Chapter 57

case

v「Equipment Name: Skull of Resentment (Blue)」

「Equipment Effect: Will +3, Mental Power upper limit increased by 50%, Mental recovery speed +30%。」

「Equipment Special Effect: Immune to mental attacks below 20 Will! Reduces damage within 25 Will by 20%! Reduces damage within 35 Will by 10%! 」

「Equipment Skill: Mental Phantasm, upon release creates corresponding illusion based on target's thoughts, putting the target into an illusion state. During casting, cannot move, cannot attack. 」

「Equipment Evaluation: The third skull of the Suturer, a conglomeration of resentment. 」

。。。。。

Looking at the Skull of Resentment in his hand, Lin An fell silent.

The attribute effects are not bad, especially the 50% increase in Mental Power, which is downright monstrous.

Reducing mental attack damage is basically a copy of the Black Dragon's talent.

Physical damage is reduced by the Suturer's carapace, while mental damage is resisted by the Skull of Resentment.

If he were given another piece of elemental resistance equipment, Lin An seriously doubts whether any player could harm him for a long time to come.

High attack, high defense, fast speed, strong Mental Power—now I can say I have almost no weaknesses.

With Lin An's Will attribute now as high as 20.8, converting it gives nearly 208 points of Mental Power.

(One Second-Level Mutant provides spiritual energy equivalent to four First-Level Mutants, therefore Lin An's player level is Level 2. Will attribute increased from 19.8 to 20.8.)

Plus, after the Black Dragon devoured equipment and gave back a 20% increase to his Mental Power upper limit, he also activated Power Burst and the Skull of Resentment.

20.8 (base Will) +3 (Skull of Resentment) +2 (Power Burst) *1.7*10 (1 Will converts to 10 Mental Power)

He can raise his Mental Power to as high as 438 points! This is nearly the level of a Third-Level Spiritual Awakened One.

Moreover, it also fortunately comes with a rare control skill. Although you cannot move or attack while using it, it is still quite powerful.

In the Doomsday Game, control skills are extremely rare, after all, a moment's distraction in a battle between Awakened Ones and Mutants can decide life or death.

Like the skill attached to the Soul-Shattering Hand, even though it's so powerful, it only causes a brief dizziness due to mental shock.

That is, when attacking a Suturer, which is a unity of three wills, it performed quite well, and by chance produced a mental confusion effect that controlled it for a period.

If this equipment fell into the hands of an Elemental Awakened One, they'd probably laugh themselves unconscious.

But the problem is, Lin An.

No, not a single team member has a skill that consumes a large amount of Mental Power.

Even Wen Ya, if not continuously releasing Mental Power Barriers, her high amount of Mental Power alone would be sufficient.

However, speaking of skills..

A white light flashed in Lin An's hand, and two skill books appeared.

Not much expectation.

Just by their names, the two skills belong to melee Awakened Ones, and being C-rank, they probably aren't that strong.

Moreover, although the skills won't occupy the Awakened One's talent skill slot, they will take up a slot in the player's skill bar.

Each player level can only learn one skill, and once learned, it cannot be changed.

However, I don't have any player skills yet, so let's take a look first.

「C-rank Skill: Berserk Charge」

「Skill Effect: Consumes 70 Mental Power, after locking onto a target launches a charge attack with Strength attribute *1.1, during the charge reduces slow and limp effects. 」

「C-rank Skill: Flesh Healing」

「Skill Effect: Consumes 100 Mental Power, accelerates wound healing. (Cannot regenerate limbs, gains bonus based on Constitution attribute.)」

As expected, the two skills are exactly as anticipated.

Compared to the Awakened Ones' talent skills, player skills are really somewhat lacking.

Berserk Charge, consuming 70 Mental Power corresponds to 7 Will attribute. For other players at this stage, basically releasing Mental Power once would drain it completely.

A 1.1x damage bonus is almost the same as none.

Only Flesh Healing is somewhat useful, usable after combat ends.

In the Doomsday Game, recovery props are not common; after being injured, players mostly rely on self-healing.

Eh, having Zhang Tie learn these two skills isn't bad.

His Will attribute determines he cannot learn high-consumption skills; these two skills happen to make him into a charge berserker.

For Lin An, he still prefers to learn elemental skills.

After all, his Will attribute is so high; not learning high-consumption skills would be a real waste.

「Zhang Tie. 」

「Hmm, Lin Dui? What's up? 」

Zhang Tie, who had been having a blast all the way, turned his head in confusion to look at Lin An.

「I'll give you a few good things. 」

Lin An casually threw the suture thread and the two skill books into his embrace.

The increase in strength also brought about a broadening of horizons and an elevation of mindset.

White-colored items, the two skill books are not particularly precious in Lin An's eyes now.

But in actuality, in the Doomsday Game, each of these three items could cause players to fight tooth and nail.

Especially the suture thread; even Awakened Ones would be willing to pay a huge price for it.

「Lin Dui, is this for me? 」

The moment Zhang Tie touched the item, he received a system notification.

A few seconds later, his breathing became rapid. He found it hard to believe.

Especially, the suture thread can repair limbs; for him, it is a longed-for item.

"Lin Dui, this thing should still be given to you. I..."

Zhang Tie's expression was conflicted; these days' experiences likewise made him realize the importance of strength.

He simply lacks scheming, but that doesn't mean he's an idiot.

Suture Thread, two skill books undoubtedly can turn an ordinary player into someone whose strength is not much different from his.

It can even be said to allow ordinary people to instantly possess the capital needed to survive in the Doomsday Game.

But...

"Lin Dui, it's not that I don't want it. I just feel I have no right to take your things."

Zhang Tie gave a wry smile and seriously said to Lin An:

"When we first met, you saved my life. Later, when I accompanied you to the hospital, I didn't help much, and when we killed the Suturer, I also didn't play any role."

"Instead, you even wasted a Blood Stone to save me."

"My strength is so weak; maybe we shouldn't waste these things."

Lin An blinked slightly; he had thought Zhang Tie would gladly accept the item.

But...

Do you think your strength is too weak, that you haven't helped at all?

Lin An laughed and shook his head.

"Your strength is not weak."

"It's just that the enemies we've faced lately are different."

Zhang Tie didn't speak, just turned off the music in the car. He thought Lin An was merely comforting himself.

Lin An felt a bit of a headache, but he didn't blame Zhang Tie for thinking that.

Since encountering him, the enemies we face are either third rank or peak second rank.

Other players mostly encounter small groups of zombies; the strongest foe they might face is merely a Licker, which is nowhere near as dangerous as theirs.

By common sense, if Zhang Tie hadn't followed him, he could certainly single-handedly gather a hundred-strong squad and act as its leader.

Ordinary small zombie groups, he can easily handle alone.

"Any Awakened One is not weak! Zhang Tie, remember this."

"Take the items; only when you become strong can you help me."

"Moreover, you must protect Youwei. He is your sister; the only person she can truly rely on is you."

Lin An has never been stingy; he won't hesitate to give three items to his comrades for their use.

Among the current squad members, there is indeed a need for someone who can fight side by side with him, serving as a vanguard to clear the path.

After establishing the Safe Zone, facing the first wave of zombie tide attacks, relying solely on him cannot hold up.

Zhang Tie looked at his sleeping sister in the rearview mirror, then nodded heavily and silently accepted it.

"Ding, member Zhang Tie, loyalty increased to max (100/100) die-hard."

Lin An smiled faintly; he indeed hadn't misjudged the person.

Only the Resentful Skull in his hand gave him a bit of a headache.

It's kinda useless.

Given his current willpower attribute, the mental power consumed by that burst of strength is negligible.

Moreover, in a prolonged battle, the mental power shared by Wen Ya would be enough to sustain his continuous combat.

Zhang Tie having learned the skill is fine, but this equipment isn't of much use to him either. His willpower attribute is too low, so the bonuses don't take effect.

As for Mo Ling, since she can't become an Awakened One, she basically has no use for mental power.

An artifact that could be called a 'Mage' ends up in his hands with no place to be used.

Huh, wait a moment.

Strictly speaking, I seem to have a 'skill' that consumes a large amount of mental power!

"Soul Shriek!"

Lin An suddenly recalled this skill. Although it is extremely powerful, previously charging the glove directly drained him unconscious, leaving him with lingering fear.

Subconsciously, he hardly ever thought of actively charging the glove anymore.

"Black Dragon, can my current mental power manage to charge the glove?!"

Lin An picked up the black snake on his wrist and shook it, trying to wake it.

"Hiss."

The Black Dragon dissatisfiedly flicked its tongue; as a juvenile, it's hardly different from a snake.

"Charging... not enough."

"At least 1200 points."

"Charging now would still cause fainting; too many fainting spells will kill you."

The Black Dragon's words instantly poured a bucket of cold water on Lin An.

1200 points...

No wonder last time charging almost drained him to a husk.

"Can you still help me charge it!? Or if I let Wen Ya activate mental power sharing, can the two of us manage to charge without fainting?!"

Fainting again would mean death? Though thinking about it, that state is hardly different from a vegetative state.

This also dispelled his idea of charging even if it meant fainting.

After all, Soul Shriek is really too useful.

Lin An was unwilling to give up, his eyes eagerly gazing at the Black Dragon that wanted to sleep.

"Not enough."

"Perhaps due to frequent communication, the Black Dragon's speech has become increasingly fluent, though its tone is somewhat unhappy."

"The two of you together are still short by about 500 points."

"Only when full do I have the strength to help you; I'm hungry now. I need to sleep."

"After saying that, the Black Dragon ignored Lin An, coiled around his wrist, and continued to sleep."

"Only when full do I have strength?"

"Lin An remained silent."

"He still hoped the Black Dragon would awaken this time to help him fight, but it seems there's little hope for that in the short term."

"The Black Dragon has been fully fed twice: once by eating its own Epic Tier Equipment, and once by eating a top-tier Second Level Mutant."

"Trying to fill this guy up is really difficult."

"I'm powerless to complain."

"It looks like we need to quickly raise the Awakened Ones' level."

"After killing a Second Level Stitcher, he still needs 12 First Level Mutants or 4 Second Level ones to reach the next level."

"Given his current strength, Second Level foes pose no threat unless they are top-tier."

"Upon becoming a Second Level Awakened One, he can unlock his second talent skill."

"Hopefully it is a skill that consumes a large amount of spiritual power; otherwise it would truly waste his current attributes."

"Second Level..."

"Once he reaches Second Level, mastering an elemental skill will bring a qualitative leap to his strength."

".........."

"After turning off the music, Zhang Tie seemed to have something on his mind."

"The off-vehicle ran smoothly, the Mercedes on the highway; the three women in the back seat fell into a deep sleep."

"After equipping the Skull of Resentment, Lin An felt his already strong spiritual power surge noticeably, and his thoughts became clearer."

"After tallying the spoils, it's also time to check what mission the Savior has released."