Book 5: Chapter 50: Return

Qin Lun checked carefully and found that after these two stats were established, two related types of data appeared for his Apostle equipment and various skills.

The original base 10 points of Protection became 26 points. The Earth Drake Leather Armor alone added a full 10 points of Protection, while the Blue Quality leather combat boots and Leather Trench Coat added 1 point and 2 points respectively. The most interesting part was that the Shahbakh Ring, which had a 500-scale flame barrier, added 3 points of Protection, although these 3 points would actually weaken as the flame barrier was consumed.

The base 20 points of Mental Will became 28 points. Surprisingly, the Dagger of Sin also gave him 4 points of Mental Will attribute. The other 4 points came from the Shahbakh Ring (2 points) and the dark blue quality Combat Gauge (2 points).

Looking at it this way, the Shahbakh Ring, which he originally considered useless, now seemed worth wearing again.

After the Mental Will stat appeared, new prompts emerged for the magic skills he currently possessed, generally adding a usage condition for each skill. Apart from Clock Eye, the magic skills he currently had – “Maze Spirit Channeling Art”, “Pentagram Crystal Mirror”, and “Wind Drift Art” – did not require 20 points of Mental Will.

The Mental Will requirement for the first stage of Clock Eye, which involved two clock hands, was very low. The requirement for three clock hands was exactly at the 30-point mark, and he was still 2 points short. As for the skills in the later two stages, “Stellar Black Hole” and “Wheel of Fate”, besides the skill level requirements, they also had their own Mental Will requirements of 50 points and 100 points respectively.

It was worth mentioning that “Tree World Descent”, sealed by Master Vima, was an A+ grade Apostle Skill, a peak ninth-tier wood magic. Surprisingly, its Mental Will requirement was a floating range of 10-85 points!!!

With such an unreliable upper and lower limit for Mental Will, it was no wonder “Tree World Descent” nearly got Qin Lun killed. The upper requirement was actually 35 points higher than “Stellar Black Hole”, which was also an A-grade skill, and only 15 points less than an S-grade skill. Qin Lun was stunned!

Qin Lun’s Thorn Technique had now been replaced by “Tree World Descent”. The originally tiny Thorn Technique rune on the virtual Magic Network Core was completely covered by dense golden runes. The golden runes of “Tree World Descent” almost filled an entire facet of the polygonal crystal, truly worthy of a peak ninth-tier wood magic.

Finally, Combat Gunmanship had no Mental Will requirement. It belonged to physical skills, unrelated to magic, so naturally, it didn’t need Mental Will. However, the three gun techniques created by Qin Lun himself, which hadn’t yet been recognized by Shattered Starry Sky – “Weakness Crosshair”, “Spiral Shooting Technique”, and “Ballistic Refraction” – now had slight Mental Will requirements.

With the addition of the two statistics, “Mental Will” and “Protection”, Qin Lun felt that the combat database of Death Notice was basically complete. Perhaps there were still some minor statistical aspects not included, but these could be incorporated into the existing data system in the future.

Although there might still be a lack of data representing weapon and skill attacks, attack data needed to be compared with the combat target. Apostles had too many types of skills, bloodlines, and equipment, making calculations very difficult. If the deviations were too large, it was better not to have them.

After returning to the novice camp, Hill and Hansen, who had been waiting for a long time, immediately came up to him.

“Hill asked with a smile.”

“Qin Lun, how do you feel?”

“Hehe, not bad. I gained a lot this time. Let’s talk inside the tent!”

After bringing Hansen and Hill into his tent, Qin Lun displayed the items given by Vima in the Team Channel. Except for the Ancient Elf Tree Essence, which he kept secret, he even explained the process of the communication jade and the transaction with the Forest Goddess.

After this battle, Qin Lun intended to establish a certain degree of mutual trust with the two Serial Killers. Even if they still harbored wariness towards each other, if they were to form a team in the future, this mutual trust was essential.

Repaying kindness with kindness, he had now figured out his position within the team. Since Hill and Hansen wanted him to become the team’s lubricant in the future, he would place himself in that position, letting them form the team around him.

Their team was different from ordinary teams; it could never be completely harmonious. Expecting several Serial Killers to obey his commands was wishful thinking. However, it was possible to make them reach a tacit understanding with him to a certain extent, thereby developing some dependence on the team.

“The Forest Goddess aspect was something we overlooked. Otherwise, if we had prepared in advance…” Hill said, then sighed and shook his head, realizing he was being too demanding. After all, they were humans, not gods, and couldn’t cover everything.

Before entering the world, everyone was only thinking about how to destroy Fink’s team. Given their strength and Apostle experience, preparing the Sas couple as scapegoats in the early stage and factoring in Casey’s team in the later stage was already their limit.

“We did enough. Now let’s think about what comes next. There are still two days left…” Hansen was more open-minded.

He and Hill felt no jealousy towards Qin Lun’s gains this time. Effort equaled reward. Qin Lun encountered two life-threatening crises during this plan, so it was only right that his rewards were greater.

“Two days isn’t a lot, but it’s not too little either. I plan to complete my Career Quest. As for you two…” Qin Lun suddenly grinned mysteriously, “I’ll give you a chance to catch up with my gains in this world! However, only the two of you will participate in this five-person team task, so there might be life-threatening danger!”

Hill and Hansen fell silent. With their intelligence, they understood what he meant as soon as he spoke. After a moment, the two suddenly looked at each other and smiled. “Qin Lun, this counts as payback, right!”

“Mmm, although I like this kind of adventure, being used by you two was very unpleasant, and I almost died. How could I not pay you back?” Qin Lun clapped his hands and laughed, “But you and I are the same kind of people. You’ll still go for it, right? Haha!”

Hansen and Hill smiled wryly at each other. They did go for it. Them not being jealous of Qin Lun’s gains was one thing, but given a chance to catch up to Qin Lun, they would risk their lives without hesitation. Compared to ordinary people, Serial Killers had stronger self-esteem and desire to prove themselves. In comparison, life-threatening danger took a back seat.

After Hansen and Hill left the tent with gloomy faces, Qin Lun was in a great mood, even happier than when he received Master Vima’s equipment. Competing and matching wits with these two guys gave him more pleasure than simple fighting.

Although Qin Lun had revealed almost all of his gains this time to establish mutual trust with them, he still kept some things to himself privately.

The Ancient Elf Tree Essence was a life-saving item, and Qin Lun wouldn’t share it with anyone. While he had fully disclosed the equipment and skills gained this time, he didn’t tell Hill and Hansen about the purified Moonlight Elf Bloodline.

Compared to the Moon Night Elf Bloodline, the high-grade Moonlight Elf Bloodline not only increased the level of Elf Whispers but also added Shadow Talent and Earth Element Affinity.

Shadow Talent greatly enhanced the abilities of the Disguise and Stealth systems and provided good resistance to dark magic. Earth Element Affinity could allow Qin Lun to achieve something in earth magic. Earth magic had the strongest defense among all magics, bar none. Even metal magic couldn’t compare to earth magic in this aspect.

If Qin Lun could obtain a few earth defensive magics in the future, he would largely compensate for the Hunter Profession’s shortcomings of low Health Points and poor defense, significantly improving his survivability.

…

Two days later, the three of them stood on a slope several kilometers away from the camp, looking far towards the Sanctuary Camp.

During these two days, Qin Lun independently killed a Sixth Tier jungle creature and completed the Jungle Hunter’s Career Quest, “Hunter’s Coming of Age Ceremony”. With his current strength, as long as he used all his trump cards, a Sixth Tier jungle creature posed no danger to him. Now, once he returned to Shattered Starry Sky, he would receive his profession enhancement.

After the bloodline upgrade and the subsequent profession enhancement, Qin Lun finally caught up in terms of basic physical attribute accumulation with those ordinary Professional Apostles who underwent over ten Quest Worlds before their Class Change. Furthermore, due to his gains in this Nals World, his accumulation of equipment and skills even surpassed that of ordinary Professional Apostles.

Hansen and Hill stood quietly beside him. Both now had heavy fatigue on their faces, and their bodies were covered in bloodstains and wounds. Hansen’s right arm was severed at the shoulder, and his left hand was missing two fingers. His coat was almost as if it had just been pulled out of a pool of blood.

Hill had a deep wound from his left shoulder to his right ribs. The flesh was torn open, and one could even see the ribs and the beating heart inside the chest cavity, but strangely, no bloodstains were visible. The torn flesh of the wound was a deathly gray, like the flesh of a corpse.

The Shepherd’s face was pale, but his spirits were quite good, with a hint of excitement. He and Hansen had carried out a very difficult camp task these past two days: hunting a Eighth Tier peak Sharp-Toothed Land Dragon that was about to break through to the Ninth Tier.

Since only the two of them participated in the fight, even though they set a trap, the entire process was perilous.

Not only were their recovery items completely consumed, but both also used many of their trump cards. The rewards were huge. After handing over the materials from the Sharp-Toothed Land Dragon to the camp management committee member who issued the task, they each received several skills and equipment items suitable for themselves.

Originally, they wouldn’t have had the chance to participate in such a cross-tier task. But Qin Lun, through his connection with Master Vima, had that camp management committee member assign the task to them. Qin Lun was about to leave Nars, so there was no reason not to use this favor.

Because of their big battle with the Casey and Fink teams, Master Vima later brought them back to camp. Therefore, Hansen and Hill forcefully taking the Sharp-Toothed Land Dragon task didn’t attract other competitors. This was the easiest part of the entire task process.

Of course, Qin Lun didn’t just give the task to Hill and the others for free. In exchange, Hansen and Hill gave him Kael’s human skin “Skill Scroll: Flamingo of the Phoenix Soaring Fist”. This was the most precious item left behind by the Martial Artist after his death.

“Let’s go, it’s time!” Qin Lun smiled at his two companions beside him. A gust of wind passed, and the three figures vanished from the slope.