"Phew… That was costly…" Vincent muttered as he decided to drink his Mana Recovery Potion… It also replenishes his Pseudo-Celestial Energy but at a slower rate.
After this, he immediately started the Ascension of the Paladin Automaton.
Since it is Pseudo-Legendary Grade, a successful Ascension means that it will become Legendary Grade and get additional attributes… Once it had become Legendary Grade, any further successful Ascension would just increase the units of Attributes or get an additional Attribute itself.
Sadly, it won't turn into a Mythic Rank item… Perhaps it requires Ascension Crystals to do that or there must be a hidden requirement that he's still unaware of…
Vincent took out his High-Tier Spirit Stones before pausing for a moment…
'No… I don't need to use this…' He said in his mind before putting it back.
Instead of High-Tier Spirit Stones, he decided to just use Low-Tier Spirit Stones… At the very least, Low-Tier Spirit Stones guaranteed two additional attributes after a successful enhancement.
[ Ascension Crystals found. Do you want to Ascend this item with Mana? ]
[ Dormant Diamond Paladin Automaton +9 ]
"Yes!"
As soon as Vincent answered, there was a moment of delay in his system before he saw the result.
[ Ascension Failed. ]
Vincent wryly smiled after seeing the result. He wasn't too disappointed since the item's quality is already high.
It is already Pseudo-Legendary Grade Automaton… Nevertheless, he knows that the success rate would increase a little the more he tried to ascend it.
[ Ascension Failed. ]
[ Ascension Failed. ]
[ Ascension Failed. ]
[ Ascension Failed. ]
[ Ascension Failed. ]
[ Ascension Successful. ]
Finally, after the sixth try and spending six Low-Tier Spirit Stones, Vincent was able to successfully ascend the item. He didn't even use his Pseudo-Celestial Energy for this…
"Good… Let's try one more time." Vincent said as he wanted to add another attribute to the item.
[ Ascension Failed. ]
[ Ascension Failed. ]
[ Ascension Failed. ]
[ Ascension Successful. ]
This time, since it's already Legendary Grade, the successful ascension simply added another attribute and increased the existing attributes.
After being satisfied with the result, Vincent proceeded to Transcend the item.
This time, he doesn't have any Magic Beast Cores he can use as Transcension Crystals so he knows that he'll be spending most of his Pseudo-Celestial Energy to get a satisfying result.
[ No Transcendence Crystal Found. Do you want to Transcend this item with Pseudo-Celestial Energy? ]
"Yes…"
[ Transcendence Failed. ]
[ Dormant Diamond Paladin Automaton +9 ]
[ Transcendence Attempt: 1/5 ]
[ Remarks: If all 5 attempts failed, the item will be destroyed. ]
Vincent helplessly smiled after seeing the result. Since he doesn't have a Magic Beast core, the success rate wasn't that high…
He then checked his Transcendence Skill again and pondered for a moment.
[ Item Transcendence Skill Lv7: Success Rate: 35% ]
"A 35% success rate, huh…" He muttered as he viewed the information about the Transcendence Crystal.
[ Transcendence Crystal: Provides an additional 50% chance of success. ]
Vincent bit his lips as he only has 4 attempts left… It would be 85% if he has a Magic Beast core but at the moment, he doesn't have one. He can probably get some of them in the market for a fair price… However, these Magic Beasts Cores are really expensive.
"Let's try 2 more times… If I failed my 3rd attempt, I'll purchase a Magic Beast core…" Vincent said as he took a deep breath and began his Transcendence attempt again.
[ Transcendence Failed. ]
[ Dormant Diamond Paladin Automaton +9 ]
[ Transcendence Attempt: 2/5 ]
"Tsk… This will be the last."
Vincent then closed his eyes and silently prayed to Goddess Vera… He's unsure whether that blonde goddess can help him but it's better than not trying at all.
[ No Transcendence Crystal Found. Do you want to Transcend this item with Pseudo-Celestial Energy? ]
"Yes…"
Vincent held his breath before looking at the result…
[ Transcendence Successful ]
Vincent clenched his fist and didn't make a noise. He suppressed his emotion and took a deep breath. His eyes filled with excitement as he checked the Paladin Automaton.
[ Dormant Diamond Paladin Automaton +9 ]
[ Transcendence Attempt: 0/5 ]
The Transcendence Attempt counter returned to zero. It means that he can try transcending it again to add another skill to the Automaton. However, based on his experience, the second Transcension would be three times more difficult than the first one.
Vincent is already satisfied with this result as he spent his night grinding his skills on other items. Well, these items were those that he had collected from the members of the Creed. They're quite decent so he decided to save these items and reward his people later on.
On the next day, Vincent went out for a morning walk but saw Nerissa wearing all black including a black veil.
Nerissa saw him as well and explained…
"I'm going to attend the funeral of our fallen comrades… Sixteen Manipulators in our Eternal Sun Peak have been killed by the members of the Creed… Would you like to join me?"
Vincent thought for a moment before nodding his head. He informed Millie about this so she could accompany him as well.
After a while, Vincent witnessed the memorial service of the fallen Manipulators of the Eternal Sun Peak. It was attended by over a thousand people.
Vincent also learned that the identities of the dead… There is one Diamond Tier Manipulator, three Platinum Tier, and the rest were Gold Tier… There weren't any Crystal Tier that has fallen.
After the ceremony, Vivian met Vincent but they didn't talk about their deal first.
If Vincent wasn't mistaken, there were about a hundred casualties during their clash against the Creed of Eiqehin… More than a thousand Automatons were destroyed in the process.
He didn't expect that 16 of the casualties are from the Eternal Sun Peak… No wonder Vivian requested him to act since with the help of his team, they can certainly stop further casualties in their region.
Vivian then talked about how she wanted to take revenge and would soon act on it once he successfully upgraded their Automatons.
"Have you completed the task? Or do you need more time?" Vivian finally asked.
"I'm done… I can show it to you once we're back… However, have you heard about the Creed's plans to create Sentient Magic Artifacts using the heads or brains of Diamond Tier Manipulators?"