Simulation

At this point, the three discounted items appearing in the second-tier Trait Module exchange were two white and one blue.

Sword Affinity (White): All sword technique levels +1; proficiency required for sword techniques reduced (-90%, Source Points: 9.9)

Primary Sword Sense (White): Increased affinity for swords, increased control over swords, proficiency required for sword techniques reduced (-90%, Source Points: 4.5)

Born of Sword Sense (Blue): All sword technique levels +2; proficiency required for sword techniques reduced (-90%, Source Points: 99.9)

Maybe because the Shop had just opened, all three Trait Modules were offered at the maximum discount.

At the same time, Zhao Cheng knew he could choose one of the three modules and keep it from refreshing.

As for why all three traits were related to swords, that wasn't because Zhao Cheng was lucky.

Rather, the Shop's refreshes were inherently biased, favoring directions that benefited Zhao Cheng.

He himself walked the path of the sword, and he also had the Sword Seed (Incomplete) trait. Thus, the traits that refreshed would tilt in that direction as well.

Traits came in five colors: white, blue, purple, gold, and red.

The ranges of Source Points required for them also varied.

White: 10–99

Blue: 100–999

Purple: 1,000–9,999

Gold: 10,000–99,999

Red: 1,000,000

Zhao Cheng had already noticed that any trait that raised the upper limit of sword technique levels was always the most expensive in its color range.

At the same time, red traits were the rarest, while white traits were the most common.

White traits numbered in the hundreds of millions, while there was only one red trait.

That was speaking of all Trait Modules.

Among the white traits, only a million or so were related to swords. They made up just one percent, but that was still an astonishing number. After all, this Trait Module could include every living being.

Zhao Cheng had also discovered that in the entire Trait Library, there were only a thousand purple traits, and more than nine hundred of them were related to swords. By the time one reached gold, every single one was related to swords.

This probably meant that the upper limit for the levels of innate traits in this world was originally purple.

Any living being with a purple trait was probably like a Child of the World, destined to accomplish some "great undertaking," no matter what race they belonged to.

But the appearance of the Sword Seed had changed this. It not only gave the lives of this world the possibility of possessing gold traits, but also meant that every living being had a red trait surpassing gold—even if it was only incomplete.

In the entire Trait Library, there were only thirteen gold Trait Modules. As for red, there was just one—the sole one, the Sword Seed.

Its effects were as follows:

Sword Seed (Red, Supreme): Sword technique level cap +30; Heaven-Forged Sword Body, Undying Sword Soul, Immortal Sword God, Everlasting Sword Thought, Ultimate Dao of Heaven, Unfallen Reincarnation, Heaven United with the Sword, Dao United with the Sword, I Alone Reign Supreme, Invincible in All Directions, Great Thousand Worlds—one of the strongest sword talents

Compared to the complete Sword Seed, Zhao Cheng's own trait—

Sword Seed (Incomplete) 13% (Red): Sword technique level cap +3; moderately increased affinity for swords; moderately reduced proficiency required to improve sword techniques

—seemed terribly meager.

According to the principle of tenfold increases, the maximum exchange price for a red Trait Module should be 999,999. But the Sword Seed broke through that limit, reaching an astonishing one million.

The difference of one Source Point might not seem like much, but Zhao Cheng knew there had to be a reason for the Panel's underlying logic to be set up that way.

Perhaps that extra point corresponded to the word "Supreme."

If someone could possess the complete Sword Seed trait, they might be an ordinary mortal in the morning and a Sword God by nightfall.

The first part of the Sword Seed trait, Sword technique level cap +30, was merely an added bonus. The latter part was what made the Sword Seed truly formidable.

Zhao Cheng even suspected that his own Sword Seed was incomplete—or rather, that the Sword Seeds of all living beings in the entire world were incomplete—not for any other reason than that no living being could bear the complete Sword Seed.

This trait simply wasn't something the lives of this world were meant to possess.

After reading the Sword Seed's description, Zhao Cheng fell into deep thought.

A million Source Points seemed like a lot, but it wasn't all that much, really. If he got lucky sometime and drew the Sword Seed at the highest discount of ten percent, it would cost only 100,000 Source Points.

He had already earned 8.8 Source Points on his first day. That was with him still getting the hang of things. He would definitely earn more as time went on. To be conservative, he could average ten points a day from then on.

By that reckoning, he would need only ten thousand days—less than thirty years—to save up enough.

"I guess I just need to lie low for thirty years, then find a way to get myself a module slot, and I'll be invincible."

Zhao Cheng muttered to himself.

"I'll only be in my forties then. Now that's what they call accumulating strength before making a stunning comeback. Don't look down on a middle-aged man just because he's poor!"

At the thought, Zhao Cheng felt even more fired up.

People weren't afraid of being in a difficult situation; they were afraid of seeing no hope. Now that the Sword Seed trait was waiting up ahead, Zhao Cheng felt like he could grind himself into dust.

"Wait, why does this Shop's setup feel so much like an online game?"

Feeling an urge almost exactly like the one he'd had in his previous life when he wanted to grind a game, Zhao Cheng suddenly realized what was happening.

Things like grinding one more account every day to get just a little stronger, telling yourself that if you got a little stronger each day, you'd eventually become a big shot, with a +15 red weapon and earring.

Unfortunately, by the time he'd transmigrated, he'd only gotten his earring to +14.

"I guess that's just me. Deep down, I think the thing that motivates me most is an online game..."

Zhao Cheng thought to himself.

Everything on the Panel was a manifestation of his perceptions. If deep down he believed that some other method would better help him grow, the Shop would probably have looked completely different.

Of course, its essence of equivalent exchange wouldn't change. There was no chance of Trait Modules suddenly going on a huge sale.

Just now, the moment he first saw the Shop interface, Zhao Cheng had spotted the three limited-time items in the third section.

Unnamed Weapon (White) (Unique): Choose any weapon form to solidify; can grow, be enhanced, and be enchanted (Source Points: 1).

Enhancement Stone (White): Can imbue a weapon with mysterious power; capped at +5 (Source Points: 1).

Full Recovery Potion x3: Restores a fixed 80% of the Hyper-Dimensional Body's overall condition, no cooldown (Source Points: 1)

It could be said that this Shop had its sense of familiarity turned up to the max.

But although it felt so familiar, he still had to grind.

First of all, Simulation Count—he absolutely had to exchange for that. Next was the Unnamed Weapon in the items section. As for the Enhancement Stone, Full Recovery Potion, and traits, Zhao Cheng planned to hold off and see what this simulation was actually like.

At a thought from Zhao Cheng, the simulation count on the Panel, which had been zero, immediately changed to one. The words "Available for simulation" appeared beside it as well.

Zhao Cheng didn't hesitate and immediately tapped it with a thought.

The Panel interface changed at once.

Generating simulation instance...

Instance generation complete. Choose one:

Raging Sea (87%), Winter Is Coming (85%), The Iron Tower Remains (92%), Orphan of the Fog City (91%), Great Wall Watch (94%), Ragnarok (83%), Ziwei Shines Upon the World (96%), Hell Redemption (95%)