The Watershed of Skill Levels

Quest: Ancient Shanyin Scholar Tree's Plea for Help

Description: The Ancient Shanyin Scholar Tree's transformation has reached a critical moment and it lacks the strength to fend off the fierce ghosts' attacks. Protect the Ancient Shanyin Scholar Tree until its transformation is complete.

Reward: Unknown

Seeing the quest Nangong Wu had displayed, Wang Xian was somewhat disappointed. It actually was not the Phoenix Heavenly Maiden's class advancement quest.

"Uncle, this quest seems somewhat difficult," Nangong Wu said with a frown.

"Somewhat difficult? Do you have some major misunderstanding of the words 'somewhat difficult'?"

Wang Xian looked at Nangong Wu speechlessly.

The fierce ghosts were above level thirty. Among them, the highest level was only twenty-seven, and aside from him and Cheng Yao, the others would probably die from a single touch by a fierce ghost.

Even with Cheng Yao's Willow Dark Flower Bright skill, they could only be revived once.

The chances of completing this quest were zero!

As for the quest reward, it should be a talent reset. This quest should also have been the turning point in Nangong Wu and the others' fates.

However, in his previous life, Nangong Wu and the others definitely had not been as high-level as they were now, and without him by their side, they must have been extremely weak.

How had Nangong Wu and the others completed this quest with their strength?

Just as Wang Xian was considering every possible way to complete the quest, Hua Xiangrong's voice suddenly rang out.

"Sister, the attributes of this branch of mine changed. Did yours change too?"

Its attributes had changed?

A thought suddenly struck Wang Xian. Perhaps this was the key to completing the quest.

"How did the attributes change?"

Wang Xian immediately moved over to Hua Xiangrong.

"Hey! What are you trying to do?"

Xue Fangfei darted out and stepped between Wang Xian and Hua Xiangrong, watching Wang Xian with a wary expression.

Wang Xian's face darkened. He only wanted to see the branch's attributes.

"Uncle, take a look."

At that moment, Nangong Wu held the branch out before Wang Xian.

Branch of the Ancient Shanyin Scholar Tree (Epic Grade)

Attributes: Can be actively used. Upon use, randomly increases the level of one skill by at least 30 levels. Duration: 1 hour.

After clearly seeing the branch's attributes, Wang Xian was speechless for a long while.

After Blue Star underwent Datafication, skills had no level cap. Even a basic skill, if raised to a sufficiently high level, could possess unimaginably great power.

However, raising a basic skill to that extent was far too difficult.

The higher a skill's level, the longer it took to improve.

Especially after a skill reached level ten, raising it by another level took even longer than raising it from level zero to level ten.

Yet even a basic skill at level eleven was still much weaker than a level-one intermediate skill.

Unless a skill could be raised to level thirty, at which point it would undergo a qualitative transformation.

Wang Xian remembered that in his previous life, there had been a single-minded Mage who used nothing but Fireball and trained it to level thirty. Its power nearly rivaled advanced magic that Mages could only learn after level one hundred.

That Mage had also risen from an ordinary professional to a top-tier professional solely through Fireball.

Why?

A level-thirty Fireball had power comparable to advanced magic, but it was basic magic.

Short cooldowns and low consumption were the advantages of basic magic.

Moreover, that guy had assembled a full set of "Haste" equipment, reducing Fireball's cooldown from five seconds to two.

Casting an almost costless advanced spell every two seconds—how could he not become a top-tier professional?

Naturally, many people began to imitate him after seeing this, but they all gave up later.

Once a skill reached level ten, it improved far too slowly. Reaching level thirty was a distant dream.

That Mage had been able to raise Fireball to level thirty largely because of his talent, which allowed him to rapidly increase skill proficiency.

Skills above level thirty and skills below level thirty were entirely different concepts.

"Yao Yao, use this."

Wang Xian handed the Branch of the Ancient Shanyin Scholar Tree to Cheng Yao.

If nothing had changed, Cheng Yao must have been the one to use this branch in his previous life, and the skill she raised must have been the buff skill Hundred Flowers Compete.

Only that possibility could explain how Nangong Wu and the others had completed this quest in his previous life.

As for why Wang Xian did not use it himself?

He simply had too many skills, and this item could not designate which skill would be raised. If it randomly enhanced one of his physical skills, it would be a complete disaster.

"Uncle? Me?"

After Cheng Yao saw the attributes of the Branch of the Ancient Shanyin Scholar Tree, her face filled with disbelief. In her eyes, this item was most suitable for Wang Xian to use.

The others were equally puzzled. Like Cheng Yao, they all believed Wang Xian should use it.

"If I tell you to use it, then use it. Why are you talking so much nonsense?"

Wang Xian glared at Cheng Yao. Couldn't she see that those fierce ghosts had already begun attacking the ancient scholar tree? What was there to ask about?

"Okay."

Cheng Yao answered somewhat aggrievedly.

If he wanted her to use it, she would use it. Why did he have to glare at her? Couldn't he just say it properly?

A flash of azure light passed by, and the branch in Cheng Yao's hand vanished.

"Which skill's level was raised?" Wang Xian immediately asked.

Cheng Yao said, "Willow Dark Flower Bright."

Wang Xian immediately frowned. Why was it Willow Dark Flower Bright? It should have been Hundred Flowers Compete!

After pondering for a few seconds, Wang Xian suddenly looked at Hua Xiangrong.

"Give me your branch."

"Why should we give it to you?" Before Hua Xiangrong could speak, Xue Fangfei answered first.

"You received the quest too, right? If you want to complete it, hand the branch over to us," Wang Xian said gravely.

"Rongrong, don't listen to this sleazy old man's nonsense. He definitely wants to trick you out of it, and then—"

"Enough, Feifei. I know what to do."

Before Xue Fangfei could finish, Hua Xiangrong interrupted her and handed the Branch of the Ancient Shanyin Scholar Tree to Wang Xian.

"You little fool, how could you just hand it over to him? I'm so mad!" Xue Fangfei fumed.

"Feifei, don't be angry. There's no use for us keeping that branch. Only by giving it to..." Hua Xiangrong soothed Xue Fangfei while explaining.

Meanwhile, Wang Xian had already placed the branch in Cheng Yao's hands again.

"Uncle, can I not use it?"

Cheng Yao wore a miserable expression. She already understood what Wang Xian meant, but she had so many skills. What if the result did not meet his expectations?

Ignoring Cheng Yao's expression, Wang Xian said, "What do you think?"

"Uncle, I..."

"Hurry up and use it. There's no time!"

Wang Xian glared at Cheng Yao again.

"Okay."

Seeing this, Cheng Yao knew that nothing she said would matter. After closing her eyes and offering a brief prayer, she used the Branch of the Ancient Shanyin Scholar Tree once more.

"Yes! It worked!"

Under everyone's expectant gazes, Cheng Yao cheered.