Chapter 58: Choosing the Fate Seed
The next morning, Lin Xin woke to find Lin Huang still asleep. Fearing she might disturb him, she tiptoed through her morning routine and left for school without even having breakfast.
It was not until after noon, a little past twelve, that Lin Huang finally awoke from his dreams. Stretching his back, he felt all the fatigue in his body melt away, replaced by a refreshing sense of vigor.
Glancing at the time, he saw it was already well into midday. He got up quickly, changed clothes, and, after washing up, headed straight for the kitchen on the first floor.
The refrigerator was well stocked with food and drinks—it was clear Lin Xin had gone grocery shopping not long ago.
The first time Lin Huang had seen the refrigerators of this world, he’d found them rather novel: instead of electricity, they ran on frozen crystals, and the inner shell was made not of insulating plastic, but a special kind of bone material. In shape, though, they resembled the single-door fridges he remembered from Earth.
He took two eggs from a domesticated fowl and some leftover rice from the previous night, then made himself fried rice with egg.
In this world, there were far more varieties of domesticated birds than on Earth. Just the commonly sold eggs for everyday consumption exceeded twenty species. If one counted wild monsters included in the human diet, the number surpassed two hundred and eighty.
After finishing his bowl of fried rice, Lin Huang washed the pan and dishes, then returned to his room to carefully study the information on Life Seeds.
As a reserve hunter, Lin Huang only had first-level access at the Hunters’ Guild, so he could view only the basic version of Life Seed data. Yi Zheng, on the other hand, was a gold-ranked hunter with level four clearance. Thus, Lin Huang had asked him for a more comprehensive document on Life Seeds.
When Yi Zheng learned that Lin Huang was searching for a suitable seed for advancement, he enthusiastically recommended several options. Lin Huang reviewed these on the spot, but none satisfied him, so he decided to take his time and conduct his own selection.
He opened the “Encyclopedia of Life Seeds” that Yi Zheng had forwarded to him and re-entered his search criteria.
“Enhancement type, blade class, Blackiron rank.”
Moments later, the results appeared: only a little over ten seeds remained. The rarity of blade-type seeds was immediately evident.
Lin Huang examined them one by one.
[Life Seed Name: Swift Blade]
[Talent Effect: At initial level, blade speed increases by 20%. Each evolution stacks an additional 20%. After three evolutions, blade speed is increased by 80%.]
[Acquisition: Obtainable by slaying Swift Blade Mantis.]
...
[Life Seed Name: Mighty Blade]
[Talent Effect: At initial level, blade force increases by 50%. Each evolution stacks an additional 50%. After three evolutions, blade force is increased by 200%.]
[Acquisition: Obtainable by slaying Giant Blade Golem.]
...
[Life Seed Name: Insightful Blade]
[Talent Effect: At initial level, blade comprehension increases by 5%. Each evolution stacks an additional 5%. After three evolutions, blade comprehension is increased by 20%.]
[Acquisition: Obtainable by slaying One-Armed Blade Thrall.]
...
Lin Huang scrolled through all thirteen blade-type Life Seeds.
Aside from Insightful Blade, none of the seeds truly appealed to him, and even that one left him unsatisfied. Firstly, this seed provided no real boost to personal combat strength; secondly, even upon reaching the Gold realm and completing three evolutions, the improvement to blade comprehension was just 20%—far less than what some special elixirs could provide.
“There really aren’t any desirable blade-type Life Seeds at Blackiron rank…” Lin Huang frowned. His original plan had been to pair the epic-level “Grand Wilderness Blade Manual” with a blade-type seed to perfect his mastery of the blade. In that case, with equal combat power, few would be able to stand against him.
Yet reality confronted him: at the Blackiron level, there simply were no blade-type seeds that satisfied him.
“I’ll check the composite seeds next. If there’s still nothing suitable, I’ll have to pick a firearms seed,” he muttered, adjusting the filters in the encyclopedia.
“Composite type, Blackiron rank.”
The results appeared quickly, but this time there were only two options.
This didn’t surprise Lin Huang; composite and special-type seeds had always been the rarest. Seeing only two results, he immediately examined them.
[Life Seed Name: Flower Sprite]
[Talent Effect: At initial level, self-healing, healing efficacy, and monster affinity each increase by 10%. Each evolution stacks an additional 10% for each ability. After three evolutions, each is increased by 40%.]
[Acquisition: Obtainable by slaying White Sprite Vine.]
After reading the description, Lin Huang dismissed this seed outright. Its abilities were essentially useless to him, and the White Sprite Vine was an almost mythical plant, extremely rare—its very existence was uncertain.
He looked at the second result.
[Life Seed Name: Phantom Hand]
[Talent Effect: At initial level, finger dexterity, hand attack speed, and arm bone flexibility each increase by 10%. Each evolution stacks an additional 10% for each ability. After three evolutions, each is increased by 40%.]
[Acquisition: Obtainable by slaying Six-Armed Enchantress.]
Phantom Hand caught Lin Huang’s attention. While not a direct boost to offensive power, it would provide excellent support for both blade techniques and firearms use.
He wasn’t in a hurry; he made a note of the seed, then proceeded to check if any firearms seeds were more suitable.
After spending a few minutes reviewing the firearm seeds, Lin Huang made his decision.
“Phantom Hand it is. For now, there’s nothing better at Blackiron rank. All that’s left is to find out exactly what the Six-Armed Enchantress is, and where I might find this monster.”
Lin Huang began searching for information about the Six-Armed Enchantress on the Imperial Heart Network.
[Monster Name: Six-Armed Enchantress]
[Monster Category: Undead]
[Combat Power: Blackiron Tier Three]
[Common Skills: Soul-Stealing Finger, Thousand Hands of the Damned]
[Habitat: Forest of Forgetting Sorrows, Ghostly Necropolis]
[Note: One of the most dangerous monsters at Blackiron rank. Not recommended as a Life Seed target.]
Lin Huang found an illustration of the creature as well.
It was a being draped in a red dress, floating midair without legs, but with six unnaturally long arms. Each arm exceeded two meters in length and had two joints. Its face was covered by a ghastly white mask, the features exaggerated as if deliberately distorted—utterly devoid of beauty, only hideous and menacing. Behind the mask, long hair cascaded down to its waist.
The whole form resembled a monstrous female specter in a red dress, adorned with six grotesquely long arms.
Lin Huang was left speechless at the sight. “If a creature like this appeared on Earth in the dead of night, I can’t imagine how many people it would frighten to death…”