The familiar scene transition unfolded, and once again, the slideshow began.
As the light shifted, the image froze on Qin Ming ambushing the Moonlit Sect disciples in the car, signaling his official return to the Nightmare Space.
He reappeared in his room, and with a beam of white light descending from above, his injuries rapidly healed. His severed arm grew back in an instant. Qin Ming flexed his newly restored limb but frowned, his dissatisfaction evident.
This mission had been a poor one. He earned a paltry
5000 points
and only
5 free attribute points
.
Aside from this, his spoils were negligible—his treasure chests were used up, and the only notable rewards were
two white titles.
The culprits behind this disappointing result? The three adventurers.
Their needless interference led to a pointless conflict that left everyone worse off. They were dead, and he barely escaped with his life. No one gained anything.
"Damn those bastards," Qin Ming muttered. "Dying was too easy for them."
Sitting on the bed, he rotated his arm, his expression dark. He had believed his strength sufficient to dominate among low-level adventurers, facing missions leisurely without urgency to strengthen further. After all, his
promotion mission
was still far off.
But the encounter with Feng and his companions shattered that complacency.
It revealed a harsh truth: even at his level, there were stronger contenders.
"This place really is crawling with hidden dragons and crouching tigers," he sighed. "I can't afford to let my guard down."
Lying back, arms behind his head, he mulled over his next steps. The
5 attribute points
he earned would go to
Strength
to mitigate his numerical disadvantages. Additionally, he decided to fuse his titles for maximum efficiency.
Instead of enhancing his
Strength-based title, Nature's Guardian
, Qin Ming opted to fuse the newly acquired
Elite Steward
, which boosted
Constitution.
His decision was deliberate—his Strength stat was already nearing the
40-point cap
, the limit for the first tier. Any further increase would overflow and be wasted.
By focusing on Constitution, he could maximize his survivability.
After adding his points and fusing all four titles, a new title emerged:
Title:
Elite Steward
(
Blue Quality
)
Effect:
Constitution +20
With this title equipped, his updated attributes were as follows:
Strength:
14 (23)
Constitution:
21 (55)
Agility:
10
Spirit:
10
Defense:
19
His
equipment
remained as robust as ever:
Therion's Wife
(Radiant Silver, Plot Item)
Dinosaur Glasses
(Ordinary Silver, Plot Item)
Bloody Butcher's Cotton Vest
(Dull Silver, Plot Item)
Percival's Battle Pants
(Blue Quality)
Ace Bodyguard's Gold Belt
(Blue, Plot Item)
He had
five fully occupied skill slots
:
Advanced Martial Arts Mastery (B-Level)
Advanced Firearms Mastery (B-Level)
Intermediate Armed Combat Mastery (C-Level)
True Sonic Hand Knife (B-Level)
True Essence Drain (B-Level)
With
55 points in Constitution
, his defensive capabilities were nearly unmatched among low-level adventurers. Yet, Qin Ming felt an underlying unease.
Could he win against someone like Feng in a rematch? If he couldn't confidently defeat an equal-tier rival, how could he hope to challenge stronger adversaries in the future?
To bridge this gap, Qin Ming decided to enhance his abilities further. He fused
Ninja Bee
, a newly acquired
B-level finishing move
, into another skill slot to create his first
A-level skill.
The fusion succeeded, resulting in a new ability:
Skill:
Super Essence Drain (A-Level)
Effect:
Grapples and bites the target, forcibly absorbing
5 points from all attributes
while siphoning their life force to heal injuries.
The added
healing effect
was a surprise. Qin Ming had expected increased attribute absorption—perhaps
+8
or
+10
—but instead, the skill gained a utility boost. While the ability to heal was undoubtedly valuable, it didn't address his primary goal: compensating for his weaker
Agility
and
Spirit
stats.
Even with this enhancement, his
low Agility and Spirit
remained glaring vulnerabilities. Additionally, with his title change, his
Strength
dropped significantly. In essence, his overall combat strength slightly declined despite these adjustments.
However, his
55-point Constitution
made him exceptionally resilient, ensuring that defeating him was one thing—but killing him was an entirely different challenge.
"Fine," he muttered, "life's never perfect. This will do for now."
With his attribute points and title set, Qin Ming turned his attention to the
5000 points
remaining in his balance.
3500 points
went toward purchasing a
C-level skill
to upgrade his final
C-level passive skill
into
B-level.
The remaining
1500 points
replenished consumables lost during the previous mission.
After exhausting every last point, Qin Ming felt as ready as he could be.
Having finalized his preparations, he exited the Nightmare Space to rest and recover in the real world.
Meanwhile, the
blindfolded woman
who had fled the mission also returned to her squad's base in the Nightmare Space, her expression dark and contemplative...
(End of Chapter)