Rejecting Advice, Enhancement After Enhancement!

Skill Enhancement Scroll

Grade: S

Description: Contains a special power that grants skills stronger attributes. Used to raise skill levels or optimize skill configurations!

Effect: Skills below S-grade have a 100% chance to gain +1 level; S-grade skills have an 80% chance to be optimized and a 20% chance to gain +1 level; SS-grade skills have a 20% chance to be optimized and a 1% chance to gain +1 level; SSS-tier skills have a 1% chance to be optimized!

"Good stuff!"

For Xu Kun, who possessed a whole arsenal of abilities during the novice stage, this allowed him to selectively make the strong even stronger!

Moreover, this scroll was of no low grade. Skills below S-grade had a 100% chance of leveling up once. Don't underestimate a single level—if converted into skill books, the price difference between S-grade and A-grade could be more than a hundredfold!

S-grade and SS-grade skills also had a chance to gain +1 level, and even in the worst case, the skill could still be optimized!

As for SSS-tier skills, since they were already at the highest grade, they could not be upgraded, and even the chance of optimization was only 1%!

By conventional logic, an S-grade Skill Enhancement Scroll should be used on an A-grade or S-grade skill to maximize its value!

After all, one could be upgraded into an S-grade skill, while the other would be guaranteed optimization even if its upgrade failed!

In short: a risk-free investment with guaranteed returns!

Xu Kun only had five A-grade skills that met those conditions!

Which one would Xu Kun choose?

"Choose? Choose my ass. I'm not choosing any of them!"

That was conventional logic. As an unconventional cheat-user... handsome guy, how could Xu Kun possibly settle for a safe victory!

SSS-tier skills only had a 1% chance of optimization?

High risk, high return?

Success meant a huge profit; failure meant a huge loss!

After all, a single scroll like this was probably worth no less than ten million Human Race Currency!

But in the eyes of Xu Kun, was there any difference between 1% and 100%?

The answer was no difference!

Without a moment's hesitation, Xu Kun tore apart the Skill Enhancement Scroll!

Ding! Skill Enhancement Scroll successfully used. Please select the skill you wish to enhance!

"I choose the SSS-tier skill, Unyielding Starfire!"

Ding! Friendly reminder: SSS-tier skills cannot be upgraded, and the chance of optimization is only 1%. It is recommended that you choose a skill of another grade!

"I reject your advice. Begin!"

Then the prompt fell silent. Perhaps this automated notification had encountered such a situation for the first time!

For a moment, it did not even know how to respond!

The scroll shattered, and a burst of light enveloped Xu Kun's entire body. He felt nothing at all. After waiting quietly for a while, the pleasant notification sounded beside his ear once more.

Ding! SSS-tier skill Unyielding Starfire optimization successful. Please view the skill's brand-new panel!

The corners of Xu Kun's lips curled upward, revealing a wickedly arrogant smile.

See? This was what it meant to be a Child of Destiny—he lived for thrills!

The original Unyielding Starfire:

Grade: SSS-tier Passive + Active Skill

Passive: For every target killed, collect one Starfire Imprint. Imprints can stack, up to a maximum of 100!

Current Stacks: 0/100

Active:

Starfire: Concentrate the collected Starfire Imprints and inject them into the target's body, detonating them instantly to deal damage equal to the number of imprints x (Magic Attack Power + Fire Attribute Attack Power)!

Unyielding: Concentrate the collected Starfire Imprints and release them on yourself, restoring HP equal to the number of imprints x (Magic Attack Power + Fire Attribute Attack Power)!

Mana Cost: None

Cooldown: None

The optimized Unyielding Starfire!

Unyielding Starfire Enhancement

Grade: SSS-tier Passive + Active Skill

Passive: For every target killed, collect one Starfire Imprint. Imprints can stack, up to a maximum of 100!

Imprint Bonus: Fire Attribute Attack + (number of imprints * level) points!

Current Stacks: 0/100

Active:

Starfire: Concentrate the collected Starfire Imprints and inject them into the target's body, detonating them instantly to deal damage equal to the number of imprints x (Magic Attack Power + Fire Attribute Attack Power)!

Unyielding: Gather the collected Starfire Imprints onto yourself and release them, restoring health equal to the number of imprints × (Magic Attack Power + Fire Attribute Attack)!

Spirit Power Cost: None

Cooldown: None

There were no changes to the original Starfire damage or Unyielding healing. The change lay in the Starfire Imprints, which had originally only been used to stack damage and healing!

Imprint Bonus: Fire Attribute Attack + (Number of Imprints × Level) points!

What a terrifying passive bonus!

At Tier 1, Level 0, the maximum number of Starfire Imprints was 100. At Xu Kun's current level, 100 × 10 meant that once he gathered 100 imprints, his Fire Attribute Attack would surge by 1,000 points!

"Holy shit, that's insanely awesome!"

From that moment on, Xu Kun no longer felt the slightest regret over the Supreme Ember Spirit Sword's 30 Fire Attribute Attack!

Even if he never wore another piece of equipment that boosted Fire Attribute Attack, Xu Kun would still possess immense Fire Attribute Attack with his imprints alone!

"Hehe, seeing how my Wind Attribute Attack has grown so strong, did my Fire Attribute Attack get jealous?"

"Ah, what am I supposed to do with you all? Fire Attribute, Poison Attribute, Wind Attribute—I, Xu Kun, want them all!" Xu Kun clenched one hand, brimming with confidence!

"Keep going, keep going!"

A single Skill Enhancement Scroll was already no less valuable than giving Xu Kun an additional SSS-tier passive skill. The higher his level, the greater the bonus. Its only limitation was that every time Xu Kun cast Unyielding Starfire, he had to quickly gather enough imprints!

He pulled out another book. Having seen this sort of thing often enough, Xu Kun immediately recognized it as a skill book!

Since it had dropped from Ling Feng, there was a high probability that it was one of Ling Feng's skills. There had been too many pickup notifications just now, but he seemed to remember hearing that Gale Slash had dropped, then been upgraded through Heavenly Blessing: Child of Fortune.

Opening it, the answer was revealed—the upgraded skill!

Blade Storm

Tier: S-tier Area Damage Skill

Opening Move: Swing your weapon to raise a raging wind sword formation, dealing (Physical Attack Power + Wind Attribute Attack) × 1.2 Wind Attribute damage per second within an area of (50 × 50). Skill duration: 10 seconds.

Storm Gathering: For every hostile target killed within the area, skill duration +1 second!

Sword Mark Tracking: Targets within the skill's coverage who leave the casting area will be marked with a Sword Blade Imprint, reducing their speed by 30% for 5 seconds!

Stamina Cost: 200

Cooldown: 30 minutes

"This is... Senior Ling Feng's only S-tier area damage skill! Its effects are simply terrifying!"

In terms of damage alone, Blade Storm, as an S-tier skill, was no different from Wildfire Scorches the Plains or Blood Poison Myriad Miles, aside from scaling with Physical Attack Power and Wind Attribute Attack!

But its true strength lay in its other two effects!

Storm Gathering was exceptionally suited for the battlefield. Within its coverage, even if the enemy continuously sent reinforcements, as long as one enemy was killed, it would keep dealing damage without interruption!

Simply put, the more people there were, the more excited he became—provided, of course, that his damage was enough to kill enemies continuously!

Sword Mark Tracking also turned Blade Storm into a soft control skill that could be used to escape pursuit or prevent enemies from fleeing!

This skill was powerful!

Even if the targets all had massive health pools, he could just add a few more area damage skills. He refused to believe they would survive!

"If I choose the right terrain, against something like that Wind Wolf pack from before, as long as they dare chase me, I can use the constantly refreshed Blade Storm to kill them one by one without lifting a finger. Even if a few slip through the net, the 30% slow will make it easy for me to finish them off!"

Though its range was not especially large, Xu Kun had already figured out how to make the best use of this skill. Combined with his Child of the Wind's 640% Wind Attribute bonus, this skill's damage would be terrifying beyond measure!

After admiring the skill, Xu Kun once again thanked Ling Feng for sparing his life!

He had thought Forbidden Winds was already terrifying enough, but he had not expected that any random skill from Ling Feng would be this frightening!

What a blessing—he really had to be grateful!

Looking at the wooden dummy Ling Feng beside him, Xu Kun said with a smile, "Senior, rest in peace. From now on, your wife... cough, cough, I will definitely burn incense for you devoutly every day, in gratitude for your mercy!"

Wooden Dummy Ling Feng: ???

There were still three more items among Ling Feng's drops: a jade pendant, a bracer, and a ball of fire!

Xu Kun grabbed the ball of fire. The familiar feeling brought tears to his eyes!

Blazing God's Heart Shard:

Tier: S-tier

Description: After the God of Fire, Blazing God, fell, the gods launched a divine war to contend for the Blazing God's Heart, his source essence. In the end, the Blazing God's Heart shattered into four pieces and scattered into seven shards. Only those with immense fortune may obtain them!

Collect all seven Blazing God's Heart Shards to obtain the complete Blazing God's Heart and inherit the Blazing God's source essence!

Function: Detected that the holder already possesses one Blazing God's Heart Shard. A new Fire-element skill cannot be comprehended. Instead, three existing effects will be enhanced, and Fire Attribute Attack +100!

"What a pity. I actually can't comprehend a new Fire-element skill anymore!"

Feeling somewhat regretful, Xu Kun crushed the ball of fire in one hand. A pleasant notification sounded once more.

Ding! Blazing God's Heart Shard successfully used. Effects enhanced!

Fire Attribute Attack: +100

Fire Attribute Attack stacked to +200%.

Fire Attribute Resistance stacked to +200%.

Fire Attribute critical damage bonus stacked to 3 times.

The first two effects of the Blazing God's Heart Shard had both doubled, while Fire Attribute critical damage had increased from the original 2.5 times to 3 times!

That was an enormous improvement!

"I remember reading something in a miscellaneous book about Haotian Pagoda secrets: climbing Haotian Pagoda is actually the stairway to godhood. The old gods have passed, and Haotian Pagoda needs to create new gods to ascend the throne!"

"And regarding the so-called gods within Haotian Pagoda, the theory is that these gods are actually SSS Talented Individuals who reached the very end and pushed their respective fields to the limit, thus earning the title of god!"

"Like the Pity of the Five Basic Attribute Gods on me—these basic gods' talents can be understood as having each of the five basic attributes increased by +1280%!"

"And gods like the Blazing God would be gods of fire, with Fire Attribute Attack +1280% and Fire Attribute Resistance +1280%! The power they wield could easily wipe out an entire race!"

"I currently have two Blazing God's Heart Shards, and my Fire Attack and Fire Resistance bonuses have each reached +200%. If I gathered all seven Blazing God's Heart Shards, would that mean I'd gain the Blazing God's highest-level talent?"

"Would I become the next generation's Blazing God?"

The thought left Xu Kun too excited to contain himself.

"Stay rational, stay rational. A long way to go—I'm still utterly insignificant before the real big shots, despite my little achievements!"

Xu Kun tried his best not to get carried away, but the uncontrollable grin at the corners of his mouth betrayed his true feelings!

With his heart in turmoil, Xu Kun could only distract himself in another way.

The other jade pendant and bracer looked like equipment at a glance!

Xu Kun first turned his attention to the jade pendant. The three streams of light flowing around it gave him a familiar feeling, and the agitation in his heart gradually cooled!

When he checked it, the information he saw indeed turned his burning heart ice-cold!

Lucky Amulet

Luck: +3

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck! I knew it! Why won't this thing leave me alone?!"

Xu Kun cursed loudly, looking as though he wanted to cry but had no tears!

On Mist Island, he had only killed three bosses in total!

Yet those three bosses had respectively dropped a Ring of Luck, Lucky Necklace, and Lucky Amulet, forming the so-called lucky three-piece set!

Their attribute bonuses were stronger than the last: Luck +1, +2, and +3!

Together with the other two pieces of equipment, Xu Kun spread out one hand, and six streams of light circled before him as if mocking this lucky fellow with maxed-out Luck!

"Phew! These three pieces add up to six points of Luck. One piece might not be very useful, but with all three together, according to that teacher who called himself a Luck master, six points of Luck can raise drop rates by 60%. Surely no one could refuse the chance to become absurdly lucky, right?"

Having made up his mind, Xu Kun planned to package up and sell the three-piece set once he reached Floor 0 of Haotian Pagoda, and see which sucker... lucky fellow would take it off his hands!

To be honest, Xu Kun had absolutely no standard by which to judge the value of equipment that added Luck. He had only heard that this stuff was amazing, but just how amazing it was would depend on how much the three-piece set could sell for!

Xu Kun did not yet know that the lucky three-piece set he so disdained was a priceless treasure that countless people dreamed of but could never obtain. Their combined value would make him wake up laughing from his dreams!

After putting away the three-piece set, Xu Kun looked at the last piece of equipment.

Wind Breath Bracer

Grade: A

Level: Tier 1 Level 0

Strength: +50

Vitality: +30

Physical Attack: +100

HP: +300

Physical Defense: +300

Wind Attribute Attack: +60

Wind Resistance: +20

Wind Ignore: +20

Description: A bracer forged from a piece of stone in the Land of Gales that remained undamaged despite being ravaged by fierce winds for a thousand years. It has absorbed a considerable amount of wind power and can provide the wearer with solid attribute bonuses!

Trait: Wind Breath: Summons a 1*1 shield centered on the user, lasting 30 seconds. During those 30 seconds, immune to all Wind Attribute damage. Cooldown: 3 hours!

Equipment Advancement Count: 3

Advancement Requirement: Absorb three S-grade Wind Attribute materials to advance to Tier 5 Level 0!

An A-grade wind bracer that could be advanced!

Its attribute bonuses already surpassed those of an individual piece from the Blazing Spirit Set. Its special effect was fairly ordinary, but against a Wind Attribute race, it might produce unexpectedly effective results!

And since it could be advanced three times, it would likely stay with Xu Kun for a long time if he did not find better equipment!

Without any hesitation, he put the bracer on his wrist!

When it came to equipment types, the variety was truly endless!

As mentioned before, the human race's initial base attributes were weak, with the highest single attribute reaching no more than 10!

And as Xu Kun knew, among the Three Saint Races, outstanding members of the Dragon Race could have starting Strength and Vitality at Level 0 that were several times greater than those of even the most exceptional humans!

Under such circumstances, even with equally high-tier talents, there would be a vast gap in their starting stats!

However, compared to top-tier races in the Myriad Races Sequence, humanity possessed one advantage that many races envied greatly!

That was the sheer number of equipment types humans could wear!

The basic kinds included armor (robes), weapons, hats, shoes, gloves, and bracers!

As for accessories, there were rings, talismans, necklaces, and so on!

There were also special categories, such as concealed weapons, belts, face guards...

If a human fully equipped themselves, wearing over a dozen pieces of gear was no challenge. Races like the Dragon Race, on the other hand, not only had fewer equippable types, but also faced racial requirements when using equipment!

Many dragons even went completely unequipped, because compared to their own powerful attributes and skills, low-level equipment provided them with negligible bonuses!

This was one of the reasons humanity dared to contend with certain powerful races. This trait of humanity made the myriad races wary, while also stirring a hint of envy!

Because you could never know just how many tricks the human standing before you had up their sleeve!

Equipment was the most direct means of bridging the gap between humanity and powerful races!

Removing the Supreme Ember Spirit Sword that had accompanied him throughout his novice journey, Xu Kun gripped the Cheng Ying Sword tightly!

His current equipment was as follows:

SS-tier High-Grade Divine Artifact: Cheng Ying Sword

A-grade: Wind Breath Bracer, Zenith Blazing Spirit Armor, Supreme Ember Spirit Boots

B-grade: Locust Stone

D-grade: Soul Chaser, Soul Seizer

E-grade: Minotaur Gauntlets

After receiving the base attribute rewards from the Haotian Pagoda and completing his class advancement, Xu Kun gained another opportunity to redistribute his points!

This was a normal redistribution, so he could not add points to Luck. Besides, Xu Kun's Luck had long since reached its limit!

Following his plan, he allocated all his free attribute points. After obtaining his powerful talents and a series of bonuses, Xu Kun opened his brand-new status panel for the first time after his class advancement!

ID: Kun

Talents: Myriad Races Bestiary (F-grade), Child of the Wind (SS-tier), Corrosive Poison (E-grade), Minotaur Strength (F-grade)

Level: Tier 1, Level 0

Class: Magic Warrior

Magic Warrior Force:...