132: Chapter 132 A-Rank Exclusive Shop: Thousand Silk Shuttle

However, at the thought of that inheritance, Gu Changming's thoughts drifted far away at this moment.

There is a common saying that a person's life often changes after a certain event, leading them down a new path where life becomes different forever after.

For his past self, all those changes also began with that one event.

Gu Changming's eyes dimmed, and a look of loss flashed through them.

He then shook his head, tossing those thoughts aside.

He raised his hand and slipped the ring onto his left index finger; it was a perfect fit.

With a thought, a paper map from the few miscellaneous items he had stored earlier appeared in his hand.

It showed a human Stronghold where people gathered, located over a hundred kilometers southeast of his original city.

In his past life, he hadn't wandered around everywhere like he did now.

His past self had stayed near his original city even after undergoing several Assessments.

That Mentalist inheritance was also obtained in that vicinity.

Having confirmed the direction, Gu Changming turned his attention back to the system panel.

In the center of his vision, a semi-transparent blue prompt box floated quietly:

[The sixth Civilization Advancement Assessment (Examiner phase) has ended.]

[Reward settlement in progress...]

Having finished looking at the rewards he had seized, it was time to look at his original rewards.

[You have successfully unlocked: A-Rank Exclusive Mall.]

"Hmm?"

Seeing this reward, Gu Changming was clearly a bit surprised.

This reward was somewhat unexpected; he had thought it would be a powerful skill or item, but it turned out to be unlocking access permissions.

To be honest, this reward was actually quite good.

The items and skills available for purchase in the Mall are different for every rank.

For example, at the initial F-Rank, one could only purchase the most basic supplies and abilities—increasing physical stats or the simplest skills for various classes, such as Psychokinesis or Elemental Magic.

As one's rank increased, the variety of supplies and skills available for purchase also grew more diverse.

Now, in Gu Changming's C-Rank Mall, he could already spend points to purchase delicious food and drinks, unlike F-Rank where only dry rations costing a few points were available.

At the same time, more mid-level skills for various classes appeared in the Mall for purchase, such as the basic Mentalist inheritance or the Barbarian special skill: 'Blood Rage'.

The healing or restorative potion available for purchase had also upgraded from primary to intermediate, with much stronger effects.

Simply put, the higher the rank, the more and better items one could purchase.

Currently, he was only C-Rank, but if he could have the panel of an A-Rank ability user...

Then as long as he was willing to spend points, even if his rank didn't increase quickly, his strength could multiply several times over in a short period—after all, he would be using weapons and items that exceeded his own rank.

With such a reward, it was no wonder.

The experts he had encountered in his past life all said that this was an Assessment intended to cultivate the backbone of human civilization.

Although the rewards obtained were not always the same, if their values were equal, the strength levels of those ability users who passed this Assessment would likely increase rapidly, making them the backbone of human civilization.

Seeing this reward, Gu Changming glanced at the points balance on his panel.

[points: 87,257]

Well, during the beast tide, he had picked up some corpses of the dead fire-type magical beasts while he was fleeing, and since he hadn't had a place to spend points, this balance wasn't considered much.

Looking at the balance, Gu Changming conveniently clicked on the newly unlocked A-Rank Exclusive Mall page.

The familiar semi-transparent blue light screen expanded before his eyes, but the displayed product list was completely different from before.

The page layout was cleaner, and the categories were more detailed.

Several prominent tabs were arranged in order at the top: [Weapons], [Armor], [Consumables], [Skill Books], [Special Items]...

Gu Changming casually glanced at the recommended items on the page.

[Name: Life Essence Extract (potion)]

[Category: Permanent Enhancement]

[Effect: Moderately and permanently increase Constitution and health recovery speed. Limit one use per person.]

[Exchange Requirement: 9,000 points]

[...]

[Name: Void Step (Skill Book)]

[Category: Movement/Displacement]

[Effect: Briefly enter a low-level spatial interlayer to achieve short-distance shuttling while ignoring some obstacles. Medium cooldown.]

[Exchange Requirement: 50,000 points]

Compared to the items in the C-Rank Mall, the product page for A-Rank ability users was much richer; both skills and items were high-quality products with special effects, enough to increase an ability user's combat power of the same rank by a level.

Gu Changming's finger slid as his gaze jumped between the dazzling array of goods, but he did not linger for long.

He wasn't very interested in these.

Biting off more than one can chew was a lesson his past life experiences had proven more than once.

Experts who specialized in one direction were more than just a level stronger than ability users who wanted to exchange for all kinds of skills.

Others invest their points and energy into one aspect, while you flashily buy various different low-level skills; when a real fight starts, you might not even last a single round against them.

The further one progresses, the more time and energy must be spent on a single profession to make any progress.

If you divide your attention to study other aspects...

Even if you have three different B-Rank professions, you couldn't possibly be a match for an A-Rank professional ability user.

Gu Changming was the same; in his past life, he specialized in the Mentalist path, and melee was just something he practiced on the side, while he knew nothing about anything else.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have needed to find someone for forging, or accidentally killed a little rabbit while trying to heal it.

He clicked a few times, and the page jumped to the [Mental Power Specialization] sub-category.

The number of items shrank sharply, but each one appeared even more unique.

There were headbands that boosted the power of mental shocks, meditation crystals that increased Mental Power recovery speed, and scrolls recorded with complex Psychokinesis application techniques...

Gu Changming didn't let his attention wander and soon locked onto one item.

It was a weapon, or rather, a set of weapons.

[Product Name: Thousand Silk Shuttle]

The product image showed a silver-gray metal shuttle body about the length of a finger, with an extremely precise structure and textures on the surface so fine they were almost indistinguishable.

Next to the image, there was a dynamic demonstration: the stationary metal shuttle instantly decomposed into 1,024 silver metal needles finer than hair, shuttling and weaving through the air as if they were alive, sometimes aggregating into a shuttle and sometimes dispersing like mist, exceptionally agile.

Gu Changming clicked on it, and a more detailed description appeared:

[Thousand Silk Shuttle]

[Type: Mental Power-driven special weapon]

[Material: Memory superconducting alloy "Flowing Silver"]

[Base Form: Stable shuttle body, can be used for piercing and blocking.]

[Description: Thousand Silk Shuttle can decompose into 1,024 independently controllable "Flowing Silver Filaments". Each Flowing Silver Thread possesses extremely high penetration and cutting capabilities and can be precisely controlled by the user's Mental Power to perform complex trajectory movements, weaving, entangling, piercing, etc. When all threads are controlled simultaneously, they can form a "Silk Domain", performing attacks or defense with no blind spots against targets within range.]

[Properties: Excellent Mental Power conductivity, low control consumption; each Flowing Silver Thread possesses a degree of self-repair and recombination capability.]

[Note: Mastery requirements are extremely high; recommended for those with Mental Power exceeding 350 points and precision control experience.]

[Price...]