Talent potential

He checked the talent description, but it said nothing about a cap on poison damage. If there was a cap, it should have been mentioned there. Besides, 240 didn't really look like a fixed limit. It seemed more likely to be tied to his level. He was level 12 now, and twenty times that was exactly 240.

But why twenty times rather than ten? Suddenly, Wu Shaozhen remembered the War God Hall's introduction: advancing his realm could increase his talent's potential.

This must be what they meant by talent potential. In other words, it isn't just my talent. Everyone's talent potential probably has a cap, and players can raise that cap by advancing their realm.

If that's the case, my talent's cap should be ten times my level. Since I advanced by one realm, it increased to ten times. That would explain it.

It would be easy to verify. He just had to gain another level and see whether it could rise to 260. If it could, he could advance his realm to bronze tomorrow and check again.

Wu Shaozhen immediately put his plan into action, continuing to poison black bears at a rapid pace. Before long, he killed another 76 black bears and reached level 13. Then he ventured deeper and found level 18 monsters: a pack of giant red lizards. As usual, he used Insight.

[Flame Lizard]

Level: 18

Health: 28,000

Physical attack: 150

Spell attack: 380

Physical defense: 150

Spell defense: 160

Speed: 50

Skill: Flame Breath: Breathes fire over an area five meters ahead. The flames burn for 5 seconds, dealing 100% spell damage per second to targets within the area. Cooldown: 20 seconds.

A spell-attacking monster? Wu Shaozhen paused. This was the first one he had encountered, and it certainly looked harder to handle than physical attackers. That skill was pretty fierce. Unless he got out of its range quickly, even his two thousand-plus health wouldn't hold up.

Still, spell-attacking monsters relied entirely on skills to deal damage, just like mages. A mage without skills posed no threat. However, the mage's basic skill, Fireball, had only a three-second cooldown, cost little mana, and was instant-cast. It was practically a basic attack, so a mage being left without skills wasn't really possible. But if they ran out of mana, they truly became lambs to the slaughter.

This spell-attacking monster doesn't even have Fireball. Does it rely on those 150 points of physical attack for basic attacks? Wu Shaozhen smiled. It could still get through his defense.

It wasn't much of a threat as long as he watched out for its skill. He couldn't grind these monsters in groups, though. If they turned the whole area into a sea of flames, he would have nowhere to run.

He would take them one at a time, then. Each would only take a little over a minute anyway. He lured out a lizard and struck it twice. Despite running away quickly, he still took one second of damage from its skill, though it hardly mattered.

A little over a minute later, the lizard collapsed...

"Ding! You have slain [Flame Lizard] and gained 220 EXP. For defeating an enemy five levels above you, you gained an additional 110 EXP. Your pet [Silver Big Bad Wolf] gained 66 EXP."

"Ding! Talent trait triggered. Poison damage increased by 1. Current poison damage: 241."

"Ding! Immortal Body activated. Maximum health increased by 1. Immortal Body has now increased your maximum health by 297."

Sure enough, his talent's poison damage had increased again. Wu Shaozhen killed another twenty lizards, and once his poison damage reached 260, it stopped increasing.

Having figured out the pattern, Wu Shaozhen breathed a sigh of relief. As long as it wasn't permanently capped, he was fine. He hadn't put any points into strength and depended entirely on his talent. If it stopped growing, he would lose the advantage that kept him ahead.

As long as it can keep increasing, that's good enough. Twenty times my level is already incredibly strong right now. At least among the current players, nobody can survive a single strike from me, Wu Shaozhen thought.

He checked the time. It was already past nine at night. He would log off to eat, then get some sleep. Since his talent had reached its cap, there was no hurry to level up. The others probably wouldn't catch up anytime soon.

Taking off his helmet, Wu Shaozhen rubbed his head. He really needed to buy a gaming pod, but he was still short quite a bit of money. He hadn't earned anything since reaching the main city. He needed to hunt some bosses.

Wu Shaozhen went out for a late-night meal. By the time he returned, it was already ten. He set an alarm for six hours later and lay down to sleep. After working hard all day, he really was exhausted.

Meanwhile, the player populations in all the major cities were growing rapidly. Players could already be seen everywhere in Jinling City. Su Muxue walked out of the War God Hall. She had just attempted the War God Secret Realm, but she had clearly failed. One-on-one combat wasn't a mage's strong suit. Although monsters generally had low spell defense at this stage, none of the equipment obtained in the Novice Village boosted spell attack. Mages were also fragile, leaving her unable to withstand the phantom's heavy damage. She simply had no way to beat it.

After some thought, she decided to ask that guy whether he had any mage equipment. But when she opened her friends list, she found he had logged off. Then his astonishing level of 13 caught her eye.

How on earth does he do it? He eats and sleeps normally, yet he's still so far ahead. What a freak, Su Muxue thought. It looked like she would have to level up and farm equipment first.

A little while after Su Muxue left, World-Proud Under Heaven and the others arrived at the War God Hall. With the bronze and black iron equipment dropped by the Boar King and Silver Wolf King, along with his remaining buff potions and Instant Recovery Potions, World-Proud Under Heaven finally cleared the challenge. His strength took a huge leap, and when he came out, he finally wore a smile.

Wu Shaozhen slept until his alarm went off. He checked the time: four in the morning. It was pitch-black outside. His daily routine had been completely turned upside down.

He got up, washed, and finished the stir-fried rice noodles he had brought home the night before. Then he put on his helmet and logged in.

He reappeared in the Flame Lizard area. After some thought, Wu Shaozhen decided to head back and clear the War God Secret Realm first. Then he could verify whether his theory was correct.

He took out a Town Portal Scroll and was about to use it when an unusual roar came from Black Bear Ridge.

Wu Shaozhen's eyes lit up. From experience, that roar had to belong to a boss. He put away the Town Portal Scroll and quickly ran toward the sound.

When Wu Shaozhen arrived, he saw an enormous black bear chasing a fleeing soldier who was already on his last legs. Just as the bear was about to swat the soldier to death, Wu Shaozhen rushed over and had Silver Big Bad Wolf block the blow, saving the soldier.

Silver Big Bad Wolf was already level 10, with a full 10,200 health and 220 physical defense. Taking a single hit wasn't much of a problem.

After rescuing the soldier from the giant bear's claws, Wu Shaozhen quickly cast Insight on it.

[Black Bear King] Bronze boss

Level: 17

Health: 300,000

Physical attack: 750

Physical defense: 420

Spell defense: 240

Movement speed: 85

Skill 1: Ground Slam: Slams the ground, dealing 140% physical damage to all targets within two meters and reducing their movement speed by 30% for 5 seconds. Cooldown: 20 seconds.

Skill 2: Earthsplitter: Strikes the ground with a powerful blow of its paw, creating a fissure that spreads forward. Deals 160% physical damage to targets in its path and knocks them airborne. Cooldown: 1 minute.

Skill 3: Petrified Skin: Turns its skin to stone, increasing defense by 100% and reducing nearby targets' physical damage by 50% for 30 seconds. Cooldown: 5 minutes.