I Want to Upgrade Both Achievements

After that, Ji Ruo continued teaching Liang Shixian for a while. This class monitor wasn't lacking in talent either, but he was still a fair distance from reaching the First Glimpse of the Path.

Still, Ji Ruo had already taught him everything he could. From now on, Liang Shixian just needed to put in plenty of practice.

Two hours later—

Li Nannan stretched her body. She had mostly recovered now.

She said to the students, "Everyone, take a break for now."

The already exhausted group nodded. They hadn't rested properly in the past two days, and now that Li Nannan had regained some of her combat strength, the tension that had been gripping their hearts finally eased.

Given the limited conditions, they simply lay down on the ground without complaint, ready to sleep like this.

The four youths lay on either side of Li Nannan. Zhang Quan and Liu Neng were on one side, extremely close to her.

Ji Ruo and Liang Shixian lay on the other side.

Everyone was already very tired. Liang Shixian fell asleep almost as soon as he lay down.

As for Ji Ruo, though he was also exhausted, he didn't fall asleep right away.

He still had one chance to designate an achievement for an Upgrade, and he planned to allocate the points before sleeping.

"System."

Ji Ruo called out softly in his mind.

A light screen, visible only to Ji Ruo himself, suddenly appeared before his eyes.

The edges of the light screen were decorated with extremely simple line drawings. Stylistically, they looked like doodles a primary school student might draw with chalk on a blackboard.

[Host: Ji Ruo]

[Unlocked Achievement Categories: Martial Dao, Sword Dao, Functional]

[Unlocked Achievements: 6]

[Stage Achievements: 1]

[Martial Dao: Iron Sand Palm at Age Six]

[Sword Dao: If You Held This Stick in Youth, Ten Li of Rapeseed Flowers Would Bow Their Heads]

[Functional: Diplomatic Spokesperson, Gold Medal Tour Guide, Hide-and-Seek Grandmaster]

[Stage Achievement: Sincere Praise from an Elder (1/10)]

These were all the achievements Ji Ruo had unlocked so far. Aside from the stage achievement, each one came with an attached ability.

The Upgrade opportunity was precious, so Ji Ruo first ruled out Iron Sand Palm, then Diplomatic Spokesperson.

The conditions for upgrading the abilities attached to these two achievements were relatively simple, so he didn't consider them.

Among the remaining achievement abilities, the ones Ji Ruo most wanted to Upgrade were [Gold Medal Tour Guide] and [Hide-and-Seek Grandmaster].

[Absolute Sense of Direction] was an incredibly powerful function. Not only could it be used to discern directions, but it could also be used for 'treasure hunting.'

If the correction margin reached 100%, then Ji Ruo could find whatever he wanted. It was the achievement he most wanted to Upgrade.

As for the [Camouflage] skill, it could boost camouflage effectiveness by 40%. Its power was so great that it could even evade the detection of a peak Qi Pulse Realm Spider Queen!

Of course, that was also because the environmental conditions at the time were perfect, the Spider Queen had been driven mad with rage, and the Six-Whiskered Catfish had diverted her attention. It was the combination of multiple factors that created the chemical reaction.

Ji Ruo wanted to Upgrade both achievements, but he only had one chance.

So, after thinking it over, Ji Ruo decided to Upgrade neither.

Earlier, when Ji Ruo was camouflaging himself at the edge of the swamp, perhaps because he had successfully deceived a magical beast nearly a full major realm above his own strength—and a group camouflage at that—he had suddenly gained a large amount of 'experience.'

The [Camouflage] skill had directly Upgraded, going from its original 40% boost effect to a 41% boost.

This made Ji Ruo realize that skills or abilities displayed as percentages would likely see percentage-based improvements with each Upgrade.

He just didn't know how many percentage points a single 'Upgrade' opportunity would add. Since he only had one 'Upgrade' chance, if choosing to Upgrade one of the two achievements only resulted in a 1% increase... then it would be better not to Upgrade at all.

Since he really wanted to Upgrade both achievements, for the sake of fairness, Ji Ruo decided to Upgrade neither.

So, after comprehensive consideration, Ji Ruo decided to use this precious Upgrade opportunity on the achievement [If You Held This Stick in Youth, Ten Li of Rapeseed Flowers Would Bow Their Heads].

The [Sword Dao Favor] buff could raise Ji Ruo's comprehension of the Sword Dao to the maximum value of his current rank.

The current buff rank was First Glimpse of the Path, so theoretically, for any swordsmanship at the First Glimpse of the Path level, as long as Ji Ruo wanted to learn it, he could master it in an extremely short amount of time.

It was undeniably powerful.

And for this kind of ability, which had no specific proficiency level but only a rank display, it was reasonable to assume that Upgrading it would also raise the corresponding rank.

At that point, Ji Ruo's [Sword Dao Favor] buff would likely be elevated to the Entering the Hall stage.

Swordsmanship at the Entering the Hall stage could use sword qi. Although the flight distance was short and the killing power far inferior to a real sword... sword qi was still sword qi!

Who cared if it lacked killing power? The main thing was that it was cool!

So Ji Ruo decided to Upgrade [If You Held This Stick in Youth, Ten Li of Rapeseed Flowers Would Bow Their Heads].

[Dear little Host, are you sure you want to Upgrade this achievement? Think it over carefully~]

Ji Ruo: "..."

To be fair, the built-in voice pack for this Achievement System really had some issues.

But it was undeniably useful.

"Confirm."

[Consumed Upgrade Count *1, designated upgrade for 'If in youth this staff I'd held, ten li of rapeseed would bow low.']

[Congratulations, dear host! Achievement upgrade successful!]

[Sword Dao Favor achievement upgraded to Weapon Dao achievement!]

[Sword Dao Favor buff upgraded!]

[Congratulations, dear host! Obtained buff: Dual Mastery of Blade and Sword! (First Glimpse of the Path)]

Ji Ruo: "???"

He had thought it would upgrade the buff's rank, but instead, it upgraded the achievement's category!

Still, this seemed pretty great too!

Ji Ruo lay on his side, instinctively reaching back to touch the hilt of the Miao Saber at his waist—this was Ten Thousand Beast Mountain; even while sleeping, one couldn't set down their weapon!

In an instant, countless insights into the blade surged into his mind.

The Miao Saber was a two-handed blade, its body slender and long like a rice seedling, hence its name.

Ji Ruo understood in his heart that the saber techniques for this weapon had a very fast attack speed!

He recalled some of the more absurd anime or film scenes from his past life's memories, trying to comprehend them using the [Dual Mastery of Blade and Sword] buff.

As a result, Ji Ruo only needed to briefly recall those saber techniques to grasp them in general—his talent and comprehension were truly worthy of max!

"Siiiiiiiiigh~~~~~"

Ji Ruo lay on his side, suddenly taking a deep breath.

His breathing had a special rhythm, and he drew in air for an exceptionally long time.

As he breathed, faint traces of electricity began to flicker through his hair!

"Hah!"

Ji Ruo let out a long exhale, not activating any saber technique.

But just this attempt alone had allowed Ji Ruo to master that cool technique that had only existed in fantasy!

"Not bad at all!"

Ji Ruo was delighted, satisfied, and ready to sleep.

Suddenly—

Rumble!

An unprecedented earthquake shook the ground!

The earth trembled, boulders tumbled from the edges of the mountain hollow, a massive fissure split the ground, and thunder exploded in the sky as if heaven and earth were collapsing!

"What's going on?"

Ji Ruo shot up in alarm.

"Classmates, come to me." Li Nannan cried out, just starting to gather the students, when Zhang Quan and Liu Neng, jolted awake, pounced over first, wailing as they clung to Li Nannan: "Teacher, save us!"

Meanwhile, Ji Ruo and Liang Shixian, due to their positions, were separated from Li Nannan and the other two by the massive fissure.

From the crack, scorching red magma erupted, mountains shifted, and the earth's veins twisted.

A boulder rolled down toward Ji Ruo's head. Liang Shixian's first reaction upon getting up wasn't to run to Li Nannan, but to dash toward Ji Ruo, shouting, "Ji Ruo, watch out!"

"Ji Ruo!"

Li Nannan cried out, activating her movement technique to rush toward Ji Ruo, but with two oversized babies hanging off her, her mobility was limited.

Before she could cross the fissure, the scenery around them shifted like a slideshow, moving at breakneck speed.

At that moment, Ten Thousand Beast Mountain seemed alive, convulsing violently. All areas were thrown into chaos again, with a speed and scale beyond imagination!

By the time they came to their senses, they had been forcibly separated, with no idea where they were.

Thanks to reader 'Insomniac Cultivator Patriot' for the 100-point tip~

Thanks to reader 'Great Power' for the 200-point tip~

Thanks to reader 'Li Demon' for the 1500-point tip~

PS: Chapter 26 is written, but I feel like it might have some issues connecting with the following plot, so I decided to do a little editing. It might be a bit late~