Chapter 172: Sudden Change

"Hah!"

Li En retracted his longsword, looking with satisfaction at the faint golden light upon it.

His stamina was abundant, and the growth in holy power was also obvious.

Yesterday's farce of lifting things high was actually regarded as a form of "fulfilling a vow," and the improvement was quite significant; Li En didn't know what its operating mechanism actually was. Had he done something truly remarkable yesterday?

At this moment, he looked up at the sky, seeing the familiar blue expanse and large patches of clouds.

The faint morning light filtered down through the clouds, shining upon the body that had just finished exercising, feeling warm.

He, inexplicably, felt somewhat moved.

Only those who have traveled in the underground world would feel an inexplicable sense of happiness and satisfaction when looking up to see the sunlight and feeling the fresh morning breeze.

"Rest a little while, then practice another round."

Li En had already completed his daily training quota, yet felt no fatigue, and the time used was much less than usual.

Obviously, his current physical condition required a substantial increase in training volume, perhaps even doubling it.

"Snap!"

Li En clenched his fist; he could feel a completely different tier of strength and power. Previously, without a reference point, he felt nothing, but now, after practical training, it had likely doubled effortlessly.

【Creature Grade: Silver, Status: Strength 14 (17), Constitution 16, Agility 10, Spirit 14】

Now, with the blessing of the Fire Giant Gauntlet, his power was only slightly less than that of a true Giant race, the Hill Giant.

And if in combat state, using some spells and divine arts for assistance, then the hardware could be further enhanced.

At that time, the Paladin Li En smashing giants was a literal description.

"Hah."

He began swinging the sword again; to familiarize himself with this physical state, he needed even more training, even actual combat.

In fact, to get used to this state, he hadn't even taken off the gauntlet while eating or sleeping, but now he was seriously considering whether he should stop doing so while sleeping.

Yesterday in the second half of the night, he slept on the floor; sleeping until midnight, the bed suddenly collapsed!

His own assessment was that, on one hand, it was due to the significantly increased weight after his physical transformation.

On the other hand, it was likely that he merely turned over in his sleep, twisted his body, and directly caused the cheap wooden bed to collapse.

Now, the broken planks of the wooden bed were still thrown in a corner of the yard; later, he would probably have to order a metal iron bed.

After all, he could now truly be regarded as a shrunken giant; it was normal that ordinary wooden-constructed furniture couldn't withstand him.

"Not bad, a completely different feeling from when I wore the cursed gauntlet before. I feel I can exert my full strength freely."

In this attribute list, the most important thing was actually not the seventeen points of strength, but the sixteen points of Constitution. That meant his current body could exert his power to the extreme; not only could it withstand the recoil after full-force exertion, but recovery, endurance, and even explosive power would be significantly improved.

High Constitution is basically a fundamental characteristic of legendary creatures; the Constitution attributes of Dragons, Great Dragons, and Beasts are quite exaggerated; this is the foundation of everything.

Supernatural power also requires the body and soul to carry it; the foundation of Mind, Body, and Technique is always the body.

"The upper limit of Mind-Soul abilities has also increased, but to truly raise it, one can only proceed slowly..."

Li En's Thousand-Faced Dragon Mind-Soul ability remained at the Raw Stone tier, and Su Er's Wall-Breaker and Lord Lord Kuku's Multiple Thoughts were the same... These things are not so easily upgraded.

It can evolve alongside the growth of one's class and body, but to make it grow requires emotion as nourishment, requires an evolved body as the foundation, and requires advanced classes or new classes as expansion.

Li En estimated that improving the Paladin's abilities and Su Er's Sword Art Secrets should be able to upgrade the Wall-Breaker's Mind-Soul ability, and if improving Mage-class abilities, it should be able to upgrade Lord Lord Kuku's ability... uh, let's put that aside for now; what we have is already enough.

Li En always felt that if Lord Lord Kuku's Hero-Soul ability upgraded too high, some problems would arise.

As for the progress conditions of the Thousand-Faced Dragon's Mind-Soul ability, they were currently unknown, but it was estimated to strengthen alongside the enhancement of Hero-Soul possession, Hero-Soul Mind-Soul abilities, and physical hardware.

Li En was actually quite looking forward to it; he had now experienced the dominance of "Mind-Soul ability upgrading a tier," which could allow him to possess the core abilities of a Hero-Soul several years early and mature his combat power system.

After all, taking that crucial step with the Mind-Soul is not an ordinary difficulty.

If he could further enhance the Thousand-Faced Dragon's ability, turning its weakening effect on the Hero-Soul's Mind-Soul effect into no weakening or even enhancement, that would be even more worth looking forward to. As for upgrading the Hero-Soul Mind-Soul by two tiers, Li En really dared not think about it.

"... Looks like it will take at least three days; I'll go to the Mage District then."

Even while practicing sword swings, his second thought stream was analyzing the spell model of the Scorching Ray. He had to admit that even though its principle was relatively simple and ray-type spells weren't particularly difficult (the spell model was just a line/arrow), this speed of progress was excessively abnormal.

For the current Li En, the computing power provided by the "Second Dragon Head" was clearly overflowing.

"When the time comes, I'll also ask about Psychic classes."

Li En's plan list for pursuing power was already full.

And today, his work list was also pretty much maxed out.

He hadn't notified anyone yesterday; after returning to his home, he rested directly. Even today, his physical state had not fully recovered.

The fatigue of the journey was one thing, but awakening the Bloodline Ability early and forcibly using it further increased the consumption of his body (Beasts consuming supernatural power consumes the body and stamina).

"Later, I'll go visit Miss Shaliman and pick up Miss Lana... Not notifying them upon return will surely lead to complaints; if I don't pick her up, little Miss Lana will be very angry."

Li En sighed; he felt a bit embarrassed to see Miss Shaliman... He really didn't know what to say to Miss Shaliman, or even how to address her now.

But he owed her quite a lot; not reporting his safety after returning would be unreasonable. Visiting Miss Shaliman in the Radiance District was the first thing; afterwards, he still had to go to the blacksmith shop to send his weapons (other than the Holy Sword) and armor for maintenance.

Although this battle didn't last long, the intensity was really not low; the armor was worn quite severely and might need major repairs.

"Right, I also need to buy some supplies. Holy Water, potions, Alchemical Fire, medical kits, thief toolkits, and so on; indeed, all are needed."

During this journey, Li En also learned a lot from companions and mercenaries; he needed to replenish his normal inventory, and might even need to buy another Spatial Bag.

"Uh, there are still some remaining Shadow Dragon materials and Black Dragon materials in the Spatial Bag..." These things should be sold off as soon as possible, which could greatly alleviate Li En's financial problems.

Actually, the most valuable thing was the materials of the "Prince of Beasts," but processing such things casually would cause major disasters; it required professionals to handle, and ordinary warriors were not qualified to use them, making them difficult to sell.

The best way to use them was naturally in certain high-level Alchemy or Forging equipment, as core materials or auxiliary materials, diluting their beastly nature with other top-tier materials, but this was something ordinary craftsmen couldn't do... Those designs, blueprints, and other equivalent-level materials were also hard to obtain; Li En still preferred to find a suitable buyer and sell them directly.

Back home, Li En relaxed; with the cook and maid absent, he just grabbed some snacks and pastries belonging to Miss Lana and Miss Shaliman to fill his stomach... Thinking of the many tasks on his work list, he now felt even lazier about going out.

"Tsk, the Snake is gone again; that's good." Being able to rest so easily was also thanks to the Snake disappearing early in the morning.

This big shot who was not at all aloof was actually too talkative and nagging; the most critical thing was that you had to pay attention to and think about what he said, and if you weren't careful, you'd be dragged along, and then, often, new troubles would be waiting for you to step into.

"It would be best to go out and play for a few more days; playing until the time ends would be completely fine."

After eating, Li En felt a bit sleepy; perhaps, he could go out a bit later... Having lost the pressure of survival, he seemed to want to slack off and hide a bit.

But he did not want to stir up trouble, yet trouble came looking for him.

After news of his return spread, many people yesterday did not visit directly (giving him time to rest), but today the visitors are all on their way.

And before this, Li En suddenly encountered an unprecedented phenomenon.

"Clap, clap, clap!"

Suddenly, his Heroic Soul Codex jumped out on its own and, strangely, flipped pages by itself.

Clearly, some unexpected event had occurred.

【Unexpected event generated, fate trajectory has shifted, main quest status undergoing re-evaluation and revision.】

Main quest? Wasn't it that task to seal the deer? Li En was instantly stunned; this thing could actually change.

【Main Quest: Seal/Destroy the Evil God Elsenar.】

【Mission Brief: The Evil God Seal beneath Radiant City is teetering; He is about to break free. Resolve Him, or be resolved by Him.】

【Mission Failure Penalty: If the mission fails, the city will become history; no penalty needed.】

【Completion Countdown: 720 days 8 hours, recalculating and re-evaluating.】

【Completion Countdown: 846 days 12 hours!】

Li En was completely stunned; he originally thought the time to break the seal would shorten, but it suddenly increased—isn't that a good thing?

This added nearly four months, allowing for even more things to be done.

In the next moment, the updated quest line revealed some of the future.

【New Side Quest: The angered Evil God Elsenar roared, consuming his own root power within the seal, significantly increasing the spawn rate of underground demons in the short term, and producing new Beast Bloodlines. To prevent the seal from breaking, deal with this beast tide as soon as possible!】

【Mission Reward: Random Soul Ability rank increases by one tier, two random Heroic Soul Armaments, one clue to a Heroic Soul Quasi-Divine Artifact.】

Li En was completely dumbfounded; now it was hard to say if this was a good thing.

But why did it change suddenly? Is this Heroic Soul Codex so unreliable?

Didn't Lord Lord Lord Kuku say that this kind of fate-based predictive ability is nearly absolute without interference?

He only fell silent for a moment before realizing the answer.

"Snake! What did you do!"

The roar, which he originally thought would get no response, received a lazy reply.

"What? I just took a lazy nap and did nothing. Don't falsely accuse people." At some point, it had already been lying on the roof sunbathing, as if it had never left.

But at this moment, it actually confirmed it for Li En.

"It was definitely you! Otherwise, if I falsely accused you, would you be so reasonable?! You would have spat back long ago and started plotting against me."

One always knows oneself best; Li Ensu was the most hateful of being falsely accused.

If he had truly been wrongly blamed for something, he would have instantly exploded with rage; how could he have reasoned calmly?

The Snake's gaze swept over, becoming even more dangerous.

"Then do you not know that when the situation is not in your favor, it is best to simply pretend to be foolish..."

Alright, the Snake stopped acting and threatened him directly.

But from the perspective only the Snake could observe, the scene was entirely different.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. With just an extra half-year added, the city's destruction probability dropped from 61% to 37%. Looks like the little one has quite a bit of potential..."

(End of Chapter)