Divine abilities, Awakened Ones!

Lin An's sudden attack made Lin Xiao's expression change drastically.

He was just about to speak when wisps of black energy rose above Physician Liu's head, gathering into the form of a black tiger.

Roar...

A tiger's roar erupted immediately afterward, sweeping toward Lin An.

But the next instant, a glimmer of spiritual light enveloped Lin An, and the barrier of light blocked the sound completely.

Lin Xiao had acted.

The black tiger cast an unwilling glance at Lin An before finally dissipating into the world.

At that moment, the game system's voice rang out repeatedly.

[Player successfully killed the Sin Beast Resentful Tiger (Black Iron, sixth grade), gaining 1 attribute point.]

[Player detected to be an ordinary person who has yet to become a martial artist. For killing a Sin Beast for the first time, you may randomly obtain one of its abilities, converted into your own divine ability.]

[Congratulations on obtaining a new divine ability: Resentful Tiger's Eye.]

[Resentful Tiger's Eye]: Allows you to see through an enemy's weaknesses and the flow of energy.

[Congratulations on becoming the first player to possess a divine ability. Additional reward obtained: Divine Ability Upgrade Stone.]

[Divine Ability Upgrade Stone]: A rare item that upgrades one of your divine abilities upon use.

[A server-wide announcement will be made shortly. Would you like to hide your name?]

[Congratulations on becoming the first player to kill a Sin Beast. Additional reward obtained: Title-First Blood.]

[First Blood]: A server-exclusive title. Increases damage dealt to Sin Beasts by 5%.

[A server-wide announcement will be made shortly. Would you like to hide your name?]

Lin An was somewhat dazed by the string of messages that popped up.

He had expected benefits from killing a Sin Beast, but he had not expected so many.

He had even received a title.

"A server-wide announcement? I'm the only one on the server right now, aren't I?"

With that thought, Lin An immediately chose not to hide his name.

[Server-wide announcement: Congratulations to player Lin An on obtaining the server's first divine ability!]

[Server-wide announcement: Player Lin An has killed the server's first Sin Beast!]

The server-wide announcements alternated three times. Unfortunately, Lin An was the server's only player, so he was the only one who could hear them.

Before he could check his rewards, Lin An suddenly felt fatherly love descend upon him.

"An'er, are you all right?"

"It was my fault. I failed to recognize that he was possessed by a Sin Beast and nearly caused a terrible mistake."

Lin Xiao examined Lin An carefully, his eyes filled with lingering fear.

He had only this one son. If his own carelessness had gotten him killed, he dared not imagine how he would spend the rest of his life.

"Father, I'm fine."

Lin An shook his head as he spoke.

Only after confirming that Lin An was indeed unharmed did Lin Xiao breathe a sigh of relief.

Then, seemingly remembering something, he looked at Lin An with delighted surprise. "Your condition..."

Lin An paused. He had thought his father would ask how he had discovered that Physician Liu was possessed by a Sin Beast, but he had not expected his condition to be his father's first concern.

"Father, I think my illness is cured," Lin An said.

"Cured?"

Although he had already suspected as much, Lin Xiao still found it somewhat hard to believe.

He had tried so many methods and invited who knew how many physicians, yet none had cured his son's illness.

And now he was suddenly cured?

"Yes. All these years, it was as though I'd entered a strange place, leaving me muddleheaded the whole time. I only came to my senses last night."

Lin An nodded. "And after I came to my senses, I discovered that I seemed to have gained an ability to sense Sin Beasts..."

Hearing Lin An's words, Lin Xiao's eyes flickered. He seemed to have thought of something, and his expression gradually grew excited.

"An Awakened One! Could you be one of the legendary Awakened Ones?" Lin Xiao asked urgently.

"An Awakened One?" Lin An looked curious.

Inwardly, however, he thought that his father really was knowledgeable. Had he not brought it up, Lin An would have needed to invent more of the story about being an Awakened One.

Awakened Ones showed no signs at first and were no different from ordinary people. Once they awakened, they gained special abilities.

Players were called Descenders, not Awakened Ones, and becoming an Awakened One was no easier for them than for the natives.

At least, Lin An had never heard of an Awakened One appearing among the players in his previous life.

He only knew that Awakened Ones existed because an expert in his previous life had come across information about them and posted it on the forum, where he had read it.

After seeing that Physician Liu was possessed by a Sin Beast, he had already decided to pose as an Awakened One. It would also conveniently explain his changes.

Lin Xiao then told Lin An some information about Awakened Ones.

"Who would have thought our family would produce another Awakened One?" Lin Xiao said with a sigh of emotion at the end.

"Father, what do you mean? Has our family had an Awakened One before?" Lin An asked in surprise.

"That's right. Do you know how long Shenglin City has existed?"

"Seven hundred years. And the one who founded Shenglin City was none other than our Lin Family's ancestor."

Lin Xiao smiled. "Our ancestor was an Awakened One, and extremely powerful. The 'Lin' in Shenglin City refers to our Lin Family."

Understanding dawned on Lin An. No wonder his father had not doubted at all that he was an Awakened One. The Lin Family already had the genes for it.

"What happened to that ancestor?" Lin An asked.

He knew perfectly well that he was not an Awakened One, but since the Lin Family's ancestor had been one, perhaps he could obtain a method of becoming one himself.

"I don't know. Only scattered fragments of that ancestor's deeds have been passed down."

Lin Xiao said, "But that doesn't matter now. You have become an Awakened One too, so you could be said to have inherited our ancestor's aspirations. Our Lin Family will surely continue to prosper."

The thought of his son being an Awakened One filled Lin Xiao with excitement.

Lin An smiled as well, but inwardly, he was not particularly optimistic. After all, he knew very well that Shenglin City would fall in less than two years.

He had to seize the time to increase his strength.

And to increase his strength quickly, aside from resources, the most important thing was hunting Sin Beasts.

But in his current state, leaving the city to hunt Sin Beasts would be tantamount to suicide.

"Fortunately, there are Sin Beasts right here in Shenglin City. I may not be a martial artist yet, but my ready-made dad happens to be the strongest person in Shenglin City."

Lin An thought to himself, "Once I find a Sin Beast, I'll have my ready-made dad subdue it, then finish it off myself. That way, I can gain attribute points."

Attribute points were the single most important cultivation resource for players, bar none.

"Father, now that I've awakened and gained the ability to detect Sin Beasts..."

"There must still be quite a few Sin Beasts hiding in Shenglin City. This would be a good chance to deal with them."

Lin An immediately continued, "And I also need to kill Sin Beasts to improve my awakened ability."

"Oh? Your awakened ability needs to be fed by killing Sin Beasts?"

"In that case, what are we waiting for? We can give Shenglin City a thorough cleansing while we're at it."

Lin Xiao did not doubt him in the slightest. After all, his understanding of Awakened Ones was limited. Had his ancestor not been one, he probably would not even have known what an Awakened One was.

Since his son needed to hunt Sin Beasts to increase his strength, then they would kill Sin Beasts.

Lin Xiao immediately waved his hand and brought Lin An to the highest point of the city lord's residence.

"Son, this is our home!"

Lin Xiao said.

Lin An looked down, taking in all of Shenglin City.

Clearly, the home Lin Xiao spoke of did not refer solely to the city lord's residence, but to the whole of Shenglin City.