Chapter 196 - One Hundred and Ninety-Four: Grand Four Happiness

Chapter 196: Chapter One Hundred and Ninety-Four: Grand Four HappinessSu Ming’an opened his eyes.

In front of him was the familiar orb, emitting a steady light within the room.

The ceiling above seemed to be just over two meters high, filling his field of vision and appearing rather oppressive; taller players might even bump their heads upon returning.

Su Ming’an knew without looking back that behind him was that soft, large bed, which quietly waited for him after each return, offering a brief respite as soon as he lay back.

...Although this was because the personal space was too small, and there was barely any room to stand.

He sat down, closed his eyes, and eased the emotional fluctuations brought on by the fifteen-day journey.

It must be said, the Fifth World felt the most real to him.

People of the Apocalypse always carried a mechanical rigidity, the NPCs of Daylight Floating City were all emotionless automata, Mingxi Middle School was the same, and Terrily Town always had an unsettling sense of disorder about it.

Only Ming Hui made him feel it was not just a game instance, but a world he had genuinely experienced.

"Traveler of Otherworld."

This concept, recognized at the opening ceremony, gave him a tangible feeling for the first time. He knew he was shuttling between different worlds, not wandering through a series of fixed game instances, playing the role of a clown following a script.

He was very much looking forward to the rest of his journey.

Of course, if the difficulty wasn’t as insane as this time, he would be much happier.

In his ear, the system’s voice was still chattering:

"Ding Dong!"

Next should ordinarily be the familiar skill acquisition phase, but Su Ming’an heard a different prompt:

Following that, he saw a deep blue panel appearing above the orb of light.

On the panel, there stood a large wheel, divided into sections by different colors with a blood-red pointer in the center. Flashes of multicolored lights shimmered in all directions of the wheel at once, accompanied by sound effects reminiscent of an entertainment city. The central "Try your luck" lettering was highlighted boldly, seemingly waiting for him to press it.

At the same time, the 1428 looted points that had been fixed on his personal interface and separated from his own points, instantly reset to zero, merging into a surge that flowed into the wheel.

...Indeed, they can’t be used, huh?

However, being rewarded based on the amount of loot collected isn’t too bad.

The S-Level Wheel seemed pretty good. Twenty percent of the sections contained Red Level or higher equipment, sixty percent of the sections featured various props, and he saw options like Space Teleportation Stones*3, Super Defense Shields*3, High-Level Attribute Enhancers*5 in bundled draw sections. Fifteen percent of the sections had eight attribute points, and for the remaining five percent... there was a section made up of vivid, blood-like red...

"Meow!"

Su Ming’an was startled by the sudden noise, and as he turned his head, his fat white cat’s deep blue, thread-like pupils were staring intently at him.

Its plump body leaped down from a nearby cabinet, successfully knocking over a water bottle and then landed heavily on his shoulder with considerable force.

It felt as if a stone had suddenly been placed there, causing his right shoulder to sink abruptly.

The cat probably didn’t have a clear understanding of its own weight and thought it could perch on his shoulder like a black cat.

...How did this cat get out?

Whenever there’s a switch between the game world and the Main God Space, everything being carried, including clones and the black cat, would automatically return to the backpack. But this white cat had somehow jumped out on its own...

Then, he watched as the white cat leaped again, leaving deep imprints on the clothes on his shoulder.

It stretched out its paw, touched his hand, and with his hand, reached forward.

Su Ming’an lifted his hand.

His finger precisely touched the pulsating "Try your luck" words.

The next moment, the colorful wheel spun swiftly with a "swish," the intermingled glows sent a barrage of light pollution.

He immediately closed his eyes, feeling the succession of colors moving beyond his eyelids. When everything came to a stop, he opened his eyes to see the blood-red pointer resting precisely on the smallest area...

The cat, now sitting heavily on his legs, withdrew its paw and curled into a ball of white snow.

He looked at the small blood-red section and abandoned the thought of stuffing this cat back into the backpack slot forever.

...King of luck, cat.

I choose you.

Su Ming’an stretched out his hand, and a blood-colored crystal fell onto his palm.

He had originally thought he would receive an item similar to a mental recovery type, one that would alleviate some of his exhaustion every time he used it.

But as it turned out, there didn’t seem to be any game items capable of fully restoring mental will, not even the initial repair, which could only heal the body, indicating that the mental state could not be recovered.

Even the Mentality Relief Potions made by other players felt to him like something akin to anti-anxiety medication, relaxing him physically rather than directly altering his mental condition.

However, the Equipment Evolution Gem was within his expectations.

The Sword of Yarman at the Blue Level was a bit lacking, and even though it had the potential for growth, in his view, it wasn’t quite keeping pace with his own increase in strength. Now that it had evolved, it was much better.

He took out the sword, shooed the white cat off his lap, brushed off the fur that had shed all over his thigh, and then laid the sword flat across his knees.

He crushed the gemstone.

"Ding-dong!"

The light from the shattered gem condensed on the surface of the blade, the worn appearance of the sword gradually starting to shine.

Su Ming’an opened the details page:

[Sword of Yarman (Red Level, semi-damaged, growable): This is his last great sword

Attack Power: 40~60

Durability: 30/30

Equipment Requirement: One-Handed Weapon, Strength Requirement of 20 or above

Special Attributes: Birthed in the Apocalyptic World as a damaged long sword, it once shone with endless light, waiting for a great person to repair it. Now, it has been partially fixed by a decent Forging Master and transformed by an Evolution Gem. It comes with True Damage and Magic Infusion attributes.

True Damage Attribute: On attack, deals 30~200 points of True Damage (judged based on the Force of the attack and the Break Technique effect), which can ignore defense to deal a fixed amount of damage.

Magic Infusion Attribute: Damage value is also increased by Mentality Points. When infusing Mana Points into the blade, it significantly enhances Sharpness and Damage, with the improvement closely related to Mentality Points and the infused Mana Points. The infused Mana can stay in the blade for 60 seconds, until the storage is depleted.]

Staring at this new Magic Infusion attribute that had appeared after the upgrade, Su Ming’an paused for a moment.

After that, he took five seconds to channel and maintain his Shadow Status and infused all 2560 points of his Mana into the sword.

The sword, infused with mana, glowed with a layer of opalescent light, and upon bearing more than two thousand Mana Points, the blade became as translucent as a mirror, with the edges flickering with dangerous light.

Just by looking at it, Su Ming’an could feel an edge that seemed almost piercing, extending atop the blade.

Quickly, he took another five seconds to switch back to Bright State.

During this time, he closely monitored the sword’s reaction.

When he switched back to Bright State and regained his Swordsmanship Mastery Skill, the sharpness on the blade’s edge was still present.

After waiting for sixty seconds, the blade returned to its original state, suggesting that the previously infused Mana had dissipated.

At the same time, Su Ming’an also noticed that even if he switched states, the lost Mana Points did not increase; when he switched back to Bright State, his Mana Points remained at 0.

... He wondered what the mechanism behind Health Points was.

Nevertheless, the evolution of the Sword of Yarman had brought unexpected delight.

He had always felt that he was much stronger in his Shadow State than in his Bright State, as his main modes of attack, Spatial Vibration and Annihilation, were both Magic Series Skills. His equipment, like the Aurora Ring for converting Mentality Points and the newly acquired Heart of the Future with Energy Suppression skills, all laid the groundwork for Magic Series Skills. Additionally, Shadow State came with various resistances, proving to be highly resistant to different debuffs.

If it weren’t for the fact that Health Points in Shadow State were so low, like a sheet of paper, he would stay in Shadow State all the time. Whether in single combat or group battles, as long as he took the initiative, Shadow State was simply too powerful.

As for Bright State, to be honest, aside from flailing around, he basically had no mobility.

Bright State inherently provided bonuses to Strength, Fitness, and Agility, and the bonus points from leveling up were far more than what ordinary occupations received. More importantly, it came with three passive skills—Swordsmanship Mastery, Blade Mastery, and Combat Mastery.

This kind of upgrade wasn’t the kind that completely transformed his abilities overnight, nor did he immediately become a master of swordsmanship upon switching to Bright State. It was more like pressing a skill button in a game. Outside of combat, he was still clueless about swordsmanship, but when he picked up a sword, it was as if his body had muscle memory, allowing him to watch his body autonomously deal with every close combat attack.

Although his thoughts were not in sync with his body, it was at least better than being in Shadow State, where he couldn’t even hold a sword correctly.

He had thought about learning swordsmanship, trying hard to keep his mind in step with his body during combat, but until now, he had been in a state of extreme exhaustion. Battles just came and went, and he hadn’t the energy to learn in detail.

The World Game only lasted a year.

And learning to fight would take years on end. In mission instances, every second counted in the search for clues, and in the Main God Space, he was rushing to catch up on sleep and information.

But now, could it be that Bright and Shadow States might present opportunities for combo-like combinations?

Although it required a full ten seconds of preparation, in the fifty seconds that followed, the Sword of Yarman, infused with over two thousand Mana Points, would deal extremely terrifying damage.

His mind wandered to Edward—there was no help for it, among the top players he had fought directly, only this guy served as a reference.

If he were to face Edward again, at least breaking through that Defensive Barrier shell of his shouldn’t be a problem.

He hadn’t looked at the rankings for the time being. Everyone was organizing their Points, and the rankings were continuously changing. It only made sense to check them before the start of the Sixth World.

He clicked on the long-silent orb to remove the spinner and let it continue broadcasting.

[Third Rank Advancement Missions:

1. Equip Blue Level or higher gear all over. (Pending)

2. Embed at least five or more gemstones all over. (Pending)

3. Post a message on the World Forum and attain a popularity of (one hundred million/the player’s personal world ranking). (Pending)]

Su Ming’an skipped the skill drawing phase. Drawing now could only replace an existing skill or upgrade one, so he would wait until he completed the advancement mission in three days’ time. Then he’d have an additional skill.

It seemed the system had almost finished its broadcast; his hand was drawn up by a flash of white light, imprinting a new white pattern on the back of his hand.

Two curved lines, holding a droplet between them, resembled a flower that was half-open.

With the addition of the new line, it circled above that droplet, as if it were entwined in a loop.

...The fourth Perfect Pass.

Su Ming’an stretched out his hand, looking at the mark on the back of his hand.

The pristine white lines moved with the flexing of his hand, full of vitality, not like the inanimate tattoo they appeared to be, but like a white river flowing on the back of his hand.

He felt a bit dizzy, his vision floating.

Perhaps he hadn’t yet recovered from the shuttle, or his spirit hadn’t adjusted, he closed his eyes for a moment, looked at the back of his hand, and suddenly felt an odd emotion welling up.

That moment of inspiration passed by uncaught, and quickly, the cold voice of the system sounded, cutting off his train of thought: