Chapter 80 | Reincarnated With a Stat Panel That Never Stops Growing

“I'm just a passing adventurer.”

Xia De replied calmly. Then, from his perspective, a futuristic blue panel appeared next to Alisha.

【Species: Mermaid

Combat Power: 9,999 (Peak Tier Seven)

Skills: Water Element Magic, Mental-Type Magic (Song)】

“I'd like to ask, how did a mermaid like you, who lives in the northern sea, end up in an inland lake?”

Saying this, Xia De seemed to think of something. He looked at her with a strange expression and asked, “By the way, mermaids live in the sea, so you shouldn't be freshwater fish, right? Doesn't suddenly coming to a freshwater lake make you uncomfortable?”

“Human, how dare you insult me by comparing me to those lowly creatures!”

Alisha's face contorted. Baring her teeth in a furious snarl at Xia De, she revealed her sharp, serrated fangs.

Her wavy curls drifted behind her as if they possessed a mind of their own, writhing like a nest of snakes.

A powerful shriek erupted from her mouth, sending concentric rings of sound waves sweeping toward Xia De.

The shrill sound was like thousands of long, thin needles. Just hearing it from a distance sent a stabbing pain through one's brain.

Furthermore, it carried an inexplicable force that could artificially heighten a person's sensory perception, amplifying the agony.

A smug smile appeared on Alisha's face.

The mermaid race's unique mental magic, combined with her shrill sound waves, would cause immense mental damage even to a Tier Seven powerhouse of her own level, leaving them bleeding from all seven facial orifices.

Then, Xia De blew a gentle breath.

In an instant, the entirety of Bezerlati Lake moved.

This was no illusion created by surging currents. Alisha could clearly feel that the very bottom of the lake was undergoing a violent tremor!

The earth at the lakebed shook, and the massive lake churned relentlessly like a mere puddle.

Alisha felt like an ordinary fish caught in a powerful ocean current. Her vision spun, and she found herself completely powerless against this grand force of nature.

“Stop!”

Xia De spoke a single word softly, and the churning lake water instantly ground to a halt.

The entirety of Bezerlati Lake returned to its former tranquility.

After a moment, Alisha regained some of her senses. When she looked at Xia De again, a sliver of genuine terror finally crept into the depths of her eyes.

Xia De's figure seemed as towering as a giant in her eyes.

In front of him, how utterly insignificant she was.

The light in her eyes gradually dimmed. Her long, wavy hair stopped drifting, and her fish tail drooped weakly as if it had withered.

Looking at Alisha, who seemed to have given up all resistance, Xia De said:

“Stop pretending. I can see that your eyes aren't filled with complete despair just yet. You must have some trump card left, so show it! Just a friendly warning: I'm not bluffing. If you keep playing dead, I really will kill you.”

“You human!”

Stung by the palpable killing intent radiating from Xia De, Alisha—who had been feigning complete helplessness—changed her expression once more, staring at him with a mix of shock and fear.

She barked at Xia De, her voice full of false bravado: “You forced my hand, human!”

With that, she produced a crown made of coral from who-knows-where.

Holding the crown in both hands, she gazed at it with a fanatical look, a sickly flush rising to her face. “As long as... as long as I obtain its power... Please, I beg of you, grant me your power!”

But in the very next second, the crown in her hands vanished.

Alisha looked around in a panic. When she finally spotted it, she realized the crown was actually in Xia De's hands.

She rushed frantically toward Xia De, screaming in a rage, “Lowly human! How dare a wretched creature like you touch a great divine artifact!”

Hearing Alisha's furious abuse, Xia De's face remained expressionless. He simply spoke a single word: “Bind.”

Alisha was frozen, unable to move a muscle.

“Wind!”

In an instant, Alisha was sliced into sashimi. However, she did not fall apart into separate pieces.

A small portion of flesh connected each slice, making her body resemble a spring. Of course, Alisha clearly lacked the elasticity of an actual spring.

At the same time, Xia De used his healing magic to keep her barely alive, leaving all her vital organs perfectly intact.

Through the gaps between the slices, her internal organs were completely visible.

“H-human! What... what did you do to me?!”

Alisha stared at Xia De and shrieked in absolute terror.

She could feel the agonizing pain racking her body, the sensation of her flesh being sliced apart, and the surreal feeling of her head and body no longer being properly connected.

Ignoring her screams, Xia De turned his attention to the crown in his hand.

The crown was made of coral and looked completely ordinary, no different from any coral one could find anywhere in the sea.

Yet, the data on the panel in Xia De's vision told a completely different story.

【Object: Mysterious Coral Crown

Combat Power: 1,500,000 (Cannot be actively released)

Description: At first glance, it appears completely ordinary, but it contains an inner power that can rapidly accelerate a person's growth. However, this power contains a mental imprint. Anyone who uses this power will gradually lose their sense of self and become a follower of a certain powerful existence. From then on, their life and death will be completely controlled by them, and they will live their entire life solely for them.

Status: Power Sealed】

“Holy shit! There's a big one here!”

Looking at the data displayed on the panel, Xia De rarely swore, unable to maintain his composure.

He had thought this quest would be as dry and boring as catching tiny shrimp, mainly just for the experience.

He never expected that behind this tiny shrimp would be a colossal king prawn. It was absolutely exhilarating.

“Rebirth.”

Xia De cast his gaze upon the sliced-up Alisha, then used his healing magic to mend her wounds.

In just an instant, Alisha felt her body fully restored.

No!

It was completely reborn!

Not only had her recent injuries healed, but even the hidden, lingering wounds she had suffered in the past had completely vanished.

The abundant power coursing through her body gave her an illusion, as if she could effortlessly control the entirety of Bezerlati Lake.

But she was in no mood to ponder how this had happened. When she saw Xia De playing with the mermaid race's sacred relic, looking at her with an amused expression...

Rage once again broke through her rationality. Flicking her long fish tail, she shot toward Xia De like an arrow.

“Sigh, don't be in such a rush!”

Restraining Alisha in place once again, Xia De waved the coral crown in front of her.

Under her murderous gaze, he asked, “Do you really want the power inside this?”

Alisha didn't understand why Xia De was asking her this, nor did she care to. Right now, she only wanted to slaughter this filthy human who had defiled the sacred relic of the mermaid race!

Then, she watched as a faint smile curled on Xia De's handsome face. He said softly, “Well then, as you wish.”

With that, Xia De placed the coral crown onto Alisha's head.

In an instant, a dazzling blue light erupted within Bezerlati Lake, radiating a holy aura as vast as the ocean.

In the outside world, the sky and earth changed color. Countless creatures across the continent felt their hearts sink for some inexplicable reason. Among them, a man wearing a wide-brimmed hat looked slightly grimmer.

Xia De watched this scene with his mouth slightly open, his eyes filled with sheer excitement, a trace of manic laughter escaping his lips.

The power of the coral crown couldn't be actively triggered, meaning he couldn't directly convert it into his own strength. Therefore, he needed a medium. He had decided to use Alisha as the vessel for that power.

Once she fully absorbed this power, he would just have to kill her, and then he could devour and convert it!

Furthermore, Xia De himself really wanted to fight someone with a Combat Power of one million. After all, this was the first time he had encountered a million-level Combat Power that wasn't unawakened, and wasn't so overwhelmingly far beyond his own that he couldn't hope to compete.