Chapter 858: Secret of Soul Artifacts

Gu Qing Shan glanced at the lines of text on the [War God Skills] and silently felt doubtful.

Because these notifications didn’t include the number of Soul Points necessary to learn them.

“Can I learn these skills?”

He tried asking.

A few more lines of glowing text appeared on [War God Skills] to clearly explain:

[Soul Artifact construction is an exclusive ability of humanity, so you can comprehend the above Skills]

[But there exists a prerequisite]

[As War God Skills have undergone one upgrade, it is only able to display these Skills, to comprehend the Skills of the Bygone Era humans, War God Skills must be upgraded again]

As Gu Qing Shan read this, he suddenly recalled his conversation with the War God UI from before.

…

[After you upgrade War God Skills this time, the next time you upgrade War God Skills, you will be able to comprehend the power of humanity from the Bygone Age from the Desolate monsters’ bodies]

Gu Qing Shan couldn’t help asking: “The next time I upgrade? How do I upgrade it again?”

[Thank you for 20 Soul Points. Firstly, confirmation that there is indeed another upgrade. Secondly, the second upgrade for War God Skills will also require Soul Points, estimated required value to be 3 million Soul Points]

…

3 million Soul Points.

Gu Qing Shan glanced at his remaining Soul Points value.

I still have about 8 million.

That’s enough.

Since this is Soul Points that must be spent sooner or later.

“Then upgrade now” Gu Qing Shan said.

He watched as the Soul Points value was reduced to a bit above 5 million.

At the same time, the [War God Skills] icon that depicted a golden saber suddenly glowed.

It was glowing bright gold.

A few moments later.

The saber depicted on the icon grew a bit longer.

A new notification appeared next to the icon and explained: [I desire to grow longer]

Gu Qing Shan looked at the icon, then at the line of text, completely speechless.

After the last upgrade, the icon was able to jump.

This time, the golden saber on the icon grew a bit longer.

Right.

For a simple icon.

That can at least be considered a noticeable change.

“I noticed that besides being able to jump, you’ve grown longer. Do you have any new functions?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

A notification appeared next to the icon:

[You will need to continue upgrading me. When the golden saber on the icon turns into a longsword, the War God UI will activate a few functions]

[The new function can only be unlocked while the War God UI exists with you]

Gu Qing Shan was surprised.

He only remembered just now.

Below the War God UI, beside [War God Skills], [War God Title], [War God Quest] and the currently evolving [Doomsday Chronicles], there were still a lot of functions that hadn’t been unlocked.

But right now, Gu Qing Shan wasn’t carrying the War God UI.

So even if there was a new function, he wouldn’t be able to use it.

Gu Qing Shan couldn’t do anything but silently remember this.

A few more lines of glowing text appeared in the void of space:

[Comprehending defensive Soul Artifact: Chaotic Elemental Bombardment Plate construction method will require 10 million Soul Points. As you are a human, cost has been reduced to 100,000 Soul Points]

[Comprehending offensive Soul Artifact: Void Slasher construction method will require 20 million Soul Points. As you are a human, cost has been reduced to 200,000 Soul Points]

Gu Qing Shan had an unusual look on his face.

This notification signified a certain issue.

It wasn’t that only humans can create and use Soul Artifacts.

But rather that humans had an overwhelming advantage regarding the creation of Soul Artifacts.

Wait.

Could be it, the twin swords Heaven and Earth were also Soul Artifacts?

Gu Qing Shan recalled what the Earth sword could do.

When he faced that monster within the giant corpse’s sealed world, the Earth sword used all of my Soul Points to kill that monster in one hit.

Being capable of using Soul Points is a characteristic of Soul Artifacts.

Back in Triste’s collection world, the Progenitor Fiendess and the Tianma swiftly changed their attitude over a single Soul Artifact.

And humans had an overwhelming advantage when it came to the creation of Soul Artifacts.

Then.

Is it so hard to believe that the Earth sword and Heaven sword were also Soul Artifacts?

Gu Qing Shan fell into deeper thought.

If the twin swords were truly exceedingly powerful Abyssal Soul Artifacts, then the Soul Shrieker’s actions can be justified.

With [War God Skills]’s standards, even the construction method of a simple offensive Soul Artifact required 20 million Soul Points to learn.

But a human can learn it with just 200,000 Soul Points.

Then the process to forge the twin swords must be unimaginably complicated, so much so that the terrifying monsters of the Eternal Abyss couldn’t help but find humans to help them.

Combined with what that old man told me back inside the Tie Wei Fortress wall in the Desolate world, that might actually be the truth.

Gu Qing Shan’s mind felt clear.

I finally understand.

He glanced at the glowing notifications in front of his eyes and sighed.

“I’ll comprehend them, both the offensive and defensive Soul Artifact”

He said.

An unending flow of warmth abruptly surged from the void of space towards Gu Qing Shan and surrounded him like a hot spring before they were absorbed into his Thought Sea.

This was a completely new domain for him.

Having lived two lives, never had Gu Qing Shan even imagined that such intricate workmanship could exist.

Various previously unknown knowledge and blueprints kept arriving in a steady stream that emerged in his mind one after another.

Soul Artifacts were objects of immense power created through the combination of a World Origin and a living being’s Soul Points, manifesting as wondrous items the likes of which normal objects cannot compare.

The warm flow faded.

Only two lines of glowing text remained:

[You’ve learnt the construction method for the Chaotic Elemental Bombardment Plate]

[You’ve learnt the construction method for the Void Slasher]

Under the dim light of the starry sky, Gu Qing Shan slowly closed his eyes and immersed himself in the process of absorbing his new knowledge.

“Using Soul Points to craft items, what an interesting thought”

Gu Qing Shan muttered to himself.

He opened his eyes and looked up at the dark sky:

“I want to know if there is a location in the Abyssal Jail specifically for creating Soul Artifacts”

The round disk answered him: [Yes, there is a workstation in the control center]

“Please bring me there”

[Understood]

The round disk brought Gu Qing Shan towards another direction.

After flying for about half an hour, they reached an empty area in the air.

When Gu Qing Shan looked around, he found that this was where he found the other Soul Carving Knife.

The large Soul Carving Knife was silently lying on top of a gigantic square workstation with ample materials of various kinds lying around.

[If you want to create your own Soul Artifact, the control center can provide another Soul Carving Knife for you. But please pay attention, as this is the last remaining Soul Carving Knife]

“In other words, I can’t ruin it”

[Correct. A Soul Carving Knife is the main tool for creating Soul Artifacts. Due to the rarity of their material, the control center cannot repair damaged Soul Carving Knives]

“I understand” Gu Qing Shan replied.

The large workstation opened up to both sides.

A floating Soul Carving Knife was displayed in front of Gu Qing Shan’s eyes.

It managed to remain in a pristine state even after millions of years because it was being kept inside a sealed space with frozen time.

Gu Qing Shan looked at the Soul Carving Knife and couldn’t help but shake his head.

He really couldn’t believe that humanity managed to bring their crafting skills to this degree over 100 million years ago.

The Soul Carving Knife looked like a mechanical arm full of tiny thin whiskers.

Among these whiskers, some were made out of metal, some made of flesh, a thin and soft hollow whisker made of an unknown material, a few sharp carving knives, a zigzagging bolt of light, some made completely from one of the 5 Elements, and some that he simply couldn’t tell if they were actually made of tangible material.

After counting, Gu Qing Shan found that there were a total of 967 whiskers on this mechanical arm.

And not a single one of them were made of the same material

This was an extremely intricate tool that was both easy to break and hard to control.

When crafting a Soul Artifact, only highly experienced and highly skilled Soul Artificers could flexibly and easily manipulate these Soul Carving Knives to create masterpieces of art like Soul Artifacts.

Soul Artificers who weren’t skilled enough could not only cause all of their working materials to be ruined but also cause damage to the Soul Carving Knife.

Gu Qing Shan was also feeling a bit nervous now.

This was already the last available Soul Carving Knife.

And the only hope for him to kill the Demon Dragon.

He carefully reviewed the method to create the two Soul Artifacts he just learnt several times before carefully prepared the necessary materials in the workstation. Only after he had confirmed that everything was where he needed them to be, did he reach for the Soul Carving Knife.

As soon as he touched it, the entire mechanical arm attached itself to Gu Qing Shan’s arm.

He felt a wave of itchiness.

This was due to the Soul Carving Knife assimilating itself to his body.

After the assimilation was complete, this mechanical arm full of whiskers would move exactly how Gu Qing Shan wanted it to.

A few moments later.

The assimilation was successful.

Gu Qing Shan took a deep breath and sent his thought into the Soul Carving Knife:

“Begin construction of the Void Slasher”

“First step, material fusion”

191 whiskers on the Soul Carving Knife moved at once, lightly touched each necessary material, and presented them to Gu Qing Shan.

“Material #75, heated to its melting point and mold”

“Material #31, break down into powder form”

“Material #56, infuse with Soul Points and combine with material #98”

Gu Qing Shan was fully focused and issued order after order in his mind.

Until finally, his first product was finished.

Offensive Soul Artifact, Void Slasher.

Gu Qing Shan put the Soul Carving Knife on the table and picked up the first Soul Artifact he created.

It was a small folding knife about the size of the thumb.

Following the knowledge in his mind, Gu Qing Shan infused Soul Points into it and let go.

The Void Slasher silently floated in midair.

It was hovering right behind Gu Qing Shan.

Now, I can test this Soul Artifact out.

Gu Qing Shan randomly grabbed a sword and swung it in the air.

The Air Slasher instantly gave off a rippling energy wave.

A few dozen feet away, Gu Qing Shan’s afterimage appeared.

The afterimage then performed the exact same attack he did.