Chapter 236: Return, Sun-Surface Talent

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

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

【Trial zone: Cangmang Guling】

【Trial difficulty: D-rank (Normal)】

【Comprehensive evaluation: S】

【Rewards received: Paradise Coins ×10000, Attribute points +4】

【Strategic bonus: Basic Skill Crystals ×89 (S-rank: 0.02%)】

【Arena ranking reward: 10754】

【Net Paradise Points earned: 176164】

【Net Attribute points earned: 36】

——

“Of course, Arena points must be settled through evaluation and ranking—that’s the correct way.”

“If I relied on ten points per mission, I’d be grinding forever to finish.”

“But thirty-six attribute points? That’s way too many. If I add them all, my next trial will force me into the Sprint Class bonus dungeon.”

“I need to suppress my base stats.” Chu Danqing calculated: if he added them all, each attribute would rise by seven points.

His current base stats, except Constitution at 20, were all 18. Raising them to 25 would definitely trigger something.

That would mean he’d lose out.

“The higher the difficulty, the faster the growth after completion—the snowball effect is terrifying.” Chu Danqing sighed.

Mostly, he’d picked the right thigh—Chu Danqing provided all buffs, while the rest was handled by his summons and allies.

After returning, Chu Danqing immediately retrieved the Ziwei Jade Seal.

He then applied to the Paradise for Awakening Guidance service.

【Detected: Adept has completed S-rank Talent Awakening mission and possesses corresponding Awakening material.】

【This guidance service will consume the Awakening material and charge 10,000 Paradise Points as guidance fee.】

【Proceed?】

Ten thousand Paradise Points were negligible—Chu Danqing selected payment immediately.

It was clearly Paradise’s cost price, though the material was provided by Chu Danqing himself.

【Guidance initiated. Estimated duration: 1 hour 30 minutes.】

As Chu Danqing saw this Paradise prompt appear before him, he felt a certain power within him being slowly guided out.

Simultaneously, the Ziwei Jade Seal was instantly dissolved into a slurry by the Paradise, continuously releasing its contained energy as a guide to direct and enhance Chu Danqing’s inner power.

He knew this power was his Talent: Soul Walker—but its quality was too low, requiring external force to raise its upper limit.

During the Awakening, Chu Danqing felt no discomfort; instead, a warm, soothing sensation washed over him, like soaking in a hot bath.

This made him completely unaware of time passing.

One and a half hours slipped away silently.

【Awakening complete. You have obtained Talent: Sun-Surface.】

Chu Danqing snapped back to awareness, stared at the Paradise prompt, and his face twisted with complex emotion.

“Wait—you’re seriously telling me to go face-to-face with the strongest being of the seventh century?” Chu Danqing muttered in disbelief.

He already had Dragon-Charm Phoenix-Posture. Now he gets Sun-Surface too.

“I’m afraid I’ll get killed at the gate of Xuanwu Gate.” Chu Danqing felt he was in grave danger.

But then again—he probably wouldn’t encounter this Heavenly Khan, so his life safety wasn’t immediately at risk.

What? The man’s just an ordinary person? Not necessarily.

It depends on the version. In normal history, yes—he’d be ordinary.

But if it involves martial arts, cultivation, or mythology, even the best-case scenario starts with Buddha’s Radiance.

The worst case? Running into a Tang Taizong with a monk brother journeying west for true sutras.

He then opened the talent panel named Sun-Surface.

【Sun-Surface】

【Effect 1: Increase Charm by (average of five base attributes) points.】

【Effect 2: Increase Luck by (lowest of five base attributes × 10%) points.】

【Effect 3: Increase Soul Strength by (Charm + Luck) points.】

【Effect 4: Increase initial goodwill of trial world natives by 10%–100%.】

【Effect 5: For every 10 points of Charm, summons deal an additional 0.1% true damage.】

【Effect 6: For every 1 point of Luck, summons reduce incoming damage by 0.1%.】

【Effect 7: For every 1 point of Soul Strength, summons gain +0.1 to all attributes.】

【Effect 8: Increase maximum HP by (Soul Strength × 0.1)%】

【Effect 9: Increase maximum MP by (Soul Strength × 0.1)%】

Good news: he wouldn’t have to face Li Shimin—Sun-Surface had nothing to do with emperors.

Even better news: its strength was immense.

Chu Danqing felt the ten thousand Paradise Points weren’t just worth it—they were a massive profit.

Especially Soul Strength—Chu Danqing’s surge was absurd.

Base Charm: 12. Yunfeng Baiyu Seal: +1. Nine Tripods Map: +39. Sun-Surface added 18.4 from average attributes.

Total: 70.4 Charm—far exceeding Level-1 limits.

Then, 70.4 Charm plus Sun-Surface’s 1.8 Luck and Nine Tripods Map’s 6 Luck totaled 78.2 Luck.

Rounded up: 78 Soul Strength.

That meant +7.8 to all summon attributes, plus +7.8% to maximum HP and MP.

“If only I could get another special skill like Dragon-Charm Phoenix-Posture to boost Luck,” Chu Danqing sighed.

His only way to increase Luck now was through Sun-Surface’s bonus based on the lowest base attribute.

But this channel was far too limited.

He needed better options.

“Next: raise attributes, strengthen skills, purchase supplies.” Chu Danqing glanced at his Paradise Points.

This upgrade directly affected his next trial’s gains.

After muttering to himself, he headed to strengthen his attributes first.

This time, he didn’t boost all five base attributes.

【Strength: 18 → 20】

【Agility: 18 → 20】

【Constitution: 20】

【Spirit: 18 → 20】

【Perception: 18 → 20】

【Charm: 12】

【Remaining attribute points: 28】

After spending 8 points, Chu Danqing began the enhancement.

The agony remained, but compared to his previous massive leaps, the pain was bearable—though each time it grew worse.

Yet since this enhancement involved fewer points, the process was much faster.

Soon, his attribute enhancement was complete.

Chu Danqing emerged and, without pausing to recover, rushed to the Skill Chamber to strengthen his skills.

This time, he was upgrading Mountain-River Covenant.

“Good news: six universal skill points are usable, and one point raises it one level.”

“Bad news: Mountain-River Covenant maxes out at level 20.” Chu Danqing looked disappointed.

That meant a maximum 20% cost reduction—but elite-level skills naturally have caps.

He hadn’t known earlier that upgrading Mountain-River Covenant reduced costs; otherwise, he’d have leveled it long ago.

Now that he knew, he prioritized maxing it first.

【Mountain-River Covenant (Active) LV.10 → MAX: Cost (1/80/800/1600) Paradise Points to summon (1-lower/1-same/1-higher/2-higher) rank ally to fight for you. Hourly upkeep: (none/1/80/400) Paradise Points. Max allies: 12. Initial alliance rank cap: Level-3.】 (Consumes 6 universal skill points + 4000 Paradise Points)

As for other skills—he scanned: Level-1 King-Rook Swap, Level-10 Bodyguard, Level-15 Summon Enhancement.

All three cap at level 20; maxing them requires 59,000 Paradise Points.

“No rush—I’ll handle them later.” Chu Danqing upgraded Mountain-River Covenant first to save money.

Next, he’d head to the S-rank training chamber—Guo Ming and Xiong Zhigang must come too.

Since he had to upgrade anyway, better save the cost upfront.

Chu Danqing sighed: seventeen thousand he could burn through completely; one hundred seventy thousand? Same result.

Why didn’t he sell gear before heading to the training chamber? Because he needed Divine Might Heavenly King’s guidance—how to upgrade the Tai Ping Ring, Nine Sons Ghost Mother Map, Thousand Faces Martial Shadow Stone, and Beast-Mask War Cart Token.

If he sold the gear now, how would he ever get back what he needed?

“Next: procurement.” Chu Danqing arrived at the Adept Plaza and began purchasing resources for Dabao, Dabai, and Dagu according to their needs.

Mostly materials—low in value, but Chu Danqing bought only elite-grade or better.

He didn’t blink when buying, spending another thirty thousand Park Points.

Each person gets ten thousand Park Points’ worth of resources—Chu Danqing couldn’t possibly favor one over the other; both palms are flesh.

Chu Danqing went straight to the Life Apostles to purchase; if he had to visit each vendor individually, he’d waste far too much time.

After reaching Rank 1, while bartering wasn’t as severe as before, Chu Danqing had no desire to haggle with them.

Among the Life Apostles were figures akin to brokers or merchants who could help Chu Danqing acquire the materials he needed in a short time.

But they couldn’t be too valuable—if he asked them to buy anything of Exalted grade, it would be difficult.

As for fees, yes, they took a 1% cut.

Ten thousand points earned them one hundred points.

It wasn’t that they only wanted to earn this much; the Park imposed limits.

They could only take this percentage as commission.

From Chu Danqing’s thirty-thousand-point purchase, they could earn only three hundred Park Points.

It wasn’t a bad deal, since they collaborated with various factions and individual Apostles to distribute goods, and ultimately, the Park Points still flowed back to the Apostles themselves.

Otherwise, if Park Points flowed to these middlemen, how could the Park tolerate merchants with no trials or technical skills holding vast amounts of Park Points?

Yet the Park didn’t suppress them—it offered corresponding compensation, not just expecting the horse to run without letting it eat grass.

Within about half an hour, all the materials he needed were gathered; he paid the thirty thousand Park Points and headed to the cultivation chamber.

With all items collected, it was time to spend again.

As for Basic-level Skill Crystals, he’d use them after cultivating and synthesizing them into Proficient-level Skill Crystals.

The higher the Proficient skill rank, the greater the benefit, since it could directly raise a Proficient skill by one level.

Chu Danqing’s own cultivation and leveling became increasingly difficult the higher he rose.

(End of Chapter)