31-Converting Defense to Offense.
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Hearing this, Su Mo finally snapped out of his daze, realizing he'd somehow ended up at the entrance of the Great Xia Chamber of Commerce without noticing.
After a moment's thought, Su Mo said:
"I'd like to see what skill scrolls you have here."
The shop assistant, upon hearing Su Mo's request, handed him a booklet and said:
"This contains all the skill scrolls available at our branch. Feel free to take a look."
Holding the finely packaged booklet, Su Mo flipped it open and started reading.
[Flame Crest: Usable by mage-type awakened, requires Level 23, price 360,000]
[Vajra Invulnerability: Requires 200 defense attribute, price 490,000]
[Conqueror's Charge: Requires 300 strength attribute (must be used with a mount), price 720,000]
Just a quick glance, and Su Mo was floored by the prices.
Every single skill was worth hundreds of thousands!
No wonder the gear he'd looted earlier sold for 8 million—if this was the norm, the money he'd earned might not stretch as far as he thought.
Page after page, there were plenty of skills, but none really caught Su Mo's eye.
Before he'd gained [Mountain Collapse, Earth Shatter] and [Devastating Strike], he might've bought some single-target or area-of-effect attack skills.
But now, he didn't need them—and these were ridiculously expensive anyway.
What he really wanted was a skill that could convert defense into attack power.
Ever since learning how strong Gold-ranks truly were, his fear of insufficient damage output had grown even worse.
Though he wasn't even Level 10 yet, he was constantly thinking about how to achieve Gold-rank strength—a pipe dream to anyone else.
But Su Mo had absolute defense. His absolute defense had no numerical limit—it could be considered maxed out, or even infinite.
Half of infinity is still infinity. Even 1% of infinity remains infinite.
If he could convert that into attack power, he'd be invincible on the spot!
The thought alone made his blood boil with excitement.
Absolute defense plus absolute offense—invincibility, anyone?!
After that, he could just pile attribute points into strength and speed, becoming a true pentagon warrior.
Flipping toward the back, he did find a few similar skills, but none seemed usable for him.
[Last Stand: Passive skill, the lower your health, the higher your attack…]
This skill was pure nonsense for Su Mo. With absolute defense, he couldn't even get injured, so his health would never drop.
[Offense-Defense Swap: Passive skill, when your defense is broken, all your defense attributes are added to your attack…]
If his defense got broken, how could it still be called absolute defense?
Plus, it was a passive skill. If it were active instead, it'd be a god-tier skill for Su Mo.
[Life Conversion: Instantly reduces defense attribute by 20% to restore health…]
The skills that followed were more of the same—always with some condition to activate.
Either lowering health, lowering defense,
or one that reduced attack to boost defense—which was even more absurd.
He already felt his attack was lacking, and now reduce it further to boost defense?
With absolute defense, what did he need more defense for?
Su Mo went through every skill, but they all required either health loss or a broken defense.
With his absolute defense intact, his health wouldn't drop.
It was a total dead-end loop.
The assistant nearby seemed to notice Su Mo's dissatisfaction with the skills and quietly spoke up:
"Sir, are you unhappy with these skills? We also have access to a complete catalog of all skills across the Great Xia Chamber of Commerce nationwide.
If you can tell me the name or type of skill you need, I can look it up for you."
Su Mo's eyes lit up at this:
"Then does your Chamber of Commerce have any skills that can convert defense attributes into attack attributes—even just a little?"
The assistant paused for a moment before replying:
"Sir, please wait a moment. I'll check for you."
Seeing her about to search, Su Mo quickly waved his hand:
"No rush on the search—could you first give me a catalog of your mounts?"
The assistant handed him another booklet, smiling warmly:
"Sir, is there anything else you need?"
"No, that's it. Just help me check for that skill."
With that, Su Mo started flipping through the mount catalog.
The first thing that caught his eye was a majestic, imposing tiger. The "king" mark on its forehead proclaimed its status as ruler of beasts, and behind it sprouted a pair of snow-white wings.
Just one glance, and Su Mo could already imagine how awe-inspiring it'd be to ride this beast into battle, slashing monsters left and right.
But when he saw the detailed description, his face fell instantly.
[Golden-Winged Sky-Devouring Tiger: 3 meters tall, 5 meters long, Level 16, flight-type mount, obtained from the Fog Forest dungeon in the southwest border. Skills: Winged Tiger, Roar of the Mountain Forest, Aura of Dominance, Intimidation. Price: 98 million]
Holy hell—a Level 16 mount for 98 million?! Why didn't they just rob someone instead?!
No, wait—if you calculated it, robbery wouldn't even make money this fast.
What a bunch of crooks!
Though he was inwardly thrilled with the Golden-Winged Sky-Devouring Tiger, a glance at his wallet made him move on to the next mount.
A pure white horse, radiating a gentle aura. A single horn on its forehead glowed with holy light, its appearance striking and extraordinary.
Su Mo pictured himself riding this white horse, swapping his Zhanmadao for a long spear—White Horse, Silver Spear
Perfect! It was just too perfect! But then he looked down at the description and fell silent again.
[Unicorn: 3 meters tall, 5 meters long, Level 15, speed-type mount, obtained from the Fog Forest dungeon in the southwest border. Skills: Holy Charge, Radiant Light, Healing, Animal Affinity. Price: 90 million]
What the heck?! The Golden-Winged Sky-Devouring Tiger could fly, so 98 million was whatever—but why was this Unicorn 90 million too?!
Were all these things this expensive?!
Su Mo flipped through five or six more pages, and just a glance made his head spin.
Even a wild boar mount—one he couldn't help but shake his head at—started at a minimum of 20 million.
Forget the rest—even the cheapest boar was out of his budget. And if he ever rode a wild boar into battle, could he even show his face again?!
If he became the strongest someday and someone dug up his dark past, saying he once rode a pig, just imagining it made his toes curl hard enough to carve out a three-bedroom apartment.
"Sir, I've found two skills that can convert defense into attack. Would you like to take a look?"
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