's Haki.

As he breathed deeply, dark purple markings appeared on his skin, and his muscles swelled—his stats soared.

Strangely, as his stat realm advanced, his Thunder Breathing boosts became minimal, but his demon god skills still worked, pushing his strength and agility to the limit.

If he wanted, he could go further, but that would strain his body.

"If you won't come to me, I'll come to you," Gusion muttered, his body changing further.

His clothes fluttered, lightning surged, turning dark purple.

 The currents stood his hair on end, dyeing it the same dark purple as the lightning, with a lightning-shaped symbol in his pupils.

Falling maple leaves above him were pierced by high voltage, igniting crimson flames that danced around him.

Raijin Mode!

 In this state: all stats +1, base constitution back to the pre-title-loss 66.

"Shatter the chains, Mazoku."

With a low chant, purple mist sank and spread, Gusion standing at the center of lightning and mist, like a demon god.

After releasing his blade, all stats climbed to 70!

Now, stat-wise, he rivaled any top third-tier explorer. The dual-bloodline of Chaos Spirit Seed gave him a new level of numbers.

Gusion crouched, lightning surging, and slashed his blade in a circular arc.

Lightning and blade light crisscrossed the forest, high-voltage currents igniting trees. A massive ring of thunderfire spread from Gusion's center.

And he didn't stop. He kept slashing, lightning spreading everywhere. In the roar, a hundred meters of maple forest vanished.

Amid smoke and fire, lightning arced up, Gusion's face excited, and he lunged to slash at a spot in the air.

Clang—

Steel clashed as a black dagger met Gusion's blade.

Mandrake appeared, eyes showing a hint of absurdity. When struck by lightning, she instinctively triggered her lifesaving skill.

Gusion's slash kept going, tracing purple arcs through the air.

Mandrake used a blink skill to escape, but Gusion wouldn't let her go.

Lightning's OP trait: if you clash with him, you get shocked.

Even as a top expert, Mandrake was stunned by the shock at the first clash.

She'd used a skill to flee, but she couldn't go silent again.

With his Observation Haki and web of currents, Gusion immediately tracked her, slashing down with a second blow.

Boom—

The ground split deeply—Gusion was surprised to miss.

Mandrake could double-blink!

Clang—

A crisp sound behind Gusion—a black dagger struck his barrier, Mandrake's assassination breaking through, aimed at his neck.

Clang—

Another crisp sound in quick succession.

Mandrake struck him, but was shocked to find she couldn't penetrate his defense!

Behind him, she sensed his expression change—the look of a hunter catching his prey.

She realized she'd blundered—after breaking the barrier, she shouldn't have pressed on. Gusion's Armament Haki was much stronger than she'd thought, and her remaining force couldn't kill!

Plus, Gusion was like a living battery—current ran up her dagger, paralyzing her instantly.

Gusion amped up the current, thunder raging, covering the area to prevent any escape.

He jumped back, elbowed Mandrake in the stomach, and as she was stunned and off-balance, spun and slashed her neck.

With Armament and Conqueror's Haki, he broke through her black fog shield, decapitating her.

["You have reached the summit of third-tier arena. Gained 'Unmatched' title."]

The prompt sounded, ending the battle.

Leaving the rest area, Gusion saw Mandrake emerge too.

"We're just a bad match," she sighed.

Gusion understood—Mandrake was an assassin, relying on stealth and one-hit kills.

But with Gusion's Raijin powers and awareness, plus his electrified body, silent assassination was impossible. And any attack shocked her.

For an agile assassin, that was fatal—against others, she could escape after a failed strike, or chain attacks for the kill.

But against Gusion, she had only one chance—and even that was slim.

With his sharp senses, Gusion could defend against any attack, as with his earlier barrier. If her attack was weakened, his Armament Haki could block the rest.

"How about another match? I won't use lightning," Gusion offered, feeling that using thunder was unfair, and curious about Mandrake's skills.

"You sure?" Mandrake eyed him oddly. "You seem cocky."

"Let's try."

Gusion wasn't just a lightning spammer—he was a martial artist first; the Raijin Fruit was just a phase power-up for missions.

But in pure combat, he feared no one—even Mandrake's assassination arts.

"Alright, one more match."

Mandrake, also unconvinced, agreed.

Ten minutes later…

Mandrake left the arena without a word, muttering outside, "No wonder the vice-captain wants to recruit him… What a monster."

In that match, Gusion didn't use lightning, but she still lost decisively.

No more excuses about bad matchups"Gusion's combat mastery and danger sense were absurd.

She felt his specializations were nearly master-level—maybe even already there.

Without the first-strike advantage, she, the assassin, was basically stomped by this berserker.

Against her stealth, Gusion simply slashed everywhere, forcing her out.

Once her blink was on cooldown, he'd force a direct fight.

But she was an assassin—how could she out-brawl him?

Most frustrating: Gusion didn't even use his spirit seed abilities.

…

After the arena, Gusion returned to his room and took a refreshing shower.

His next plan was simple: spend the rest of his End Coins in the training ground.

His combat specializations were all at the peak of master level—just a bit short of grandmaster.

But sparring with Shen Wulong, a normal person, was reaching its limit. His skills, even with high attributes, couldn't keep up with Gusion's Haki and advanced techniques.

So Gusion could only use pure martial arts to test precision—once he reached grandmaster, Shen Wulong wouldn't be useful anymore.

He'd heard that in the advanced arena, he could summon mirrors of people he'd seen—he planned to spar with Kaido next.

Thus, Gusion kept practicing and grinding, waiting for his custom order to be ready.

After confirming with the sailor girl that it was done, Gusion rushed to the shopping street.

"Why're you staring at me?" the sailor girl asked listlessly, inviting Gusion in.

"You just look so… ethereal," Gusion joked. He didn't know how hard she'd worked, but she looked like she hadn't slept at all.

"It's your fault. That night, we kept discussing details, which made it such a pain to make."

She complained, lifting a black cloth to reveal the new gear.

Gusion stepped forward eagerly.

On the left was his new coat, in the classic style of his old one, but with clearly improved materials.

The black had a matte look, yet felt silky smooth.

[Nightwalker]

 Origin: End Space

 Quality: Epic

 Type: Coat

 Durability: 400/400

 Requirements: 60 Constitution, 60 Spirit

Details: Crafted by Supporter █████ using Black Grindstone, Night Dream Flower, and Ink Silkworm Silk. Strong physical and magic defense, and adds +3 Charisma.

Skill 1: Night Bloom (Passive)

 Due to the materials' properties, this gear is extremely flexible and can change shape freely after absorbing night energy, and can quickly self-repair using stored energy.

Current Night Energy: 100%

Skill 2: Embrace of the Night (Passive)

 While wearing Nightwalker, the pioneer gains 30% to max Life Source. At night, this effect doubles (only active if Constitution is below 100).

Score: 690

Evaluation: Walk through the night, embrace the darkness.