223: Chapter 223 Rift Anchor Point, Planned Launch!

The retort Lin Xiao wanted to make hadn't even left his lips yet.

Suddenly, a phantom permeated with dark matter rapidly emerged in the air before him.

Judging by its shape, it was a door.

A door constructed from pitch-black obsidian and pale coral.

The doorframe was engraved with ancient runes sharing the same origin as the trident, and a ghostly light not belonging to this world faintly seeped through the cracks.

[Facility: Rift Anchor - Abyssal Tide]

[The successive rulers of the Di Peoples Kingdom sacrificed their lives to seal the abyss rift behind this door. Inside the door are twelve layers of seals, each sealing a projection of calamity from the abyss.]

[Challenge the calamity projections on each layer either solo or as a gathered squad to obtain the gifts left behind by the successive rulers; the higher the layer, the richer the gifts.]

[Warning: The difficulty of the abyss is extreme. Please carefully consider your own combat power before attempting!]

Lin Xiao's gaze lingered on the door for a moment, and an uncontrollable smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.

Skills are certainly precious, but compared to this, they are not worth mentioning.

This is the best gift the jade slip has ever bestowed.

To understand it in the most common terms, this is essentially a permanent dungeon.

The difficulty is higher than ordinary calamity rounds, but the rewards hidden within are exceptionally precious.

I didn't expect to be able to open a dungeon in the second phase; it really caught me off guard!

Come to think of it.

The captains he appointed, as well as the passengers on the Astral Express, all need a place to grow stronger.

It's not just about improving their own strength, but also their combat coordination with each other.

That thing called tacit understanding is often more important than equipment on a rapidly changing battlefield.

And the best training ground has always been in actual combat.

This Rift Anchor has come at a very opportune time!

The inheritance available in the current phase within the jade slip has been fully absorbed.

Lin Xiao withdrew his gaze.

With a slight flicker of his consciousness.

A cyan-gold light flashed past his eyes, then immediately returned to those eyes as calm as deep pools.

The jade slip vanished from his palm, replaced by a pale golden trident pattern that appeared on the back of his hand.

Furthermore, the Rift Anchor in front of him was rapidly folding and shrinking, eventually condensing into a translucent triangular pyramid, floating in mid-air.

Skills can be learned later, but the entrance to the rift space needs to be anchored somewhere first.

The first place Lin Xiao thought of was his own territory.

The wall directly facing the entrance of the conference area was originally intended for a bookshelf or a weapon rack, but it had been delayed due to the Black Tide campaign.

Now, it was just right for placing this anchor.

But, upon second thought, he felt it was somewhat inappropriate.

Once the anchor is set within the territory, anyone wishing to challenge the rift space would need to enter and exit the territory repeatedly.

This meant he would have to grant access permissions on a large scale.

Even if their identities were confirmed, he would still have to keep an eye on who was coming in or going out from time to time.

Not only was this troublesome, but the things within the territory that were not meant for public display would also be at risk of exposure.

There was absolutely no need to cause himself such trouble.

Lin Xiao lifted his head, his gaze falling on the surveillance screens on the wall.

Those honeycomb-structured hexagonal crystals were lighting up one by one, displaying real-time scenes from various parts of the Astral Express.

Most people were repairing doors and windows, cleaning the carriages, or sitting on the public seats in the corridors chatting, eating food opened from intermediate supply boxes.

As he watched, his gaze stopped on the corridor of the 09 Dining Car.

Hey, this place is good!

The 09 Dining Car is located in the middle section of the Astral Express, making it very convenient for people from both the front and rear carriages to come over.

Moreover, it is a public area with no access restrictions, so anyone can enter.

After two upgrades, plus another upgrade after tomorrow's settlement, the space in the dining car will be very spacious.

Not only will there be a bar counter, but also more comfortable public tables and chairs; if they get tired from dungeon runs, they can sit right next to it to rest.

Of course, people who are tired will always want to eat and drink something.

If he took the opportunity to open a shop or a snack stall there, such as Xiao He's corn wine, Jiang Wanwan's roasted corn, coconut crisps, and corn porridge, he could also make a profit.

Perfect.

After obtaining tens of millions of stardust, Lin Xiao had a little plan in mind.

Whenever the leaderboard for each phase is settled, a public shop appears.

However, when a new phase begins, the shop disappears.

Under such tight time constraints, if a passenger wants to buy a key piece of equipment or a skill book but doesn't have enough stardust on hand, and can't gather it in time within the limit, they can only watch it slip away.

And this kind of miss might cause unpredictable effects on the calamity round of the next phase.

Missing one key piece of equipment or item might mean losing one life!

According to what Lin Xiao knows, in the previous phase, quite a few people borrowed a large amount of stardust from others in order to gather combat supplies while the public shop was available.

These are all business opportunities!

After the public shop appears tomorrow, Lin Xiao can directly sweep the goods, buy out everything in the public shop, and then sell it himself.

Then place the Rift Anchor in the middle of the 09 Dining Car.

In the front is a snack stall, and in the back is a convenience store that has everything.

Those passengers who want to enter the rift to clear levels can conveniently buy the supplies they desire, or grab a bite to eat to boost their spirits.

Business, isn't that just coming right to him?

The plan is wonderful, but before that, Lin Xiao still has important things to do.

He put away the anchor and walked out of the core control area.

On the conference table, the pile of equipment and skill books constructed by Tian Xiwei had already been organized.

Sorted by type and stacked by level.

The level 2 set components for Ranran and Xiao Tian were placed in the center position, waiting for the final fusion and upgrade step.

The black light of [Triple Moonlight] surged from Lin Xiao's palm, enveloping those components.

Soon, Wen Yiran's [bayonetta] and Tian Xiwei's [vermilion scale flowing fire] were all upgraded to level 3.

The exclusive set traits also expanded from 3 to 4.

However, the components of these two sets would be two pieces fewer than a level 3 set crafted normally.

The attribute point bonus was therefore also slightly less.

After all, it was upgraded using special means, which was an unavoidable price.

Then came the skill books.

The key skill books needed by The three women were all fused to level five.

Tian Xiwei had constructed too many at once, and there was still quite a bit left over after the fusion.

To be fair.

Xiao Tian's star emblem ability is indeed useful.

It's simply a bug-level existence.

If Lin Xiao had to gather these equipment and skill books himself, who knows how long it would take.

He estimated that before the equipment was even formed, the Mysterious Shop and his kidneys would be worn out from grinding.

After finishing the fusion and upgrade for The three women's items, Lin Xiao looked at the last two pieces of equipment on the table.

His old partners.

[calamity bane - debt collector], a level 4 heavy battle axe.

[Gauntlet Claw - Shadow Blade], a level 3 secondary weapon.

Both of these weapons had performed exceptionally well.

Especially the battle axe.

When facing Calamity Creatures, the more there are, the stronger it becomes.

Because every kill charges it, and every charge brings it closer to the edge of going berserk.

There were several times when he almost couldn't control the berserk axe in his hand!

Now, Tian Xiwei had constructed two battle axes and eight gauntlets, which could be fused and upgraded all the way to level 5.

Lin Xiao first stacked the three [calamity bane - debt collector] together.

The black light flowed out like mercury, simultaneously enveloping the three battle axes.

The dark red patterns on the axe bodies trembled violently in the light.

The sound of metal grinding emerged from the ball of light, sharp and piercing, carrying a high-pitched tremolo.