Worldwide Awakening: My Soul Kinds Are Lost

[First-Clear Reward · Unique]

[Card·Bronze Coin Sword (0/1), Redemption Requirement: 10,000 Abyss Crystals]

[Card·Sealing Demon Formation (0/1), Redemption Requirement: 10,000 Abyss Crystals]

Wang Linchi's clear rating was S-rank, and with the Demon Suppressing Master's Notebook, he directly received an extra 20% of the Abyss loot. He spent 20,000 Abyss Crystals without hesitation to acquire these two Cards, which were of the highest value and essential for tackling the Abyss Difficulty.

The Abyss Difficulty seemed to guarantee the highest S-rank rating as long as one cleared it, unlike the other four difficulty levels that had various requirements like clear time, number of hits taken, etc. Considering the former was actual combat while the latter was more like training, stricter demands were reasonable.

"There's also a Skill Book. I'll buy it."

Wang Linchi bought the active skill named Steps to Siege and immediately learned it.

[Active· Steps to Siege LV1 (0/1,000)]

[Skill Description: Uses Wenqi to launch attacks, slowing the enemy's attack and movement speed.]

This crowd control skill not only slowed movement speed but also attack speed. Wang Linchi immediately invested 45,000 Skill Proficiency points to max it out. Although the duration didn't change, the effect increased to a 50% reduction.

Most support-type skills didn't increase in duration, only in effect. After all, the skills he possessed all lasted for ten minutes with a five-minute cooldown, unless he had specific preparations or other buffs to alter this.

Wang Linchi began to search again. This time, the first-clear reward did not include anything like the Four Gentlemen Wine recipe. The first-clear rewards only consisted of two Cards.

This might be due to modifications. For instance, the Demon Suppression Legacy, originally an Identity Item and one of the first-clear rewards, was later changed into a common item.

This led Wang Linchi to suspect that God-given World might have some restrictions. Otherwise, why impose so many rules on players? They could just raise all players to max level, give everyone top-tier gear and maxed-out skills, and then throw them into various Abyss Difficulty dungeons to mow down enemies effortlessly.

As for the restriction, it could be computational power, resources, or something else, forcing God-given World to operate this way.

Wang Linchi didn't spend all his Abyss Crystals. After selectively purchasing a few items, he exited the settlement screen.

He had once again cleared a dungeon for the first time, just like before, earning the all-class universal passive skill: Armor Mastery.

[Passive·Armor Mastery LVMAX (10,000/10,000)]

[Ignore level requirements to equip armor]

Indeed, the effect was great.

Now, he only lacked Jewelry Mastery to complete the set.

Just as weapons had main-hand and off-hand slots, armor naturally included items like chests, pants, shoes, and so on.

If I clear another one, I should be able to get Jewelry Mastery, Wang Linchi thought.

Wang Linchi figured that three first-clears would reward him with a complete set of these all-class universal passive skills.

In this dungeon run, his level had skyrocketed from 1 to 26, mainly due to the two bosses and numerous elite monsters; the Experience they yielded pushed him to this level.

I remember there was some reward for reaching Level 20, right?

Wang Linchi opened the quest log. As expected, a quest was completed, so he claimed the reward immediately.

The special quest for the Third Transformation reappeared.

He unhesitatingly chose the most challenging one.

[Second Advancement·Five]

[Quest: Reach Level 30 (26/30), Clear a Level 30 Abyss Difficulty Dungeon (0/1)]

[Reward: Level 30 Scholar Profession Special Advancement Certificate ×1, 1 Set of Level 30 Scholar Profession Quality Equipment, Advancement Title: Navigator]

The title was simple, which made Wang Linchi think it might not be too challenging... probably.

After the second advancement, I should be able to unlock a bit more of my strength, right? Wang Linchi mused. After his second advancement, by devouring a game character's Experience again, he could not only bolster his own power but also further unlock his innate abilities.

As for leveling up, it seemed very straightforward now. A single run through an Abyss Difficulty dungeon could basically replenish the lost Experience.

He then opened the special reward for reaching Level 20: the Scholar Profession Set Gift Box.

Upon opening it, he saw that his Qilin Set had advanced. The new set pieces were all prefixed with 'White Tiger.' The equipment effects remained the same, but the attributes had increased. Of course, the set had also changed from five pieces to six.

[2-piece set: Reputation +200]

[3-piece set: Shop items purchased at an 80% price]

[4-piece set: Experience gained x3]

[5-piece set: Root Bone +2, Spiritual Power +2, Comprehension +2]

[6-piece set: Fixed Damage +500, Fixed Defense +500]

The individual piece attributes weren't that significant; the main focus was on the activated set bonuses.

Wang Linchi was quite satisfied with this, especially since the Experience Value gain had increased from double to triple. As for the other bonuses, the 5-piece set effect was decent; the others were negligible for Wang Linchi. He mainly focused on dungeons, so Reputation was irrelevant. He was self-sufficient and hardly needed shops, plus the discount didn't apply to Abyss Crystal redemptions.

As for the Fixed Damage, it was even less useful. He rarely fought directly, mostly providing support, so that amount of damage was practically useless against monsters in Abyss Difficulty. The Fixed Defense was also pathetically low. Five hundred points were of little use. He relied mainly on Card · Mei, which dealt damage not exceeding 5% of the target's maximum health.

In dungeons, Wang Linchi's equipment was merely icing on the cake; he primarily relied on Cards and the Saint Master.

However, I can't rely solely on these two. I need to enhance myself in other ways, he thought.

After examining his mount, pet, and wings, Wang Linchi felt it was essential to advance these items, even if they only added a few attributes.

The advantage of these types of items was that even if his level dropped, their stats wouldn't. They would continue to provide their full stat bonuses. For instance, even if a mount wasn't summoned, it would still provide Wang Linchi with its corresponding attribute bonuses.

Wang Linchi wasn't lacking equipment for now, so he decided to focus on upgrading these items, which seemed to require heavy pay-to-win investment but in reality demanded a lot of grinding.

First, let's upgrade the donkey and the wings.

As for the pet… forget it. I don't have enough Abyss Crystals to get a top-tier one.

The top-tier pets each required 100,000,000 Abyss Crystals! And that was just the beginning. To maximize a pet's attributes, one needed to feed it copious amounts of Potential Elixirs, then use Skill Books to add Skills, gather materials to craft pet equipment, and then enhance, refine, and enchant that equipment.

All told, even 1,000,000,000 Abyss Crystals wouldn't be enough. Naturally, cultivating a pet to such a top-notch level wouldn't come cheap.

Mounts and wings weren't easy to max out either. As these items evolved, various features would unlock, such as Illusions, Essences, Spirituality, Skills, Talents, and so on. Maxing them out was simple in theory: just grind enough Abyss Crystals.

With what I have now, getting both of them to Tier 3 would be pretty good, Wang Linchi mused.

...

Upon seeing the Black Theft Guild fleeing in disarray, Ye Tian couldn't help but feel a surge of satisfaction.

In this life, he had utterly crushed the Black Theft Guild. Even their 'second-generation' leader had been killed back to Level 0. Trying to catch up to the main player base now was probably just wishful thinking for them.

However, he quickly suppressed his triumphant smirk.

Who on earth is this Calligraphy Linchi? Clearing the Level 10 Black Wind Stronghold on Abyss Difficulty was already incredible, and now he's even cleared the Level 20 Mystery of Nanling Village!

Could he be reincarnated too?

No, impossible. Even if he were reincarnated like me, with the current Player stats, there's no way anyone could defeat the third phase of the True Magician.

Ye Tian found himself increasingly puzzled. In his previous life, the Mystery of Nanling Village wasn't cleared until a year and a half later, and even then, it required several large guilds to cooperate using a specific item.

At that time, he was just an enslaved Player oppressed by the Black Theft Guild and knew very little. He could only glean some information from the forums. However, after his reincarnation, there had been so many astonishing changes.

I need to speed things up. My strength must be enough to lead the guild members in tackling Level 20 Abyss Difficulty dungeons. My Growth rate is still too slow.

He glanced at the leaderboards. Even though all the top-ranked Players were from his guild, he still felt his progress was too slow.

Everyone in his guild was a renowned expert from his previous life, like the future Ice and Snow Queen and the Enchanting Witch. With Ye Tian boosting them, their individual Growth might not be as explosive as in their past lives, and their Potential might not be fully converted into raw power yet, but their levels, equipment, and Skills were far superior to what they had at this stage previously.

In three days, I'll take them into another Abyss Difficulty dungeon. For a Level 20 dungeon, the attributes they'll have accumulated by then should be sufficient.