Chapter 11: Hi, Transmigrator

“Click.” The final clasp had snapped into place.

Li En put on the high-quality lightweight leather armor, faint blue arcane glimmers shimmering around it.

The leather was said to come from his own family’s petrified giant lizard, whose hide, when alive, could withstand ordinary blade strikes.

Typically, paladins and warriors favored heavy armor; only light-class roles like rangers and rogues preferred leather, since its lightness didn’t restrict their agility.

“This armor’s great.” Li En gently stroked the lizard scales, satisfied with its lightness and resilience.

Forcing himself into it was a last resort, but this was the best armor he could actually wear—full plate would crush him right now.

For pure melee classes like paladins and warriors, having armor or not made all the difference.

The margin for error between tanking hits head-on and having to dodge constantly wasn’t even in the same league.

Especially for paladins, who loved trading blows with enemies—no armor meant losing over half their effectiveness.

Li En picked up a fruit knife and lightly drew it across the armor—no mark remained. He nodded in satisfaction; it would do.

The enchantment, combined with the petrified lizard’s thick hide, gave it defense equivalent to chainmail while only slightly heavier than regular leather armor—though still inferior to the living petrified lizard’s body, it could resist some low-quality arrowheads.

You could charge, but only once—and only a little.

Watching Li En smile happily as he caressed the armor, Talia S Daer opened her mouth, blushed for a moment, then turned away.

This wasn’t police-issued gear—they couldn’t afford magical items. It was Talia’s personal stash as an adventurer; even though she’d deliberately aged and neutralized the cut, a faint orange scent still lingered.

She’d urgently commissioned a magical tailor friend to alter it; since her own frame was already a full size larger than Li En’s, trimming and reshaping the material made it barely usable.

Li En didn’t notice this little incident—his hairless-monkey-level sense of smell wasn’t that sharp.

“Tch. Combat power below five, trash.” The armor still hung loose on him; staring at his scrawny reflection in the mirror, clad in skin-tight leather that sagged everywhere, Li En could only mock himself.

But self-mockery aside, his physical base stats were abysmal—the most unavoidable reality right now.

“Cut to the chase: if we corner that assassin, we’re very likely all getting slaughtered.”

Enforcing justice requires strength—and Li En had none.

Right now, Li En could bully petty thugs, but against true transcendent beings, his “degenerate species (hairless monkey)” flaw was glaring.

【Biological Rank: Inferior Stone, Status: Strength 2, Physique 3, Agility 3, Spirit 5 (16)】

【Dragonization: 3%, Awakened Racial Talent: Dragon Eyes (Perceive Truth).】

【Beastification: 2.5%, Awakened Bloodline Ability: Tongue of Languages (Understand Human Speech).】

These were his base physical stats. How to put it? Just compare.

【Biological Rank: Raw Stone, Status: Strength 4-5, Physique 5, Agility 3, Spirit?】

【Racial Talent: Ruminant Four-Stomach (Raw Stone)】

【Evaluation: Judging by hardware alone, he can take on three of you and won’t tire—he can breathe, eat, and heal.】

These stats belonged to the bullman Xiao Beilai, which Li En naturally obtained while touching the ancient book at his waist, using his Dragon Eyes skill to observe him.

These numbers weren’t linear—the higher the rank, the wider the gap.

This bullman warrior, who hadn’t undergone racial transcendence, had strength at least three times Li En’s—and possessed a racial talent for healing through breathing.

Notably, before, Li En’s Dragon Eyes could only assess himself; now, after the Hero Soul’s possession, he could assess others.

One reason was the Hero Soul’s massive boost to his spirit attribute (soul, spiritual power); the other was Su Xing’s powerful Soulheart ability.

【Soulheart. Wallbreaker (Gold): Your will is your warhammer—a transcendent ability infused with your will and rage, capable of partially ignoring enemy defenses.】

This Soulheart ability was powerful; combined with Li En’s Dragon Eyes, it instantly revealed the target’s base stats and racial talents.

“This is worse than being blind.” But it didn’t seem much different—before, everything was a question mark; now, everyone looked like a giant.

The reality was cruel—not because bullmen were too strong, but because Li En was too weak.

【Biological Rank: Silver, Status: Strength 10+, Physique 10+, Agility 12+, Spirit?】

【Known Racial Talents: Blood Scent (Raw Stone), Lightning Phantom Dance (Bronze), Bloodlust Fury (Silver). Evaluation: Look again, and I’ll eat you!】

These absurdly powerful stats belonged to Talia S Daer , the policewoman who always hovered around Li En.

A former underground explorer, she could take on ten normal Li Ens with one hand.

Physical hardware was the foundation of everything; against tenfold or even hundredfold crushing-level stats, superior combat skills and class abilities meant nothing.

“Raw Stone” was the average adult level for normal beastfolk—digitized, barely above 5.

Li En’s “Inferior Stone (Debris Stone)” was typical only for the disabled or degenerate species—almost as weak as children, nearing an average of 2.

Talia’s Silver species had undergone at least two racial evolutions: not only were her physical stats formidable, but she’d also awakened at least three powerful racial abilities, along with combat styles, class skills, and even Soulheart abilities built around them.

It was said Talia was the top fighter among the three police precincts in the docks—Li En didn’t believe the serial killer was stronger than her; otherwise, the killer wouldn’t have deliberately avoided her patrol zones.

Incidentally, from the case files, Li En noticed the crime scenes all avoided Talia’s territory—perhaps this was why she distrusted the police entirely; she’d originally planned to capture the killer alone.

Yet in her eyes, “peak Li En” could effortlessly one-shot her, acting like a mindless little fangirl. Li En could no longer estimate how strong Su Xing truly was—perhaps the first-day Hero Soul’s sixth-rank paladin state was merely the limit of Li En’s own body.

After all, in his memories, Su Xing was a gray-haired, lightning-fast werewolf with near-mythical physical hardware—his broken body must have been extremely uncomfortable to use.

“Even just for self-preservation, I must gain strength. This might be my chance.”

After using the Hero Soul card to save himself—and after “Su Xing” slashed the noble’s son—Li En had no retreat; he couldn’t entrust his safety to noble generosity or reason.

Even if someone protected him, could they protect him forever?

He craved self-preservation strength quickly—this might be his chance to use public funds for procurement.

More important than money was access to transcendent items—and until now, Li En had none.

“I’m still buying cursed ogre gloves, but… don’t get your hopes up. Their appearance is entirely random; people rarely dare use cursed items, and even alchemists who craft them might destroy them outright. I’ve asked my explorer contacts to hunt for them—it’ll take time.”

If your hardware is weak, in this transcendent world, compensating with gear and magic/divine arts is feasible—and there are precedents.

“So… divine artifacts that use Holy Power? Alright, I understand.” Seeing the female officer’s tail droop as she shook her head, Li En could only sigh.

This was expected—he’d named rare items.

In these final ten days, he still had temporary class levels; the Ancient Oath Knight’s strength wasn’t low, and with Su Xing’s combat experience, if he had suitable hardware (base stats), Li En wasn’t without a fighting chance.

Compensating for base stats through conventional means was impossible; racial transcendence wasn’t a short-term prospect. But for unorthodox methods? He actually knew a few!

The normal form of the cursed ogre gloves—the “Giant Strength Gloves”—was a very useful magical item for boosting strength, widely favored by melee fighters.

The core materials in such items often included “arm muscles and bones” from “Giant Strength beings.”

During the alchemist or enchanting craftsman’s process, there was always a certain chance the dead’s vengeful spirit would curse the item—thus creating the classic “Cursed Ogre Gloves.”

Normal Giant Strength Gloves enhanced the user’s strength on top of their base.

After being cursed, the gloves’ effect was even stronger—they directly fixed the user’s strength at ogre-tier levels.

That value, Li En estimated conservatively at 12 or higher—already reaching third-rank paladin standards.

The cost? If used too long, your arms would truly turn into ogre arms, and gradually your entire body would twist and warp—plainly put, you’d become an ogre victim.

“For regular Giant Strength Gloves, I might find a way…” Cursed items were too rare, usually with extreme side effects—ordering them specifically in the short term was nearly impossible.

Talia was already quite impressive; Giant Strength Gloves were already high-end, precious magical items, and cursed ones were utterly unobtainable by design.

If absolutely necessary, he could post a long-term acquisition request and rely on luck—but right now, he had no time; he could only ask Talia to use her connections.

“No. The strength boost is too weak, and my arms would snap.”

Even if the Giant Strength Gloves added one or two points of strength, effectively doubling his output, Li En was still weaker than a chicken.

Worse, his paper-thin physique couldn’t handle the sudden surge of power—he’d likely break his arms or legs the moment he exerted force.

Warriors specializing in strength always had excellent physique—that was common knowledge in this world. His fragile body was his biggest problem.

Then why, when Su Xing possessed him, was he so powerful? That brings us to the paladin class’s unique traits.

Paladins usually advanced from pure warriors, but they also trained in divine arts and Holy Power, requiring divided focus—yet still possessed superior melee capability over regular warriors, famed for heavy armor and high magic resistance.

The reason was simple: among their divine arts were many abilities that strengthened their own bodies using divine power.

“Without Holy Power Art, this is really hard.” Without such a divine artifact, Li En was genuinely discouraged—it was exactly what he needed most right now.

Holy Power Art was a divine art system starting at the third circle (rank); it could convert Holy Power, divine arts, and spiritual power into pure physical strength, enhancing both physique and magic resistance.

In early-stage paladins, this ability was practically useless.

Even after boosting, you still couldn’t beat pure warriors—their combat skills and hardware advantages were obvious; your spiritual power and Holy Power could only add one or two points, never a qualitative leap.

But for high-rank paladins, it was an essential ability—the enhancement was terrifying, giving birth to heavy tanks who excelled in both strength and physique with high magic resistance.

Right now, Li En still had a temporary 17 points of spiritual power (from Su Xing’s possession); once boosted by Holy Power Art, it would be terrifying—Li En guessed Su Xing’s first-day state was even higher, otherwise he wouldn’t have cut down enemies like children—he must have infused Holy Power into his blade too.

Li En didn’t know Holy Power Art; divine artifacts capable of channeling third-rank divine arts were rare and precious, called “holy relics,” and only true divine churches had the right to possess them.

To them, Talia—or even the entire city’s police system—meant nothing.

Could Li En borrow one himself? Holy relics capable of channeling third-rank divine arts weren’t cheap—he couldn’t afford the cost, nor did he have time to build connections or go through procedures.

“Holy Power Art is indispensable in this system.”

Cursed Ogre Gloves, Holy Power Art, and high-resistance paladin armor formed a classic bug in the paladin class card.

Use cursed gloves to get free strength, then use your high resistance to resist the curse—even turn the “become an ogre” malice into long-term strength enhancement.

But at Li En’s current rank, without Holy Power Art to boost his resistance and physique, he wouldn’t last long before truly becoming an ogre.

In this world, high-tier combat power always came in systems; in this “fast-track locomotive” paladin system, Holy Power Art from the divine art system was the key.

You might not get high-quality cursed Ogre Gloves—but you absolutely need Holy Power Art.

“So, I’ll have to try that.”

【Detected first Hero Soul synchronization rate over 20%. Hero Soul grants host approval. Dream Instructor Mode activated (this mode will trigger a series of unknown consequences—proceed with caution).】

Activating the Hero Soul card, Li En felt the effects of schizophrenia-level mental strain.

He didn’t know if it was good or bad—but right now, he had no choice.

“I’ll activate it tonight.”

If he couldn’t get it here, he’d have to try getting it from the Hero Soul.

After finishing his day’s work, Li En returned to his residence, stowed his gear, and placed his blade beside his bed.

“Dream Instructor Mode… activate.” Touching the unknown ancient book, Li En gradually fell asleep.

That night, no dreams—or rather, an endless, endless dream.

But just as it began, a somewhat familiar voice gave Li En a great surprise.

“Oh? The transmigrator Li Ensu, you’ve arrived?”

(End of Chapter)