The Joy of Adding Points

Show-off Bro was performing as obnoxiously as ever—Ji Xinghe had gotten used to it in her past life.

Next, Ji Xinghe opened the trading market.

At this stage, Wow Coins could only be obtained from killing monsters, completing quests, and production claims. Even though she had over ten thousand now, it still wouldn't be enough later on.

Upgrading the island, shelter, special items, and Talents all required Wow Coins.

Then there was the Wandering Merchant—he carried plenty of special supplies that also needed Wow Coins to buy...

But for now, the priority was upgrading the island and shelter. Spending a hundred or so coins on early-stage upgrade resources wasn't a loss.

After all, the better the early development, the more chances Ji Xinghe would have to obtain special resources. Compounding gains was the best survival strategy.

[Trading Market]

Seller: Player 001

[1 Wow Coin] Quantity: 100, Exchange for [Soil 2 Units / Foundation Stone 2 Units]

After listing those 100 Wow Coins, only 10,997 Wow Coins remained in her backpack.

Thinking about how food and water were exactly what most people needed in the early game, she put some up in exchange for the materials she was short on.

[Steamed Bun x1] Remaining Quantity: 22, Exchange for [Soil 1 Unit / Foundation Stone 1 Unit]

[Mineral Water (500g)] Remaining Quantity: 30, Exchange for [Soil 1 Unit / Foundation Stone 1 Unit]

[Plastic 2 Units] Remaining Quantity: 18, Exchange for [Soil 1 Unit / Foundation Stone 1 Unit]

If all these trades went through, upgrading the island two more levels wouldn't be a problem...

But there were competitors also trading for soil and foundation stones. Everyone surely understood how important these resources were. How much she could actually get depended on luck.

Fortunately, most trades in the market were fairly normal.

Maybe because multiple people had put up Wow Coins this time, and everyone was using them as a benchmark, Area 66 avoided the market chaos of her past life.

Closing the trading market, Ji Xinghe opened her personal info and added the 23 Free Attribute Points she had just obtained.

20 points went into Spirit, just enough to meet the Talent upgrade requirement.

Of the remaining 3, 2 went into Strength, and 1 into Physique.

Now, her stat panel looked like this:

Name: Ji Xinghe Age: 24 Nickname: Player 001 (default nickname, changeable) Talent: Drain Level: 0 (7/100) HP: 121/121 Luck: 9 Base Attributes: Physique: 12 | Spirit: 29/30 | Strength: 12 | Agility: 10 Combat Attributes: Physical Attack: 24+2 | Magic Attack: 60 | Magic Defense: 0 | Physical Defense: 0+1 Elemental Attributes: Metal 60, Light 99, Dark 61

(First time laying out the full panel—looks a bit much. Won't do this again.)

The icon for Talent [Drain] was faintly glowing. Ji Xinghe looked at the ten thousand-plus Wow Coins left in her backpack and sighed.

She had finally gotten a taste of being rich, and just upgrading one Talent cost ten thousand!

Even though it pained her, she had to spend it. Wow Coins were meant to be used, weren't they?

Compared to the Talent, this amount of Wow Coins was nothing (??_??).

In her mind, the system's cold mechanical voice rang out: [Are you sure you want to consume 10,000 Wow Coins to upgrade Talent: Drain?]

After clicking confirm, the once-full stack of Wow Coins in her backpack shrank, lying sparse and empty in the inventory slots.

Remaining Wow Coins: 997

The next second, a wave of warm energy surged from her mind, through her blood, then into her limbs and organs—tingling and numbing...

[God-Tier Talent: Drain (Level 2)

Talent Details: Can Drain twice from monsters killed by the user, with a high probability of acquiring the target's attributes.

Upgrade Requirements:

1: Spirit reaches 60 2: Physique reaches 35 3: 100,000 Wow Coins]

This Talent is ridiculously overpowered, but of course the upgrade conditions are just as insane. Going from level two to three actually costs a hundred thousand Wow Coins...

"Can Drain twice..."

"One monster, multiple uses? Heh..."

Ji Xinghe watched the Great Black Shark repeatedly ramming the Protective Shield by the Island, sending waves splashing everywhere, and was already figuring out how to take it down...

It had been making noise and disturbing her for a while—now it was time to pay back.

She took out the crossbow and bolts she'd only just gotten from opening 86 treasure chests from her backpack.

[Star Feather Repeating Crossbow (Blue): Attack +20, hitting an enemy deals 1 point of bleeding damage per second.

Requirement: Strength 10.]

[Star Feather Crossbow Bolt: Attack +10]

With 100 bolts, she had more than enough.

Ji Xinghe straightened up and pulled a star-blue crossbow bolt from her backpack, loading it.

Gripping the Star Feather Repeating Crossbow with both hands, she fired at the Great Black Shark. Two blue feathered bolts shot out in unison, piercing through the transparent Protective Shield and striking the Great Black Shark's right eye and massive body.

[-51 HP, Weak Point Damage: -102 HP]

"Roar..." The Great Black Shark thrashed its tail in pain, blood streaming from its eye down its body, slowly dissolving into the sea.

With the damage dealt, the Great Black Shark's stats appeared before Ji Xinghe.

[First-tier Black Shark Beast (Level 5)

Remaining HP: 247

Attack: 20

Defense: 5]

That one attack had hit it right in the artery. The Great Black Shark's body was still pulsing with slow damage ticks [-1, -2...]

The bleeding damage alone would be enough to wear it down.

The pain drove it even more frantic. Its tail, which had slowed down earlier, picked up speed again.

Every now and then, it dove into the sea, then surfaced and shot a water jet at her.

"Pfft..." Ji Xinghe sidestepped to dodge, but the soaked Little White Suit clinging to her made her look a bit disheveled.

Seeing this, the Great Black Shark lashed its tail at the annoying barrier in front of it.

It didn't realize it was wasting its effort—it just wanted to break through the Protective Shield and take brutal revenge on that human.