Chapter 195

【Transmission complete. Level-1 Dimensional Adept returned to Adept's personal space.】

【Beginning settlement of this Level-1 Dimensional Adept trial mission.】

【Trial zone: Linshen City.】

【Trial difficulty: A-rank (Hero).】

【Comprehensive evaluation: A.】

【Rewards obtained: Paradise Coins ×5000, Attribute Points +2.】

【Strategic royalty: 27 Basic Skill Crystals (total strategic resource extraction from No. Covenant's territory × evaluation rate: A-rank: 0. 1%).】

【Net Paradise Coin gain: 120030.】

【Net Attribute Point gain: 42.】

——

【Detected change in Adept permissions. Initiating relocation of living zone. Target zone: Level-1.】

【Living zone relocation complete. Paradise Coin value preservation mechanism activated.】

【Detected 50000 Paradise Coins in this balance originate from Level-1 zone savings cards with face value of 5000.】

【Valid notarized transaction receipts confirmed. Legal acquisition. Value preservation permitted without currency conversion deduction.】

【Level-1 permissions updated.】

——

Chu Danqing stared at the flood of prompts, as a torrent of new knowledge flooded his mind.

"Strategic royalty???" After processing this, Chu Danqing, looking slightly bewildered, pulled a Basic Skill Crystal from his storage space.

【Basic Skill Crystal】

【Type: Consumable】

【Quality: None】

【Effect 1: Use to raise a Basic Skill by one level.】

【Effect 2: Ignore skill quality or type; raise any skill level between 1 and 10 by one level.】

（Note: Ten Basic Skill Crystals can be combined into one Proficient Skill Crystal.

Chu Danqing fell silent upon seeing this.

"So the Paradise, leveraging the Shanhe Covenant, directly extracts Basic Skills through Xiong's territory, then pays me Skill Crystals as dividends based on my evaluation?"

Seeing this strategic royalty, he felt a bad omen.

"Don't make my treasure items disappear," Chu Danqing muttered. He didn't believe he could still convert treasure items into Paradise Coins after receiving royalties.

"Second, the royalty amount—it's based on Xiong's territory size."

"The larger Xiong's territory, the stronger his Military Lord class, the more Skill Crystals I get."

The Paradise didn't directly tell Chu Danqing to push Xiong Zhigang to expand, but if he wanted more, he'd have to figure it out himself.

"Just this one time, the Paradise extracted 270, 00 Basic Skills," Chu Danqing muttered.

He began thinking how to discuss territorial expansion with Xiong Zhigang.

Then his gaze shifted to the Paradise Coins—still 120, 00, but their value had appreciated.

The simplest example: he could pay the Paradise a 1% fee to create a 100-point Paradise Savings Card.

In Level-1 territory, it would be a loss—but if he sent this card down to Reserve-level zones, its face value would multiply tenfold.

Of course, some had tried profiting from this price gap, but the Paradise had comprehensive oversight and audit mechanisms.

Strict limits, no secondary trading, only one downward transfer allowed, no illegal sales—all enforced.

What about a Level-1 Adept giving the card to a Reserve-level Adept to manage?

Sending money was fine, but transferring profits back to higher zones would be instantly detected and seized by the Paradise.

Savings cards are meant for higher-level Adepts to support lower-level ones—not for profit.

They're of little use to small teams or loners, but extremely valuable to large factions.

"Paradise Coins are preserved in value—so quality has depreciated," Chu Danqing muttered.

After ascending to Level-1, the quality hierarchy of gear, items, and consumables had shifted.

In Reserve-level, Common was the baseline, Excellent the core, and Fine the ceiling.

Now, Common had been eliminated.

Common-tier treasure chests no longer appeared in Level-1 trials.

Common-tier healing consumables offered negligible benefit to him as a Level-1 Dimensional Adept—barely better than useless.

A new hierarchy emerged: Excellent became the baseline, Fine the core, and the newly unlocked Superior the new ceiling.

Previously, in Reserve-level, you could buy Common-tier Paradise Coins. Now, in Level-1, you could buy Excellent-tier.

Paradise Coin value didn't depreciate with Adept advancement—it appreciated with rank.

This meant he'd never again need millions or tens of millions of Paradise Coins to raise a skill by one level.

Even the Shanhe Covenant's handling fees dropped sharply: Common now cost 1 point, Excellent 100, Fine only 1000.

The newly introduced Superior tier replaced Fine, requiring 5000 Paradise Coins as handling fee.

For example, the Magic Mechanical Insect Bloodline—Superior quality—its attributes were now fully unlocked.

The set dropped by the Holy Empress Dowager remained a mystery.

Clearly higher than Superior—no surprise, given it came from a Fate Chest.

He guessed the corresponding quality wouldn't unlock until Level-2.

Chu Danqing knew selling it now wouldn't fetch even one percent of its original value.

He'd be losing big—catastrophically.

So he decided to wait and observe before acting.

【Adept has completed A-rank trial. Proceed promptly to Attribute Chamber to select and reinforce Attribute Passives, completing Life Tier advancement.】

The Paradise's prompt appeared in time—Chu Danqing had passed the trial, but not yet advanced.

Without delay, Chu Danqing took Da Bao and Da Bai to the Reinforcement Chamber to begin.

"After Level-1, attribute points can be increased again—cap raised to 30."

Chu Danqing began allocating his 42 Attribute Points across the five stats.

【Strength: 10 → 18】

【Agility: 10 → 18】

【Constitution: 10 → 20】

【Spirit: 10 → 18】

【Perception: 10 → 18】

The extra two points went to Constitution—he didn't fight directly, so survival came first. Constitution offered the greatest advantage.

Allocation complete—but reinforcement didn't begin. Instead, new Attribute Passives appeared.

——

【Strength · Attribute Passive: Choose 1】

【Blood Sacrifice Blade (Fitted · Rare): For every 0. % health lost, summoned creatures' attack power increases by 1% (max 100 stacks).】

【Armor Shatter Cone (Rare): Each hit against armored or shielded targets reduces armor or shield by 1. % (doubles effect on energy shields); after 5 stacks, triggers a minor area shockwave.】

【Stable Stance (Common): When standing still, defense increases by 3%.】

——

【Agility · Attribute Passive: Choose 1】

【Spirit Blade Dance (Fitted · Rare): Each time a summoned creature hits an enemy or a skill lands, attack/casting speed increases by 1% (lasts 1 minute, max 100 stacks; duration refreshes with each stack).】

【Efficient Rhythm (Rare): After three consecutive hits on the same target, the fourth attack deals +10% damage, the fifth attack gains +10% speed.】

【Precise Throw (Common): Accuracy of thrown items/weapons increases by 5%.】

——

【Constitution · Attribute Passive: Choose 1】

【Symbiotic Armor (Fitted · Rare): 10% of damage taken by the Adept is shared among all summoned creatures present. If any summoned creature absorbs more than 10% of its own HP in shared damage within 24 hours, its attack power increases by 10% for 24 hours.】

【Powerful Tendons (Rare): After limb injury, consume 10% current HP to heal the wound.】

【Resilient Bones (Common): Reduce life loss by 5% when suffering fracture-type damage.】

——

【Spirit · Attribute Passive: Choose 1】

【Bandwagon Psychology (Fitted · Rare): When more than 10 summoned creatures are present, each additional one increases mana regeneration efficiency for the Adept and all summoned creatures by 10% (max 10 stacks).】

【Mana Siphon (Rare): When a skill hits an enemy, steal 2 mana and convert it into a shield (shield value = stolen amount; duration independent, non-refreshable, non-stackable).】

【Focused Fragment (Common): Reduce mana cost of skills by 10 points (minimum 1 point cost retained).】

——

【Perception · Attribute Passive: Choose 1】

【King's Contempt (Fitted · Rare): All summoned creatures possess an aura pressure equal to (Spirit + Perception × 10%) points. Enemies failing resistance checks suffer corresponding negative effects.】

【Trajectory Prediction (Rare): When ranged attacks (arrows, thrown objects, etc.) enter within (Perception × 0. ) meters, their trajectory is automatically predicted—ineffective against area damage.】

【Scent Recognition (Common): Can identify common scents within 1 meter.】

——

Chu Danqing glanced once—and without hesitation, selected all three first options bearing the "Fitted · Rare" suffix.

He didn't even glance at common suffixes, but he seriously checked the rare ones—just in case one had an effect on his summons.

Turns out he overthought it; none of them suited him, not a single one.

All these rare suffix passive attributes required him to land direct attacks to trigger them—but if Chu Danqing was already striking directly, he was already on the brink of death.

Fandao ， the Qihe ·rare suffix passive attributes were not only far better suited to him, but also vastly stronger than both rare and common ones.

The harder the trial, the better the reward—surely the three options' passive attributes couldn't possibly be equal.

Then what would the A-rank trial even be, a joke?

After making his choice, Chu Danqing initiated the enhancement.

As for the anesthetic function, Chu Danqing noted he currently had 120, 00 Paradise Points.

But since he had just advanced to Rank 1, expenses would surely pile up—he'd save it for next time.

"Holy shit!!!"

As the enhancement began, Chu Danqing's voice rose sharp and twisted, the pain at least ten times worse than the last time's ten-point boost.

(End of Chapter)