Ultimate Potential Stimulation Elixir

In the afternoon, Zhao Cheng ate, read, and kept to his regular routine.

During evening study, Zhao Cheng didn't continue studying the boxing manual. Instead, he opened the Trait Library in the Panel's Shop and started with the red traits, working his way down to broaden his horizons.

There weren't many red and gold traits in the Trait Library combined, but there were far more purple ones, with all sorts of strange effects.

Of course, when it came to trait strength, a difference of one tier became an enormous gap the higher you went.

Some blue traits, if they had serious flaws, could even rival purple ones in strength.

But no matter how serious their flaws, purple traits still fell far short of gold-tier strength.

Purple and gold were only one tier apart, yet they might as well have belonged to different dimensions.

By contrast, though white, blue, and purple traits did differ in strength, the gap wasn't so great that it couldn't be made up.

Zhao Cheng's Sword Arts Prodigy Trait Module was one of the top purple modules, requiring as many as 9,999 Source Points.

If the instance hadn't given him a ticket in return, saving enough Source Points to exchange for it would have been a long and arduous road.

Sword Arts Prodigy raised the level cap of all sword arts by five and greatly reduced the proficiency required. It was plain and simple.

However, it wasn't the purple trait that raised sword art levels the most. The one with the highest increase was called Sword Arts Genius.

Its effect was to raise the level cap of all sword arts by seven.

It sacrificed the effect of greatly reducing the required proficiency, but raised the level cap even higher.

That was how traits worked: the more effects one had, the lower its strength in any single aspect; the fewer effects, the greater its strength.

Among the purple traits unrelated to sword arts, there was also a particularly interesting one called Lone Star of Heavenly Disaster.

Lone Star of Heavenly Disaster (Purple): Your life force field is naturally highly disruptive. Prolonged disruption will damage the life force fields of nearby living beings, siphoning their spiritual essence to strengthen you.

Anyone with this talent trait would be, at the very least, a curse upon their parents. They would also be a walking disaster; if they stayed in one place for too long, the people there would all meet with misfortune.

A life force field was extremely important to any living being. If it was damaged, the result could range from a serious illness to death.

This trait was malicious toward both its owner and the people around them.

There were also lower-tier blue and white versions of this talent. In fortune-telling, people said such individuals were born unlucky.

Zhao Cheng hadn't really believed in such things before. He'd thought they were far too mysterious, but now it seemed they did exist.

The world was vast, and there was no end to its wonders. Something as difficult to observe as a life force field would have been called a mysterious power in ancient times, when science was still shrouded in ignorance.

And some people simply attributed it to what they called fate.

After evening study ended, Zhao Cheng got up and went home, where the familiar routine awaited him.

At home, Zhao Xiaoxiang was watching TV. When she saw Zhao Cheng return, she told him she'd already put his name down.

She meant the weekend camping trip organized by the Student Union, a sort of unconventional team-building activity.

Since they were all students, and some were middle schoolers, they were allowed to bring a "guardian." Of course, this usually meant an older brother or sister, who also had to be a Qingyuan student.

After all, the activity was funded by the Student Union, so no one had to pay.

Qingyuan hadn't been this generous in the past, but now the school had money to spare, and the budget was ample.

No one objected if the Student Union bent the rules a little for its own members.

So if someone's family wasn't comfortable letting them go, but they couldn't find a guardian either, they had no choice but to stay home.

Zhao Cheng's parents let him do as he pleased, but they doted on Zhao Xiaoxiang. If she went alone, their parents would never agree.

"Sure!"

Zhao Cheng replied casually.

He would have looked forward to this kind of activity in the past, but now he was absorbed in swordsmanship and didn't feel much enthusiasm for time-consuming, tiring outdoor activities.

If Zhao Xiaoxiang weren't going, he would spend the entire weekend practicing swordsmanship in seclusion.

As they spoke, Zhao Cheng had already sat down on the sofa and changed the channel with practiced ease.

Today's TV program picked up where yesterday's had left off, still talking about traditional sword forging.

Of course, the methods were traditional, but modern swordsmiths used steel from modern blast furnaces, so the swords they forged were undoubtedly better in quality.

Every craft kept developing and innovating. Barring the loss of knowledge, the present was always bound to surpass the past.

As Zhao Cheng watched TV, his thoughts wandered back to the greatsword.

Throughout history, plenty of formidable warriors had wielded greatswords.

The same was true in the real world: bigger really could mean stronger!

As for why so many people used long swords, most of the time, it was simply because they weren't strong enough.

After watching TV for a while, Zhao Cheng returned to his room and flipped through a book. Then he began sitting in meditation to practice the Breathing Visualization Method. When he'd practiced enough, he started swinging his sword right there in the room.

His room was fairly spacious and didn't have much in it: just a single bed, a desk, and a chair.

The remaining space was a little cramped, but he could still practice.

Nearly an hour passed like this. Zhao Cheng lowered his sword and began to rest.

Log: Sword Arts conversion +2%, Quietude conversion +7%

Usually, once his qi, blood, and spirit had settled, he would go straight to sleep. By then it would be around eleven-thirty. This time, though, Zhao Cheng didn't go to bed. Instead, he closed his eyes and rested.

At exactly twelve, the log refreshed.

Zhao Cheng skipped straight past the long list of entries and looked at the last one: Source Points +10.3

The Source Points he gained had risen from 8.8 to 10.3. The main reasons were that he'd replaced some of his daydreaming time with studying boxing and browsing Trait Modules, and that his training efficiency had improved.

His Lv. 8 swordsmanship was still being converted, but only on the physical side. His mental side had already reached Lv. 8, so his efficiency naturally surged.

Together, these two factors had given him 1.6 more Source Points.

At that moment, the Source Points field on the Panel showed 13.4.

The Shop had also refreshed.

Excluding the two locked items, the Shop had refreshed a total of seven items: two Trait Modules, three items purchasable with Source Points, and two purchasable with Simulation Points.

This time, no Enhancement Stones had appeared in the Shop, but the Full Recovery Potion had shown up again.

Zhao Cheng didn't think the remaining two items were useful, so he didn't waste any Source Points on them.

However, he spent one Simulation Point at the Simulation Point Shop to exchange for an item.

Ultimate Potential Stimulation Elixir (Gray): Destructively pushes the body and mind to the absolute limit, increasing explosive power and reaction speed fifteenfold for three seconds. Afterward, the body suffers catastrophic nerve damage and brain damage. (A Forbidden Drug with extremely high artistic value, it was once used on a massive scale by the Empire. It made the Empire powerful, but also brought about its destruction...)

"Virtual: 1 Simulation Point; Real: 10 Simulation Points"