Mini World Game Console

It's actually effective... Ren Suo let out a heavy sigh and cast "Data Stream" on himself. His cultivation progress had now reached the first turn, 38%. He looked down at the jade pendant tattoo on his right arm. At that moment, it was a calm azure color, looking as if it could be washed away with a mere scrub.

This speed was definitely not slow, even though Ren Suo had cultivated for an entire day and even activated "Unlimited Energy"—but it was absolutely worth it. At this pace, Ren Suo could completely advance to the second turn within two months. Don't be fooled by his frequent interactions with second-turn experts; who were these people Ren Suo dealt with? Most of them were geniuses: intelligent, hardworking, diligent, and possessing exceptional Talent. If cultivation training institutions had been fully established a few years later, Ren Suo wouldn't have even had the chance to meet them.

But now, Ren Suo found his cultivation efficiency was gradually increasing, which was why he couldn't stop cultivating. After spending an entire day, Ren Suo realized his efficiency had reached its limit, estimated to have increased by 10% to 15% compared to before.

It's normal for a cultivator's cultivation aptitude to improve. It's similar to reading novels: the more one reads, the faster one gets, improving from ten seconds per page to two seconds per page without any decrease in information acquired. The more a cultivator cultivates, the higher their Talent becomes. However, according to information on the internal network, if one cannot completely elevate their Qi Cyclone's state (advance a turn), then Talent improvement seems to have its limits. For example, if the world's Spiritual Energy didn't continue to rise, Ren Suo would likely be stuck at the second turn.

Ren Suo now possessed a means to enhance his Talent: the "Goddess Jade Pendant." However, it required him to personally slay Demons and Ghosts to increase his own Talent. Wearing the "Goddess Jade Pendant" made it very easy to lose one's sanity. Moreover, with the perfected tactical systems now in place, once Demons were discovered, they were subjected to a hail of gunfire. Even if Ren Suo returned to the Tactical Bureau, he wouldn't have as many opportunities to purify these Demons.

However, in the game "Mage Under the World Tree," when Ren Suo discovered that the "Strong Heart Technique" was effective, he suddenly remembered the Jade Pendant, which originated from the same source as this Spell. Do Palace Demons count as Demons? he wondered. Since the equipment slot was empty anyway, Ren Suo had his Magician equip the Jade Pendant to fight the Palace Demons. After clearing the first level, he started cultivating the next day while wearing the Jade Pendant himself.

It's not like a monster that would make me lose my 'cautious (timid)' quality will suddenly appear in my house, right?

After equipping it, Ren Suo discovered that the Jade Pendant actually glowed faintly, just like when he had defeated that Awakener who had succumbed to his demonic nature due to an Awakening!

When he began cultivating, Ren Suo didn't feel much at first. However, during his second Circulation, he clearly sensed a slight increase in the amount of Spiritual Energy absorbed into his Qi Cyclone and flowing through his blood and muscles. This sensation was very noticeable. When practicing the Mysterious Sovereign's Secret Records, the Spiritual Energy would continuously nourish the body, causing constant Exhaustion. Once a full Circulation was completed, the subsequent relief was an invigorating feeling that spread from the tips of his toes to his forehead. Ren Suo was already very familiar with the sensations of each step of his cultivation. So, when the Spiritual Energy Quantity increased, it felt as if a cucumber had suddenly been crammed into his already slowly-filling mouth—his body became even more tired! He nearly failed to complete this Circulation. When he finally succeeded, the amount of Spiritual Energy remaining was also slightly more than before.

Of course, feelings weren't reliable. So, Ren Suo cast "Data Stream" on himself, listed the decimal points of his Qi Cyclone's status, and recorded his cultivation growth time after time. He finally concluded that his Talent was indeed improving at a rate measurable in hours. After Ren Suo removed the "Goddess Jade Pendant," the improvement speed plummeted to zero. However, even when wearing the Jade Pendant continuously, the improvement speed dropped to almost zero after six hours. It took two more consecutive cultivation sessions for sporadic growth to occur, which was likely just the cultivator's own Talent improving.

Therefore, Ren Suo could basically conclude that allowing the game character to wear the Jade Pendant and defeat enemies of the Demons and Ghosts type, then having himself wear the Jade Pendant afterward, could very likely improve his own Talent. The "Goddess Jade Pendant" was originally effective only when Ren Suo wore it himself and personally killed the enemy. But now, Ren Suo had discovered a shortcut! In the game, I can also activate the purification effects of the "Goddess Jade Pendant"!

After returning from dinner that night, Ren Suo eagerly continued playing the game, but this time he started a new save file. He casually created a new character. It was still the Monastery level, and Ren Suo couldn't wait to have the Magician follow Red Hood and kill the Demons in the Palace. This time, however, he chose the "Sacrifice" route, sacrificing all the Demons he encountered.

One hour later, Ren Suo immediately exited the game to the Equipment Interface, equipped himself with the "Goddess Jade Pendant," and continued cultivating! According to the "Data Stream" analysis, even after two Circulations, Ren Suo didn't notice any increase in his Talent. Then Ren Suo tried the Redemption route for an hour, only to regretfully confirm that killing minor Demons wasn't enough to activate the "Goddess Jade Pendant's" effects.

However, Ren Suo didn't give up on this save file. Instead, he continued to grind, taking the "Sacrifice" route to see what would happen. Unlike Redemption, Sacrifice was very straightforward and indeed more powerful. Compared to needing to consume Mana to activate Offerings, the melee Offerings required for attacks would persist for a while, thus consuming less Mana. As the Magic Arm level rose, so did the damage of the Offerings, making the damage output much more robust than the Redemption route.

This time, progress was faster than with the Redemption route. But when the Iron Maiden boss appeared, Cheng Wenchao and his group unexpectedly turned up at the Palace entrance again... Ren Suo checked the game time carefully and realized it was at least 30 minutes earlier than in the previous save file. There's no reason I should encounter Cheng Wenchao and his group again!

So, Ren Suo had the Magician find a moment to ask, "Cheng Wenchao, why did you choose to come in at this particular time?"

"How do you know my name?"

"Answer my question first!"

After some effort, Cheng Wenchao finally revealed the truth: they had discovered a Secret Realm Portal in Ailan Lake that had suddenly emitted a golden halo, prompting them to send a vanguard to investigate. This meant that regardless of whether Ren Suo started the Monastery assault earlier or later, the Tactical Bureau would most likely arrive during his boss fight—they probably thought there were some rare treasures here.

The boss fight was still difficult. Because the Magician lacked Holy Light Bullets this time, the Mysterious Kingdom Warriors suffered over fifty percent casualties. When the Iron Maiden's Health Points dropped to 20%, both the Magician and Red Hood were also critically low on health. With defeat imminent, Red Hood unleashed the Forbidden Techniques "Iron Chain of the Finger" and "Flame Skin Breath," severely damaging the Iron Maiden. This allowed the Magician to deliver the final blow, successfully sacrificing the Iron Maiden boss.

However, this time Red Hood didn't say she would follow the Magician to the next level. Instead, she said, "My current combat power is merely a burden. Going to the other Palaces would only drag you all down..." Red Hood handed her Offerings—"Fragment of the Blazing Great Axe," "Blood Curse Arrow," and "Phantom Feather"—to the Magician, and then she disappeared.

Ren Suo immediately saved and quit the game, equipping himself with the "Goddess Jade Pendant"—

Still no effect.

After an all-night effort, Ren Suo was essentially certain of three things:

First, game characters killing Demons could activate the "Goddess Jade Pendant."

Second, when Ren Suo equipped the "Goddess Jade Pendant" himself, the Jade Pendant likely incurred some wear. Only by killing powerful Demons could the effect of its purifying Spiritual Energy enhancing his Talent continue to benefit him.

Third, each Demon could only activate the "Goddess Jade Pendant" once. Reloading a save didn't work, as it only recognized the first kill. In the previous save, Ren Suo had killed the Iron Maiden boss and activated the "Goddess Jade Pendant." In the new save, killing the boss again had no effect on the Jade Pendant.

After some thought, Ren Suo decided to continue with his Redemption save file. Compared to Offerings, Red Hood's combat support was obviously a much better value. Besides, I can use Merit Points to cast Forbidden Techniques endlessly. So, Red Hood, you just need to focus on looking pretty and earning money for us.

However, one problem troubled Ren Suo—

In the Redemption save file, the Magician had died a heroic death. If the Magician just pops up again in the next level, it'll feel like that whole dramatic death was for nothing, creating an inconsistency.

In that case, perhaps it would be better to...