Lin Ming did not expect that doing what was necessary for him would give him so many Evolution Points all at once.
Even more than that, he did not expect the system to offer the option to upgrade various abilities.
Previously, in the description of various abilities on the personalized dashboard, only ‘upgradeable’ was written, not ‘can be upgraded’.
For example, the symbol ‘+’ now appeared one by one beside the various abilities.
This was something that was not there before.
When he had previously upgraded the Spiritual Fluid ability, he did not carefully check whether there was the ‘+’ symbol there then.
However, now that abilities could be upgraded, Lin Ming had some plans.
Looking at the Evolution Points that were now over a thousand points, he definitely had some ideas in mind.
These one thousand points would allow him to upgrade his abilities.
Which abilities should be upgraded?
Bamboo Whip, Razor Leaf, Spiritual Fluid, Ultimate Regeneration, Aura Concealment, Aura Detection.
These were the various abilities that Lin Ming now possessed. Among them, Bamboo Whip and Razor Leaf offered the most sub-options, such as strengthening power or improving Attack Range, Attack Speed and so on.
However, Lin Ming did not feel that it was necessary to update them for the time being.
The abilities he needed could not be learned from the system now. However, he was unsure of whether there existed among his existing abilities any upgrades that could meet his current needs.
Lin Ming perceived once again. Among the three squad members, two of them had run into each other by pure chance. They were currently moving forward together, but they were moving in the direction of his current location.
The other one was still frantically wandering around the vast forest.
Lin Ming knew that he needed to hurry up.
What he wanted was to be able to further perceive what these two people were doing and saying, so that he could get the information he wanted!
Then, he would first rule out Bamboo Whip, Razor Leaf, and Spiritual Fluid.
Of the remaining three, Ultimate Regeneration and Aura Concealment were also…
[Ultimate Regeneration, advance to the next grade. After suffering a severe attack, you can return to 20% of your normal body shape and 20% of your level in a short time.]
[Aura Concealment, advance to the next grade. You can conceal 60% of your strength and spiritual aura.]
[Aura Detection, advance to the next grade. You can expand a wider range of perception and perceive the actions and behaviors of all creatures within the range.]
The system took the initiative to remind Lin Ming about the ability.
“It seems like the best choice has appeared.” Lin Ming immediately upgraded the ability level of Aura Detection with a move of his consciousness.
Before this, he had already considered if his Aura Detection ability might be able to provide some help.
Unexpectedly, when he was thinking about it, the system had informed him that he was on the right track, just as it had done before.
After the Aura Detection ability had been upgraded to Level-2, Lin Ming instantly felt an ethereal state arrive upon him.
He now focused his consciousness on the two human beings who were on the move together.
…
The fog still covered the valley.
Among the layers of cedar forest, two figures walked on the broken leaves. They were pale with anxiety and panic, and drenched in sweat as well.
As of now, they had already completely lost all sense of direction in the dense forest of this valley.
The fog blocked all vision, and when they looked up, their surroundings were filled with big trees and weeds that were themself not too different from the trees.
From time to time, they would hear strange sounds from unknown creatures. They could also hear the horrible howling sounds of wild beasts from a distance away.
The two, who were not experienced in being out in the wild, were essentially faced with a dead-end.
“J-Jia Lin, what on earth has happened…” Liu Cheng’s eyes were blank. He had lost his huge bag somewhere.
The bloody scene from before still lingered in his mind and his heart.
He had been a student and he had never experienced anything like being in such close proximity as he watched his companions get their hearts ripped out by a giant panda with its sharp claws.
The extremely terrifying scene screamed one word in his already blank mind — escape!
After rushing into the fog, he was unsure where to run to and even more clueless about when to stop.
In this sea of forests in the valley, wherever he went, branches and weeds stuck out like terrifying monsters hiding in the fog.
Their silhouettes were enough to drive people crazy with fear!
“Who, who knows! Why did we have to come to this d*mn spiritual realm? I don’t want to come anymore, I don’t feel like being here anymore, I want to go out!” Jia Lin, who was originally calm, had been driven to hysterics by this drastic change in events.
“Especially that snake and that panda. What’s the matter with them? What’s up with the mutated creatures in this spiritual realm! I don’t care, I want to go out, I want to go out…”
Jia Lin had completely broken down. After separated from the squad, he was attacked by several palm-sized mosquitoes. After he finally killed them, he was yet again attacked by a mutated badger and a chunk of his right arm had been bitten off!
He managed to escape, and the wound had luckily stopped bleeding. After running into Liu Cheng who seemed to be no better than him, the two cried for a while with their heads in their hands pitifully.
“Stop talking. Crying and making a fuss is useless. The main goal now is to find a way out of this horrible place!” Liu Cheng sighed. He looked up at the almost identical trees and weeds around him, but his eyes were flooded with confusion. Jia Lin had calmed down for a while and began unloading the big bag behind him. The two of them had not encountered any mutated creatures in ten minutes. However, they dared not get too hopeful. Although they had cried and fussed, a dagger never left their hands.
Who knew when a mutated creature like that giant panda or little white snake would charge out?
After experiencing a whirlwind of emotions, the two of them had gotten a lot better than when they first entered this valley. They no longer dared to underestimate this valley, and they dared not easily lift their vigilance.
However, their lack of experience left them completely lost. No matter where they looked, every direction seemed like a path they could potentially take.
“Oh, I’m just hoping that we won’t encounter any mutated creatures until the fog dissipates. Truly, I’m really afraid now.” Jia Lin took out some of the contents from his bag and passed a pack of compressed biscuits to Liu Cheng saying, “Save some food. We, as Grade-E transcendents, aren’t too familiar with the use of spiritual aura. And we’ll feel even hungrier when we use our abilities. Ah, it would be nice to be a Grade-D like Captain Zheng.”
“Yeah. As a Grade-D, he can still control flames. He certainly won’t die. We’re only strong. What more can we do…”
“Quickly eat up and restore some energy. I really regret not listening to him now and quickly retreating before all this happened,” Jia Lin said with frustration.
Liu Cheng took a bite of the biscuits and sighed, “Do you think Captain Zheng is also searching for us in the forest? Is it better for us to stay still? Are we close to the exit of the valley?”
“Hopefully. But if I were Captain Zheng, and since some people had already been found, I would use that indicator to detect the spiritual aura density here. If he found half the squad who had scattered in all directions like us, based on his personality, he probably would leave the valley first and not look for the rest.” Jia Lin felt as though he was being too pessimistic, but that was what the situation was.
“You… sigh.” The biscuits in Liu Cheng’s mouth suddenly felt drier. “If he doesn’t care about us… How big is this Bamboo Sea Nature Reserve? Can we go out on our own?”
“I don’t know. Didn’t Captain Zheng say that if we died inside, the corps would retrieve us…”
Liu Cheng grew speechless and swallowed the biscuits down with difficulty. “I just hope that when they find us, we won’t just be a pile of bones.”
The two of them smiled bitterly as they watched the fog, unsure when it would dissipate. Their hearts were filled with despair.