Enhancement

After unlocking a skill slot, Lin Maoxian took the A-rank skill from his Storage Space and looked it over:

"A-rank skill: Copper Skin, Iron Bone"

"Level 1 effects: Copper Skin—after activating this ability, the Adventurer temporarily gains +3 Strength. It consumes 1 Energy per second and has no cooldown. Iron Bone—after activating this ability, the Adventurer temporarily gains +3 Stamina. It consumes 1 Energy per second and has no cooldown. 'Copper Skin' and 'Iron Bone' can be activated at the same time."

"As expected of an A-rank skill. Even at level 1, its effects are worth more than half my own Strength and Stamina stats combined—six points in total, equivalent to 1,800 Source Points. The energy cost is just too high, though. With my current 50 Energy, I wouldn't last even half a minute using both abilities at once. Looks like I'll have to put some points into Intelligence later." Lin Maoxian learned the skill, but the energy cost gave him a headache. It was just too high.

He checked the requirements for enhancing the skill. Nothing unusual: he only needed Source Points. Each level from 1 to 4 cost 1,000 Source Points; each level from 5 to 9 cost 3,000. The requirements for level 10 and beyond weren't displayed.

He still hadn't checked the Equipment Enhancement Zone. Since he had two pieces of equipment, he might as well see how it worked. As for whether to upgrade his skill, he'd decide after learning about everything else.

When he reached the Equipment Enhancement Zone, the space informed Lin Maoxian that enhancing non-legendary equipment—Excellent, Fine, or Common—by levels 1–3 cost 300 Source Points, with no penalty for failure. Enhancing it by levels 4–6 cost 500 Source Points, and failure reduced the equipment's enhancement level by 1. Enhancing it by levels 7–9 cost 1,000 Source Points, and failure reduced its enhancement level by 2, with a small chance of the equipment being shattered and disappearing.

Lin Maoxian couldn't be bothered asking about legendary equipment or higher. For one thing, he didn't have anything that good—just two Common items. For another, given how the space operated, if it hadn't volunteered the information, asking would only earn him the usual response: insufficient permissions, request denied. So why bother?

Enhancing an item by one level cost only 300 Source Points. The glasses didn't boost any stats, but they were still quite useful, so Lin Maoxian took them out and enhanced them once. A flash of white light passed over the glasses. Thankfully, the enhancement succeeded. Three hundred Source Points wasn't much, but even the smallest fly was still meat! Lin Maoxian checked the enhanced stats. They now read:

Data Collection Glasses

[Quality]: Common

[Level]: Level 1+1

[Category]: Special

[Description]: Omitted...(Descriptions are only displayed once)

[Attribute]: Probe—consumes 5 Energy to gather fairly precise information on a target and relay it to the user.

The stats hadn't changed much, but the glasses should collect more information now, which was still very useful. "I'll leave this piece of equipment as it is for now. If I have any Source Points left later, I can try enhancing it again. For now, I should check out the last place—the Space Shop."

When Lin Maoxian arrived at the Space Shop, the space didn't bombard him with a heap of prompts. It simply said, "As long as you have enough Source Points and permissions, there is nothing you can think of that the space cannot do." The space's bold claim shook Lin Maoxian. Then show me a divine artifact or something. Or create a living being for me—that'd do.

To his surprise, the space replied, "Adventurer permissions insufficient."

He'd heard that response plenty of times, but never had it left Lin Maoxian so stunned. A divine artifact was one thing, but could the space really create life?

Lin Maoxian stood there for a long while before coming back to himself and letting out a deep sigh. The more he learned, the more unfathomable the space seemed. But all that was still far beyond him. He should focus on the present. Perhaps one day, when he was strong enough, he'd learn the answer.

He looked through the goods in the Space Shop. It had all kinds of equipment, medicine, skills, and more. However, the equipment and medicine were all below legendary quality, while the skills were all below S-rank. There wasn't even a single skill above A-rank. Thinking of his own A-rank skill, Lin Maoxian suddenly felt quite lucky.

The Space Shop also had a special Honor category, but it contained only two items: a medicine that instantly restored 50% of one's health in battle, and a ** that instantly restored 50% of one's energy in battle. Each cost 2 Contribution Points. Only one of each could be purchased per world, and buyers needed ninth-rank permissions.

Both were exceptionally valuable. The medicine he'd seen in the Common category earlier could be used in battle, but it was all Excellent quality and restored a fixed amount of health rather than a percentage. That said, when one's Stamina was low, fixed recovery could be more effective. These two items would clearly be better value once his stats were higher.

Lin Maoxian checked his Contribution Points. He had 14, so buying both items wouldn't lower his permissions rank. Using them now might be wasteful, but they could save his life in a crucial moment. He spent 4 Contribution Points on the two supplies and put them in his Storage Space. Then, heart aching, he left and headed for the Character Enhancement Zone. The reward for exploring the entire world's plot had only been 5 Contribution Points. If the purchases hadn't let him keep his ninth-rank permissions, he'd never have found the resolve to buy them.

When he reached the Character Enhancement Zone, Lin Maoxian brought up his character panel. Agility was his highest stat, so he added 2 points to it.

"Adventurer's base Agility has reached 10. Choose one of the following rewards."

"Reward 1: Agility +2."

"Reward 2: Increase evasion rate by 5%."

"Reward 3: Increase attack speed by 10%."

Lin Maoxian chose the first reward. As soon as he'd heard the prompt, he'd wondered whether he'd receive a reward for bringing his other stats to 10 as well. If he wanted to distribute his points evenly later, those extra 2 Agility would save him some Source Points.

Following the same approach he'd used for Agility, Lin Maoxian raised all seven stats to 10. Since the Charm options didn't include a +2 stat reward, he had to choose the effect that increased "the initial favorability of plot characters toward you." For all the others, he chose the +2 stat option.

He checked his character panel. He'd spent 7,800 Source Points and had 8,150 left. His stats had increased considerably, too. Aside from Charm, which was only 10, all six of his other stats were now 12.

Lin Maoxian checked his remaining Source Points and did the math. He added another 4 points to Intelligence, bringing it to 16, for a total cost of 2,000 Source Points.

At the Skill Enhancement Zone, he enhanced his only skill three times in a row, raising it to level 4. Its effects had changed considerably.

"A-rank skill: Copper Skin, Iron Bone"

"Level 1+3 effects: Copper Skin—after activating this ability, the Adventurer temporarily gains +12 Strength. It consumes 2.5 Energy per second and has no cooldown. Iron Bone—after activating this ability, the Adventurer temporarily gains +12 Stamina. It consumes 2.5 Energy per second and has no cooldown. 'Copper Skin' and 'Iron Bone' can be activated at the same time."

Lin Maoxian checked the enhanced skill's effects. It was certainly powerful, but the energy cost had risen as well. Fortunately, it was still manageable. With his current stats and the recovery effect he'd gained along the way, he could keep both abilities active for more than half a minute. Used at a critical moment, they could turn the tide.

After checking his remaining Source Points, Lin Maoxian found he had only 3,150 left. Thinking of the skill series he'd seen in the Space Shop, he steeled himself and spent another 1,000 to unlock two skill slots. Looking at his remaining 2,150 Source Points, he didn't feel he'd gained all that much. With the space's sky-high prices, his little pile of Source Points was nowhere near enough.

He went to the Space Shop and bought the two skills he'd had his eye on. Thanks to his permissions, he saved 50 Source Points and spent 950 in total. After learning both new skills, Lin Maoxian checked their stats and was quite satisfied.

"Basic skill: Melee Mastery."

"Level 1 effect: Increases the Adventurer's melee damage by 10% (can stack with any melee damage). Improves the user's command of Strength (the higher the skill level, the greater the user's mastery of Strength)."

"Basic skill: Defense Mastery."

"Level 1 effect: Increases the Adventurer's Defense by 10% (can stack with any Defense). Improves the user's command of defensive parries (the higher the skill level, the greater the user's mastery of Defense)."

What Lin Maoxian had his eye on wasn't the two boosts, but the parts about control. He knew that having a certain amount of stats didn't mean you could make full use of them. It was like giving a child and an adult the same gun: the adult would surely get more out of it, hitting whatever he aimed at, while the child would just spray bullets everywhere. That was why he'd chosen this series of skills. When he used his A-rank skill, he'd be able to control the sudden increase in his stats without losing control.

Lin Maoxian checked his remaining 1,200 Source Points. He knew he couldn't upgrade either skill. If he suddenly needed something later and missed out because he didn't have enough Source Points, he'd be kicking himself.

He'd enhanced everything he needed to, and now he had no more Source Points to spend. Lin Maoxian decided to check out the Adventurer Zone. Perhaps he'd find something useful there. Ideally, he'd buy a weapon. After all, he was still practically walking around naked—meaning his equipment, of course; he was wearing clothes. But it couldn't cost too much. He had to stay within his budget, and he wasn't looking for anything particularly fancy.