Chapter 386 - Tier 1 Skill
After receiving Shi Feng’s confirmation, Blackie gave his report regarding Zero Wing’s recent recruitment.
Despite their plans, Overwhelming Smile’s appearance did not negatively affect Zero Wing’s recruitment. Instead, Overwhelming Smile had made Zero Wing even more popular than before, driving more players to apply to Zero Wing. Some players from other Guilds even withdrew from their respective Guilds to join Zero Wing.
As a result, the entrance of Zero Wing’s Guild Residence was crowded with a sea of players.
Those who did not fully understand the situation even thought that Zero Wing had already become White River City’s overlord. Though, those who knew the situation silently ridiculed the players rushing to join Zero Wing.
After two days of chaotic recruitment, Zero Wing had grown from around 5,000 members to having over 10,000. If not for Overwhelming Smile’s interruption, Zero Wing would have no problems surpassing the 30,000 member threshold.
Unfortunately, many of the players who had been accepted into Zero Wing then defected to Overwhelming Smile almost immediately. By doing so, they could enjoy triple the benefits of the ordinary members of Overwhelming Smile, which was 12 times the treatment normally offered by other Guilds. How could anyone resist such a tempting offer?
Zero Wing will only suffer if this continues. I need to think of a plan quickly. Shi Feng frowned as he listened to Blackie’s report.
If the situation continued to evolve like this, Overwhelming Smile would have to waste astronomical sums of money. However, Overwhelming Smile’s poaching of Zero Wing’s members would also increase its prestige, increasing the Guild’s strength in White River City.
Others might not know that Overwhelming Smile had Underworld support from the shadows, but Shi Feng knew. In addition to Maple City, Underworld had also taken control of four more cities surrounding White River City. If Zero Wing and Overwhelming Smile went to war in the future, Zero Wing would be surrounded by enemies.
After Blackie finished his report, he hurried back to Zero Wing’s Workshop, whereas Shi Feng started working out.
Now that Shi Feng’s body had finished absorbing the S-rank Nutrient Fluids, it was the perfect time to improve his physical fitness further.
However, instead of focusing on strength training like before, Shi Feng now focused more on control over his own body. When noon arrived, Shi Feng called for a take-out. After finishing his meal, he dove back into the world of God’s Domain.
Shi Feng had not come up with any good ideas to counter Overwhelming Smile’s suppression through wealth. The only thing he could think of right now was increasing his strength.
After logging into the game, Shi Feng continued his hunting operation.
Through his previous two-day search, Shi Feng had grasped the general respawn time for the monsters surrounding the Sword Peak Mountain. As for the location with the highest spawn rate, that would be on the Sword Peak Mountain itself.
However, Shi Feng had not climbed the mountain throughout this period. He doubted that the Legacy Trial of one of the Ten Great Saint Legacies would be so easy to clear. Although the Skeleton Giants and Blade Demons were indeed challenging, a Legacy Trial that was supposed to be as difficult as a Legendary Quest should not be so simple.
In Shi Feng’s opinion, the true danger of the Origin Sword Domain waited for him on the Sword Peak Mountain.
Hence, Shi Feng had yet to set foot on the mountain. Instead, he had searched for monsters around the foot of the mountain all this time, silently increasing his strength.
In the Origin Sword Domain, Shi Feng did not obtain any EXP from the monsters he killed. The drops he obtained were also limited to the Legacy Chapters and Broken Steel Forging Design Fragments. However, there was one other immediate benefit to killing these monsters.
Skill Proficiency!
The monsters here were all Elites above Level 25. Shi Feng’s main targets, the Skeleton Giants and Blade Demons, were even Level 30 Chieftains. These Chieftains exceeded Shi Feng by 8 Levels. Whenever Shi Feng used a skill on these two monsters, he would receive bonus Skill Proficiency points, receiving around five or six with each use.
In the outside world, there was a limit to high-leveled Chieftains available for players to kill. Hence, Shi Feng was able to raise his skill levels quickly here. In the Origin Sword Domain, Shi Feng had upgraded the skills that he normally needed a lot of time to upgrade in just two days. At this point, all of his attack-type skills had risen to Level 10 or above, with some reaching Level 11.
When he upgraded a skill beyond Level 12, it would become a Tier 1 skill.
Although players had weapons and equipment that could increase their skill levels, that particular increase would not allow a skill to undergo a qualitative change; only the skill’s level would change. For a skill to reach Tier 1, players needed to raise the skill past Level 12 personally.
Meanwhile, as long as Shi Feng could grasp a Tier 1 skill, his combat power would explode. This was why Shi Feng diligently killed the monsters outside the Sword Peak Mountain.
With this goal in mind, Shi Feng continuously searched for monsters and used his skills repeatedly, allowing his Skill Proficiency to soar.
However, as Shi Feng killed more monsters, he discovered something odd.
The drop rate of Legacy Chapters and Design Fragments plummeted.
In the beginning, Shi Feng could claim a drop in every four or five kills. Now, he would only get a single drop after killing over a dozen Chieftains. The more Legacy Chapters and Design Fragments Shi Feng obtained, the harder it became to collect them.
If Shi Feng did not increase his killing speed, it would be impossible for him to gather the required items within five days.
On the bright side, where players in the outside world normally needed over a week of effort, Shi Feng only needed a few hours to upgrade a skill from Level 11 to Level 12. His efficiency was staggering. After just half a day’s worth of effort in God’s Domain, Shi Feng had already promoted Chop to a Tier 1 skill.
[Chop] (Action-type)
Requires: Sword
Tier 1, Level 1 (Proficiency 0/30,000)
Additional 600 base damage. Deals up to three consecutive hits in one second. If attacks land in the same location, damage increases by 50%.
Attack range: 6 yards
Cooldown: 3 seconds
Compared to the Tier 0, Level 12 Chop, the base damage had not increased much. However, when using the Tier 1, Level 1 Chop, Shi Feng could swing his sword three times in one second. Moreover, if his attacks struck the same location, his damage would increase by 50%.
Not only did Tier 1 skills increase a player’s power, but they also increased a player’s freedom of attack.
In other words, the more skilled a player was, the more damage they could deal.
This was why, despite being the same Level, Tier 1 players were far more powerful than Tier 0 players. Tier 1 players also possessed much higher Attributes and a larger variety of skills. Tier 0 players had no chance of contending with Tier 1 players of the same level.
“It’s been awhile since I’ve used the Tier 1 Chop. Let’s use you as a warm-up.”
Shi Feng dashed towards the Skeleton Giant’s side before him and used the Tier 1 Chop. A sharp aura covered the Abyssal Blade. In the blink of an eye, Shi Feng brandished the weapon three times, sending three sword auras slashing at the Skeleton Giant.
The three sword auras combined, forming an even sharper and more powerful sword aura that slashed at the Skeleton Giant’s joint.
-1,376, -2,048, -2,062.
Aside from these three high damages, the Skeleton Giant, which had remained unperturbed by Shi Feng’s attacks, had suddenly fallen to the ground. The power of the Tier 1 skill was clear.
After the Skeleton Giant fell, Shi Feng had a much easier time attacking it.
Following which, Shi Feng used one skill after another on the undead creature.
If the Skeleton Giant stood up, Shi Feng would use Chop to attack its joints, knocking it to the ground once more.
A short moment later, Shi Feng had slaughtered the Skeleton Giant effortlessly.
Due to the Tier 1 Chop, Shi Feng’s battles between the Skeleton Giants and Blade Demons had become much easier and took less time than before. Moreover, as Shi Feng efficiency grew, he used his skill more frequently.
After spending another two days, Shi Feng finally upgraded Thunder Flame Explosion to Tier 1 as well.
Now, Shi Feng’s attack-type skills that required Skill Proficiency were all Tier 1 skills. Compared to when Shi Feng had just entered the Origin Sword Domain, his combat power was far more frightening.
“It should be about time to climb the Sword Peak Mountain.”