Life Game In Other World
Chapter 136: Essence Refinement and Qi Transformation (Please Subscribe, Favorite, and Vote for Monthly Ticket)

Chapter 136: Chapter 136: Essence Refinement and Qi Transformation (Please Subscribe, Favorite, and Vote for Monthly Ticket)

All three task rewards are E-level, specifically, they are between E-level and D-level.

’Mercenary’ is an E-level Talent Sequence, but it came with a Secret Medicine recipe for a D-level Talent Sequence. ’Mechanized Body’ is also an E-level Mechanized Body, however, it came with a laser cannon that could harm D-level, and even C-level targets.

The third option related to Martial Arts was actually similar, it came with a strand of ’Qi’ that one would only possess upon breaking through to D-level.

As usual, first rule out Mechanical Modification.

Although Mechanized Body seemed to be the strongest among these three options, capable of harming up to C-level, Mechanical Modification was not realistic until qualified mechanized body repair tools and replaceable parts appeared in the main world.

Ultimately, Mechanical Modification relied too heavily on external technology, with no clear path to self-improvement in sight.

Talent Sequences could ascend by collecting recipes and materials to concoct Secret Medicines on one’s own, and Martial Arts could ascend through persistent training, but Mechanical Modification couldn’t rely on oneself for improvement and was dependent on external objects, which made He Ao feel very insecure.

His experiences from childhood told him that many times, one could only depend on oneself.

Then He Ao shifted his attention to the other two options. ’Mercenary’ he had already tried in the Copy World; it could rapidly improve physical fitness, and increase the flexibility of the body as well as affinity with firearms, and to a certain extent, enhance the senses.

He Ao didn’t know if the system’s reward of ’Mercenary’ would come with ’Onlooker’, but if it did, the sensory enhancement would be even stronger.

All in all, ’Mercenary’ was very useful and suitable for modern society, exactly the type of Transcendent Sequence He Ao liked.

Then He Ao chose

Qi of Heaven and Earth.

The advantages of Mercenary were obvious, but so were the disadvantages.

It could enhance physical fitness, which Martial Arts also could enhance; it provided firearm affinity, but He Ao already had a ’Basic Firearm Proficiency’ skill; it could enhance the senses, while Super Memory provided a higher-dimensional perspective on the world.

It was a good skill, but for every advantage it presented, He Ao already had a better skill to replace it, making its advantages somewhat redundant.

Of course, from another perspective, ’Mercenary’ could provide a slight enhancement to each of He Ao’s skills, but compared to these slight enhancements, He Ao would rather choose an option that allowed one of his abilities to grow significantly.

Like Martial Arts.

That would also keep the bound Talent Sequence slot open for a potentially better Talent Sequence in the future.

The skills He Ao currently possessed included Super Memory, which could provide combat analysis, a temporary increase in combat prowess, and short to medium-range psychic attacks; ’Basic Firearm Proficiency’, combined with firearms, ensured his long-range physical attack capabilities, and ’Martial Arts’ that ensured his melee combat capabilities.

Therefore, the ideal Talent Sequence skill for He Ao at this point would be one that could make up for his own shortcomings, a long-range magical attack skill, or perhaps a special support skill that could create some kind of invincible state.

Of course, getting a healing skill would also be nice.

That way, he would have gathered skills from the mage, warrior, support, and ranged archer classes.

He could heal, control, deal damage, and tank.

While He Ao was pondering, the system text in his view gradually faded away, and two powerful forces appeared in his throat and chest.

He Ao immediately focused his attention and guided these two energies to fuse together.

A major reason he chose ’Qi of Heaven and Earth’ was that he wanted to attempt breaking through Martial Arts directly to D-level, rather than settling for a pseudo-D-level ability and instead acquiring a true D-level ability.

The very name ’Qi of Heaven and Earth’ was a hint that to advance from E-level to D-level in Martial Arts and to cultivate the first strand of one’s own ’Qi’, one must gather a massive amount of Qi of Heaven and Earth within one’s body.

In the real world, ’Heaven Qi’ could only be obtained at dawn, and He Ao hadn’t even found a stable method to acquire ’Earth Qi’ yet.

Therefore, this time’s "Qi of Heaven and Earth" is very likely the only chance to rapidly break through to D-level in Martial Arts at the moment.

Two different energies converged inside He Ao’s chest, and with a focused mind, he meticulously guided them into his limbs.

His soul power was now much stronger than during Regit’s period, and his manipulation of these energies was more skillful, avoiding a great deal of energy waste.

During the previous Martial Arts Infusion, he had deliberately nourished his internal organs first, leaving the strengthening of the limbs as relatively effortless. Under the convergence of these two massive forces, the limbs were gradually fortified.

He Ao’s physical attributes began to rapidly climb 80...81...82...83...84...85...

Finally, it stopped at 100.

is the limit for E-level. Beyond this point, the limbs and internal organs will no longer absorb energy.

What follows is the breakthrough.

He Ao took a deep breath and began to meticulously draw the Qi of Heaven and Earth within his body to the center of his clavicle, then upwards past the throat, behind the ears, above the ears, and back to the throat; afterwards, he guided it down through the left hand, left side of the body, left leg, back to the perineum, then up the right leg, right side of the body, right hand, and back to the chest cavity.

The speed at which the System’s provided Qi of Heaven and Earth dissipated was extremely slow, so He Ao had plenty of time to manipulate it.

In fact, He Ao had already experienced a breakthrough with Regit’s body in the Copy World, but it was done under immense pressure. Hence, the operation was inevitably somewhat intense and came with a high risk.

Now that he had ample energy and was in a sufficiently safe location, he could attempt the new method he had conceived during the Martial Arts Infusion process.

He slowly joined two threads of the extremely fine Qi of Heaven and Earth that had passed through every part of his body and compressed them slightly. These energies then separated into five different streams, which he guided through the internal organs, eventually converging below the belly button at about seven or eight centimeters down.

After that, He Ao released his guidance, allowing the five streams of energy to gradually settle there. Although they still dissipated, they did so very slowly.

As expected.

He Ao let out a sigh of relief in his heart.

This meant the method was safe and feasible, and it was likely the truly safe way of cultivatively practicing Martial Arts.

With the first success under his belt, He Ao imitated the process, slowly transferring all the energy from the chest cavity and throat, through the body and internal organs, just like ants moving house, eventually forming five different energies of metal, wood, water, fire, earth, all converging below the belly button.

points...3 points...4 points...5 points...

The energy below He Ao’s belly button kept accumulating, reaching a critical mass.

Eventually, when He Ao had used up all the Qi of Heaven and Earth, the energy beneath his navel reached its limit.

He guided the energies and pressed hard, and the five different energies once again transformed into two.

These two forces were somewhat similar to the Qi of Heaven and Earth, but unlike the Qi of Heaven and Earth, which required much deliberation from He Ao to control, these two powers felt as though they belonged to him, obeying his command effortlessly.

He Ao took a deep breath; he had experience with breaking through before, and now, it was time to compress these two energies into ’Qi’.

However, while guiding them, he suddenly discovered that the two forces had reached a delicate balance, which he could not directly disrupt to unify.

...

He was stuck just one step away from reaching D-level, lacking a key, a clever opportunity to break this balance.

If the System said E-level, was it really just E-level?

He Ao rubbed his temples, and just as he was about to give up, a pale light began to emerge on the horizon, with the first rays of dawn illuminating his cheeks.