Chapter 64: Proof of a Strong One
Unless absolutely necessary, Su Xiao would never choose the second method, even though it was much simpler than the first.
Reaching the third rank, completing a World War once, breaking through the body's limits, and obtaining the Proof of a Strong One—these were the conditions required to break through the 80-point attribute barrier.
‘Reaching the third rank’ and ‘World War’ could be ignored for now. If things went smoothly, he would reach the third rank soon enough, and the World War was already completed.
As for ‘breaking through the body's limits’ and obtaining the ‘Proof of a Strong One,’ Su Xiao was completely in the dark.
“Paradise, what does breaking through the body's limits mean?”
As soon as Su Xiao finished speaking, a flood of prompts appeared.
[Checking Hunter permissions…]
[Hunter information inquiry permission: Lv.30.]
[Permission granted. Information on ‘Breaking Through Body Limits’ will be released.]
[Warning: Any information related to breaking through the 80-point attribute barrier must not be disclosed to anyone by the Hunter.]
[‘Breaking Through Body Limits’ refers to shattering the body's barriers, unleashing all of the body's potential.]
[Hint: If the Hunter initiates ‘Breaking Through Body Limits,’ Reincarnation Paradise will temporarily suppress the Hunter's attributes, reducing each attribute to 5 points, and issue a mission. The suppression will be lifted upon mission completion.]
[Hint: Suppressing attributes is not the same as stripping them; it is conceptually similar to a sealing technique.]
[Hint: This process must be carried out in the Real World. The Hunter must proceed with caution.]
[Hint: After the Hunter submits the application for ‘Breaking Through Body Limits,’ Reincarnation Paradise will appropriately extend the Hunter's stay time in the Real World.]
…
After reading Reincarnation Paradise's prompts, Su Xiao roughly understood what ‘Breaking Through Body Limits’ meant. After returning to the Real World, he could apply to Reincarnation Paradise to begin the process. At that point, Reincarnation Paradise would suppress his physical abilities and issue a mission. He would have to complete a certain task or undergo a specific trial in a state close to that of an ordinary person.
This trial wouldn't be too long, after all, Su Xiao's stay time in the Real World was limited. Reincarnation Paradise's previous prompt was ‘appropriately extend the Hunter's stay time in the Real World,’ not ‘significantly extend it.’
Now that he understood what ‘Breaking Through Body Limits’ was, Su Xiao continued to ask where the ‘Proof of a Strong One’ could be obtained.
[Hint: Hunter permissions insufficient…]
Seeing this prompt, Su Xiao really wanted to say something like ‘what the hell.’ After killing Lan Jue, his permission level had increased by one rank, reaching Lv.30. With this level of permission combined with his Hunter permissions, the result was still ‘permissions insufficient.’
This gave Su Xiao a clue. The first three points required to break through the 80-point barrier were probably not too difficult. The fourth point, the ‘Proof of a Strong One,’ was the hardest thing to get.
Whether one could obtain this item might be the clearest dividing line between the strong and the weak.
Contractors who couldn't obtain the Proof of a Strong One might, out of desperation, choose the ‘O-Type Energy Body Protein Injection’ to break through the 80-point barrier.
Not to mention that using the ‘O-Type Injection’ wouldn't grant the reward for reaching 80 points in an attribute, but every single point increase would consume 9 attribute points—an absolute nightmare.
Su Xiao vaguely felt that after raising an attribute to 80 points, the ratio of attribute points to attribute increase might not be 1:1, but it couldn't be as exaggerated as 9:1.
Su Xiao guessed that if one used the ‘Proof of a Strong One’ to break through the 80-point attribute barrier, this ratio would be much lower. It might be 5:1, or even 3:1 or 2:1, and it wasn't impossible for it to remain 1:1.
Therefore, he had to find a way to obtain the Proof of a Strong One. However, there was no clue on how to get it, and even the most basic direction was very vague.
To be precise, it wasn't that there were no clues at all. The only clue was Reincarnation Paradise's permissions. If he could find a way to raise his permissions, he might get a lead on the Proof of a Strong One.
However, raising Reincarnation Paradise permissions was not simple. There were two known methods: first, raising his level and rank; second, killing Hunters from enemy paradises.
Compared to killing enemy Hunters, Su Xiao felt that raising his level and rank was more reliable. If it weren't for the World War, he wouldn't have encountered Hunters from other paradises at all.
In short, it was right to focus on increasing his strength first. With enough strength, everything else would fall into place.
Su Xiao walked out of the Attribute Enhancement Hall. As the World War had just ended, the contractors in Reincarnation Paradise were in a post-war relaxation phase. He could occasionally see contractors completely drunk; alcohol was a good way to relax the mind.
Returning to his Exclusive Room, Su Xiao took a cold shower. Bare-chested, he felt the surging sense of power within him.
After raising his Stamina attribute to 80 points, he felt a significant increase in his body's toughness. His endurance, impact resistance, and muscle density had all improved noticeably.
Su Xiao took out the [Holy Oak Branch]. Using this item would permanently increase his maximum health by +15% (limited to Stamina below 80 points), permanently increase his maximum mana by +15% (limited to mana below 3000 points), and increase his health recovery rate per minute by +20.
He had previously consulted Reincarnation Paradise about whether he could still use this item after reaching 80 Stamina. Reincarnation Paradise's reply was yes. As long as he hadn't broken through the 80-point barrier, his Stamina attribute was calculated as 79.99. Even if the data showed 80 points, his Stamina attribute hadn't truly reached 80 points.
Su Xiao's current mana was 2710 points, which was somewhat short of the ideal 2999 points. But there was no helping it; he was about to face the third-rank trial assessment and needed to increase his strength as quickly as possible. In the cruel Reincarnation Paradise, blindly pursuing perfection was unwise. There simply wasn't that much perfection in the world.
Su Xiao walked towards the room that was originally his study. Rather than a study, it was more accurate to call it an alchemy laboratory. The room was filled with various advanced experimental instruments and over a thousand bottles and jars of different colors.
Su Xiao sat down at the test bench. He wouldn't directly eat the [Holy Oak Branch]; that was the least efficient and most risky method. Besides, eating a piece of tree trunk directly was… very stupid.
Ten minutes later, Su Xiao had prepared the [Holy Oak Branch] into about 50 milliliters of golden-yellow potion. Shaking the test tube in his hand, a fragrance like the scent of soil after rain emanated from the potion.
Su Xiao drank the potion in one gulp. The potion prepared from the [Holy Oak Branch] had mild properties. As the potion went down his throat, a warm sensation spread through his body. The mana in various parts of his body became active, and its quantity began to increase.
Half an hour later, the warm feeling inside Su Xiao faded, and three prompts appeared.
[Your mana has permanently increased by 406 points.]
[Your health has permanently increased by 263 points.]
[Your health recovery rate per minute has increased by +20.]
…
The increase in mana and health was significant, especially for mana. Su Xiao could clearly feel that the amount of mana within him had increased by a large margin. His current mana had reached an impressive 3116 points.
This amount of mana was enough to handle most situations.
After using the [Holy Oak Branch], Su Xiao took out the [Amis Injection (Gold)]. The method of using this item was simple; it just needed to be injected into the muscle.
The syringe pierced his arm, and the somewhat cold medicinal liquid was injected into the muscle. Su Xiao couldn't help but shiver.
Compared to using the [Holy Oak Branch], the feeling of using the [Amis Injection] wasn't very pleasant. His whole body felt a bone-chilling cold, but his mind was exceptionally clear.
A long time later, Su Xiao opened his eyes. He subconsciously tilted his head, and a speck of dust, too small to be seen with the naked eye, drifted past his ear.
Neural reflex speed increased by 7%. This sensation was even stronger than the sensory improvement after an attribute increase.