[Star Glaze: ???]
[Star Glaze: Are you planning not to pay back the Spirit Essence?]
[Swordsmith: âŠIf you hadnât mentioned it, I wouldâve almost forgotten Iâm still carrying a three million debt.]
[Swordsmith: Right now, thereâs one good news and one bad news. Which do you want to hear first?]
[Star Glaze: The good news!]
Lin Xunâs mouth twitched. This female superior wasnât following the script.
[Swordsmith: Iâve decided to tell you the bad news first.]
[Star Glaze: ?]
[Swordsmith: A small accident occurred during the Offering Ritual. The proxy agent position is probably out of the question.]
[Star Glaze: What happened, did Amos discover something?]
[Star Glaze: If you exposed your personal information, then immediately abandon the infiltration mission!]
[Star Glaze: No, hurry up and come to the office!]
[Swordsmith: Team Leader Li, donât be so anxious⊠I havenât told you the good news yet.]
[Swordsmith: The reason I canât be a proxy agent is because Amos wants me to become the Twelfth DiscipleâŠ]
[Star Glaze: ?????]
[Star Glaze: Get to the office! Youâre working overtime!]
â
Half an hour later, in the Cultural Bureau conference room.
ââŠIt hasnât even been that long, and youâre already about to enter the Fifth Difficulty?â
âAnd why did Amos find out before I did, do you not trust the organization, or do you not trust me?â
Li Xingyue wore a fitted office skirt suit, her arms folded across her chest, making her already ample figure stand out even more. She stared at him expressionlessly.
âI didnât have time to report to leadership before Amos discovered itâŠâ
The alluring superior rolled her eyes at him. âI also have one good news and one bad news to tell you.â
âThe bad news is that headquarters has no remaining stock of Legendary-grade Divine items.â
âAh?!â
âThe good news is that the Divine item I have on hand wasnât acquired through the headquarters channels.â
Something suddenly materialized in Li Xingyueâs hand.
It was a small grayish-white clay jar.
[The Sacred Wine of the Goddess of Wushan (Legendary-grade item): The jar holds the wine brewed by Yao Ji, daughter of the Red Emperor, during her lifetime. A sweet wine prepared by the ancient method of chewing and fermenting, it is fragrant and mellow, containing a portion of the Goddess Yao Jiâs enigmatic divinity. Upon use, grants 1 point of Divinity.]
Lin Xunâs heart surged from this sudden turn by the black stocking lady.
âI believe you were able to clearly feel the physical enhancements during the previous Talent Fortification, but that was only laying a foundation for subsequent Talent upgrades.â
âWhen your Soul Talent advances to +4, it will be different. To be precise, it will strengthen your mental powerâŠâ
After an in-depth discussion with Li Xingyue, he gained a lot.
Once his Soul Talent reached +4, it entered a new stage. It no longer focused solely on physical augmentation but shifted to emphasizing mental power.
Although Li Xingyue hadnât explicitly said what changes would occur at +7, Lin Xun vaguely suspected it would have something to do with the soul itself.
Regarding the New World and the game, Li Xingyueâs arrangement was the same as Amosâs: to have him cultivate diligently and conquer the new difficulty as soon as possible.
Lin Xun returned to his rented apartment.
The hardworking Valkyrie hurriedly put down the broom and handed him a pair of slippers.
âMy female superior is also hoping Iâll get promoted soon. But competing for a Disciple position isnât so easy. If I want to rise higher, Iâll inevitably need her and Amosâs support.â
âHuh? Why does this feel like eating from both sides?â
Lin Xun opened the game and clicked on the Divine item in his inventory.
[You have used the Sacred Wine of the Goddess of Wushan (Legendary-grade item)!]
[You have gained 1 point of Divinity.]
He opened the Apostle Panel. Behind the Thousand Faces, Ten Thousand Forms talent, a small plus sign that had been absent for a long time reappeared.
Lin Xun clicked the plus without hesitation.
[You have consumed 1 point of Divinity. Soul Talent level +1!]
[Soul Talent: Thousand Faces, Ten Thousand Forms +4. Your soul possesses a unique flavor, embracing all forms, rejecting none. Possessing any Shell becomes effortless. Talent Effect: Greatly increases compatibility with Shells (+55%), Shell Slots +11.]
As expected, compatibility increased by ten percent increments.
The number of Shell Slots now rose to 11. Including the 1 slot granted at the start of the game, he now had 8/12 Shell Slots unlocked.
He was confident he wouldnât have to worry about running out of Shell Slots for quite some time.
Along with the rise in Soul Talent, he felt a force swelling and rampaging in his mind.
The veins on his forehead bulged. His head felt as if someone were hammering it with a massive mallet, or as if something inside was about to burst out of his skull.
The intense swelling pain made him clench his fists and bite down hard to keep from crying out.
The agony only intensified, spreading and fermenting.
Lin Xun finally couldnât endure it any longer. His eyes rolled back, and he lost consciousness.
â
When he woke again, he felt he was lying in a soft embrace.
The girlâs arms were soft and cold.
Before he even opened his eyes, he could already âseeâ himself half-reclined on the sofa, leaning against the Valkyrieâs chest.
The girl looked anxious but didnât know what to do, so she only hugged him tighter.
He abruptly opened his eyes.
The scene before him was exactly the same as what he had âseenâ with his eyes closed!
âIâm fine.â
After reassuring the Valkyrie, he closed his eyes again.
This time, he âsawâ the Valkyrie sitting beside him. The folds of the apron around her waist and the knot of the strap at her back appeared so close and clear, as if within reach.
Lin Xun shifted his âgazeâ to himself and immediately⊠saw a very handsome man.
He tried expanding his âsight,â discovering that he could see no more than about two meters around him. Anything farther became vague and blurred, like it had been pixelated.
âSo this is the perception granted by enhanced mental power?â
Lin Xun was filled with joy for a moment, like he had gotten a new toy, and couldnât help using the perception ability over and over again.
After a while of testing and exploring, he came to a conclusion.
The perception ability only applied to the area surrounding him as the center point, with the current perception range being about one and a half meters.
He could only âseeâ the surfaces of objects; the perception couldnât even penetrate clothing, the Valkyrie could attest to that.
According to Li Xingyue, this was because his mental power wasnât strong enough.
âIâd thought Iâd at least be able to look inside myself or somethingâŠâ
Suddenly, he felt groggy and a little sluggish.
He knew this was probably because using the perception ability repeatedly had drained a lot of energy.
Yawning, Lin Xun went back to the bedroom. He fell face-first onto the bed and soon drifted into a deep sleep.
The girl in the apron quietly walked into the bedroom, gently tucked the blanket around the sleeping man, then silently left and softly closed the door.