"This SSS-grade mental skill awakening has gone a long way toward filling in my weaknesses."
Chen Ming was in an especially good mood.
He already had bug-level defense.
Before, his fighting style had always relied on endlessly locking his health in place until he wore down the exotic beasts.
His greatest weakness was his offense.
He didn't have a single effective way to attack.
Most importantly, combat had been far too monotonous.
Other Class Changers, whether warriors, mages, or even support classes...
They all looked for the right moment to unleash all kinds of skills in battle.
As far as Chen Ming was concerned, everyone else's skills were all flash and no substance, but at least they made for a lively battle.
And Chen Ming?
He just alternated between basic attacks and normal attacks, keeping things plain and simple the whole time.
Unless he hit a weak point, the damage he dealt never changed.
The trade-off was an astonishing leveling speed.
But it had no excitement at all.
What was combat all about? Passion and adrenaline!
But now, things were different.
Chen Ming stood up and stretched his stiff body.
Then he threw a punch into the air.
Whoosh—
The moment his fist shot out, a wave of air surged up.
At the same time, a pale blue flame burst in front of him like a gust of wind from his punch.
This was the attack Chen Ming had gained after his attack was elevated!
Any kind of attack would carry the annihilating effect of Pale Flame!
"This feels amazing—exactly what I wanted!"
Chen Ming's lips curled up. His heart was soaring.
All that effort he'd put into finding mental resources had been worth it.
Looking at it now, his earlier decision had been absolutely right.
"Oh, right. There's also Bloodthirsty Enchantment!"
Chen Ming suddenly remembered the Bloodthirsty effect from his equipment enchantment.
Attack power +50%!
"Can this effect stack with Stacking Attack?"
Annihilation's Stacking Attack increased damage, not attack power.
So in essence, the two shouldn't conflict.
If they really could stack, then his damage cap would be 30,000%.
Yikes. Terrifying!
He'd test it later.
All he needed was an opponent. A few swings would tell him whether it worked.
After trying out his new "super attack" a few more times, Chen Ming finally put the thought aside, satisfied.
He looked out the window. The sun was shining brightly.
It was still morning.
"Hasn't much time passed? Did I absorb it that quickly?"
He'd absorbed the attribute energy in his mental space, where he had no sense of time.
Just then, Chen Ming noticed an unread notification on his personal panel.
He opened it.
[Grand Exam, Day Three Level Ranking: First Place!]
[Ranking Rewards: 10 gold coins, 2 First-Tier Fine Equipment (Attribute Rune Stone +15, type of your choice), 2 Equipment Enchantment Books (type of your choice), 3 Rare Resources (type of your choice)]
[Reminder: Please select your rewards before the end of Day Seven!]
"Uh... It's already the second day?"
He realized what had happened and checked his phone.
Well, would you look at that.
He'd spent an entire day in his mental space without even realizing it.
After quickly selecting his rewards, Chen Ming headed toward the edge of the urban district.
He now had equipment for all five attributes, so he wasn't especially short on gear.
Only Epic Grade equipment would be an improvement.
He could sell the rewards to a guild for gold coins.
As for the rare resources, Chen Ming chose one each for strength, constitution, and agility.
A balanced approach.
He'd already awakened his mental power, so he no longer needed to focus on mental resources.
That wasn't to say Chen Ming didn't care about them at all. He would still need them in the future, when his mental power broke through 40% and awakened a new skill.
But the resources required at that level might be an entirely different matter.
The resources from his ranking rewards probably wouldn't even come close to being enough.
He could keep an eye on the later dungeon rankings and the final ranking, though.
For now, Chen Ming's goal was to awaken his Level 10 class skill.
The edge of the urban district.
Eight thirty in the morning.
When Chen Ming arrived, he found the border unusually lively that day.
A lot of people seemed to have gathered there, and the place buzzed with noise.
Usually, most people would already have gone out to level up by this time. There shouldn't have been this many people.
Chen Ming soon found out why.
Several enormous platforms had been erected at the border at some point.
A few Class Changers stood atop them, apparently fighting some kind of creature.
"Brother Chen, over here!"
Sun Yang called out to Chen Ming from the crowd.
Chen Ming had messaged Sun Yang, so Sun Yang spotted him right away.
Sun Yang's shout also drew plenty of attention.
In an instant, countless eyes turned toward Chen Ming.
Ever since Chen Ming had soloed the wilds and the Exotic Beast Forest—and the Grand Exam authorities had officially verified his results—he'd been a constant topic of conversation in Cloud Sea City.
On top of that, Chen Ming had barely appeared in public over the last two days, so rumors had been flying everywhere.
Some said he was a dual-class Changer, and that his other class was an SSS-grade Humanoid Titan, and all sorts of things...
Now that he'd finally shown up, he immediately became the center of attention.
Chen Ming ignored the countless stares around him and walked straight over to Sun Yang.
"What are these platforms for?"
Chen Ming asked Sun Yang.
"Oh, right. You weren't here yesterday, Brother Chen, so you don't know about the Special Assessment for this Grand Exam."
"Special Assessment?"
Sun Yang nodded, looking all mysterious.
"Brother Chen, let me tell you. An Inspector from the Alliance has come to Cloud Sea City for this Grand Exam!"
Chen Ming raised an eyebrow.
"An Inspector?"
He knew what that title meant, of course.
In fact, it was a title everyone in the Huaxia Alliance knew well.
In this age of exotic beasts, the cities were separated by vast, seemingly endless forests full of exotic beasts, and they had little contact with one another.
The Inspector position had been established by the Alliance specifically for this reason.
Every Inspector had the strength to cross the endless Exotic Beast Forest at will, without exception.
They traveled from city to city.
They supervised city officials and monitored the safety of urban districts...
They also kept high-level exotic beasts throughout Huaxia in check, preventing them from unleashing catastrophic beast tides.
Whether because of their strength or the responsibilities their position carried,
Inspectors were without a doubt among the most respected people in the Alliance.
"The person overseeing this Special Assessment in Cloud Sea City is an Inspector."
Sun Yang said, pointing toward the platforms in the distance.
"Look, these platforms for the selection tests were made by that big shot."
"Brother Chen, you didn't see it yourself. With a wave of his hand, several metal platforms burst up from the ground. Tsk, the sight of it..."
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