"System Prompt: Congratulations, Player [Night Dawn], on killing the anomaly [Power Body Anomaly]. Reward: Control +8, Force Release +8, Lifespan +1 day."
It was finally dead!
Earlier, when he'd knocked the anomaly down with a single slash, everyone else had thought it was dead.
But Fang Yue had killed anomalies before. How could he make such a rookie mistake?
Until the system prompt appeared, he'd keep beating it to death. He'd never neglected the good habit of making sure with a follow-up strike.
Only now, when he saw the system prompt appear, did his taut nerves finally relax.
The next moment, Fang Yue was like a deflating balloon. His limbs went limp, and he slumped to the ground.
He felt so exhausted that he couldn't be bothered to move even a finger.
[Night's Breath] was indeed powerful, but its strength was limited to [wound recovery] and [rapid Qi and Blood recovery]. It did nothing to boost his stamina.
So Fang Yue was now completely spent. He'd probably be unable to get back up without a good rest.
But a huge, goofy grin spread across his face.
The reward for killing [Power Body Anomaly] was just that satisfying.
It was safe to say that, apart from [Index Finger Ghoul], no anomaly had given him such a generous reward.
Let's tally the gains.
+8 Control, +8 Force Release, and 1 day of Lifespan.
Never mind the Lifespan for now. With those 8 points added to both attributes, Fang Yue once again felt like he was about to become invincible!
He didn't even need to wonder: if he posted his stats on the forum, the whole place would explode.
People would be spamming things like, "Everyone put 'invincible' in the chat!" "I hereby declare you the strongest player in Blue Sea!" and "Confirmed cheater. Requesting a ban!"
Stay low-key, stay low-key! Resist the urge and quietly make a fortune.
At first glance, Fang Yue's strength seemed outrageously high.
But in reality, without the special effect of [Night's Breath] that let him recover health at a furious rate, he'd be weaker than a captain but stronger than a vice-captain.
Fang Yue had come up with a name for this not-quite-captain, not-quite-vice-captain level of strength: pseudo-captain level!
Names aside, beneath Fang Yue's powerful exterior lurked a huge weakness.
That weakness was... [Night's Breath].
What made you could also break you.
[Night's Breath] only enhanced his attributes at night. In the daytime, it weakened them instead.
Everything came at a cost. Fang Yue understood that and fully accepted the value of this Human-grade talent.
The problem was that, before killing [Power Body Anomaly], his attributes hadn't been dragged down by [Weird Curse], and even then, they'd only reached 37 at most.
His base attributes were 17, and [Night's Breath] added another 20.
Once daytime came, those attributes would be weakened by 20. Seventeen minus twenty would leave him with an attribute of 1.
He only managed to keep his dignity thanks to the system's mercy.
Otherwise, with negative attributes, Fang Yue had no idea how he'd manage to take care of himself.
In short, Fang Yue was a blank slate during the day. Anyone could kill him! He could only show off at night.
How could Fang Yue dare to draw attention to himself in a situation like that?
No matter how strong he was at night, if someone came to kill him during the day, he'd have no way to fight back. He'd practically be handing them a free kill.
So, until his base attributes exceeded 20, Fang Yue had always felt he needed to keep his head down and tread carefully.
But now, everything was different.
With 8 points added, both his base attributes had shot straight up to 25!
That meant that even during the day, he'd have 5 points in both attributes.
Take Niu Niu, a player with a Lucky Gift Pack and Innate Divine Strength, as an example. Fang Yue would still have the edge over him.
But Niu Niu was only an ordinary player, so he wasn't a reliable comparison. Fang Yue would need to see how much the top players' attributes normally increased over the course of a day.
Fang Yue had no information, so he couldn't estimate their progress. Still, he figured that 5 points in both attributes during the day should be enough to put him among the top-tier players.
With that thought, Fang Yue opened his attribute list. The next moment, his eyes widened, and he was left completely dumbfounded.
"Name: Night Dawn."
"Realm: Postnatal Third-rate."
"Status: Weird Curse [right hand], Pill Toxin, Exhausted."
"Health: 200/200."
"Internal Force Value: 25/25."
"Control: 42 [+20-3][25]."
"Force Release: 42 [+20-3][25]."
"Talent: Night's Breath (Human Grade High Rank)."
"Skills: Insight Eye (Human-grade Low-tier), Spark Saber Technique Level 1 (Postnatal Third-rate), Spark Heart Method Level 1 (Postnatal Third-rate)."
"Lifespan: 8 days, 8 shichen."
Status bar? What's wrong with you, status bar? Blink twice if you've been kidnapped! What's with all these statuses? Are you trying to stack a kill book on me?
And you, Lifespan. You've been taking lessons from the status bar, haven't you? Why are you eating so much all of a sudden? It's not even been a whole night yet. Good grief, I had 13 days, plus the 1-day Lifespan reward, which added up to 14 days, and you ate it all the way down to 8?
Fang Yue's scalp prickled.
The good mood he'd gotten from killing [Force-Driving Anomaly] vanished in an instant.
Was this body going to be tortured to death or what?
He'd spent all that Lifespan to kill an anomaly, only to find that, after getting the reward, he'd actually lost Lifespan overall. How was he supposed to play like this?!
He could get mad all he wanted, but he still had to deal with the problem.
Fang Yue stared at the status bar with a grim expression.
"Name: Pill Toxin."
"Effect 1: [Drug Poison] Continuously reduces Qi and Blood."
"Effect 2: [Lifespan Drain] Increases the rate of Lifespan loss from all sources."
"Description: Pill poison has entered the body, and the accumulated toxins are difficult to eliminate. The effects of Pill Toxin vary according to the pills consumed. They generally include toxins eroding the body, depleting Qi and Blood, and reducing Lifespan."
"Note: You pill-popping junkie, keep taking pills! Take any more and you'll ascend on the spot! Spiral explosion! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!"
Goddammit... My thanks to Captain Lin and his whole family!
Fang Yue only needed to glance at the description of Pill Toxin to immediately understand where this awful status had come from.
It was obviously the result of taking Scum Yuan Pills.
As the saying went, if you take pills, you'd better take them properly—or your whole family would end up in a mess.
Fang Yue never thought he'd one day be branded a pill-popping junkie, and one with seriously dire consequences at that.
However, Fang Yue couldn't feel the health loss from the first effect of [Pill Toxin], [Drug Poison], at all.
He even stared at his Health for quite a while, but it didn't go down.
Just as he was about to lose patience, his Health suddenly dropped by 1, and a damage indicator appeared above his head at the same time.
But before he could even blink, [Night's Breath] had restored his Health to full.
Huh?
What?
So this was Pill Toxin? I've got just one word for it: pathetic!
Like he'd said before, Fang Yue wasn't afraid of even a rainstorm. Was he supposed to be scared of some old-folks' trickle of damage?
Of course, if it kept draining his Health during the day, he'd have to take it seriously.
For now, Fang Yue simply ignored this so-called [Drug Poison].
The second effect of [Pill Toxin], [Lifespan Drain], was the one that really made his scalp tingle.
Clearly, it was to blame for his Lifespan dropping so much.
"Good grief. I'll go ask Lord Han for help when I get back. I've got to get rid of this [Pill Toxin]!"
Just as Fang Yue thought that, he suddenly perked up and felt much more at ease.
The system prompt rang out right after.
"System Prompt: [Pill Toxin] status has been removed."
Fang Yue: ...
Could you at least put up a fight? So you're just quick and short-lived, huh? Once the poison's gone, you're gone too?
Before you continue