Chapter 2020

One minute later.

Lin An nervously looked at the hammer in his hand and a white mask.

"War Star Level Equipment: Night Wander Mask"

"Value: 250 points"

After careful consideration, in the system's exchange function, Lin An pondered for a long time, finally chose this mask, preparing to engrave it, or rather to use it to strengthen the Death God Mask.

150 points of Will Boost, plus a Dark Vision Rule; although it's not much of a good thing, the Dark Vision can link with the Omniscient Domain to obtain more information.

After repeatedly weighing cost-effectiveness, Lin An ultimately chose this mask as a consumable.

Too expensive! The equipment sold by the system is really too expensive! Including the hammer's enhancement cost, he needs 350 points for each enhancement!

Moreover, as AnDayanzhuzi said, he needs to enhance it ten times to bring the Death God Mask to the Fourth Stage limit!

"Just activate the effect directly?"

One hand straining to hold the hammer, the other hand holding the mask, Lin An solemnly looked at 77.

Saying he's not nervous would be a lie; with such a huge cost, 77 also mysteriously claimed there would be a great surprise. Lin An thought back and forth, vaguely having guessed some.

If that's really the case, then this hammer isn't bad either; it could even be called heaven-defying!

"Yes, after activating the enhancement effect, just press the equipment onto the equipment you want to enhance. Actually, it's not necessarily required to do it ten times to reach the limit; theoretically, if you forcefully fuse, you might reach the limit in one go. But to be safe, let's just waste a bit."

Hearing Dayanzhuzi confirm the method, Lin An took a deep breath and decisively pressed the Night Wander Mask toward himself!

"Buzz!"

In an instant, only seeing the Star Forging Hammer and this War Star Level Equipment between them burst forth a strong suction; after a few breaths, Lin An felt a chill on his face, a faint sense of superposition, appearing instantly.

"Ding! Enhancement successful! Current progress 10%!"

"Ding, the Night Wander Mask has been consumed!"

"Crack!"

Almost simultaneously with the completion of the enhancement, the Night Wander Mask in Lin An's hand shattered and fell to the ground, turning into specks of starlight.

Not having time to feel sorry for the equipment just disappearing, Lin An hurriedly checked the enhancement effect of the Death God Mask.

Soon, a few seconds later, Lin An suddenly froze, mouth agape in shock, as if he couldn't believe his own eyes!

"This is..!?"

"Enhanced 1 point of Will!"

"Dayanzhuzi!? 77!!?"

Ten seconds later.

Lin An slowly closed his eyes, forcibly stabilizing his emotions.

Great, the effect of the equipment enhancement exceeded his imagination. He never expected that a single War Star Level Equipment would enhance him by 1 point of Will, simply comparable to the White Equipment he had never seen in his lifetime!

This single point of Will couldn't even break the limit; it's exactly the same as the most ordinary Equipment!

Alright, he didn't shout those last two sentences; he still had enough respect for Dayanzhuzi.

But it really messed with his mindset, it was so surprising.

Slowly opening his eyes, Lin An, upon opening his eyes, saw 77's big eyes smiling.

"Isn't it great?"

"As long as you consume another 9 War Star Level Equipment, you can enhance the mask to the limit. With another 90, you can enhance your mask to War Star!"

"Indeed... great."

His voice sounded as if squeezed out from his throat; Lin An suppressed the urge to smash the hammer over, asking the last hint of fantasy:

"So, Overseer, are you planning to let me enhance equipment like this? Consuming seven or eight hundred War Star Level Equipment, at least a hundred thousand points! Then enhance my Death God Set to War Star...?"

"When strengthening to the limit and advancing, are there any other effects? Does quantitative change lead to qualitative change?"

"I've thought about how trash this hammer is, but Lin An didn't expect it to be this trash."

"He originally thought the strengthening effect was just stacking attributes, and at worst the rules could also stack. Although wasteful, it wasn't a bad means to push combat power to the extreme."

"But.."

"1 point!? Even riding an old granny gives more attribute increase than this!"

"\"Correct. \""

"\"When strengthening to the limit, it will increase about 10 points of attributes, and when advancing, it will generate a rule imprint from the Equipment you consumed. You can choose the rule yourself, and it will definitely be the most basic kind. \""

"\"As long as your rule power is sufficient, you can use it infinitely. \""

"As the words fell, Lin An's eyes flickered, and he quickly pondered the value of this."

"Attribute addition equals nothing, but after advancing you can gain an extra rule?"

"This sounds... it might actually be somewhat useful?"

"Soon, Lin An furrowed his brows and finally reached a conclusion."

"Useful, but chicken rib."

"The most basic rules are still drawn from War Star Level Equipment. This means that aside from flexibility, their power and level are extremely low."

"If he doesn't study these rules, they will remain forever at the elementary level; the added combat power is somewhat useful at Fifth Stage, but after Fifth Stage it's almost garbage."

"Compared to the cost of consumption, it's simply not proportional!"

"\"You want me to break through system limits as much as possible and master more rules? But doing that, at most I'd just be invincible at Fifth Stage... \""

"\"If we calculate with seven pieces of Equipment, combined with my own three rules, are you planning to let me master ten rules by Fifth Stage? But... \""

"Lin An was puzzled."

"Just his own three rules already taxed him immensely."

"If he truly used Equipment as avatars and took an alternative multi-rule path, he'd likely be stuck at Fifth Stage for life! Not to mention the time cost, what's the difference between this and other saviors?"

"Or rather.."

You want me to get ahead and walk onto the path of those top saviors?

Those monsters about to break through come with multiple "systems", so Big Eye wants me to start doing this at the Fifth Stage?

But the efficiency is far too different, right? And doesn't Big Eye think that path is wrong?

With so many resources, strengthening anything else would only bring greater profit!

In the moment of eye contact, Number 77 didn't care about Lin An's confusion, only seeing him wave his tentacles, calmly speaking:

"Lin An, it's normal that you don't understand."

"You guessed half right on one point: I want you to be invincible at your rank, even to achieve invincibility when surpassing ranks!"

The tone shifted, Number 77 suddenly became solemn, and counter-questioned Lin An:

"Kid, I have a question for you."

"What do you think the system bases the difficulty on when you enter a mission or trial? And what does it base the reward calculation on?"

As the words fell, Lin An's expression froze, but soon his heart jolted as he recalled the reward notification from his Ghost Skull settlement!

What a quick reaction!

He realized he knew what Number 77 really wanted to do!

"My own strength! So, you want...?!"

"Yes!"

"The lower your strength before entering, the lower the mission difficulty! The higher the reward after completion! This process is already determined by the system upon entry!"

"You want to surpass Shi Xian, surpass the system's limits, surpass everyone! To do so, you must start with the lowest strength and complete the highest difficulty! Only by continually rolling the snowball can you possibly make it to the end!"

"And this hammer can let you strengthen yourself throughout every mission process!"

Having said that, Number 77 stared intently at the hammer in Lin An's hand.

In its eyes, this hammer, which could be called junk, is actually the biggest loophole he has found after all these years!

Of course, Lin An still needs something to complete this hammer.

Just complete it.

Maybe then he can make it to the end!