White Bone Cave is a dungeon modeled after the Boundary Land. The injuries sustained by the Awakened within, as well as losses in Spiritual Power and Energy Value, are all very real, thus their Combat Specialization and Skill Proficiency progress accordingly.
Of course, the Awakened possess extraordinary Physique. Once they leave combat, minor injuries heal quickly along with the recovery of Life Value. The higher the Endurance, the stronger the Recovery Power. For instance, Bai Pu's fractured rib no longer hurts.
"No rest," Bai Pu decisively refused, "I want to get the rewards sooner, especially Skill Books, to study and understand well."
"Ah, indeed a newcomer, filled with vitality," Qilin said with a laugh, "Once, I too was full of passion like this."
"And now?" Bai Pu was curious. The Awakened's abilities are data-driven, with every bit of progress visible. What could be more motivating for one's struggle than visible progress?
Qilin scratched his head: "I've become a bit lazy... There's no helping it. The progress in strength is too slow, feels like I've hit a bottleneck. After half a month of hard training, I've only improved about 10% in Skill Proficiency in various Combat Skills..."
Black Tiger said: "One must venture to the real Boundary Land or Spirit Realm for faster progress. Earth's Spiritual Particles intensity is only 1.1; still a bit low."
Through their explanations, Bai Pu also understood what the world strength of 1.5 in the Origin Plane of the [Flesh and Blood Plague] meant.
World Strength represents the intensity of the Spiritual Particles in that Plane World and usually indicates the general strength of its natives, as well as the danger level of its beasts and relics. It even affects the density (weight) of rocks and flowing water, and the energy strength infused within plant fruits.
Earth's world strength is around 1.1. Advanced Awakened humans on Earth can cleave mountains, divert rivers, and a casual strike can make the ground tremble, with their leaps being so light they resemble flying birds, as if gravity's Binding did not exist. But in the high world strength Spirit Realm Plane, such superhuman feats are impossible.
Bai Pu realized why the stones in the Origin Plane of the Flesh and Blood Plague seemed heavier and harder than in reality.
According to Black Tiger, honing skills in places with high Spiritual Particles intensity (world strength) results in faster strength enhancement.
Qilin sighed, "I'm not like you, Berserkers can withstand and attack, thriving as lone wolves. As a support Word Spirit Master, I mainly study Support, Control, and Protection Skills. The Spirit Realm is not a place you can visit whenever you please."
Su Xiaoxiao interrupted Qilin's complaint: "Alright, alright. Little Bai Pu, what's your plan for your rewards? Those virtual rewards you can't use can be exchanged for Honor Points."
Bai Pu said, "Can I see the introduction of the [Unstable Shield]?"
"Oh, a rare skill," Su Xiaoxiao said with a smile, "You originally didn't have the permission, but now that you've received this reward, you naturally have the access right. You can check it yourself on the terminal."
Bai Pu glanced at the personal information terminal, which projected a red iris scan beam and unlocked after one second.
"Greetings, Master, your intelligent assistant at your service..."
Upon first activation, setup is inevitable. Bai Pu named his intelligent assistant "Little White."
Then Bai Pu gave the command: "Little White, search for information on the [Unstable Shield]."
The personal information terminal quickly projected the data on the light screen.
[The following data was retrieved from the 'Divine Strategy Army Supply Exchange List,' based on your permission level:]
[Unstable Shield: Two-star Skill. Creates a shield for self-protection lasting 10 seconds. After a 3-second delay, you can detonate your shield, causing shock damage to all nearby enemies equal to the Shield Value.]
Dual-purpose for offense and defense!
Group Attack Skills!
Shock damage!
Bai Pu, with his keen ability to extract information, swiftly recognized the advantages of this Two-star Skill at a glance.
Shock damage is a type of "Physical Damage" that can be reduced by Armor. However, the benefit of shock damage is that affected enemies will be slowed or even stunned! It essentially comes with a built-in Control ability.
"Holy, what a great skill!"
Black Tiger and Qilin both crowded around with envy.
The Star Level of a skill only determines its priority. The practical utility of the skill effect is not directly related to the Star Level. Of course, the probability of a three-star skill being superior is much greater than that of a one-star skill, and this is also a fact.
"This skill, did you get it from a Level 3 Virtual Treasure Chest?" Black Tiger said eagerly, "From which monster did it drop? Next time I enter the White Bone Cave, I want to try too."
"It was from a Skeleton Warhorse," Bai Pu explained, having no reason to hide it.
"Skeleton Warhorse? Damn, that's the 'Nightmare.' You actually managed to take down a Nightmare—the horse is a Level 3 Enhanced Elite, and its master, the Black Knight, is even stronger, being the stage boss of the third layer of the White Bone Cave!" Black Tiger's eyes widened.
"Just lucky, the Black Knight wasn't around, and the horse happened to wander near the entrance," Bai Pu said.
"Then I'll go try my luck next time..." Black Tiger mumbled, "I'm Level 4 now, considered a Mid-level Awakened... hmm, dealing with a Level 3 Enhanced Elite shouldn't be a problem."
"Don't dream about it. Even if you defeat the Nightmare and get a Level 3 Virtual Treasure Chest, the chance of getting a rare skill is still low," Su Xiaoxiao mercilessly refuted, "The instance rewards have to consider the challenger's strength. Little Bai Pu is a Level 1 novice, and it's his first time exploring the White Bone Cave, which is why he had such a high drop rate."
Not dwelling on Black Tiger and Qilin's envy, Bai Pu had a brief exchange with Su Xiaoxiao about how his rewards should be arranged.
The Two-star Skill [Unstable Shield] and One-star Skill [Jump Slash] were redeemed, and other rewards that could be used were redeemed. As for those that couldn't be used, like standard equipment of duplicate parts or Skill Books of ordinary effects, were all exchanged for Honor Points.
Finally, Bai Pu spent all his Honor Points and used 300 Honor in debt amount to redeem another Two-star Skill—[Helical Throw] from the military supplies.
This skill has a long-range interrupting effect, with the same cooldown time as [Jump Slash], both being two minutes, making it quite practical.
The reason for choosing skills instead of equipment was mainly from the angle of enhancing combat power. Comparing the [Jump Slash] with the [Charge] added by Iron Spike Shoulder Guard, one can see that Jump Slash has a cooldown of only 120 seconds, whereas Charge is a full 12 hours!
Rather than spending over 1,000 Honor on a piece of ordinary Elite Level equipment, it was better to exchange for a Two-star Skill Book with high practicality.
Of course, the skills an Awakened can learn aren't limitless.
According to Su Xiaoxiao, although the Spirit Realm Will doesn't limit how many skills an Awakened can learn, Skill Books have a "Comprehension Success Rate"! And in the event of a failed comprehension attempt, the Skill Book is not returned.
The more and stronger skills an Awakened has already mastered, the lower the success rate for comprehending new skills. Generally, a Low-level Awakened can learn up to three skills at most, and attempting to learn a fourth one might waste several Skill Books without success.
This is also related to the Hidden Attribute of the Awakened—Comprehension. Higher Comprehension allows for a higher success rate under the same conditions. Of course, even high Comprehension doesn't mean an Awakened can learn unlimited skills.
Therefore, Bai Pu decided to temporarily learn only three skills: Jump Slash, Unstable Shield, and Helical Throw.
Besides the Comprehension Success Rate reason, it was also because one cannot chew what one cannot swallow; learning too many skills would slow down Skill Proficiency growth.
More importantly, using Combat Skills requires consuming Professional Energy!
Under normal circumstances, a standard template of an Ordinary Awakened can support three to four uses of One-star Skills in a single fight, after which it becomes hard to continue.
As an Enhanced Elite Profession, Bai Pu's Professional Energy, Blood Fighting Qi, is about twice as robust as that of an ordinary Awakened. However, the Unstable Shield and Helical Throw he intends to use are both Two-star Skills and consume more.
With Su Xiaoxiao, the military supply officer, assisting diligently, Bai Pu quickly received the three Skill Books he wanted.
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