Perfect Skill

[Quest Complete]

[Calculating rewards...]

[The player's overall performance in this quest has been rated S. Experience Points and Game Coin rewards have been increased to 150% of the original amount.]

[The player has gained 300 Experience Points and 750 Game Coins.]

[The player has obtained 1 Rare Quality Random Skill Card. It has been automatically placed in the Inventory. Please check it at your convenience.]

[The player's level has increased. Current Level: Lv3. Gained 2 Free Attribute Points.]

It felt like waking from a great dream. When Bai Zhi opened his eyes, a flood of information scrolled across the Light Screen before him.

"Am I back already? Six hours passed over there, but only six minutes have passed here..."

Turning to look at the time displayed on the computer screen, Bai Zhi fell into thought.

Since this role-playing quest had not used his real body, the wounds on him had naturally vanished. However, if one failed the Novice Quest, the result in the Real World would be sudden death.

An S-rank evaluation was hardly surprising. If not for him, the ending of this Novice Quest would most likely have been a complete wipe. What surprised him slightly was that he had gained two levels in a row.

It took 100 Experience Points to advance from level 1 to Lv2. The requirement doubled to 200 from Lv2 to Lv3, while Lv3 to Lv4 required 400. It would most likely continue rising in a geometric progression.

[Player Level: Lv3 (50/400)]

After a Player rose from level 1 to Lv3 and became an Official Player, the System Store would officially open to them. The most important item in it was the first product, which refreshed every month without fail—Temporary Attribute Exchange.

[Temporary Attribute Exchange: For one hour, the player's Strength, Agility, and Constitution among their Base Attributes will be raised to the human limit. The Game Coins consumed per hour equal the total missing value of the three attributes multiplied by five.]

"My Strength, Agility, and Constitution add up to 21 points. Their combined maximum is 45, leaving a gap of 24... So it costs 120 Game Coins per hour?"

After doing the calculation in his head, Bai Zhi could not help frowning slightly.

Even though he had received an S-Rank evaluation in the Novice Quest, he had only earned 750 Game Coins. If he spent all of them on this option, he could theoretically sustain it for only six hours.

The key was that this thing was not sold separately. It came as a mandatory bundle, and each exchange could only be made in whole-hour increments. Exchanging it just to briefly reach the human limit for a few seconds was impossible. One exchange meant one full hour.

"I still need to find a way to raise my Base Attributes..."

Glancing at his Strength, Agility, and Constitution, distributed at 7, 8, and 6 respectively, Bai Zhi casually allocated the two Free Attribute Points he had gained to Constitution, raising it from its crippled six points to a barely average human level of eight.

That way, if he purchased Temporary Attribute Exchange, his Constitution would rise to 17 points, allowing him to temporarily surpass the human limit in that regard.

After all, having six points of crippled and book physique... was truly disgusting.

—Though he would soon hate himself for being so quick with his hands.

After finishing all that, Bai Zhi had no interest for the moment in studying the other nine exchange items, which he could carefully consider over the coming month. He opened his Inventory Panel.

Inside his Inventory, which was crammed with all sorts of miscellaneous junk, an emerald green card lay quietly.

—A Random Skill Card of extremely Rare Quality!!

This was the most valuable thing obtained from the Novice Quest.

If a Skill Card of this tier appeared in the Player Auction House, it would sell for at least a five-figure amount of Game Coins.

At present, the exchange rate in the Black Market was roughly one Game Coin to one thousand in cash. In other words, this Rare Quality Random Skill Card was worth at least ten million.

—But no one was selling one at all.

"I hope I get a decent Skill... I'm not greedy. Just give me something like Superman Body or Demi-human Constitution."

After solemnly washing his hands several times with soap, Bai Zhi took the Skill Card out of his Inventory Panel.

What he had not expected was that the moment the emerald green card, radiating boundless vitality, was removed from the Inventory, a strange strand of black suddenly appeared on its surface. In merely a few seconds, the emerald green card turned pitch-black.

"..."

After a moment of silence, Bai Zhi shifted his gaze to the first two Items in his Inventory Panel.

[Name: Shadow Realm Permanent Deed]

[Type: Special Item]

[Quality: None]

[Description: The holder gains permanent rights to use a region within the Shadow Realm.]

[Equipment condition: None]

[Automatically bound to the Player ID. Cannot be traded, transferred, or dropped.]

This was one of the spoils he had obtained from the little boy who stomps shadows. It was also the only Special Item whose Quality was listed as none. He had searched the forums for information about it afterward, but had found very little.

"...Could this thing really be behind it? If something happened to my Skill Card..."

With a terrible toothache-like feeling, Bai Zhi picked up the pitch-black Skill Card and chose to use it.

[Skill Name: Shadow]

[Type: Special]

[Level: Perfect]

[Effect: Shadow Control, Enhancement, Shadow's Trace]

[Consumption: Consumes 10/50/100 Spiritual Power per minute.]

[Learning condition: Intelligence: 15 or above, Perception: 15 or above, Charisma: 15 or above.]

[Note: Master of Shadows]

[Cannot be traded or transferred.]

"This Skill... is Perfect Grade?"

Seeing the description of the Skill Card, Bai Zhi's pupils contracted slightly.

It was one thing for the Random Skill Card, originally Rare Quality, to rise two tiers and become Perfect Grade. But Random Rare Skill Cards awarded by the system for clearing Novice Quests generally had no Learning Conditions. Otherwise, at least ninety percent of Players would be unable to meet the requirements for learning a Rare Skill.

The Learning Conditions for this Perfect Grade Skill Card were even more terrifying. Intelligence, Perception, and Charisma all had to reach their maximum values. A Normal Player would need to reach at least Level 10 to possibly learn it, but if precious Attribute Points were invested in those three attributes, what would happen to the others? Staying alive was the most important thing.

...Wait, would any idiot really put points into Charisma in the early stages?