Chapter 52: A Terrifying Surge in Attributes (Please Keep Reading)

[Name: Yi Shen]
[Class: Mage]
[Level: lv23 (13,425/30,000)]
[Health Points: 19,860/19,860]
[Mana Points: 38,670/38,670]
[Base Attack: 1,321-2,642]
[Base Defense: 660]
[Strength: 1,321]
[Agility: 1,120]
[Constitution: 1,986]
[Intelligence: 3,867]
[Spirit: 3,114]
[Special Bonus: All your spells and magical effects deal and heal an additional 270 points]
[Skills: Spell Mastery (SSS), Flame Burst (C), Magical Enhancement (C), Blizzard (D)... etc.]
[Talent: Heart of the Mage lv3 (2,482/10,000)]
[Contribution Points: 11,456]
————
After so many trials in secret realms, Yi Shen had already mastered a great deal of materials, keeping his attributes far above others of the same rank, utterly overwhelming his peers. This time, he had almost monopolized half of Old Fatty’s decade-long hoard of materials, granting him a terrifying boost—every attribute now exceeded 1,000, and his highest, Intelligence, soared to an incredible 3,867!

Yi Shen estimated that although his current level was only 23, his actual strength probably matched that of a level 40 mage! Moreover, with his ability to cast spells without limitation, even ordinary level 40 players would be no match for him in this wave.

Not only that, after countless rounds of mastering spells, Yi Shen acquired a multitude of skills. Some were upgrades to old skills, others were brand new. Most crucially, as his mastery points increased, his Heart of the Mage talent advanced again, reaching level 3!

......

[Heart of the Mage lv3 (2,482/10,000)]
[Effect 1: Skills cost no mana when cast]
[Effect 2: Skills have no cooldown time]
[Effect 3: Your personal information is magically shielded, immune to all detection-type skills]
[Special Skill: Spell Mastery]
[Special Skill: Multicast]
[Special Skill: Spell Upgrade]
......

The level 3 Heart of the Mage not only provided an additional effect, but also granted Yi Shen a new special skill. The new effect, magical shielding, allowed Yi Shen to immunize himself against detection spells.

But the special skill Spell Upgrade was the true highlight of this advancement, making Yi Shen’s eyes shine with excitement!

[Spell Upgrade (SSS): You may use mastery points to upgrade the level of your spell skills.]

The description was brief, only a single sentence, but its implications were earth-shattering. For decades, skills and equipment had been the bane of every explorer. Some skills had abysmally low drop rates, and not even money could guarantee you’d get them.

Equipment was less troublesome; even if rare items didn’t drop, you could forge them using sub-class skills and high-end materials, piecing together something workable. But skill books were entirely luck-based. You might be using an E-grade Storm skill at level 30, and still be stuck with it at level 60, never seeing a high-level skill book drop!

Yi Shen’s new Spell Upgrade skill perfectly circumvented this problem—he could directly use mastery points to upgrade his existing skills.

After testing, Yi Shen found that upgrading from F to E-grade required about 100 mastery points, E to D-grade needed approximately 1,000 points, and D to C-grade demanded a whopping 10,000 points.

Though the cost increased dramatically with each tier, numerical requirements were far more predictable than probability, offering a definite path to improvement!

Beyond the substantial changes in Heart of the Mage, Yi Shen had also acquired several new skills in his spell mastery sessions.

First, his Fireball had now advanced to D-grade, and during one mastery session, he obtained an advanced skill: Flame Burst.

Flame Burst required a longer casting time, but could be charged up to deliver greater damage. It was a spell-related skill, adding a 20% bonus based on intelligence.

Secondly, his Magical Enhancement skill had risen to C-grade, previously granting a 10% intelligence-based magic damage bonus, now directly increased to 20%. His base spell damage was 270 points; with the 20% bonus, his spell damage could reach nearly 1,000 during Magical Enhancement! While others’ magical enhancements were time-limited, Yi Shen’s had no cooldown or mana cost, effectively making it a permanent buff!

The intelligence boost from Flame Burst, combined with the extra 1,000 spell damage, propelled Yi Shen’s high-end output even further—he could instantly deal over 2,000 damage, and with a critical hit, even three or four thousand was possible!

For minor skills, some were upgraded in rank, and he gained four new ones:

[Magic Missile], [Magic Suppression], [Frost Barrier], [Ring of Fire Repulsion]

Of these, only Ring of Fire Repulsion was an F-grade skill; the rest were E-grade. Magic Missile provided sustained output of magical projectiles—low damage, negligible impact. Magic Suppression could reduce enemy spell damage, or be used on oneself to mitigate incoming magic harm. Frost Barrier was highly effective against ice-type monsters. Ring of Fire Repulsion was a godsend for farming low-level dungeons, inflicting continuous burn damage on nearby monsters. When paired with Mana Shield, it yielded an extremely efficient monster-clearing effect.

Of course, compared to Yi Shen’s Blizzard, its efficiency paled in comparison. It was mainly relevant to other mages; for someone as exceptional as Yi Shen, it hardly mattered.

With every attribute now over a thousand, Yi Shen felt his body undergoing further changes, his perception of his surroundings becoming sharper.

Decades of monster hunting and leveling had led many to closely study attributes. After all, spells could inflict tremendous damage on monsters, but in the real world, you never saw someone kick through iron or accidentally snap chopsticks—such phenomena were virtually nonexistent.

Later, people discovered that attributes exerted a suppressive effect on physical fitness. This suppression was severe on Earth, but in other worlds it was partially relaxed. Most abilities were confined within system data; only when your attributes increased significantly could you feel a tangible improvement in your bodily cells.

But that was an aside. This advancement had given Yi Shen a taste of power, and his next target was naturally the more substantial sheep of Jingmen. If he could devour them all, Yi Shen believed his attributes could rise to the level of fifty or sixty with ease.

However, what he hadn’t expected was that, perhaps because many factions had overstepped the bounds yesterday, the long-silent authorities finally issued their first official statement!