CHAPTER 610: CHAPTER 609: TIER LIMIT

"Once the Limitless Universe Skill was upgraded to Second Tier LV.MAX, it indeed became familiarly non-enhanceable."

Zhang Yanhang wasn’t surprised at this occurrence at all; it was the same when he was at the First Tier. Although the Limitless Universe Skill had indeed become non-enhanceable now, when he later advanced to the Third Tier, the enhancement options would automatically unlock. The inability to enhance it now was merely due to insufficient rank.

After all, the most common means for a normal Awakened to advance in rank was to upgrade the Limitless Universe Skill to the Third Tier, so, unsurprisingly, if Multiple Choice could directly enhance the Limitless Universe Skill to the Third Tier, his own rank would probably be correspondingly promoted to the Third Tier as well.

However, asking the Second Tier’s Multiple Choice to help him directly advance to the Third Tier was indeed a bit much for Multiple Choice. It simply couldn’t perform such incredible feats.

If it truly were feasible, Zhang Yanhang even had the confidence to ascend on the spot, promote to the Fifth or even Sixth Tier within a single day, for elevating only the Profession Level and Limitless Universe Skill wouldn’t use many Soul points at all. Compared to Skill consumption, the consumption of Soul points in this regard could just be cobbled together, but alas, Multiple Choice simply couldn’t do such miraculous acts.

"To upgrade the Fighting Master LV.MAX Skill to Fighting Grandmaster LV.5 requires 51200 Soul points and one Ash Source. Including this Fighting Master, I have three skills that need upgrading, yet I still have four Ash Sources left. Since the Ash Sources are sufficient, let’s upgrade immediately.

Thus, I choose Option Two and upgrade the Fighting Master LV.MAX to Fighting Grandmaster LV.5."

Although upgrading to the Third Tier also required Ash Sources, once Zhang Yanhang cleared the Demonized Swamp, he could still obtain three Ash Sources from the Drop treasure box in the Demonized Swamp. Therefore, there’s really no need to worry about the Ash Sources; his current supply of Ash Sources was definitely sufficient.

After successfully upgrading the Fighting Master to the Fighting Grandmaster, Zhang Yanhang immediately opened up the skill effects of Fighting Grandmaster LV.5 and began to review them.

[Fighting Grandmaster LV.5 (Passive Skill)]

[Skill Effect: Increases Melee Attack Power by 100%, and enhances proficiency in fighting and related melee combat abilities.]

[Additional Attributes: Melee Attack Power +50%.]

"How should I put it? As expected, the Fighting Master LV.MAX didn’t change at all after being upgraded to Fighting Grandmaster LV.5."

Zhang Yanhang wasn’t surprised by this situation at all, as it was the same when the Gun Master LV.MAX was upgraded to Gun Mastery LV.5.

However, back then, he still had extra Soul points to further upgrade the Gun Mastery LV.5 to LV.6, but now, his current balance of Soul points was completely insufficient to also elevate the Fighting Grandmaster LV.5 to LV.6.

After reviewing the Fighting Grandmaster LV.5, which had no changes apart from its name, Zhang Yanhang reopened his balance of Soul points.

[Soul points: 97909 (-51200)]

"The Fighting Grandmaster would need 102400 Soul points to advance from LV.5 to LV.6, and my current balance of Soul points is only 97909, short by 4491 Soul points. Although the difference is small, let’s wait until next time to upgrade.

Next, I need to continue raising the Profession Level of the Heavenly Destiny Master. I said yesterday that I’d raise the Profession Level of Heavenly Destiny Master to Second Tier Peak LV.20, but it turned out that I didn’t complete it. It’s now half-past twelve, just half an hour away from completing that small goal."

Of course, if Zhang Yanhang had truly wanted to promote yesterday, he definitely could have, but he chose to wait until he had cleared the entire Southern Forest before dealing with these matters, thus postponing it to today. Fortunately, it wasn’t a big issue; he missed it by only half an hour, which could still round off to completing it.

"Now that I’ve successfully gathered enough Soul points to raise the Profession Level, let’s hurry and get it raised. I’ve been looking forward to LV.20 for a long time." Zhang Yanhang said, and tapped on the upgrade button on the level panel.

[Would you like to consume 18000 Soul points to raise the Profession Level to LV.20?]

"Yes, raise the Profession Level to LV.20."

Zhang Yanhang’s original LV.19 corresponded to the Second Tier Late Stage Peak, and now, upgrading to LV.20 would truly be at the Second Tier Peak.

While he had previously described himself at the Second Tier Peak, that was in terms of body Attributes. If viewed from the level perspective, only now had he truly reached the comprehensive Second Tier Peak, both in terms of body Attributes and Level, and he was ready to be promoted in rank at any moment.

However, although he indeed could be promoted, considering the Rank Penalty after ranking up, Zhang Yanhang definitely wouldn’t consider immediate rank promotion; he intended to wait until he had cleared the Demonized Swamp. Otherwise, promoting now would reduce part of the treasure box benefits, wouldn’t it?

Other equipmen

"I didn’t expect it would take twelve days to elevate my Profession Level to the Second Tier Peak, nearly half a month, whereas I remember it only took me a week to reach the Peak First Tier.

However, when I was at the First Tier, it was mainly because I didn’t have enough Attribute points, so I was actively raising my Profession Level. But at the Second Tier, since I had sufficient Attribute points, I wasn’t as active in upgrading it until I raised all four main attributes to the Second Tier limit of fifty points.

Although Zhang Yanhang hadn’t been very proactive about raising his Profession Level previously, once he started actively working on it, it only took him one day to go from the original LV.14 to the current Second Tier Limit of LV.20. It just goes to show that the Soul points consumed by the Profession Level are indeed much less compared to Skill upgrades.

After elevating to LV.20 in the Heavenly Destiny Master profession, I again obtained six Free Attribute Points, and counting the thirty Free Attribute Points I had saved before, I now have a total of thirty-six Free Attribute Points.

Finally, I’ve managed to accumulate thirty-six Free Attribute Points again— I remember saving thirty-six Free Attribute Points when I was at the First Tier.

If I use these thirty-six Free Attribute Points to enhance only the four main attributes, I can immediately raise each main attribute by nine points after being promoted to the Third Tier. Even if I increase the Charm attribute as well, I can raise each attribute by seven points and still have one point left to adjust any disparities."

Having so many Free Attribute Points, Zhang Yanhang estimated that he might immediately reach an Attribute value above sixty-five points after his Promotion to the Third Tier.

Of course, this is considering the Equipment bonus. If only considering basic attributes, he might not be so confident in achieving over sixty-five points immediately after ascending to the Third Tier. However, calculating basic attributes isn’t practically meaningful until reaching the Third Tier limit.

"But the Promotion to the Third Tier will be after clearing the Demonized Swamp. Right now, what’s more important to me is the consumption required for the Third Tier Promotion. If I cannot meet the requirements, then advancing to the Third Tier might become troublesome," Zhang Yanhang said as he began to check the level panel.

[Name: Zhang Yanhang (Second Tier)]

[Race: Human]

[Profession: Heavenly Destiny Master]

[Level: LV.20 (0/4)]

[Soul Points: 79909 (-18000)]

"Hmm? Hmm?! Hmm??! It requires four Ash Source points to promote to the Third Tier? This increase is a bit outrageous, considering that the rise to the Second Tier only required one Ash Source point before, and now it has quadrupled, increasing by three Ash Source points in just one rank..."

Before, I thought that even if I met the promotion requirements, I would wait until after clearing the Demonized Swamp before I promoted, but now it seems I was being somewhat overly emotional, as I actually cannot meet the consumption needed for the Third Tier promotion yet and must wait until after clearing the Demonized Swamp in order to promote.

Zhang Yanhang indeed had four points of Ash Source before he promoted to Fighting Grandmaster LV.5, but after the promotion, only three points remained. He was still one point short of the Ash Source needed for the rank promotion.

Moreover, it’s said to be just one point short, but the problem is that he still needs to promote both the Indestructible Golden Body and the Death Wave Skill to the Original Stage afterwards. So, in reality, he is still three points short of Ash Source.

But fortunately, the problem isn’t significant. Considering the experience Zhang Yanhang accumulated by opening so many Ashen Treasure Boxes, each box would definitely provide him three points of Ash Source, just enough to fill the three-point gap. Thus, although four points of Ash Source are needed for the rank promotion, he can still normally promote his skills.

"The problem, however, is that although I indeed can promote skills, by the time I reach the Third Tier, I won’t have any Ash Source left over."

Although Zhang Yanhang currently isn’t short on Ash Source, when he promotes to the Third Tier, Alchemy will likely unlock the next rank’s enhancement projects without any issues.

He had originally hoped to save two or three points of Ash Source so he could immediately promote Alchemy skills after the rank promotion, but now it seems that the promotion of Alchemy might have to wait a bit. He will only be able to promote again after he reaches the Third Tier, clears a new area, and obtains more Ash Source.

"Moreover, apart from Alchemy, what’s actually more important are the Professional Skills. When the time comes for the rank promotion, I will definitely obtain new Professional Skills, and if they also need promoting, I will likewise be unable to promote them due to a lack of Ash Source."

Previously, Zhang Yanhang had never really been short on Ash Source, but now he feels he might be in the future. Of course, even if he truly lacked Ash Source, it would likely only be a short-term shortage.

After all, like the Second Tier, his rank promotion could ideally only add two new skills. He surely wouldn’t get five or six or seven or eight new skills. Therefore, even if promotion is required, it would only consume two points of Ash Source, which one Ashen Treasure Box could resolve, so there really isn’t much need to worry.

After giving it some thought, Zhang Yanhang breathed a sigh of relief upon realizing that the situation where he had spare Soul Points but couldn’t enhance skills due to a lack of Ash Source wasn’t likely to happen, as even thinking about such situations made him feel quite uncomfortable.

"I wonder, is this increase of three points of Ash Source a direct quadrupling of the requirements, or is it just a simple increase of three points of Ash Source?"

If it’s the former, then Zhang Yanhang feels his subsequent rank promotions might become quite difficult. Promoting to the Third Tier while quadrupling one point of Ash Source is still manageable, but promoting to the Fourth Tier would mean quadrupling four points, making it sixteen points of Ash Source.

If the amount of Ash Source obtained from subsequent Ashen Treasure Boxes remains fixed at three points, Zhang Yanhang would need to clear at least six areas—and potentially seven considering skill consumption—to gather these sixteen points.

This amount is quite excessive. Zhang Yanhang feels he can’t keep up, especially since the areas he has currently cleared add up to only half this number. Expecting him to clear seven new areas could likely delay his promotion speed to up to two months.

Furthermore, although sixteen points of Ash Source might be achievable with effort, quadrupling then to the Fifth Tier would require sixty-four points of Ash Source. Zhang Yanhang would need to clear twenty-two new areas to gather that many points, exceeding what he can manage. At that time, his promotion speed might even become slower than that of an Ordinary Awakened.