Chapter 167

Li Cheng once again saved Jiang Shaoxi unharmed, completing Task Objectives One and Two, eliminated Jiang Zhihui, and arranged a safe future for the Jiang family, earning an S-rank final task evaluation as expected.

【Task Reward 1: 1000 Experience Points】

【Task Reward 2: 1000 Game Coins】

After applying the 1.6 multiplier, Li Cheng gained 1600 experience points, advancing from Level 11 with 60/1100 experience to Level 12 with 560/1200 experience.

Game coins increased from 3249 to 4849. He had once again saved up nearly half his next goal—worthy of celebration, truly worthy of celebration.

【Task Reward 3: Randomly seize one highest-quality item or skill from Jiang Zhihui's inventory slot】

The battlefield, to some extent, encourages players to betray and even murder each other.

There are many indicators: for example, a player's aptitude can be transferred through killing;

for example, items dropped outside a deceased player's inventory are marked as ownerless and can be freely picked up;

for example, the battlefield sometimes issues deathmatch tasks, forcing players into relentless combat until a victor emerges.

Randomly seizing an item or skill is standard reward configuration for deathmatch tasks.

"The 【Familiar Swap】 skill dropped from Jiang Zhihui—if it were in scroll form—would be at least Perfect quality."

Li Cheng mused, "Its effect, 【King's Castling】, swaps spatial coordinates with one of the user's own familiars.

It is a relatively rare and valuable spatial ability, with a short cooldown of only thirty seconds and low cost—just 70 Spirit Energy and Physical Energy to activate."

When Li Cheng and Grey Rain used their fusion technique to simulate a meteor striking Earth, it was roughly the maximum destructive power achievable at this level—and the effect was astonishingly effective.

The interesting part is that as the original owner of the skill, Jiang Zhihui herself could not unleash its full potential—

her life essence was a spirit form, lacking Physical Energy entirely; to activate the skill, she had to rely on Jiang Meixi as her physical host.

And Jiang Meixi was merely an untrained ordinary high school girl; consuming 70 points of Life Energy would nearly kill her. Thus, Jiang Zhihui could use the 【Familiar Swap】 skill only once in a short time.

Otherwise, she could have been far more imaginative—for example, summoning a large-bodied spirit like an Ox Demon beforehand, making it swallow an explosive pack, then relocating herself two or three kilometers away.

During battle, she could approach Li Cheng, suddenly activate 【Familiar Swap】, teleport the spirit and explosive pack directly before him, and detonate it with a boom.

Li Cheng gladly accepted the skill and turned to examine the item dropped alongside Jiang Zhihui's game coins.

It was an extremely thick blue hardcover book, its first page printed with elaborate, ornate gold-lettered text from another world.

【Item Name: Credential of the Odd Mechanist】

【Type: Power Seed】

【Quality: Perfect】

【Effect: Path of Advancement. Upon use, automatically becomes a Level 1 Odd Mechanist, instantly acquiring knowledge of required Arcane Energy, Mechanical Engineering, Enchantment Modification, and related fields. Continuously advances as knowledge, experience, and skill proficiency accumulate.】

【Cost: None】

【Cooldown: None】

【Usage Condition: Intelligence attribute ≥ 10 points, possession of a Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering】

【Note: Upon use, a randomly shaped Odd Mechanist Mark will manifest on the owner. The mark can be hidden, erased, or modified at will.】

【Note: The Credential of the Odd Mechanist is incompatible with certain other Power Seeds, depending on their affinity.】

【Note: Power Seeds cannot be directly transferred; they may be extracted from the owner only via special rituals or by killing and stripping them away.】

【Note: Odd Mechanists are pioneers who fuse magic and mechanical engineering. They may become great inventors who bring peace and prosperity—or war-mongers who peddle death and destruction. It depends on how they wield their boundless ingenuity—Orland Whitebeard, 30th Headmaster of the Taling Odd Mechanist Academy.】

【Note: Damn it, you new students—how many times have I told you not to use black magic to mix rocket fuel formulas in the dorms? This is the third time this month you've blown up the dorms! All of you are failing and must retake the course—Orland Whitebeard.】

Ignoring the absurdly verbose notes, Li Cheng's eyes gleamed as he took a deep breath.

Power Seed! A Perfect-quality Power Seed!

On player forums, Power Seeds have two definitions: broad and narrow.

Broadly, they include—but are not limited to—Super Soldier Serum, T-Virus, Vampire Embrace Rituals, One Piece Devil Fruits, Zanpakuto, Supreme Bones, Wu Gong manuals, Potion Pathways, and more.

Ordinary people who obtain them can access, learn, and master supernatural power, achieving transcendence.

The auction house Li Cheng visited, Fu Bao Zhai, recently auctioned a green-and-yellow Devil Fruit.

Despite its inherent uncertainty—no one knows what effect it will have, or if it carries side effects—it sold for nearly 20,000 game coins.

Clearly, it was extremely valuable.

Narrowly defined, Power Seeds must be certified by the battlefield and are exceedingly rare.

Upon use, they not only grant mastery of a supernatural ability but also provide full knowledge of how to use it, even a clear path for continuous advancement.

They are essentially a super-integrated package combining Awakening Rituals, Bone Cleansing, Libraries, Databases, and Elderly Ring Mentors.

Skills obtained through Power Seeds do not occupy the player's skill slot.

Their restrictions and usage conditions are also more lenient than standard player skills.

Moreover, through Power Seeds, players can acquire a cultivation method to continuously raise their Spirit Energy cap and Spirit Energy recovery speed.

Li Cheng opened his laptop, logged into the player forum, and searched for information on narrowly defined Power Seeds.

After ignoring the advertisements, truly substantive posts were scarce—understandable, since their drop rate is extremely low; once they appear, major guilds buy them up at high prices and keep them internal, never letting them reach the open market.

The most reliable information currently available was from a case a year ago.

At that time, a Power Seed for Dragon Blood Mage was accidentally listed on an auction site and skyrocketed to 100,000 game coins within half an hour, continuing to rise.

Multiple guilds fiercely bid, and just as it seemed the Thousand-Throated Beast Guild would win, someone panicked and launched a cyberattack on the site, forcibly halting the auction.

Eventually, a full guild war erupted, claiming the lives of several transcendent beings, until the United Nations-backed Global Supernatural Alliance intervened to quell the entire incident.