313: Chapter 313 Enlightenment, Insight into the Light of Truth!

Back at the territory.

Jiang Wanwan and the others stayed on the second floor, chatting while sorting through the loot gathered from various places today.

Lin Xiao took Jing Hua straight to the fourth floor.

The Rune Array in the stairwell was still running.

The runic light was slowly converging, and the runes engraved on all the stone slabs transitioned from bright yellow to a stable pale blue.

The source essence had been completely converted, and with the output from the two conversion devices in the workshop, a total of 133 units of source essence were harvested today.

Jing Hua walked to the edge of the Rune Array, knelt down, and reached out to check the source essence crystal embedded in the center of the array.

Lin Xiao also looked over.

He saw that the luster circulating on the surface of the source essence crystal had faded a bit.

It seemed this thing was a consumable.

As the Rune Array converted, the source essence crystal would eventually become completely dim and shatter.

Jing Hua knelt at the edge of the Rune Array, skillfully adjusting the arrangement of the stone slabs.

"Master, the source essence has been converted. So, are we going to refine the potions next?" she asked.

"That's right. However, your energy is limited. It's impossible to refine over a hundred units of source essence all at once. Let's make fifteen potions tonight and leave the rest for tomorrow," Lin Xiao responded.

Jing Hua opened her mouth, probably wanting to say "I can continue."

But after meeting Lin Xiao's gaze, she hurriedly swallowed her words and just nodded gently.

"As you command, Master."

Before going upstairs, Lin Xiao had already calculated.

According to the rules, three units of source essence could refine one fantasy potion, and no specific materials were needed.

And three fantasy potions could be fused and upgraded into higher-tier potions with the power of the curious object [Triple Moonlight].

For example, [Quest for Knowledge] or [Immortality].

So what if he continued to fuse and upgrade the [Quest for Knowledge] potion?

Lin Xiao was full of anticipation.

He told Jing Hua his specific requirements.

Nine mental potions, six physical potions.

Jing Hua knelt in the center of the Rune Array, her hands hovering above the source essence container, light halos of red and blue dissipating from her fingertips and injecting into the source essence.

The whole process lasted about half an hour. When it was finished, a layer of fine sweat had broken out on her forehead, and she was visibly weaker.

"Go downstairs and rest," Lin Xiao said softly as he helped her up. "I'll handle the rest myself."

Jing Hua stood up: "Master, I..."

"Be obedient. Don't force yourself," Lin Xiao interrupted her.

Jing Hua was silent for a few seconds, then bowed and turned to go downstairs.

Only Lin Xiao and the low hum of the Rune Array remained on the fourth floor.

He sat cross-legged on the ground and injected 10,000 stardust into the array again.

Then, he picked up three mental potions and arranged them in a row on the ground in front of him.

The glass bottles of the potions presented a translucent texture under the runic glow, and the liquid inside the bottles rotated slowly, emitting a very faint silvery shimmer.

This was the unique luster of mental-type fantasy potions.

Lin Xiao raised his hand and released a black halo.

The effect of the curious object [Triple Moonlight] was activated!

The black halo covered the three mental potions.

The liquid, along with the bottle bodies, began to tremble, overlapping and blending together in the halo.

The light of the liquid transitioned from silver to cobalt blue.

The fusion was complete.

Lin Xiao picked up this [Quest for Knowledge] potion, turned it in his hand, and then put it down.

He followed the same method to continue synthesizing the remaining potions.

The nine mental potions eventually became three [Quest for Knowledge] potions.

The six physical potions became two [Immortality] potions.

Every single one of them was a top-tier item that could trigger a bidding frenzy in the online auction house, and right now they were neatly lined up on the ground in front of Lin Xiao.

But things were not over yet.

Lin Xiao placed all the [Quest for Knowledge] potions side by side.

The black light of [Triple Moonlight] lit up again.

This time, the fusion process was much more intense than before.

The three [Quest for Knowledge] potions simultaneously erupted with Blinding blue light, illuminating the entire fourth floor.

The potions boiled crazily in the bottles, bubbles surging up from the depths of the liquid, hitting the bottle walls and making dense shattering sounds, like some kind of suppressed power was frantically looking for a breakthrough.

Each strong collision of energy made the bottle bodies tremble even more violently.

But under the powerful rule force of the curious object, three substances from the same source but independent of each other were forcibly combined.

The light gradually converged.

The color in the glass bottle transitioned from silver to cobalt blue, and then settled from cobalt blue into a deep blue that was almost ink-black.

The viscous liquid surged slowly in the bottle, with golden fine lines occasionally appearing on the surface, like lightning sealed deep within the liquid.

Lin Xiao's gaze focused slightly. An information panel floated in his field of vision.

[fantasy potion - Enlightenment]

[Effect: Permanently increases the upper limit of Mental attribute by 4 points]

[Trait - Thirst for Knowledge: Every time you learn a skill book for the first time, your Mental attribute upper limit will be permanently increased. The increase value is equal to the level of the skill book.]

[Trait - Knowledge Resonance: Skills are divided into Attack, Defense, Control, and Support types. When the number of learned skills of each type reaches 3 / 5 / 7 / 9, you will receive different degrees of basic Mental attribute amplification (5%, 10%, 15%, 20%).]

[Glimpse the light of truth, and you are no longer the you of yesterday!]

Lin Xiao stared at the text on the panel for several seconds, then slowly exhaled.

[Thirst for Knowledge] was the original trait of the [Quest for Knowledge] potion; learning skills could increase the Mental attribute.

[Knowledge Resonance] was a new trait obtained after the potion advanced.

This effect...

Lin Xiao couldn't hide his excitement.

It was a bit overpowered!

Once the quantity of the four skill types reaches the specified tiers, you can get a percentage boost to your basic Mental attribute.

And it can be stacked!

According to the description, reaching the highest tier of nine books would grant a 20% boost.

Its effect far exceeded the linear growth brought by [Quest for Knowledge].

And this also meant that Lin Xiao's next skill learning direction could not just be stacking quantity; he had to consciously cover different skill types and pull all four tiers to the highest possible level.

This was the true value of high-tier potions!

Lin Xiao picked up the potion.

According to past situations, he should pour the potion into a syringe and then inject it into his arm.

But now he was anxious to experience the joy of [Enlightenment], so he chose to take it orally.

There is a reason why fantasy potions are primarily injected.

When the viscous liquid entered his mouth.

Even Lin Xiao, who had a strong will, felt his brain buzz immediately.

It was like eating a ball of peppercorns soaked in coptis water, and it had a heavy smell of paint.

Fortunately, this feeling did not last long.

The viscous liquid was quickly absorbed by the cellular tissue.

Lin Xiao's body shook.

He only felt waves of tingling coming from deep within his brain, and countless strange symbols reappeared in his mind.

At the same time, the scenes in his field of vision quickly retreated and then quickly converged.

Half a minute later.

Lin Xiao, dizzy and nauseated, climbed up from the floor.

[Basic Attribute: Mental 3 ↑ 7]

Lin Xiao closed the prompt and shook his head.

Then, he opened his personal information panel and went through all his current skills:

[Berserk (Level 4), Wither Domain (Level 2), Death Grip (Level 1), Blinding (Level 1), Dispel (Level 1), Stealth (Level 2);

Dual Weapon Specialization (Passive, Level 1), Gentlemanly Demeanor (Passive, Level 1), Bond: Beloved Person (Passive); Raging Tide (Passive, Level 5);

Wave Breaker (Level 5), Blessing of the Sea God (Level 5)]

A total of twelve skills.

Three Control types, nine Support types.

As for Attack and Defense types, they were undoubtedly zero.

Lin Xiao looked at these numbers, and a wry smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

Throughout his journey, he had invested almost all his resources into strengthening weapons and passive skills.

His output relied entirely on the weapon traits of [terminator] and [Ghost Slash], the set bonuses of [deep sea aria], and a stack of buffs provided by support-type skills.

It wasn't that he didn't want to learn attack skills.

It was that the habits formed over thousands of reincarnations in his previous life were already deeply ingrained.

Attack-type skills have limitations and need to be adapted to different skills based on different weapons, equipment, and combat environments.

But support-type skills are always versatile, and they don't need to be so complicated.

Skills provide stackable buffs and attribute bonuses; the rest depends entirely on one's own performance.

This strategy had no problems in the early stages of survival; it could even be said to be the optimal solution.

But after the [Enlightenment] potion directly linked skill types to attribute amplification, he had to readjust the layout of his skill tree.

He already had more than nine support-type skills, directly triggering the 20% boost at the highest tier.

He only had three control-type skills, just barely meeting the passing line for the first tier.

Attack and Defense types were completely blank.

Defense types could be put aside for now.

Because, if you kill all the enemies, you don't need defense, right?

And attack types must be filled in as soon as possible, at least to the first tier of three books, to get a 5% basic boost.

Control types also needed to be raised; getting two more would trigger the second-tier boost effect.

Lin Xiao had a clear learning route in his mind.

He returned to the second floor and took out the high-quality skill books he had prepared from the storage box in the workshop.

Then he spread them all out on the workbench and flipped through them one by one.

Lin Xiao did not learn randomly.

Because everyone has a limit on skill capacity, which gradually expands with the improvement of one's [Rating].

His current rating is high-tier, which means he can learn up to 30 skills.

He has learned 12 skills now, leaving 18 slots.

It sounds like a lot, but in reality, it's not enough.

He needs to learn at least 3 attack-type skills and at least 2 control-type skills to reach the second tier.

And to maximize the effect of the potion trait [Thirst for Knowledge], the higher the level of these skill books, the better.

Level 5 is best, and at least Level 4.

Skill books above Level 4 have a very low circulation at any time. The ones Lin Xiao has in his hands were selected from the ruins of Qitian Temple and the insect swarm loot of the Cloud Palace, with varying quality.

Lin Xiao picked out one Level 5 attack-type skill book and two Level 4 control-type skill books.

He gently rubbed his fingers over the gold-stamped text on the cover.

With a slight movement of his mind.

The parchment scroll carrying the skill rules dissolved in the air, turning into wisps of light that drilled into his body.