Chapter 240: How Can You Grow Strong Without Spending All Your Paradise Points?

{Current synthesis equipment: Tai Ping Ring, Nine Sons Ghost Mother Map, Fei Huang Cloud Mane Chariot, Thousand Faces Shadow Stone, Beasts’ Mask War Chariot Command}

{Estimated completion time: 5 hours}

Synthesis began. This one would take five hours. After glancing at it, Guo Ming first learned the four skills he had acquired: Array Defense, Soul’s Blessing, Sacrificial Bone Armor, and Last Breath Burst.

He then went to the Skill Chamber to upgrade his skills, all while pondering a question.

That question was how to use his Basic Skill Crystals. Originally, he had planned to convert them all into Proficient Skill Crystals to boost his Proficient skills.

Proficient skills were the foundation of the system—learning them was the point; otherwise, you only gained a few percentage points.

At his current strength level, percentage bonuses were too weak; leveling up further wouldn’t be worth it.

“Knowledge is power, but my knowledge isn’t yet enough to buy real power.”

“So first, boost my power.” Guo Ming made his decision, keeping 60 Basic Skill Crystals to raise each of his six Proficient skills by one level.

The remaining 42 were used to upgrade skills.

Otherwise, his Paradise Points wouldn’t last.

—

{Bodyguard (Active) LV.10 → LV.MAX: Spend 50% of maximum mana to gain a shield equal to that amount, forcibly summon a designated summon to your side and grant it a 20% boost to all attributes, increase movement speed of all summons moving toward you by 40%, duration 20 minutes} (Cost: 20,000 Paradise Points)

—

{Summon Enhancement (Passive) LV.15 → LV.MAX: Summon’s five core attributes +20%, HP +20%, mana +20%, attack +20%, defense +20%, negative effect resistance +20%} (Cost: 10,000 Paradise Points)

—

{King’s Swap (Passive) LV.1 → LV.MAX: When attacked, forcibly swap positions with a designated summon within (Spirit × 2) meters; each swap consumes (1 meter × 10) mana} (Cost: 9 Basic Skill Crystals + 20,000 Paradise Points)

—

{Array Defense (Active) LV.1 → LV.20: After activation, consume (number of designated summons × 1) mana per minute to continuously transfer your shield to designated summons; transfer stops when a designated summon reaches 30% of your maximum shield value} (Cost: 9 Basic Skill Crystals + 20,000 Paradise Points)

(Note: Shield on summons decays over time.)

(Note: When the skill is active, shield decay is immediately replenished by transfer.)

(Note: Shield strength inherits your own shield strength.) —

{Soul’s Blessing (Passive) LV.1 → LV.10: For every 2% HP lost, summons gain 1% damage reduction and 5% healing effectiveness boost (stacks up to 10 layers)} (Cost: 9 Basic Skill Crystals)

—

{Sacrificial Bone Armor (Passive) LV.1 → LV.MAX: For every 5% HP lost, summons gain 5% defense (stacks up to 10 layers)} (Cost: 9 Basic Skill Crystals + 10,000 Paradise Points)

—

{Last Breath Burst (Passive) LV.1 → LV.MAX: When an Apostle’s HP drops to 50%, all summons gain +10 to all attributes} (Cost: 6 Basic Skill Crystals + 13,000 Paradise Points)

—

After this round of skill upgrades, Guo Ming had only 60 Basic Skill Crystals left, and his Paradise Points plummeted to 11,558.

“The Paradise Points needed to upgrade a Fine skill from level 10 to 20 during the Reserve Rank were unchanged—2,000 points per level.”

“But for Fine skills learned at Rank 1, upgrading from level 1 to max level 20 costs only 1,000 Paradise Points per level.”

“Raising my own rank lowered the cost of upgrading skills.”

“So it’s best to max out skills before leveling up—otherwise, after upgrading, Paradise Points gain value, and you’ll lose out.” Guo Ming stared at the Fine skills, noticing nearly half the cost difference.

Then, Guo Ming synthesized his remaining 60 Basic Skill Crystals into 6 Proficient Skill Crystals, and raised each of his six Proficient skills by one level.

Knowledge flooded his mind again—thankfully, only one level, so he could bear it, though the content remained difficult, requiring careful study and thought.

{Summoning / Summoning Art / Cultivation / Harmonization / Spirit Taming / Dominion Proficient: LV.5}

{Skill Effect: Increase summon’s all attributes / talents, skill effects, bloodline effects, affinity tendency, spirit, and summoning cost by 10% × 4 / 10 / -10, .}

After leaving the Skill Chamber, Guo Ming returned to his personal room, lay down to rest, and waited for the equipment synthesis to finish.

“I can still free up 858 Paradise Points—then…” Guo Ming planned how to use this tiny amount.

It wasn’t enough to strengthen skills.

“But there is one other use—it’s just 142 points short.”

“Where can I get that?” Guo Ming’s face darkened.

If he could scrape up another 142 points to make 858 into 1,000, he could perform a +1 enhancement after equipment synthesis.

Ninety percent success rate—failure was unlikely.

Then it would be simple: he still had twelve 1–3 level Equipment Enhancement Stones; use two to enhance to +3, then combine the remaining ten into one 4th-level Enhancement Stone.

In this way, Guo Ming could possess one piece of equipment enhanced to +4.

But now he was 142 points short—the plan died before birth.

“Wait—I think I do have something to sell.” Guo Ming narrowed his eyes and pulled something from his storage space.

Ling Ming Pill: When consumed by a summon, increases spirit by 1 point.

He had crafted twenty earlier; Da Bao, Da Bai, and Da Gu each used one—now he had seventeen left.

“Too bad it’s only Excellent quality—can only be used once, and at Rank 1, permanent summons gain only 0.05 spirit per pill.”

“I’ll trade 142 Paradise Points—I can sell them.” Guo Ming immediately set out.

This time, he wouldn’t wait at a stall—he had to find buyers himself.

After checking at the Apostle Plaza’s central terminal, he quickly picked a target and offered 150 Paradise Points per pill.

The buyer glanced and slashed it by a tenth: “Fifteen per pill.”

The boost was too small—just 0.05 spirit. Unless you thought even a mosquito’s leg was meat, you wouldn’t buy.

What about using it on newly acquired summons below Rank 1 to get full effect?

That might work in the Reserve Rank zone—but this was the Rank 1 zone.

You can sell, but if no one cares, you’re ignored.

Guo Ming didn’t haggle. After walking around, he sold ten pills for 150 Paradise Points total.

“Hard to sell.” Guo Ming quickly left.

At a stall, no one would buy. Selling personally worked a bit—but he’d rather read and study than waste time hawking.

At first glance, it looked like pure profit—but if success were that easy, wouldn’t everyone be rich?

Do you really think other Apostles are fools, all wanting to fight instead of making money?

Even street vendors selling the same snack have some packed and others in debt.

Guo Ming knew he had no talent for business—he wouldn’t venture into unknown fields.

“But I could sell the recipe.” Guo Ming muttered.

“Then again, it’s probably hard to sell too.”

“Next time, give it to Guo Ming—let the Guo family’s specialists analyze it and see if they can upgrade it to Fine quality.”

“That might become a steady income stream.”

Guo Ming had thought of a solution, but it wouldn’t solve much.

Mainly because thirty days was too short—enough for rest, but not enough for other ventures.

Fortunately, Guo Ming wasn’t greedy—he believed in doing his best.

If he got it, great; if not, he’d carve his own path through effort.

Guo Ming pushed all these thoughts aside. He had no business sense—he’d stick to steady, methodical growth and avoid getting tangled.

Back in his room, Guo Ming’s gaze fell on the equipment synthesizer.

Five hours was still long—even after he’d been out for over an hour, it was still slowly fusing.

“I wonder what it’ll turn out to be.” Guo Ming said, then bent over his book.

Time passed swiftly. The Paradise notification appeared.

{Equipment synthesis complete. You obtained: Eight Steeds Ascending Dragon Chariot}

The equipment synthesizer shattered. A talisman fell to the ground.

Guo Ming stared, surprised.

Wasn’t this supposed to be a chariot? Why a talisman?

When he picked it up and examined it, he realized—it was a dual-form equipment.

He tucked it away, then called Da Bao, Da Bai, and Da Gu: “Come on—let’s enhance the equipment!”

Da Bao, who had been watching an animated show, leapt up, grabbed Da Gu in his left hand, and yanked Da Bai from his head, shoving him back onto Guo Ming’s body.

“Enhance. Equipment.” Da Bao was thrilled.

Because Guo Ming was poor, Da Bao had never been to the Enhancement Hall.

Not just him—even Guo Ming had never gone.

But Guo Ming, though poor, wasn’t stingy—he sometimes took Da Bao and the others to the amusement facilities in Leyuan.

These facilities weren’t expensive—they were built by Life Apostles, so admission was low.

Most cost just one Paradise Point per day, though inside purchases were slightly pricier.

For Da Bao, it wasn’t very fun.

Mainly because his size made most equipment unusable—he mostly just walked around.

“Little Guo, let me, let me enhance.” Da Bao, eager to try enhancing equipment, spoke shyly.

“Fine, you do it.” Guo Ming didn’t care.

Opening treasure chests or upgrading equipment in Leyuan wasn’t dependent on luck—anyone could do it.

Whether a chest yielded good items depended on its quality; enhancing equipment depended on materials and the item’s own mechanics.

In some ways, it was fair—at least, non-lucky users wouldn’t fail 90% of the time.

Success rate in enhancement was more like an evolution of the equipment—whether it succeeded could only be known after the attempt.

(End of chapter)