Attribute Surge

Before long, the truck stopped in front of the Corpse Collector building at 117 East City Road.

Captain Dong Jiu and the other two veteran members went straight back to their rooms to sleep. Hauling the bodies to the morgue was left to the two newcomers, Ji Xun and Gibb.

They were already used to it.

The two fetched a cart, stacked eight body bags onto it, then took the elevator down to the third floor underground.

Other than transporting corpses, no one ever came to this unlucky place.

After placing the bodies into lead-iron boxes, Gibb left as well.

Ji Xun found an excuse to stay behind.

Listening to the old elevator creak its way upstairs, he glanced around the empty corridor before pulling out one of the iron boxes.

He unzipped the body bag and, without any change in expression, found the Causal Medium in the corpse's abdomen.

He knew that delays invited trouble, so he wasted no time. Sitting cross-legged on the floor, he used the Feast Secret Method and began devouring it.

He had only made a shallow attempt in the Tailor Street cellar before. Now, Ji Xun devoured the dark Extraordinary Trait within the material in huge, unconcerned gulps, like a whale swallowing water.

It was his first time devouring such pure Extraordinary Trait. The instant he absorbed it, his flesh, bones, and internal organs all faintly radiated heat.

Ji Xun was already familiar with the sensation. It was a sign that his flesh was growing!

But this feeling was more intense than ever before.

Absorbing Extraordinary Trait from corpses before had been like squeezing drops of water from wet sand by a riverbank, painstakingly gathering them bit by bit. Now, it was like drinking directly from the river, gulping down mouthful after mouthful.

His body gradually went from scorching hot to boiling, bringing pain that was difficult to endure.

But this was no time to rest.

Ji Xun kept a close eye on the numbers on his panel. As long as it was not fatal, he did not stop, continuing to devour it in great gulps.

He knew perfectly well that this thing could not be kept.

The longer the night, the more dreams it brought. He had to digest it as quickly as possible.

As time passed, the amber medium steadily shrank.

Perhaps luck was on his side. Since returning from Tailor Street, their Fifth Squad had not received another mission.

That gave Ji Xun ample time to devour the Causal Medium.

From the afternoon until dawn the next day, he remained in the morgue for over ten hours.

Yet the long night seemed to pass in an instant. Ji Xun slowly opened his eyes from meditation.

He checked his pocket watch. It was a quarter past seven in the morning.

Looking at the medium that had completely vanished from his hand, Ji Xun let out a long breath. "Finally finished devouring it."

The physical evidence had been thoroughly erased, and the greatest hidden danger was gone.

And when he checked again, his attributes had changed dramatically.

"Ji Xun"

Strength: 3.15

Constitution: 3.55

Agility: 2.78

Toughness: 2.56

Mental Power: 5.97

Curse Power: 114/115

Just as Ji Xun had predicted, after devouring that medium, nearly all of his physical attributes had surpassed 3.

He looked at his forearm. When he clenched his fist and exerted force, the knotted muscles beneath his skin bulged powerfully.

This feeling of strength filling every limb and vein was incredible!

"So strong."

On a whim, Ji Xun dropped to the floor and did more than ten push-ups in one breath, as effortlessly as breathing.

His arm strength allowed him to support his body with ease, his muscles firm and powerful like springs. His body had expanded a full size, yet he did not feel clumsy. Instead, he felt lighter.

He tried using the absolute strength of his arms to maintain balance, doing several push-ups while standing on his hands.

It still felt easy.

He switched from both hands to one, then from his palm to five fingers, and finally to three fingers. He remained perfectly steady!

The threefold increase in strength allowed him to easily perform training movements that had once been utterly impossible.

He tested his lower-body strength too. He jumped straight upward, and because he was unfamiliar with his suddenly increased jumping power, he slammed headfirst into the ceiling.

Thud.

Ji Xun's head buzzed, but his face was brimming with vitality.

By his estimate, his standing vertical jump had easily exceeded one and a half meters. That was a height even professional basketball players from his previous life could not reach.

"This is what an extraordinary person is!"

Ji Xun savored the feeling of power overflowing from his body. At last, he too possessed physical abilities that surpassed the limits of ordinary humans.

Devouring corpses before had only increased his strength bit by bit. This kind of sudden, massive leap felt truly marvelous.

It was not just his strength that had grown.

The Causal Medium was an evil material, and the dark factors it contained were astonishingly abundant.

His Dark Affinity had directly risen from yesterday's "12" to "27."

In other words, even without wearing a mask, he could now use the Shadow Dive skill at any time.

His Mental Power had also risen by more than one point. This was the first time using Demon Feast to directly devour Extraordinary Trait had resulted in an increase in Mental Power.

And his Curse Power Value had become 115.

According to the description in the Breathing Method Codex, once one's Curse Power Value exceeded one hundred, that meant reaching Curse Power Stage One?

In other words, he was now a "Card Master Apprentice."

Although he was still at the most basic stage, he had only been studying the Breathing Technique for four days!

With normal cultivation, this would have been impossible without several months.

Looking at the tremendous changes in his body, Ji Xun thought expectantly, If I had a few more Causal Mediums, how much stronger could I become?

If he had relied on absorbing Extraordinary Trait from corpses, it would have taken months, perhaps even years, to reach his current level.

But it was only a passing thought.

There was no need to wonder what dark secrets this thing was connected to. Obtaining even one had already involved enormous risk.

Even if he encountered a mission like yesterday's again, Ji Xun would not dare take a second piece so easily.

The first time could be concealed by various circumstances. A second time would be practically asking for death.

Now that the "physical evidence" was gone, Ji Xun no longer needed to stay in the morgue.

He took disinfectant from a corner and began cleaning.

The smell of disinfectant was extremely pungent, enough to mask most scent-based perception. Besides, this was part of the Corpse Collectors' normal cleanup procedure. They did it almost every day, so it would not arouse suspicion.

The reason he had not wandered around last night and had stayed in the morgue was because he had learned from his experience on the train last time.

The stench from the Tailor Street cellar had been difficult to remove, including the medium's smell. He was worried that a scent-specialized Spell Card Master might track it down.

If Ji Xun had taken the medium somewhere else, someone might very well have noticed something unusual.

But if he stayed in the morgue, then even if someone followed the scent here, the dozen or so corpses recovered from the cellar would mislead them and conceal the medium's odor.

After finishing everything, Ji Xun got up and left the morgue.

Today was his day off, and he had other things to do.

He was going to attend the Hunter's Guild card maker's free class.

After leaving the branch building, Ji Xun checked the time. It was exactly eight o'clock.

Factories throughout the city spewed exhaust day and night, leaving the air permanently filled with an inescapable smell of coal ash. Ji Xun walked the streets wearing a Gas Mask.

Sinless City was still bustling in the morning, with workers getting off the night shift pouring onto the streets in large numbers.

Because it was an Underground City, there was no sun.

The difference between night and day was simply that the lights on the district towers shone much brighter during the day, and there were far more pedestrians.

Sinless City was enormous, its area estimated at no less than a hundred square kilometers.

Fortunately, it had a labyrinthine rail network and intercity Steam Trains.

Ji Xun took a train across half the city, traveling from the eastern district to Glow Street in the southern district.

A highly conspicuous yellow-painted building stood on this street. It was the tallest building nearby, its soaring spire disappearing into the darkness, solemn and imposing.

A huge Bow Axe Emblem hung on its wall. This was the headquarters building of the Hunter's Guild at 1 Glow Street.

The Hunter's Guild was a central hub where hunters posted recruitment notices, acquired missions, bought and sold intelligence, and conducted transactions.

That was why it was crowded at all hours.

Most of the people coming and going on the street were hunters carrying firearms, bladed weapons, and Steam Machinery equipment.

Ji Xun headed toward the main building. Just a few steps after leaving the tram station, he stepped onto a skybridge. Looking down, he saw swirling mist below and a drop of several dozen meters.

This was one of Sinless City's architectural characteristics.

The entire city had been built along the mountainside, complex and three-dimensional. This was the street-facing first floor where he had just gotten off the train, but after crossing the skybridge, he realized he was more than twenty floors up when counted from the first floor below.

Mist and shadows intertwined, dreamlike and illusory.

The buildings under the lights were bustling with activity, while countless secrets hidden from the light lurked in the darkness.

All kinds of stalls lined both sides of the street. This was the hunters' market.

Like an antique market from his previous life, the stalls displayed all manner of strange and unusual items.

"Come take a look! Elemental Type Demon Marks freshly produced from Watch Fortress, only 250,000!"

"Mutated Materials produced in the Demon Cross Ruins! We've got common materials for both Assassin Type and Healer Type. The more you buy, the cheaper they are!"

"Spirit-Hiding Wood from the West Plague Forest! Top-grade Undead Material! Come take a look!"

"Rare Mithril Ore from Eagle Nest Mine, premium material for forging mechanical alloys! Also selling finished Halo K-3 Mechanical Arms, standard equipment of the Upper City military!"

Most of the items sold at the stalls were cards and Extraordinary Materials that hunters had obtained while exploring caves.

There were also stone carvings inscribed with ancient text, damaged codices, scrolls, and the like.

The dazzling array of items frequently drew Ji Xun's attention.

These were all treasures produced by the various ruins.

Whenever hunters returned from cave exploration and had free time, many of them came here to set up stalls, because they could get much higher prices than by selling directly to unscrupulous middlemen.

Besides the street stalls, there were also shops along the road.

Ji Xun had been here once before, when he bought that Great Dark Breathing Method.

It was nearly nine o'clock. Rather than continue wandering through the market, he went directly into the Hunter's Guild hall.

The moment he entered, he saw that the hall, which covered more than a thousand square meters, was packed with people. Several enormous magic light screens stood in the most prominent area of the hall.

The screens displayed a large amount of recruitment information.

"'Great Cemetery Maze' seeking teammates. Exploring C-rank difficulty, farming undead materials. Dark Priests and puzzle-solvers preferred."

"'Twin Towers Fortress' pioneering expedition, recruiting one sharpshooter and one Heavy Armor Black Knight."

"'Plague Mine' farming Mystic Type materials. Departing in three days. Old Gun Luo is leading the team. Need a few Healing Profession members."

Hunters posted mission bounties at the guild, while Hunter Groups of all sizes could also post recruitment notices to find suitable teams to set out with.

It was Ji Xun's first time here, and he found it rather fascinating.

So besides the Anomaly 407 Containment Facility he had encountered before, this world contained many other Alternate Dimensions.

After glancing through the listings, he did not linger and instead headed toward an elevator off to the side.

The elevator descended to the third floor, where there was another massive tiered lecture hall.

The free classes explaining Spell Card knowledge were extremely popular. By the time Ji Xun arrived, several hundred people were already seated there.

But since it was basic card knowledge, most of those attending were young hunters and half-grown children, creating a lively atmosphere.

Ji Xun looked around, then took a seat in an inconspicuous corner.