Overlord Tier!
The appearance of this "Devious Theft" seemed to be just an interlude in Lister's otherwise mundane life of imparting skills.
They haven't seen each other since that night.
Given her ability to conceal herself, Lister would have virtually no chance of finding her unless she revealed herself.
They stayed in Jiangling Prefecture for approximately two more months.
Lister's luck seems to have run out. In all this time, he has only managed to buy one special passive skill book at the Auction House, and has not found any other new passive skills.
Fortunately, this passive skill works quite well.
[Resolute Heart Visualization Method: Each level increases immunity to all negative effects by 1% (Note: The immunity effect decreases if the negative effect is above level C).]
Including this passive skill that grants immunity to control effects, Lister's initial expectations when he came to the Great Chu Imperial Dynasty have already been exceeded. With eleven passive skills covering various aspects of his character, once he reaches a high level, dominating the universe will certainly not be a problem.
In terms of active skills, Lister also acquired two books: a D-rank Basic Combat and an E-rank Knee Strike.
I didn't plan to fully upgrade those two skills; I just felt I lacked some techniques in close combat, so this is just a basic supplement.
In the span of two months, the entire Great Chu Imperial Dynasty seemed to have been fast-forwarded.
The number of demonic beasts gathering around Jiangling Prefecture is increasing, and there are signs that a demonic beast tide could break out at any time.
This was almost three months ahead of Lister remembered the game was progressing on.
The main reason for this is believed to be his butterfly, which brought news of the Kingdom of Lucian to the Great Chu ahead of time, causing Yongping Emperor to change his treatment of the monsters and thus greatly accelerating the game's progress.
Outside the city, Lister glanced at the section listing his mentors' teachings.
"Skill Instructor Merrick: Can teach the skill -- Merrick Saber Technique (Rank C), currently taught to 2,104,312 players."
There were originally supposed to be 60 million players, but according to discussions among players in the public chat, there are actually less than 50 million players so far.
Based on the current progress, there will be fewer players in Act 1 than in the previous game, and the game will end much earlier.
Of the 50 million players, more than 2 million learned the Merrick Saber Technique, a rate of 4.2%.
This is far beyond the normal proportion of sword-wielding specialists, which is around 1.3%, meaning the potential user base has more than tripled.
It's fair to say that the number of investors who bought stocks in the first act exceeded expectations.
In recent days, few players have been learning Merrick Saber Technique from him. Lister spends most of his time sitting in the outer city, occasionally browsing the Auction House.
At this point, there was little point in him staying in the Great Chu Imperial Dynasty.
After the final wave of monster siege ends, players will log off until the second act begins.
With this in mind, Lister decided to officially set off on his departure the next day.
That evening, inside the inn.
Lister began upgrading once again.
[Experience Points: 72234323]
In two months, I accumulated 72 million experience points.
This is because most players have just reached the level cap, with their skill levels averaging LV3-LV4, and only a minority can actually master the Iai Slash.
The chives weren't fully grown yet, but for Lister, the experience points were already astonishing; he had never fought such a rich battle before!
After some thought, I decided to put the leveling up aside for now.
Since I don't have Lucian Turquoise Liquid for the time being, even if I level up, I can't raise my base stats to the Barrier limit.
He hasn't even maxed out his current level 40 free attribute yet.
Lister decided to max out his passive skills first, and at the same time, he had a guess in his mind that he hoped would be verified today.
Congratulations! Your Killing Intent Wave Visualization Method has been upgraded!
Congratulations! Your Saber Mastery has been upgraded!
Congratulations! Your Concentration Method Visualization Method have been upgraded!
A series of system notifications sounded, Lister's aura continued to strengthen.
The various visualizations in my mind suddenly became vivid and profound, and I gained a wealth of meditation experience out of nowhere.
The experience points I had painstakingly accumulated were rapidly decreasing! They were almost gone in no time!
It's true what they say: it's easy to spend money but hard to save it!
[Name: Lister Merrick]
[Class: Basic Swordsman (Martial Arts)]
[Level: 40 (1/40000)]
[Health Points: 19560/19560 (Note: Health points after passive bonus)]
[Stamina: 5431/5431 (Note: Stamina after passive bonus)]
[Attributes: Strength: 40, Stamina: 31, Intelligence: 31, Agility: 31]
[Skill: Merrick Saber Technique (B-Rank - Excellent) LV40 (1/400000): Uses knife techniques to accurately attack the target, dealing 4571~5298 damage (can be boosted by Strength attribute), reduces control effects slightly when striking.]
Yellow Court Saber Art Visualization Method (Passive, No Rank) LV40: See through illusion and finally reach the truth! Increases true damage of sword techniques by 40%.
Killing Intent Wave Visualization Method (Passive, No Rank) LV40: Increases additional perception by 40% and Killing Intent Perception by 120%. Can actively release killing intent against enemies whose strength is far lower than the user, dealing 120% of the user's base damage in an area. (Note: Killing Intent Release when the target's level is at least 30 levels lower than the user's. The user's base damage can be affected by other passive buffs.)
Saber Mastery (Passive, No Rank) LV40: Increases swordsmanship attack damage by 200%.
Resolute Heart Visualization Method (Passive, No Grade) LV40: Immune to 40% of all negative effects (Note: If the negative effect is higher than Grade B, the immunity effect is reduced).
Sharp Blade Visualization Method (Passive, No Grade) LV40: Limited to sword-type attack buffs, increases sharpness by 40% and deals 40% ignore defense damage.
Robust Physique (Passive, No Rank) LV40: Increases health by an additional 400%.
Resolute Qi Visualization Method (Passive, No Grade) LV40: Increases own defense by an additional 400%.
Merrick Breathing Technique (Passive, No Grade) LV40: Grants an additional 40 points of Strength attribute.
Will Breathing Technique (Passive, No Grade): LV40: Grants an additional 40 points to Stamina.
Concentration Method Visualization Method (Passive, No Grade) LV40: Grants an additional 40 Intelligence.
Mystic Movement Art Visualization Method (Passive, No Rank) LV40: Grants an additional 40 points to Agility.
[Overall Rating: A→S Overlord Tier]
[Experience Points: 433031]
It was indeed a huge windfall!
At that moment, Lister felt incredibly powerful, truly powerful.
Within a space of several tens of meters around him, his senses seemed to be magnified infinitely, and he could keenly perceive any change in any corner.
If he wanted to, he could know the exact presence of even the slightest insect flying by or the slightest rustling of the wind.
This is just an improvement in basic perception; if it's the perception of someone with murderous intent, it can be improved threefold again.
Lister was confident that he could instantly detect and react to any enemy's hostility or attack.
In addition, he has nearly 20,000 health points and over 5,000 stamina, as if he has inexhaustible strength, including defensive capabilities that are not reflected in the numerical values!
After all the passive upgrades, the sudden surge in strength made Lister feel as if he had been reborn, and his mentality began to become blind and arrogant.
It took a long while before I finally calmed down.
After all, his future lies not in the Great Chu and Lucian, but in the galaxy and even the wider universe!
We've only laid a solid foundation; we're still far from being true cosmic powerhouses!
Looking back at the system panel, aside from the improvement in his own strength, what surprised Lister the most was the improvement in his overall evaluation.
S-rank!
This was a level he had never seen before in his previous life. Even among the top thousand players on the server, he had only ever heard of the overall rating of A.
He had only heard of S-class characters in later-stage super bosses and among cosmic celebrities.
I vaguely remember that Kavin Deer in later generations was an SS-class, World-Ending Level powerhouse, while most other universe powerhouses were at least S-class in terms of combat strength.
Now, his overall evaluation has indeed reached S-level, the combat power of Overlord Tier, just as he expected and guessed!
He's even a step ahead of Kavin Deer now; it seems he made the right choice by going down the passive skill path.
He's already at S-rank, and with future second, Third Advancement, and even Fourth Advancements, and the acquisition of more active skills above S-rank, his strength will see an even greater leap forward!
Sitting on the bed, Lister's face was full of smiles.
He had never felt so good since entering the game world.
Now, his main task is to complete the second job advancement quest after reaching level 60.
Reaching level 60 is easy, requiring only a mere million experience points.
Lister believed that within a few days, the experience points contributed by the players would be sufficient.
However, the job change quest is not easy, and before accepting the job change quest, you need to max out your basic attributes to reach the limit.
Otherwise, all that hard work leveling up passive attributes might result in not maxing out the basic attributes that are easiest to max out with potions, which would be putting the cart before the horse.
Thinking of this, Lister's desire to return to Lucian suddenly intensified!