Direct Perception

"Damn it, why wasn't it some ultimate move that summoned the Great Treasure Sword?!"

Looking at the skill description, Lu Chen felt somewhat disappointed.

It was not that he was disappointed with the skill itself. Judgment was quite powerful, a miniature Blade Storm of sorts. The fact that he could move while casting it also meant Lu Chen would not have to stand still and wait to die.

Unfortunately, good as this skill was, it could only deal physical damage.

For Lu Chen, however, his main enemies right now were evil entities and anomalies. What he needed was not physical attacks, but energy attacks capable of harming special creatures.

Thus, while the skill was decent, Lu Chen could only painfully give it up.

"System, redraw the skill."

"Ghost Slash, Great Treasure Sword, Spark Talisman Blade, Armament Haki—any of them will do. Give me a magic-type skill that can hurt anomalies!"

Lu Chen, who did not believe in gods, leaned on his longsword and offered a slight prayer.

Unfortunately, the insincere Lu Chen did not receive the Goddess of Luck's favor this time.

System Notification: Host has consumed five Spirit Crystals to redraw a skill. Host has drawn the skill—Direct Perception E (Bronze).

Looking at Direct Perception E, Lu Chen's feelings were complicated.

"Direct Perception... it's actually this. I never thought I'd draw it this time."

This skill had been copied from FATE. It was one of the abilities possessed by Artoria, King Arthur among the Heroic Spirits.

Direct Perception did not increase attributes, nor could it directly attack enemies, but as a skill, it was extremely useful.

Direct Perception could also be called a Sixth Sense in battle. If one's luck was high enough, they could read what move their opponent was about to use during combat. At the same time, Direct Perception could sense certain dangers in advance.

In Lu Chen's impression, Direct Perception was similar to intuition, animal instinct, sudden premonitions, and so on. As for the E after it, that was the skill rank. Since their studio had not had time to alter it yet, the description of this skill remained the same as in FATE.

In FATE, E represented something ten times beyond an ordinary person. In other words, after learning Direct Perception E, Lu Chen would possess intuition ten times greater than that of an ordinary person.

Looking at this skill, Lu Chen truly hesitated.

This skill also could not allow Lu Chen to attack evil entities, but its utility was considerable, allowing him to avoid certain dangers in advance.

After pondering for a while, Lu Chen glanced again at the number of Spirit Crystals on his status panel. Seeing that he had only ten left, he gritted his teeth and chose Direct Perception.

"System, choose the Direct Perception skill."

As Lu Chen spoke, the golden light gathered on the system interface finally spread over his body. As that golden light enveloped him, Lu Chen's base attributes increased once more.

System Notification: Host has advanced to Swordsman Level 5. Strength +1, Agility +1.

At the same time, the system's skill symbol shattered. Yet this time, the fragments of the symbol did not merge into Lu Chen's body. Instead, they turned into a cool stream of air and rushed into his mind.

That icy current jolted Lu Chen's mind awake. At the same time, he felt a little closer to the world.

However, that cool current quickly vanished, and afterward, Lu Chen's perception of the world became blurred once more. This left him with a sense of loss.

After a long while, Lu Chen finally shook off the uncomfortable feeling in his mind. He opened the system interface and looked at how Direct Perception manifested in the real world.

Direct Perception E (Bronze) (Beginner): During battle, the host has a certain chance of detecting the enemy's attacking movements and may become alert in advance upon encountering danger.

Passive Ability: Perception +5

Skill can be upgraded. Upgrade requires 100 Experience Points.

Seeing the phrases "a certain chance" and "may," Lu Chen's mouth twitched.

"As expected, Bronze-tier skills are somewhat useful, but their effects aren't that great."

"Fortunately, Direct Perception E through S follows the same progression. As long as I have enough Experience Points, I can raise it to S-rank. And if I remember correctly, as long as one possesses A-rank Direct Perception and has sufficiently high luck, they can even evade the Barbed Spear That Pierces with Death, which reverses causality."

Thinking of the power Direct Perception would have then, a smile appeared on Lu Chen's lips.

After giving it some thought, Lu Chen spoke directly. "System, upgrade Direct Perception."

System Notification: Host has consumed 100 Experience Points. Direct Perception E (Beginner) has advanced to Direct Perception E (Intermediate).

System Notification: Further upgrade requires 200 Experience Points.

Seeing that Direct Perception E had not directly advanced to Direct Perception D, but had instead gone from Direct Perception E Beginner to Direct Perception E Intermediate, the smile vanished from Lu Chen's face.

Then, when he thought of the Experience Points needed to go from E-rank to A-rank, not only did Lu Chen lose his smile, his expression turned ugly.

"Fuck, how many Experience Points will it take to reach A-rank?!"

"Forget it. No point thinking about the future. While the Fire Ox still has blood, I should keep upgrading."

Since the previous upgrade had only involved learning a Bronze-tier skill, Lu Chen had not spent much. After some thought, he continued improving himself.

Of course, raising his Swordsman level again required six hundred Experience Points. With only 409 Experience Points, Lu Chen naturally could not do so. This time, what he upgraded was his other profession: Barbarian Blood Warrior.

From the memories of A'Chen, the barbarian youth, Lu Chen learned that a Barbarian Blood Warrior was not the endpoint for barbarians. It was merely a beginning.

After becoming a Barbarian Blood Warrior, a barbarian's blood would not undergo a complete qualitative transformation. Only ten percent of it would transform.

Afterward, what barbarians had to do was temper their bodies until all the blood within them began to change.

Once all the blood in their bodies had transformed, barbarians would reach the peak of Barbarian Blood Warriors.

After that, they would use their blood to permeate their flesh, strengthening their muscles, periosteum, and body. Once their flesh had been strengthened to a certain degree by their transformed vital energy and blood, Barbarian Blood Warriors would advance and become Barbarian Body Warriors.

At the same time, Lu Chen recalled that barbarians themselves also had classifications for Barbarian Blood Warriors. Thirty percent was the dividing line: those with less than thirty percent of their vital energy and blood transformed were Beginner Barbarian Blood Warriors.

After that came Intermediate Level, Advanced Level, and the final ten percent was completion.

However, that was the barbarians' own ranking system. In Lu Chen's system, although it likewise improved vitality and blood, the divisions were more detailed here. For every ten percent increase in the quality of his vitality and blood, Lu Chen gained one level.

Lu Chen still had 409 Experience Points, enough to raise his Barbarian Blood Warrior level to Level 2.

"Although I can keep raising my Swordsman level, which would increase my base attributes, what I need most right now is a skill that can attack those evil creatures."

"To gain another skill by raising my Swordsman level, I have to reach Level 10. But as a Barbarian Blood Warrior, I can draw another skill at Level 5."

Going from a Level 5 Swordsman to a Level 10 Swordsman naturally required more Experience Points than raising his Barbarian Blood Warrior to Level 5. For Lu Chen, who urgently needed a magic-type skill, there was almost no need to think about what he should upgrade.

"System, raise my Barbarian Blood Warrior level."