Chapter 426: 398: Combat Power Enhancement Level

Chapter 426: Chapter 398: Combat Power Enhancement Level

The aftermath of the cult incident was still fermenting, but only among the higher echelons of the Sanctuaries and Direct Lineage Armies.

Mercenary Corps and other loose organizations were completely unaware that an event had almost plunged the entire Tiannan Province into a desperate situation just a few days ago.

Only some large organizations and top combat teams had faintly caught wind of something out of the ordinary.

That day,

a new announcement was posted outside the adventurer guild:

“Adventurer Combat Power Evaluation”:

[“The guild plans to conduct a combat power assessment for all registered adventurers within the coming week. In addition to displaying star ratings, credibility levels, and Awakening tiers, adventurers’ personal information will now also include a combat power augmentation indicator.”]

[“When undergoing the combat power evaluation, you may wear equipment, but it is strictly prohibited to borrow advanced equipment from others. If discovered, both the borrower and lender will be punished with a reduction in star ratings. In serious cases, adventurer qualifications may be revoked.”]

[“After the evaluation, the adventurer’s combat power augmentation will range from +1 to +MAX, using Demonized Beasts of the same tier as the comparative baseline. For more details, please consult the information desk at the adventurer guild.”]

Awakening tier and combat power are known to be unlinked, a fact all adventurers are crystal clear about.

At this point, at least in Green Shadow, even those who had just experienced Awakening understood, through exposure, that one could not simply measure an Awakener’s strength by their aura… rumor has it that many experts also have the habit of concealing their aura and pretending to be novices.

And with equipment, the gap in combat power between Awakeners of the same tier was set to become even wider.

Once at the first Martial Path Tournament, a Fifth Tier Awakener armed with a C-grade weapon had sliced through a Sixth Layer expert—considered a ‘big shot’ at the time—like cutting through a watermelon.

The power of equipment was evident.

In Green Shadow, money equated to strength, and that was no empty saying.

“But why conduct a combat power assessment when we already have star ratings? Isn’t that superfluous?”

“No, a combat power assessment is more intuitive. It’s also possible that the guild is about to make some rule changes. Versions need to be updated from time to time,”

He Yuanhang stroked his chin and said.

Though the Far Voyage Adventure Group was just a small adventure group with a five-person roster, with him possessing Seventh Layer talents and his team members being no slouch either, they had a bit of a reputation in the industry. Throughout their journey, many Awakeners greeted him.

He Yuanhang responded with a smile.

Thinking back, he was just an ordinary Awakener, hiding here and there in the wild, but since coming to Green Shadow and becoming a glorified adventurer, his strength had soared tremendously.

To an extent he had never dared to imagine before.

The impending addition of a combat power augmentation level to personal information likely indicated that the adventurer guild was about to take some big action.

This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

However, he was still painfully lacking in insider information.

He Yuanhang, troubled, followed the crowd into the guild’s great hall.

Connected to the top floor of the guild building was a “Spirit Space” from the training camp, where the combat power augmentation would take place. He had already dressed in the full set of equipment he normally wore on missions.

At that moment, He Yuanhang spotted a conspicuous bald head in the crowd:

“Brother Qiang—”

Fang Qiang, striding like a dragon and a tiger, came down the stairs, his powerful aura causing the surrounding Awakeners to step aside.

“The Transcendent peak master of the Ninth Layer, one of the leading figures among adventurers, is known as the Iron War General.

If it weren’t for their friendship, He Yuanhang wouldn’t dare to shout so loudly; he wouldn’t be enough to take on even one hand from the other party.

He rubbed his hands together and chuckled, “Commander Fang, Brother Qiang, have you just returned from completing the evaluation? What exactly is the combat power enhancement rating?”

Fang Qiang nodded, his tight-fitting combat uniform outlining his well-defined muscles, which attracted the fixated gaze of some admiring female Awakeners who couldn’t look away.

He Yuanhang suffered a hit to his vanity—despite him having hair.

“The combat power evaluation is quite simple; each level represents one grading level. After defeating the enemies in a level, you can restore to full status and enter the next one. The total number of levels is unknown, but preliminary estimates suggest the guild has prepared at least a dozen levels.”

He Yuanhang nodded, listening intently.

“+1 means that your strength is slightly stronger than that of a Demonized Beast of the same tier, capable of overcoming it in a one-on-one duel. +2 means you can defeat a same-tier Demonized Beast relatively easily. +3 signifies overwhelming dominance over the same tier, but there’s also another interpretation: the ability to fight across one tier.

An enhancement of 6 levels means you can surpass two sub-tiers, and 9 levels equates to three sub-tiers. For example, if you now receive a +6 rating, then your combat power would be equivalent to that of a Ninth Layer Demonized Beast.

Additionally, when breaking through from the Fifth to the Sixth Layer and from the Ninth to the Tenth Layer—two major bottlenecks—the guild currently assumes that it’s equivalent to surpassing two sub-tiers, requiring a +6 to challenge the bottleneck.”

He Yuanhang timely inquired about Fang Qiang’s combat power evaluation results.

“Me? I made it to the eleventh level but couldn’t get past it. My final combat power rating is +10.”

He Yuanhang’s mouth hung open as he mentally calculated for a moment, “Doesn’t that mean, Brother Qiang, you can surpass three tiers and defeat your opponent?!”

“That’s only compared to Demonized Beasts—they don’t have much intelligence, and their innate combat power isn’t strong,” Fang Qiang shook his head.

There’s nothing wrong with what he said; in Green Shadow, Demonized Beasts can only be considered a baseline for their tier, but in other Sanctuaries, surpass overcoming three tiers to defeat Demonized Beasts? That’s laughable; better go wash up and hit the hay early!

Situations where a team needs to group up just to kill a Demonized Beast of the same tier are not uncommon.

“We humans also possess Divine Weapons. If you take away this equipment, my actual combat power enhancement might not even reach +5.” He looked at He Yuanhang, “You’re seeking me out, kid, probably to dig up some insider news, aren’t you? I do have some rumors I’ve heard.”

Fang Qiang’s voice remained steady, but oddly, people standing a few meters away could only see his lips moving without hearing any sound.

“I’ve heard that the adventurer’s guild plans to establish branches in multiple places, and this combat power evaluation is all preparing for the branches. In the next few days, try to improve your combat power enhancement as much as possible.”

…

“Nancy, what do you think are the benefits of the guild launching this combat power evaluation?”

In the study, Tang Yu and Nancy sat facing each other.

The table in front of Nancy was still stacked with elementary and junior high school textbooks for Chinese, mathematics, and more.

For beings with Transcendent life forms, a photographic memory was the most basic ability—calculating three-digit multiplication and division in less than a second was easy. However, Nancy still furrowed her brows, pouting and looking at him with puppy-dog eyes.

She didn’t like to use her brain to do things.

And yet, Lord insisted on testing her—why was that? What was the reason?

She tilted her head, thinking hard for a while, but came up with nothing.

Nancy lowered her head again and saw the dense text in the books, which seemed to detach and fly out of the pages, constantly moving.

This author named Lu Xun must be a master of Illusion Techniques.

It was just too uncomfortable.”