056 A Headache-Inducing Stagnation
As usual, I ask for three things! Votes, recommendations, and bookmarks!
Thinking about today being the Cold Food Festival and tomorrow the Qingming Festival with the fourth dream ahead, Yang Tang planned to be a bit more frugal, lest his merit and sin points get deducted here and there, eventually leaving him in deficit.
Moreover, having ventured into the world of Xuan-Yuan Sword NN before, Yang Tang knew that he would take on a different appearance or role, and believed the situations in Warcraft and Fairyland would be similar. So long as he acted cautiously, there shouldn’t be any major blunders, and he saw no need to spend another three hundred merit-sin points to designate a scene.
“No need to specify a scene, random is fine.”
The scene has been selected—preparing to enter Xuan-Yuan Sword NN!
Since this is the third official dream, entry requires consuming 103 Samsara Points. Please specify whether to deduct merit or sin for their conversion.
“Deduct merit!”
Understood. Sixty merit points deducted, thirty Samsara Points generated!
Samsara Points have been created. You may now enter the scene!
The third dream is opening.
“Chirp, chirp!”
“Tweet, tweet!”
Before Yang Tang even opened his eyes, he heard the cries of strange birds and smelled the fragrance of various flowers and plants. Instantly, he wondered, where the hell am I? Is this some kind of fairyland? Didn’t I appear in the Zhaiye Valley last time?
Opening his eyes, he saw a surrounding scene of everlasting spring, birds singing and flowers blooming. He himself was seated in a pavilion on a small floating island, suspended in midair.
Indeed, this time he had become a male “Celestial,” commonly referred to as an immortal. Regardless of gender, Celestials in the game never touched the ground when walking—they drifted, and even when meditating, they hovered in midair. But truth be told, compared to the other two races, Humans and Asura, it wasn’t much use; the game was about attributes, not posture.
“Is this the main base of the Immortal race, Guangling Town?” Yang Tang looked around, finally understanding his environment. Last time, he had transformed into an Asura, appearing in the Demon’s main base, Zhaiye Valley. His ability to float was due to equipped items; normally, Asuras, male or female, moved and stood on their legs like humans.
“What a pity, my profession is Swordsman, the legendary Immortal Sword. Otherwise, this third dream would have been too simple!”
Searching for skills to cure all diseases...
Search completed. Xuan-Yuan Blood, Five Energies Restore Spirit, and Purifying Immortal Melody all meet the criteria.
Due to the low dream level, only one skill can be copied. Please select!
Yang Tang was stunned—the three skills highlighted by Insight, what were they? He could hardly believe it.
The first, Xuan-Yuan Blood, was akin to the healing spell learned by priests in other online games, but it was the highest-tier single-target healing, able to instantly restore vitality to full.
The second, Five Energies Restore Spirit, was even more impressive—a resurrection spell for healers! The only downside was that it required medicinal catalysts, such as angelica or achyranthes, and Yang Tang did not know whether real-life equivalents would work outside the dream game. Most likely not; otherwise, the price of angelica would skyrocket.
The last, Purifying Immortal Melody, took Yang Tang a while to recall—not a healer’s skill, but a Ritualist’s. It could cancel all auxiliary statuses, good or bad, from the target, returning them to their original state. Back then, this move was famous for decimating entire groups; a team would be fighting, burdened with various debuffs, and a mole would suddenly unleash Purifying Immortal Melody, followed by a finishing move, and everyone would collapse at once.
“Wait a minute, isn’t it true that Swordsmen can also use Purifying Immortal Melody?”
Yang Tang suddenly remembered something and hurried to check his skill panel. Sure enough, Purifying Immortal Melody lay obediently under the “Auxiliary Skills” tab.
“Haha, I searched far and wide, only to find it effortlessly! Since Insight deems Purifying Immortal Melody capable of curing diseases, I’ll choose it. I’ll laugh with pride, watching the mortal world, damn it!”
His laughter froze abruptly as he recalled that Purifying Immortal Melody wasn’t necessarily required; many similar skills existed in other online games. However, Ritualists had an auxiliary skill called “Dream Erasure” that Swordsmen lacked—a skill capable of making someone forget a person or event. With it, he could patch the “equal to squared” loophole.
But the problem was, the “Heart’s Desire” for this third dream was to cure diseases, and he didn’t know if Xuan-Yuan Sword NN would feature in the fourth dream. Yang Tang scratched his head in frustration.
Due to the low dream level, only one skill can be copied. Please select!
Upon hearing Insight’s prompt again, Yang Tang stubbornly asked, “Can I copy a skill other than Xuan-Yuan Blood, Five Energies Restore Spirit, or Purifying Immortal Melody?”
Dream level too low; other skills do not fulfill the Heart’s Desire. Only the selectable skills may be copied. Please choose!
“You mean, when the dream level is higher, I’ll be able to copy unplanned skills?” Yang Tang’s eyes lit up, but his excitement quickly faded. “Who knows if I’ll ever encounter this scene again when the dream level is higher?”
Due to the low dream level, only one skill can be copied. Please select!
Insight prompted Yang Tang for the third time.
Downcast, Yang Tang said, “Fine, Purifying Immortal Melody then.”
Please meditate patiently in place. Copying Purifying Immortal Melody will take one hundred seconds times the Samsara multiplier. The current multiplier is thirty. Total skill copying time: three thousand seconds. Do not interrupt!
“Damn!”
About fifty minutes later, Yang Tang finally heard the good news from Insight.
Purifying Immortal Melody copying countdown: ten, nine, eight, seven, six...
When the time was up, Yang Tang vanished from the pavilion.
In the golden mist, Yang Tang glanced at the only available skill plaque floating in midair: Purifying Immortal Melody. He said, “I want to redeem the skill!”
Currently, there is only one skill available. Redemption will consume 121 merit-sin points. Please confirm redemption.
“Redeem it, use sin points.”
121 sin points deducted!
Currently, you have 1,620 merit points!
Single skill redemption for the fourth dream will consume 133.1 merit-sin points!
Yang Tang was noncommittal but mentally calculated that a 1.1 multiplier, by the thirtieth time, would require more than seventeen times the merit-sin points of the first dream.
Would you like to solidify the skill Purifying Immortal Melody?
“Solidify.”
Severe warning: Purifying Immortal Melody requires mana. Two of your six physical attributes differ greatly from the skill’s solidification requirements, and one differs extremely. Please spend 893.6 merit-sin points to enhance physical attributes!
Yang Tang muttered.
Severe warning.
“All right, all right, I’ll enhance my physical attributes! Deduct sin points for enhancement!”
893.6 sin points deducted!
Currently, you have 726.5 sin points!
Physical attributes will gradually enhance over seven days, and Purifying Immortal Melody will gradually solidify over seven days!
“Hold on, last time solidifying Scar Handling took seven days. Why does it cost so much more merit-sin points this time, yet still take seven days?”
Skill solidification maximum duration is seven days. Upon reaching this limit, there is a chance of solidification failure.
Yang Tang was speechless. Damn, I knew there was a trap, but didn’t expect it to be so well hidden!
Cannot use the skill before solidification is complete.
Enhancement begins.
Skill solidification slot one used!
Solidification begins.
Currently, eight skill solidification slots are available!
Yang Tang was already unable to complain about the dream anymore, but as he tried to leave the golden mist, he suddenly noticed a tiny red dot at the center of the giant hexagram floating above the humanoid statue’s head.
“What’s this?”
Yang Tang examined it carefully and found the red dot was not at the exact center of the hexagram; along with five silver dots, it formed a tiny, irregular hexagon around the center. The red dot was furthest from the center, while the five silver dots were closer, but unevenly spaced—a truly strange pattern.
More importantly, this tiny, irregular hexagon was minuscule compared to the largest regular hexagon inside the hexagram—like a grain of rice to a basketball.
“Wow, the gap is enormous!”
When he got up in the morning, Yang Tang realized the extent of skill solidification’s effects on him. He felt he hadn’t caught a chill or been exposed to wind last night, yet his head throbbed painfully, as if it might explode.
“Is this secretly strengthening my mental power? After all, Purifying Immortal Melody requires mana!” Yang Tang pondered as he sipped his porridge.
“Xiao Hong, what’s wrong?” Mother Yang asked concernedly. “Your face is pale, you’re sweating profusely—are you ill?”
“I’m fine, really,” Yang Tang waved his hand. He couldn’t possibly explain that this was all caused by skill solidification!