Chapter 65: Midnight Ascension

Late at night, the stars shone dimly.

At an abandoned gas station, after lighting a bonfire, Yenir grilled fresh venison in one hand while munching on the Spiritual Energy Fruit acquired from Li Dafu.

“Gulp”

He swallowed it all in one go.

As the cool Spiritual Energy slid down his throat into his stomach, a series of system notifications began to chime:

“Ding: Consumed Strength Fruit. Strength +1”

“Ding: Consumed Constitution Fruit. Constitution +1…”

“…”

After nine consecutive alerts, Yenir let out a satisfied burp, even feeling a bit overstuffed.

If outsiders saw him devouring Spiritual Energy Fruits like that, they’d surely go crazy with envy—like scooping up the equivalent of three luxury apartments in one bite without batting an eye.

“Current attributes: Base Strength 21, Constitution 20, Agility 20, Willpower 29…”

“The 1 free attribute point from the dungeon reward couldn’t be applied to Willpower—it had to go to Strength…”

“His Willpower is nearly at the Second-Stage limit; eating more fruits would be pointless. How to push it to 30 remains a mystery…”

“Other stats now mirror the specialized core attributes of an A-Level Awakened.”

Muttering to himself while glancing over his stats, Yenir couldn’t help but sigh in admiration.

In his previous life, he had missed a golden chance to boost his attributes during the Second-Stage. Although the Military had taken notice, he rushed to Third-Stage as soon as his stats inched past 20.

It was a real pity—his true potential had never been fully tapped before.

Remember, advancing to Third-Stage brings a massive stat surge; the system adds extra points based on base attributes, with increases of at least 100%!

Pre-promotion stats of 20 would soar to 40 post-promotion—this is the key reason Third-Stagers can utterly crush anyone below them.

His hasty advancement in his past life meant his base stat gains were far from impressive at Third-Stage.

But in this life, he was determined to make up for lost opportunities.

“Gotta earn money, after all…”

“This time, I must boost all my base stats to 29 on bare gear before advancing—anything less would be a disservice to myself…”

After a few whispered mutterings, Yenir turned his attention to the enhancement items Li Dafu had purchased.

“Critical Boost Scroll (Low-Level): Increases critical chance upon use.”

“Strength Domination Scroll (Low-Level): Increases the chance of triggering a crushing effect when used.”

“Swift Scroll (Low-Level): Boosts movement and attack speed upon use.”

“…”

He had spent roughly 50,000 credit points on a total of four scrolls—each valued at a level that would make most Awakeneds tremble.

Aside from Spiritual Energy Fruits, these enhancement scrolls were one of the few luxuries capable of boosting his power.

Usually, an Awakened would only buy them when there was no other way to increase power after hitting Third-Stage.

For most, enhancement scrolls couldn’t compare to gear and fruits—but only high-rolling types like Yenir, chasing ultimate combat power, would dare to splurge on them.

“Smack, smack, smack, smack!”

After four rapid strikes and feeling four layers of boost surge through him, Yenir sensed a significant spike in his combat prowess.

Having leapt to mid-level Second-Stage through over-tiered kills, his battle power now completely outclassed his peers.

Clad in top-tier white equipment with three pieces of blue gear on the side, his overall stats rivaled those of the strongest at his level—stacked with a ton of bonus buffs.

Even without resorting to his Forbidden Sword Techniques, he was confident he could take down a high-level Second-Stage foe!

Money can buy power—his sheer investment had transformed him, a Willpower specialist, into a monster among Awakeneds!

“Master, I’ve received two skill books—would you like to take a look?”

From across the bonfire, Li Dafu, who had been fiercely haggling, suddenly shouted to signal Yenir to come over.

“Both are B-Level, but their asking prices are sky-high!”

“Huh?”

Looking up, Yenir scrutinized the shared trade panel from Li Dafu and noticed messages from a Third-Stage Awakened and a Second-Stage Awakened.

“B-Level Sword Technique: Shadow Assault (Requires: Strength 20, Agility 20, Willpower 20)”

“Skill Effect: Consumes 40% stamina and 2000 Spiritual Energy to boost speed by 60% and cover 10 meters; appearing behind an enemy delivers a 100% critical hit.”

“Fixed Price: points.”

“B-Level Sword Technique: Earth Shatter (Requires: Strength 20, Constitution 15)”

“Skill Effect: Consumes 30% stamina and 800 Spiritual Energy to deliver a charged ground strike that deals sustained shock damage and briefly stuns.”

“Fixed Price: points.”

Glancing quickly over the skill books, Yenir found himself intrigued.

Both skill books were priced steeply—B-Level skills are as valuable as a piece of blue gear. Typically, only major Second- or Third-Stage factions would indulge, as these are core combat skills.

Either skill was far superior to his old C-Level Flash Step Slash.

However, although Earth Shatter was a bit cheaper, Yenir wasn’t interested in it.

After purchase, he would undoubtedly upgrade any skill to SSS-Level—damage wasn’t his main concern. He already had a reliable area attack.

Shadow Assault, on the other hand, looked impressive. With lightning-fast movement and a critical hit, upgrading it to SSS-Level promised a huge surprise.

But the price…was just too high.

He only had a little over 10,000 credit points left, and even if he sold all his blue materials for an extra 30,000, he’d still come up short of 50,000.

There was no way around it—the three most valuable pieces of blue gear hadn’t been sold at all.

“Li Dafu, haggle a bit—see if he’s willing to lower the price.”

After a moment’s thought, Yenir decided to secure the skill book.

He noted one thing: the skill’s requirements were extremely strict, even a bit odd.

Not many Awakeneds have such high Willpower to learn it. Clearly, this book must have been held for a long time.

To be blunt, most Second-Stagers would never meet these requirements. Willpower-based Spiritual Energy Fruits are nearly impossible to come by, and no one is willing to splurge on that stat!

At Yenir’s command, Li Dafu quickly began “arguing” with the other party, unleashing his signature shrewd merchant tactics.

After three minutes of heated bickering, a flushed Li Dafu reluctantly looked up at Yenir and said:

“Master, he’s stubborn—he won’t budge from a minimum of 73,218 points. Not even a penny less will do.”

He then displayed the message he had received from the other party:

“This is the lowest they’ll accept! I’d rather smash it than settle for less! I’m sure you can see—the effect of this skill nearly rivals A-Level! If not for its strict requirements, I’d learn it myself in a heartbeat!”

In Safe Zone 135, a Third-Stage Awakened, his face flushed bright red, sent the message with gritted teeth.

Faced with Li Dafu’s relentless haggling, he was utterly infuriated!

He snapped, ‘Your trash isn’t worth a dime,’ then countered, ‘Only I have the taste for it.’ Inexplicably, he was squeezed for over 20,000 points—down to every fraction, as if haggling over groceries!

Watching the other party’s messages, Yenir couldn’t help but sigh.

It was no surprise the bargaining stalled—this skill was genuinely impressive. Few Second-Stagers could meet its requirements, yet Third-Stagers had plenty who could master it.

Glancing at Li Dafu’s barrage of haggling messages, he felt a wave of disgust.

The relentless nitpicking and back-and-forth was just like haggling with a nagging aunt.

After a moment’s thought, Yenir instructed Li Dafu to send a message saying:

“Pay me 30,000 points upfront. I’ll use a piece of equipment as collateral.”

“If you don’t top up the remaining credit points within a week, the gear is yours.”

With that, Yenir immediately attached the details of a pair of Blue Leg Armor.

In Safe Zone 135, the Third-Stage Awakened selling the skill was about to refuse—but upon glancing at the leg armor, his heart skipped a beat.

“Blue? Now that’s some serious gear! Not only does it boost speed, it also comes with a slicing edge… paired with my Agility talent, it’s like adding wings to a tiger!”

Collateralized to him…

Normally, he wouldn’t sweat the collateral details—Awakeneds always aim for the fastest power spike. But facing this gear, he was undeniably tempted.

A week wasn’t long—if the other party couldn’t come up with the funds, he’d score a massive win!

Even if they did pay up, he wouldn’t lose out. After all, this sword technique did have its quirks—those wanting to learn it might not even be able to, and those who could might choose not to.

With that thought, he decided to accept the collateral outright.

“Swish.”

With a flash of white light, the deal was sealed.

But the moment the transaction closed, the Third-Stage Awakened felt a sudden jolt all over his body and started cursing.

“Ding: Transaction completed. 10% fee deducted by the system.”

“Ding: Transaction completed. An unknown force deducted a 15% fee from your account.”

Rubbing his eyes, he noticed that the credit points that should have been credited were shockingly fewer!

“Damn it! Why’s my money being deducted!? What could be darker than the system!?”

….

Beside the bonfire, Li Dafu beamed as he looked at the 4500 credit points he had pocketed, his grin nearly splitting his face.

Glancing at the 5% Yenir had allowed to remain, he jumped about excitedly.

My goodness! Including previous trades, in his entire career as a shrewd merchant in dungeons, he’d never made so much before!

Ignoring the excited Li Dafu, Yenir looked at the skill book in his hand with great anticipation.

All his requirements were met—he could master it immediately!

Without hesitation, he used it right away.

“Ding: Learning B-Level Skill Shadow Assault (Sword Technique)”

In an instant, a brilliant flash illuminated his mind.

A second later, the Sword God System’s prompt rang out again:

“Ding: Skill upgrade successful.”

“Sword Technique: Shadow Assault has been upgraded to SSS-Level as Dimensional Slash!”