"At the same time, the intensity of the Heavenly Mastery Wave Fist in the second stage has also been enhanced. I initially thought that this kind of skill would be limited to a single use, but surprisingly, the usage count has increased with the skill level. Initially, it could only be used once, but after leveling up, the usage has increased by five times, allowing it to be used consecutively six times, which is pretty good.

Moreover, besides the increase in usage count, the damage of the Heavenly Mastery Wave Fist has also been boosted. Originally, it could only inflict true damage of 1000% Attack Power, but now it causes true damage of 1250% Attack Power, which is a 250% increase in true damage compared to before."

Speaking of this true damage, Zhang Yanhang is actually quite familiar with it because he remembers encountering it once before. Specifically, the biggest difference between true damage and regular damage is that it can ignore all defense states and defensive powers.

For example, if the enemy, like him, is covered by layers of shields, he can use true damage to directly ignore the shield and directly attack the opponent's flesh. In the process, the physical defense is also directly ignored, dealing full damage without missing a drop.

Therefore, it's very possible for the situation where the enemy is dead, the body turned to mash, but the shield is still firmly ensconced over them.

Normal attacks, on the other hand, clearly need to first break through the shield on the opponent, bringing the shield value to zero before the flesh behind the shield can be attacked.

So, overall, true damage is somewhat considered a lower-level fixed damage, as true damage, although it can ignore defense, cannot penetrate invincible states, and if the opponent has resistance to true damage, it will be countered.

Fixed damage, meanwhile, is completely different. No matter what state the target is in, even if they activate invincibility or other special protections that might block damage, as long as they are within attack range, they will definitely experience this fixed damage without any deduction.

Thus, from this perspective, among the special damages Zhang Yanhang has encountered so far, the armor penetration that can only ignore defense but cannot ignore the energy shield ranks at the bottom. True damage that can ignore both defense and energy shield is mid-ranked.

The highest rank is fixed damage, which doesn't enjoy any bonuses but never suffers weakening and can penetrate all defense states, including invincible states.

"Even though I've just gained a significant increase in armor penetration effect, true damage is still very necessary, as true damage can break shields, which is quite important."

Zhang Yanhang thinks that if he were to face a situation where his second-stage health bar is emptied, the Heavenly Mastery Wave Fist, which can cause large-area attacks and inflict true damage, would certainly play an important role.

"Moreover, the third stage's Heavenly Mastery Explosion Fist also received enhancements, but its increase is relatively low, adding just one usage count. Even counting the existing one use, it can only be used twice in total."

Regarding this increase of one usage chance from the Heavenly Mastery Explosion Fist, based on Zhang Yanhang's rich experience in skill upgrading, it likely occurred upon reaching LV.6. Therefore, to gain further enhancements, he would probably need to upgrade to Eternal Demon Body LV.MAX.

"Of course, more importantly, the power of the Heavenly Mastery Explosion Fist has improved; initially it could only cause 2000% true damage, but now it's boosted by 500%, reaching 2500% true damage."

Honestly, Zhang Yanhang previously wondered if each upgrade of the Heavenly Mastery Explosion Fist could increase the attack multiplier by 2000%, and upon reaching LV.MAX, a single punch would have a multiplier of 20000%, equating to two hundred times the attack power.

But now it seems that he overthought, as such skill strength is probably something he won't experience in this lifetime. Yet, fortunately, 2500% is not low, or rather, it's already double the highest attack multiplier skill he possesses, All Four Elements are Void.

After all, All Four Elements are Void only has 1280%, even doubled in the case of 2560%, it can barely stand equal with it.

"Well, now that the Heavenly Mastery Dominator Body is upgraded, which skill should be leveled up next?"

Zhang Yanhang is indeed a bit torn between promoting the Limitless Universe Skill or elevating the Eternal Demon Body first.

But he quickly decided that he should first raise the Limitless Universe Skill because, although the Eternal Demon Body is excellent, it's ultimately just a life-preserving healing skill. At this stage, it doesn't directly enhance attribute values as the Limitless Universe Skill does.

Furthermore, upgrading the Limitless Universe Skill can extend his lifespan, which in turn increases attack power and defense power. In addition, the Limitless Universe Skill offers a myriad of comprehensive improvements, making it far more significant than the Eternal Demon Body.

However, before upgrading the Limitless Universe Skill, Zhang Yanhang wishes to first inspect his Hundred Taboos skill.

[No Taboos LV.MAX (Passive skill)]

[Skill Effect: The Heavenly Destiny Master can ignore item usage requirements to forcefully use items without affecting related effects. The Heavenly Destiny Master can forcefully use items three tiers below his own (currently, the lowest is Blue quality). The Heavenly Destiny Master can forcefully enter areas three tiers lower than his own (currently, the lowest is Second Tier area).

Wherever proceeding, free from taboos, the Heavenly Destiny Master can forcefully exempt from 'taboo/forbidden' elements, including but not limited to array, barrier, sealing, space imprisonment, subspace exile, dimension stripping... as well as destiny manipulation, soul distortion, void deformation, flesh pollution... and other effects.]

"Upon advancing to Fifth Tier, the No Taboos skill certainly experienced changes. Originally, when I was at Fourth Tier, using items three tiers below my own basically meant being unrestricted in using items of all qualities starting from the lowest, White quality.

But now, having advanced to Fifth Tier, the lowest quality I can use is Blue quality."

This is why Zhang Yanhang preemptively removed his Green Ten-piece Set since, even with No Taboos, it could only extend it to Fourth Tier at most; Fifth Tier indeed necessitates its elimination.

"Moreover, apart from items, I can no longer enter First Tier areas, with the present lowest required tier being Second Tier areas. Fortunately, Raccoon City is a Third Tier area, and even the smallest rank of the Crimson Iron Ant Nest Dalagu is a Second Tier area. Therefore, at least for Fifth Tier, there shouldn't be concerns regarding the Transmission Channel."

However, this also means that Zhang Yanhang cannot rely on large-scale speed farming in First Tier areas and the Permanent Teleportation Channel to acquire various resources anymore. But the problem is not significant since he wasn't particularly interested in obtaining trash resources from First Tier areas to begin with.

And the reason Zhang Yanhang checks the Hundred Taboos before upgrading the Limitless Universe Skill mainly revolves around attribute values and equipment.

After all, since he now has an additional head and six legs, he can surely rely on filling more old equipment into the gear slots to boost his attribute values. In other words, he can rely on low-quality equipment to quickly boost his charm attribute value.

However, as it stands, the Crimson Iron Heart Necklace and Crimson Iron Shark Teeth he commonly uses will only be usable for one more rank at most due to quality reasons. Moreover, speaking of one rank, Zhang Yanhang is actually more inclined to replace them entirely with other more useful equipment before promoting to the Sixth Tier.

"However, this increases the pressure on boosting the charm attribute. Moreover, the charm attribute value enhancement from the Limitless Universe Skill is relatively small. It seems I'll have to try and obtain some artifacts to enhance the charm attribute from the group leader and Zhou Muxi later."

Of course, fortuitous encounters should not be overlooked. Zhang Yanhang estimates that once the low-quality equipment providing the charm attribute bonus is removed, considering the newly unlocked rank limit, his charm gap could reach as high as thirty or even more than forty points, which is indeed not something that can be resolved through a single channel. Multiple approaches are necessary.

Therefore, the first step in adopting multiple approaches is naturally to try and save more free attribute points for enhancing the charm attribute.

And the prerequisite for saving is to appropriately plan the enhancement based on the attribute value increase from the Limitless Universe Skill. It is necessary to elevate the four main attributes to a relatively high degree, quickly enhance the charm attribute, and avoid overspending the free attribute points. In other words, achieving steady growth with speed, quality, economy, and efficiency.

"So, next I should quickly begin upgrading the skill level of the Limitless Universe Skill. Choose! Skill level up!"

Zhang Yanhang immediately began triggering the relevant upgrade options, and with the arrival of the Time Pause, a large familiar text option box appeared right in front of him.

......

November 2nd, Monday, the first day after Halloween, and also the first day Zhang Yanhang left the Ashen World, 6:56 AM, Qin Island City, Xingfuli District, Unit 505, Bedroom.

"I hope the soul point balance doesn't overshoot."

After silently praying, Zhang Yanhang reopened his soul point balance to check, wanting to know after upgrading the Limitless Universe Skill Fifth Tier LV.2 if there would still be 25 million soul points left to enhance the Eternal Demon Body LV.6.

[Soul Points: 25501427 (-27400000)]

"Originally, I had a total of 52.9 million soul points, and the recent promotion of the Limitless Universe Skill to Fifth Tier and its upgrade to Fifth Tier LV.2 consumed a total of 27.4 million soul points, causing my soul point balance to immediately drop to 25.5 million.

But fortunately, it's still maintained above 25.4 million in the end."

Zhang Yanhang recalled that upgrading the Heavenly Mastery Dominator Body to LV.6 consumed a total of 25,395,200 soul points, roughly rounding up to 25.4 million, and now his soul point balance is 25.5 million, just ten thousand more soul points. Thus, this time was quite risky, almost unable to upgrade the Eternal Demon Body skill.

When upgrading the Limitless Universe Skill just now, promoting it consumed 11.7 million soul points, while upgrading to Fifth Tier LV.2 consumed 15.7 million soul points, which means just a one-level increase already required 4 million more soul points.

"From my past experiences, upgrading to LV.3 should again raise the consumption by 6 million soul points, becoming a 21.7 million soul point upgrade requirement."

This is also why Zhang Yanhang only upgraded the Limitless Universe Skill twice this time. After all, similarly costing over 20 million soul points, upgrading the Eternal Demon Body could bring it to LV.6 and simultaneously unlock additional attributes, whereas upgrading the Limitless Universe Skill could only advance by one level at most, making the greater value choice self-evident.

After briefly checking the soul point balance, Zhang Yanhang quickly proceeded to inspect the skill effect of the Fifth Tier Limitless Universe Skill.

[Limitless Universe Skill[5th Tier]LV.2 (Passive/Active)]

[Passive Effect: Strength +3 (+1), Agility +3 (+1), Constitution +3 (+1), Intelligence +3 (+1), Charm +3 (+1).]

[Active Effect: Actively run cultivation technique to enhance defensive power, attack power, and movement speed using spiritual energy. No cooldown, consuming a certain amount of energy value based on specific bonus effects.

[Additional Attribute: First Tier—Strength +6, Agility +6, Constitution +6, Intelligence +10, Charm +2.]

[Additional Attribute: Second Tier—Strength +6, Agility +6, Constitution +6, Intelligence +10, Charm +2.]

[Additional Attribute: Third Tier—Strength +6, Agility +6, Constitution +6, Intelligence +10, Charm +2.]

[Additional Attribute: Fourth Tier—Strength +6, Agility +6, Constitution +6, Intelligence +10, Charm +2.]

[Additional Attribute: Fifth Tier—Strength +1 (+1), Agility +2 (+2), Constitution +1 (+1), Intelligence +2 (+2).]

"Hmm? There's an unexpected surprise? I didn't expect this time's promotion to the Fifth Tier also increased the passive effect?"

Zhang Yanhang initially thought like last time, the all-attribute +1 occurrence post the Fourth Tier promotion was entirely incidental and wouldn't happen again. After all, the Fourth Tier signifies a transformative phase, quite special, severing the ties between Awakeners and ordinary people, establishing reproductive isolation.

"But unexpectedly, this Fifth Tier promotion also grants the all-attribute +1 effect. Does it mean that starting from the Fourth Tier, each rank might boost all attributes by +1? If it's true, it reduces part of my enhancement pressure."

The original passive effect of the Limitless Universe Skill only provided all attributes +2, while now, after another increase, it became all attributes +3, alleviating Zhang Yanhang's attribute enhancement pressure by five points, freeing up five free attribute points for use on essential attributes.