Ashen God

"So, I choose Option One, Clean Energy, Energy Value +2975."

After reviewing all the options, Zhang Yanhang quickly chose this only reliable option. At the same time, the Time Pause ended instantly, and there were no more prompts or corresponding text option boxes appearing before him.

As per usual practice, Zhang Yanhang opened his level panel to check after the promotion. He wanted to know how many soul points it would take to level up once after upgrading to the Fifth Tier Heavenly Destiny Master.

[Name: Zhang Yanhang (Fifth Tier)]

[Race: Human]

[Profession: Heavenly Destiny Master]

[Level: LV.41 (0/5000000)]

[Soul points: 112957427]

"I remember when I originally leveled up to LV.40, it seemed to have cost over four million soul points, so now it seems quite normal that leveling from LV.41 to LV.42 requires five million soul points. Normal as it may be, that's indeed a lot."

According to Zhang Yanhang's previous experiences, this five million should be a baseline, and subsequently, each level upgrade of the profession level is likely to need another five million soul points, such as the likelihood of needing ten million soul points to upgrade from LV.42 to LV.43.

"Although I currently have a balance of 110 million soul points, looking at the current situation, I'm afraid I really can't afford to level up much."

Initially, Zhang Yanhang planned to level up several times in one go, but now it seems he'll mostly just level up twice to test the waters, as he still needs to reserve some of the remaining soul points to upgrade skills and the Limitless Universe Skill. Therefore, though it seems like he has 110 million soul points, actually using them should still be rather tight.

"But nevertheless, after all, I've already advanced to the Fifth Tier, so leveling up is definitely still something I want to do."

While saying this, Zhang Yanhang clicked on the level-up button on the panel.

[Would you like to consume 5000000 soul points to increase profession level to LV.42?]

"Yes, increase profession level to LV.42." To be honest, Zhang Yanhang estimated that, even if he used all his 110 million to upgrade the profession level, it might only fill less than half the progress, so he's only intending to upgrade twice to test the waters this time.

Compared to before, when he could casually level up multiple times in a row, Zhang Yanhang is somewhat down on his luck this time, but that's also something he can't help. He just couldn't amass enough soul points before promoting in rank.

Zhang Yanhang has made up his mind that next time before advancing to a new rank, he must accumulate more soul points, but of course, not too many, just enough to let him level up the Heavenly Destiny Master profession a few times is sufficient.

[Profession Level successfully increased to LV.42, Free Attribute Points +6.]

"After advancing to the Fifth Tier, the efficiency of obtaining free attribute points indeed hasn't changed at all. It still remains at gaining six free attribute points per level. Even though six free attribute points are already a lot compared to the four free attribute points of ordinary awakeners, it's still hard to be satisfied."

The reason Zhang Yanhang is not very satisfied with the six free attribute points is naturally because he wants to enhance his charm attribute, as his charm attribute is related to the fixed damage limit of Death Wave, which is quite important.

"And since this advancement to the Fifth Tier hasn't improved it, then I have to see if there's any possibility to save a few free attribute points for enhancing the charm attribute later on."

If in the past there was a lot of charm bonus, Zhang Yanhang naturally didn't need to worry about the growth of the charm attribute, but now that equipment enhancing the charm attribute is becoming less, he naturally has to be concerned.

Zhang Yanhang's charm attribute only increased by one point this time, which means he still has a 24-point charm attribute gap at the Fifth Tier that needs enhancement. Even he has to admit that this gap is quite substantial and difficult to close, estimating that he would need to work hard from multiple directions to fill such a large gap.

And after upgrading the profession level, Zhang Yanhang immediately opened his level panel again to check.

[Name: Zhang Yanhang (Fifth Tier)]

[Race: Human]

[Profession: Heavenly Destiny Master]

[Level: LV.42 (0/10000000)]

[Soul points: 107957427 (-5000000)]

"After raising the profession level from LV.41 to LV.42, it consumed five million soul points, dropping my soul point balance from just having increased to 110 million back to the 100 million phase.

Considering the soul points gained from opening treasure boxes and hunting, it was only about four million, which all went into this single upgrade, and it wasn't even enough, even falling short by one million soul points. As expected, the soul point demand for each new rank skyrockets to an extent I completely cannot handle."

Compared to the tenfold increase in power, Zhang Yanhang can responsibly say that the soul point demand increased by at least tenfold. Or in other words, it is because more soul points are invested that the power is significantly increased.

Alternatively, in some way, Zhang Yanhang doesn't really lack soul points; he only lacks channels to use them. If there were a new channel where he could enhance strength via soul points, he would certainly max it out. After all, it's just a matter of engaging a few more permanent teleportation channels.

Otherwise, he wouldn't always upgrade all sorts of skills completely and still have surplus soul point balance left to promote ranks.

But speaking back, at least for now, while he hasn't cleared new areas or engaged permanent teleportation channels, Zhang Yanhang is indeed very short on soul points. He attributes this to the paradoxical opposition known as the scarcity of soul points.

"After upgrading the profession level to LV.42, the soul point requirement to upgrade to LV.43 indeed increased to ten million soul points, exactly as I estimated before."

Unexpectedly, at the next level, that is, when upgrading to LV.43, Zhang Yanhang felt that the soul points requirement should increase to fifteen million. Thus, upgrading three levels in total would require thirty million soul points, which Zhang Yanhang felt might be slightly burdensome for him, so he planned to only upgrade two levels this time.

The main reason is that he's also planning to slightly upgrade the Limitless Universe Skill later, and based on past experience, the Limitless Universe Skill's upgrade requirements are sure to exceed the profession level, so it's indeed better to save a bit in the profession level area.

After all, since the starting point here at the profession level is five million, Zhang Yanhang felt that the starting point for the Limitless Universe Skill would be at least ten million to be considered normal. The upgrade cost of that magnitude is indeed still quite burdensome for Zhang Yanhang at the moment, and it is precisely because of this that he needs to make an upgrade plan in advance like he is doing now, to prevent overspending soul points.

Since he's preparing to upgrade one more level, Zhang Yanhang immediately clicked upgrade again on the level panel.

[Would you like to spend 10,000,000 soul points to upgrade the profession level to LV.43?]

"Yes, upgrade the profession level to LV.43." Due to the recent substantial increase in upgrade requirements at the Fifth Tier, and the urgent need to enhance the Heaven and Earth Devourer Skill, Zhang Yanhang should hurry to find a Permanent Teleportation Channel to clear and farm some soul points.

Of course, these things can't be forced, since he is already at Fifth Tier, to be honest, there aren't many suitable Permanent Teleportation Channels for him, so when exactly he can find a suitable Permanent Teleportation Channel is indeed unknown.

[Profession level successfully upgraded to LV.43, free attribute points +6.]

"Before advancing in rank, I had thirty-nine free attribute points at my peak, but later I moved three free attribute points to improve my charm attribute, resulting in having only thirty-six free attribute points left now.

And when the rank automatically upgraded to LV.41 before, I gained six free attribute points, plus the twelve free attribute points from upgrading two levels just now, so it equates to a total of eighteen free attribute points after the promotion.

Adding my original thirty-six free attribute points, that amounts to a total of fifty-four free attribute points, which is actually just six points short of a rank's sixty free attribute points."

Zhang Yanhang felt that fifty-four free attribute points should barely suffice for him to use, after all, he still had three points of all attribute bonuses from equipment, so he felt that with the equipment bonuses, it shouldn't be much of a problem to at least raise the four main attributes to around a hundred and twenty points.

And for a higher one hundred and twenty-five points, it naturally relies on the Limitless Universe Skill for improvement, which is also a very important channel for him to improve his attribute value.

[Name: Zhang Yanhang (Fifth Tier)]

[Race: Human]

[Profession: Heavenly Destiny Master]

[Level: LV.43 (0/15000000)]

[Soul points: 97,957,427 (-10,000,000)]

"Due to just now consuming ten million soul points to raise the profession level, my soul points, which initially barely stayed above a hundred million, instantly dropped from nine digits to eight digits, leaving just over ninety million."

Additionally, the soul point requirement for further upgrading after LV.43 has predictably increased to fifteen million, which he can temporarily afford, but he feels there's no need to bear it.

Or, in other words, if after upgrading other things adequately, should he still have more than fifteen million soul points left, then he will certainly continue to raise his profession level.

After all, the main means of strength improvement in the initial promotion stage is enhancing attribute values, which require free attribute points, making the upgrade of profession level extremely important.

Moreover, aside from anything else, just the fact that only raising the profession level can promote rank is already a reason Zhang Yanhang must upgrade the profession level.

"However, since there's no need to upgrade the profession level for now, let's first check out the new profession skills obtained just now."

Zhang Yanhang had long been looking forward to the skill effect of the new skill, so he immediately opened the skill effect of the first skill, Heavenly Mastery Dominator Body, to start examining.

[Heavenly Mastery Dominator Body LV.1 (Passive skill)]

[Skill Effect: Converts the Life Value Limit of 'Heavenly Destiny Master' into a three-stage Life Value. The first stage has 6% of the Life Value Limit, the second stage has 34%, and the third stage has 62%.

Each time the Life Value of the previous stage is reduced to 0 (this effect also applies to the Third Stage), 'Heavenly Destiny Master' will automatically enter a 0.05-second domineering body state, during which all forms of attacks and interference effects are immune (including but not limited to causality modification, rule-breaking, world collapse, universe tear... any possible interference and displacement formed by environmental and other factors are included).

Upon entering the first stage domineering body, 'Heavenly Destiny Master' will gain a 20% Attack Strength bonus and a 10% Life Value Recovery Speed bonus.

Upon entering the second stage domineering body, 'Heavenly Destiny Master' will get one use of the 'Heavenly Mastery Shock Wave'. After using the Heavenly Mastery Shock Wave, an ultra-wide range attack occurs, dealing 1000% Attack Power of True Damage to all enemies within the range, with an inherent space anchoring effect and airspace suppression effect.

Upon entering the third stage domineering body, 'Heavenly Destiny Master' will get one use of the 'Heavenly Mastery Explosion Fist'. After using the Heavenly Mastery Explosion Fist, a guaranteed hit occurs, ensuring any form of attack on an enemy inflicts 2000% Attack Power of True Damage, forcibly banishing them into the void turbulence and universe wasteland.

When the Life Value of the current stage fully recovers, it will automatically switch to the previous stage with no cooldown, no consumption, unable to be dispelled or weakened.]

"This Heavenly Mastery Dominator Body indeed exudes a strong mystical flavor, even managing things like rule-breaking and world collapse, but honestly speaking, if faced with such circumstances, 0.05 seconds of invincibility during the domineering body might not be sufficient to accomplish anything."

However, based on Zhang Yanhang's past experience, the rather low base of domineering body time is actually likely to be strengthened as the skill level increases later on, so there's actually not much need to worry about insufficient domineering body time.

"However, although the domineering body is easy to understand, the three-section blood bar is somewhat abstract. Although having fought multi-phase bosses, I certainly understand the bug-like nature of multiple health bars, but the first-stage health bar only having 6% of the Life Value Limit seems a bit too fragile, doesn't it?"

Honestly speaking, it's fortunate he has an Energy Shield, otherwise Zhang Yanhang would even suspect the enemy could easily push him to the second stage with a few random hits.

But after all, this is just Heavenly Mastery Dominator Body at LV.1, so Zhang Yanhang understands these flaws well, as surely no one turns into a giant immediately upon birth, these drawbacks can certainly all be compensated after further leveling up.