This sudden appearance of a shaved ice machine left Xu Mo conflicted for quite a while. The emergence of such a useless item made him wonder whether it was an inherent activation rule of the Apocalyptic Shard or if his own luck was simply that bad.
"Immovable as a Mountain" might be a skill that leaves him unable to counterattack while being beaten, but at least it was useful for stalling. "Falling Feather Crow" was rather stealthy, yet it could be a lifesaver in critical moments. But this shaved ice machine… it probably wasn't even heavy enough to use as a weapon.
Still, its appearance gave Xu Mo an important insight—activating an Apocalyptic Shard was like gambling. The results were not only random but also had a certain chance of yielding inexplicable abilities or objects. So before activating any shard, one should never have high expectations.
Even though he told himself this, the unfortunate shaved ice machine had shaken Xu Mo's confidence, making him hesitant about whether he should continue activating shards.
"Sigh… If only all shards had a set range of enhancements like the red Apocalyptic Shards." Xu Mo sighed as he looked at the machine, which had already produced a full bowl of shaved ice, and muttered to himself absentmindedly.
A set range? Wait a minute… if he thought about it from another perspective, maybe he could achieve that.
Of course, Xu Mo wasn't thinking of activating shards as he had just done—he wasn't capable of making an unactivated Apocalyptic Shard generate specific objects or skills according to his wishes. Instead, he was thinking of another method that he had known about for a long time but had never used—enhancement.
Back in the Apocalyptic Mirage, Professor Mo had mentioned that while red Apocalyptic Shards automatically enhanced abilities, other types of shards could also be strengthened by accumulating more of the same type, and this process could be manually controlled.
This meant that Xu Mo could choose which skills or items to enhance, effectively avoiding the problem of useless activations.
Previously, he had mostly obtained enhancement-type red shards and had rarely considered strengthening his existing skills or items. But now, this seemed like a viable option for making the best use of Apocalyptic Shards.
However, Xu Mo wasn't planning to use all his remaining shards for enhancement. He still had too few trump cards to keep himself alive. Even if he was going to gamble, he needed to at least roll the dice for one or two more useful abilities.
He took out a pen and paper, listing all his current Apocalyptic Shard skills and items, carefully considering their frequency of use and practical application.
Xu Mo realized that his most frequently used abilities were "Zero Eruption" and "Immovable as a Mountain". "Zero Eruption" had decent power, but due to his limited supply of orange energy, it was heavily restricted in usage. This skill should be his top priority for enhancement. As for "Immovable as a Mountain", since he only had a single green shard, he had to abandon that idea for now.
In terms of weapons, aside from "Demon's Hand" and the "USP Handgun", he had no other choices. But since he had two blue and two yellow shards, he decided to see if he could activate something useful before selecting his enhancement targets.
Xu Mo only knew that enhancement was possible, but he had no clue how to do it. He could only fumble his way forward, like a blind man crossing a river.
Since directly touching an unactivated shard with his mind would trigger its automatic activation, he decided to reverse the process—instead of activating the raw shard, he would try pushing an already-activated shard toward it and see if that triggered an enhancement reaction.
It turned out that Xu Mo's idea was completely correct. When he moved his "Zero Eruption" orange shard close to the newly acquired raw orange shard, the unactivated shard seemed to be attracted by some unseen force and immediately fused with the original one. A flash of brilliant orange light erupted, and the two shards merged into a single, twice-as-large orange shard!
So this was how enhancement worked!
Although he couldn't immediately test the effects at home, Xu Mo could clearly feel that the orange energy within him had surged by more than fifty percent, with its intensity increasing by at least twenty percent. However, the actual impact of the enhancement would have to be tested in combat.
Now that he had figured out how to enhance Apocalyptic Shards, it was time to test his luck again.
"Whether I hesitate or go all in, it's still a gamble. Might as well go all in now. These shards were free anyway—even if half of them turn into useless junk like the shaved ice machine, as long as I get one or two good skills or weapons, it's worth it."
As if the goddess of misfortune had only been passing by earlier, Xu Mo's next activations went smoothly.
The first yellow weapon-type shard materialized into a 40-centimeter-long Spartan short sword, featuring an ancient design and a chilling gleam.
The second green specialty-type shard granted him an ability called "Seamless Bond". This allowed him to generate an incredibly strong adhesive surface on any non-living object within a one-square-meter area, either stopping or slowing down targets caught in it. However, this skill was trap-based and required a 30-second setup time, lasting for 15 minutes once placed.
The skill had many limitations, but one notable upside was that he could create multiple adhesive traps at once, as long as his mental strength allowed it.
These two successful activations restored Xu Mo's faith in his own luck. Now, he had only one blue intelligence-type shard and one orange chain-type shard left.
After some deliberation, Xu Mo decided to activate the blue intelligence-type shard first. Since orange chain-type abilities depended on existing abilities, activating another shard first would give him more options for synergy.
To Xu Mo, blue intelligence-type shards were particularly fascinating. They always seemed to create sentient creatures, and even if they lacked extraordinary abilities, the mere mental connection and control over them was an invaluable asset.
Unlike the low-key appearance of "Falling Feather Crow", this time, the creature spawned by the blue shard completely occupied his entire bed upon materializing.
Xu Mo, caught off guard, was shoved off the bed, landing hard on the floor.
What the hell?! Why is it so huge?!
A round body, a long slender neck, a pure white coat of fur, and an intense yet melancholic gaze… After taking a good look at the bizarre creature before him, Xu Mo couldn't help but let out a cry of disbelief:
"Holy sht! Isn't this the legendary divine beast—the Alpaca?!"*
Alpaca, also known as "Grass Mud Horse", had been crowned as a "divine beast" by internet users due to a long history of memes. Xu Mo had only ever seen pictures of it before.
Now, staring at this majestic creature with its piercing eyes as it leisurely chewed on his bedsheet, Xu Mo felt his face twitch uncontrollably. He had thought the shaved ice machine was ridiculous, but this? This was a thunderstrike straight from the heavens—delivered with a divine beast in tow.
"Stop chewing! I just changed those sheets last night—Damn it! Just because you're a 'divine beast' doesn't mean I won't kick your ass! Get in here, now!"
With veins bulging on his forehead, Xu Mo struggled to wrestle his bedsheet away from the alpaca's mouth. After much kicking and shoving, he finally managed to forcefully recall the creature back into the shard space, letting out a sigh of relief.
Upon mentally examining it, he found that the "Alpaca", like "Falling Feather Crow", came with a special ability. However, compared to "Space Teleportation", this skill was beyond useless—it was downright trash.
With all his shards now activated, the results were a mixed bag. But this experience made Xu Mo realize why the middle-aged assassin had so many shards yet used so few abilities. It also explained why Apocalyptic Shards were undervalued in the World Fruit Trade Union—the absurdly high junk rate.
Now, Xu Mo had only one shard of each color left (orange, yellow, and blue). He knew that too many abilities could dilute his combat effectiveness, so apart from the orange shard, he decided to use the yellow and blue shards for enhancement.