SWDnovel Chapter 286 The Throat of Echoes
Chapter 286 The Throat of Echoes
The countdown to the upgrade of the artifact beat deep within Xu Si's consciousness, like a heart awakening.
At this moment, the military radio was enveloped by the two dark golden halos.
The metal casing of military radios is becoming transparent, revealing intricate circuit boards inside that appear to be reshaped by an invisible hand.
The intricate internal structure begins to analyze and reconstruct itself.
"Commander, the convoy has resumed its journey, heading due east at a speed of 45 kilometers per hour."
The voice of Nirvana calmly reported the situation outside.
Xu Si simply hummed in agreement, his attention completely focused on the upgrade process.
Time passed second by second.
The sounds of the wind, the engine, and the occasional brief exchanges on the walkie-talkie outside the car gradually faded away.
finally--
[Item upgrade complete]
As the countdown reached its final mark, Xu Si felt not only anticipation but also, and perhaps more so, worry.
[Current Oddity: Echoing Throat]
[Rank: 1717]
Feature 1: Global Resonance
Description: It will no longer be a cold receiver. The trembling of the sand and the queen insect's perception merge, granting it a "listening" ability beyond the conventional frequency range. (Note: Noise is its enemy, but also its food.)
Feature 2: Targeted Recitation
Description: Consuming the user's sequence energy or reserve energy, it can "shout" specific information in an extremely high-intensity and highly penetrating manner towards a preset or vaguely targeted direction. The greater the distance, the greater the consumption, and it may be "eavesdropped" by unknown entities. (Note: Whispers? They don't exist.)
Feature 3: Mother and child are homologous
Description: The berserk nature of this insectoid race, born from the Sandwolf Mother, allows it to endlessly produce offspring, who will absolutely obey their mother. (Warning: Listen to your mother; mother and child are connected by heart and voice.)
The cost: loss of speech
Description: After each successful use of "Targeted Chanting," the user will temporarily lose their normal language ability. The duration is directly proportional to the energy consumed, with a maximum of twenty-four hours. During this time, communication is only possible through text, thought, or a specific contracted partner. (Note: What's said is said.)
[Comment: It's waiting for the first reply. (Note: Be careful, the person you call upon may not be a friend.)]
Xu Si's fingers traced the military radio, which had undergone a dramatic transformation; its once square casing had become streamlined and organic.
It resembles the sheath of some kind of beetle, or perhaps a pre-apocalyptic musical instrument—the xun.
The dark gold main color is covered with sand-like patterns.
In the very center, a faint blue dot of light pulsates, like a breath.
This semi-biological, semi-mechanical state reminded Xu Si of his own Nirvana.
Given its current characteristics, losing an Awakening Potion seems acceptable.
However, "speechlessness"...
Xu Si twitched the corner of his mouth, then shut up again after just limping. I guess you could call this an acquired disability!
However, compared to the possibility of contacting his sister, this cost is almost negligible.
But when he was excited and his hands were trembling as he prepared to activate the "Directional Chanting" trait of [Echo Throat], he was lost in confusion.
Which direction should he choose?
Does anyone know which direction the Guangming Motorcade is in?
Two convoys that are constantly moving cannot even know each other's existence, let alone their directions.
What use would he have for this "targeted recitation"?
What use does he have for this [Echo Throat]?
Xu Si's heart felt as if it had plunged into an ice cave. The chilling despair was more profound than ever before.
Like a drowning person who desperately grabs onto a piece of driftwood.
But they discovered that the other end of the driftwood was also submerged in the water.
The light that had just ignited in Xing Tong quickly dimmed.
He slowly slumped back into the hovering chair, the [Echoing Throat] in his hand feeling as heavy as a thousand pounds.
It's as if he upgraded a piece of junk with the system, at least for now.
Yes, yes, he also has a system!
"System, how many Purification Points are needed to upgrade the Echoing Throat to an artifact like [Apollo] that can communicate with all caravans?"
There was no immediate response.
A cold silence spread through the carriage.
Just when Xu Si thought the communication system had abandoned him, that emotionless, mechanical voice finally rang out:
[Solution search in progress...]
[The 'Stargazer' sequence has been retrieved. This artifact can be blessed by stars through 'Star Sacrifice'. Currently, it can be blessed by the star Blood Sun.]
[Compatible Upgrade Solution: Wonder - Throat of Stars]
[Description: A strange artifact born from the 'Echoing Throat,' using ten mysteriously dropped items as sacrifices and the Blood Sun as a medium, capable of sending one-way broadcast messages to all individuals or clusters capable of receiving electromagnetic information. Its coverage area is affected by current spacetime stability, energy supply, and the Blood Sun's coverage area.]
[Estimated Purification Points Consumption: 54000]
[Upgrade?]
Fifty-four thousand? And ten more strange drops?
Is this damn system really trying to take advantage of the rich? Or does it know he's just made his fortune and is already trying to exploit him?
He didn't believe that the wonder [Apollo] required so many resources.
And it requires more than 50,000 purification points?
That hit him right where it hurts.
Damn it, he can't give up now that things have come to this.
"upgrade!"
Xu Si had 15 items that mysteriously dropped, and he chose 5 to keep.
This includes the previously mentioned [Deer Beads] and [Pierced Rutilated Quartz].
The other three items are the [Fang Fang], [Mineral Core], and [Mandala Scale], which were obtained from the strange drops just now, and Yang Fan's last contribution.
Xu Si wanted to keep the "Deer Pearl" because of its unique characteristics.
He intended to save the [Piercing Crystal] for upgrading the [Sword of Punishment].
Now that the [Sword of Punishment]'s combat power has caught up, Xu Si has to leave him some quota.
Meanwhile, [Fang] and [Mandala Scale] can be upgraded into Awakening Potions.
Moreover, both are branch sequence awakening potions of the orc sequence—the [Human-Tiger Sequence Awakening Potion] and the [Human-Snake Sequence Awakening Potion].
The final [mineral core] is rather special.
Because it can be upgraded to a wonder – a mineral vein, which can transform an entire terrain unit into minerals.
Xu Si felt that it would be of great use, which was why he made the choice.
Upgrade confirmed. Purification Points consumed: 54000, Remaining Purification Points: 29300
[Consumes 10 Mysterious Drops]
[Item upgrade in progress, estimated time: 72 hours]
The system notifications rang out one after another, forcefully pulling Xu Si's cold heart back to the scorching reality.
Fifty-four thousand purification points evaporated instantly, and ten bizarre items fell as offerings.
If anything else goes wrong, Xu Si will really want to bang his head on the ground.
"Three days...just three days!"
Xu Si glanced at the ten strange items that were gradually disappearing as they turned into starlight.
I can't describe the feeling in my heart.
He never expected that the system would actually use his own sequence for its own purposes.
This overturned all his guesses about the origin of the system.