Fist of the Azure Heaven

The world was still shrouded in darkness, but Zhao Cheng had known from the moment he first arrived here that he wasn't trapped inside some sealed space.

Although he couldn't see, he could still tell that the place where he stood was wide and empty. At the same time, it wasn't some desolate wilderness; traces of civilization remained.

Even though a thick layer of dust covered the ground, the concrete beneath it proved as much.

"If only I had a module that let me see in the dark. It's been proven that certain Trait Modules may seem inferior to modules that directly raise the sword skill level cap, but in some situations, they can have remarkable effects."

Zhao Cheng thought.

As he considered this, Zhao Cheng looked at the Panel again.

Earlier, because of the tremendous change in his swordsmanship talent, he had only glanced over the Panel. He hadn't studied it in detail.

Now, Zhao Cheng carefully went through it, one section at a time, and immediately discovered some hidden information.

The Trait section had gained a subpage called: Trait Module Slots 3/6.

This meant that the number of Trait Modules Zhao Cheng could equip wasn't unlimited. He could equip only six.

That put an end to the idea of directly exchanging for a pile of white traits and winning through sheer quantity, forcibly overcoming quality with numbers.

After all, the prices of Trait Modules were right there.

A top-tier white Trait Module cost only ninety-nine points, while a top-tier blue Trait Module cost ten times as much.

Although raising the level cap was merely the foundation of a high-level module, its other effects were what made it powerful.

But quantity could work miracles. Ten top-tier white Trait Modules would directly raise the sword skill level cap by ten. The very best blue Trait Module, on the other hand, didn't even dare to raise the sword skill level cap by more than two. No matter how dazzling its special effects were, they couldn't make up for a full eight-level difference in the level cap.

Zhao Cheng had wondered before whether there might be a limit to how many Trait Modules he could equip. After all, this ability was already incredibly broken, and in a sense, it broke the rules. If he could equip an unlimited number as well, there would be no balance left at all.

The balance Zhao Cheng meant wasn't the balance of the greater universe, but one of the core principles behind his own Panel ability: equivalent exchange.

One had to understand that, by rights, reality wasn't a game. White traits were bound to have limits and a ceiling.

Under normal circumstances, even if someone acquired Sword Arts Prodigy (Purple), Sword Affinity (White), and Sword Heart (Blue) all at once, they couldn't simply and crudely add the effects together and raise their sword skill level cap by eight just because that was what the traits' descriptions said.

Normally, the traits' levels should have different weighting coefficients. Suppose purple had a weight of 1, blue 0.1, and white 0.01. Adding the three talents together would give 1.11. Even with the synergistic effects of accumulated talents, the sword skill level cap would rise by no more than six.

To some extent, Zhao Cheng's Trait Modules had directly modified the "rules of the world."

Zhao Cheng could only think that this was impressive, but it hadn't surprised him.

The Panel had already explained Hyper-Dimensional Body before. The situation before him was probably a partial manifestation of what it meant to transcend the rules.

Reality wasn't a game, so quality mattered more than quantity. But for Zhao Cheng, quality was quantity, and vice versa.

Clearly, though, this transcendence of the rules wasn't unlimited. It was finite. The limit of six slots was an expression of some kind of balance.

If there truly were no balance at all, Zhao Cheng would have been uneasy instead. After all, his very existence was finite, not infinite. Only the finite could control the finite; only the infinite could control the infinite.

If the pie falling from the sky were too big, it might well crush someone to death.

Zhao Cheng had a clear understanding of his own abilities.

He remembered a famous saying from his previous life: a true master always carried the heart of an apprentice.

He certainly wasn't a master now. At most, he was an apprentice, and even with the Panel, that remained true.

Besides, the more ignorant people were, the more arrogant they became, imagining they could control everything.

But Zhao Cheng had lived through the blizzard of his previous life, a disaster filled with immense, surging power. He had felt the terror of nature itself, and understood that humanity had its limits.

As a human, how could anyone possibly control everything and command all things?!

If the Panel truly transcended everything, Zhao Cheng would probably be headed for self-destruction.

Of course, it was also possible that Zhao Cheng's own understanding was limiting the Panel's power.

After all, the source of the Panel itself, in the Trait section, was still just a cluster of question marks.

"Since there's such a thing as a slot limit, then that number can surely be increased. Under the principle of equivalent exchange, it's just a matter of how high the price is."

Zhao Cheng thought, his determination only growing stronger.

"I won't rush to use the remaining three slots to raise the sword skill level cap. The most pressing thing is to find a way to see this world. If I can't see anything, let alone clear the scenario, even a preliminary exploration will be a problem."

As Zhao Cheng's thoughts turned, he had already begun to sense that something was wrong.

Wasn't this supposed to be a Savior story? Wasn't he supposed to nurture a civilization?

He didn't suspect that the Panel had given him false information about the scenario. Rather, he suspected that the information it had given him was incomplete.

The Panel said that a nuclear war in the twentieth century had destroyed civilization.

But even if all the nuclear bombs on the planet exploded at once, the dust they produced couldn't possibly have blotted out the sun completely, leaving not the slightest glimmer of light.

As his thoughts turned, Zhao Cheng looked at the Trait Library in the Panel's Shop. Sure enough, the Shop's Trait Library had been updated—or rather, it had added all the traits from this world's past and present to its inventory.

Red had no changes; gold had gained one Trait Module; purple had gained over a hundred; and the numbers of blue and white traits had increased dramatically.

"This world actually has a gold trait!"

Zhao Cheng was a little surprised.

According to the setting, purple was the level of a Child of the World, destined to accomplish great deeds. As for gold, even in the real world, if it weren't for the special changes during the Shang Dynasty, there wouldn't have been a single gold trait at all.

Zhao Cheng looked at the newly added gold trait.

Fist of the Azure Heaven (Gold): The base level cap for fist arts is raised to 10. The level cap for all fist arts is raised by 10. The proficiency required to improve fist arts is drastically reduced. The quality of fist arts practiced increases by 1. Understanding of fist arts and bursts of inspiration grow explosively. After observing any fist art below gold quality once, the user immediately learns it and raises it to level 10. All fist arts learned will naturally meld together as time passes.

This was what made a gold trait so powerful. Generally speaking, the base level cap for the myriad skills humans could learn was 5. This meant that anyone who possessed the gold trait Fist of the Azure Heaven would gain a total of fifteen additional skill levels.

The effects that followed were even more outrageous. Even purple-level fist techniques didn't require manuals: just watching someone perform one once would raise it straight to the maximum level.

But the most powerful effect was the natural mastery of all fist arts learned. It meant that as long as fist arts continued to develop, this person could grow stronger without end.

That was the power of a gold trait. It couldn't compare with red, but it was still unbelievably powerful.

However, as incredible as Fist of the Azure Heaven seemed, it still wasn't the strongest among all the gold traits Zhao Cheng knew of.