Revive Rome: Wait! Why not make the empress fall in love with me first?
Chapter 241 - 39: Upgrade Segment

Chapter 241: Chapter 39: Upgrade Segment

In the gaming forums, a popular saying once circulated:

Everyday life of a regular player: painstakingly completing tasks one through four to obtain the next level magic potion recipe; then staying up late and grinding through instances five through eight, collecting the corresponding spiritual materials to concoct a magic potion, and finally bathing, burning incense, and praying not to lose control before consuming the potion and leveling up.

Everyday life of a money-spending big shot: using cash to buy a bottle of magic potion and leveling up after consumption.

In fact, leveraging Aske’s advantage as a prophet, direct access to readymade magic potions through certain tasks and instances significantly shortened the leveling time for everyone in the squad.

With the next bottle of magic potion in hand, the group temporarily enjoyed the perks of the big spenders: just complete an instance to digest the residual magic potion in the body and then immediately consume the next bottle to level up.

However, this was only temporary.

As the average level of the team increased, subsequent demands for magic potions mostly shifted from level I to level II, and then chances to directly obtain readymade magic potions through tasks or instances became rather scarce.

The next morning on Fire Island, Aske consumed "Intuition I," a magic potion he had exchanged from the Night Watchman initially, and it was the last one he had from his own "Weapon Master" bloodline sequence.

He would have to search for more subsequently.

Once the "Intuition I" magic potion was ingested, it brought a sensation as chilling as needle pricks, sliding down the throat like a highly carbonated drink, followed by a peculiar feeling of dizziness that surged into his mind.

Being a mentally-oriented magic potion, "Intuition" vastly conflicted with other physically-oriented sequence potions of the Weapon Master, so much so that as soon as the potion entered his body, Aske’s spirituality almost immediately reached the verge of losing control.

It was then suppressed by the "Angel’s Song" and Nora’s "Spirituality" abilities.

"Phew." After completing the initial digestion, Aske let out a long breath.

After reaching Lv.5 and above, the probability of losing control from consuming a new sequence potion was so high that players commonly believed the high risk of losing control at higher levels was merely a revenue-generating mechanism for the game company.

After all, once a player’s account lost control, they had no choice but to spend real money in the game store to buy potions for recovery.

Of course, NPCs did not have this privilege, which also explained why, even during the peak of the "Magic Tide" when extraordinary creatures ravaged, the vast majority of humans on the continent remained ordinary—most who attempted to climb the Bloodline Path either died in various dangerous mutant instances or unfortunately perished during the process of consuming magic potions.

"How did everyone else fare?" Aske asked.

"They all succeeded," Nora replied with a smile.

On Fire Island, possessing the super buff "Angel’s Song," the girls could be considered extremely lucky, as they didn’t have to worry too much about the magic potions losing control.

Of course, they might not even realize how lucky they truly were.

Currently, the highest-level team member was still Aske, having reached Lv.7.

Eleanor also consumed "Block I" from the Duel Sequence, enhancing her shield usage experience and reaching Lv.5. As soon as she consumes a bottle of "Tactics I," her "Crusader" career would basically be established, with the subsequent potions all being level II, used to strengthen her existing extraordinary traits.

Sigrdrifa had consumed "Thunder I," and thus she had finished taking all I-level potions of the "Titan Giant." When she swung her weapon, she could now exhibit the colossal strength of a "Giant" and add either frost or thunder damage, further supported by the intrinsic frost effect of the North Wind Axe, essentially completely transitioning into a melee spell caster.

Ever since overcoming her fear of men in the mutant mountains of Sparta, Medea had digested the remaining "Flame I" she initially couldn’t handle and consumed "Flame II," enhancing her control over flames and deriving a new flame effect: explosion.

Since the hostility of Medusa within her had been exposed, the team naturally had to be extra cautious about her alter ego, making Medea’s own enhancement in the Flame Sequence an urgent matter.

Princess Thira also consumed "Meteor II," boosting her ability to manipulate gravity and developing a new skill: "Force Field Burst."

She could launch a twisted gravitational point, causing nearby creatures to be swiftly pulled in by this gravitational point or pushed away by a tremendous repulsive force. Players jokingly referred to this move as "Heavenly Expedition," and in effect, many games had similar skills, generally categorized under control abilities.

Henceforth, there were already five Lv.5 members in the team, specifically Eleanor, Sigrdrifa, Medea, Thira, and Mia, who had previously consumed "Shadow II."

Given their respective positions in the team, all of which were related to output to some extent, the team’s overall output capabilities had been significantly enhanced.

Miel, a half-elf girl, had risen to Lv.4 and had consumed a vial of "Projection I," which increased her long-range shooting experience. Her next magic potion was "Luck I," which was also the main sequence of her chosen "Destiny Shooter" bloodline.

This sequence was extremely rare and was causing Aske quite the headache. However, relying on some experiences gained in forums in his past life, he quickly remembered the most likely NPC related to this sequence.

It was an ancestor from the Eleanor family, the madman "Ludwig," involved in a quest instance that was said to be rather unique.

The last members who maintained at Lv.3 were Nora and Peggy. Nora had already consumed "Mind I," becoming a mind reader like Medea. Her next magic potion was "Mind II," which she already had in her possession and simply needed to digest.

Peggy’s next magic potion was also quite rare – "Rat," "Night Bat," and "Toxin," all belonged to niche magic potion sequences. The former two would allow her to transform into a rat or bat, and the latter could enable her to secrete toxins to weaken and damage her enemies.

Although these were unlikely to be found on the market, Aske also knew the potential sources of these sequences: the revolutionaries of the Tabor Sect from the Hussite Movement, who would start rebellions in Bohemia, Bavaria, and Carinthia as the Divine Luo civil war officially began.

He would plot at the right time.

Of course, finding the necessary magic potions for their advancement was one thing, but continuing to train the girls was another. With the Duke of Bavaria away, Aske planned to fully explain the "Trinity Tactics" to Eleanor, along with corresponding advanced spear skills, sword skills, and shield skills.

Once her father returned, opportunities for Aske to be alone with Eleanor would likely diminish.

After all, practical training definitely involved necessary physical contact; although the girls thought of it as "beating," Aske did not consider it so, but he still had to be mindful of Eleanor’s father’s opinion.

Hmm, best to finish teaching everything while he was still away.

Thus, Aske left Fire Island and just entered the Real Plane, only to see Eleanor in the room, fiddling with something in front of a mirror.

"What are you doing?" Aske asked.

"Putting on makeup," Eleanor replied.

"You know how to put on makeup?!" Aske exclaimed in surprise.

"It was taught in the nobles’ etiquette class..." Eleanor started to say, then suddenly realized and responded unhappily, "Why? Is it so strange that I can do makeup?"

"Not at all, not at all!" Aske quickly amended, "Actually, you look quite beautiful without makeup too."

"Didn’t think the Squad Leader could also give compliments," Eleanor said with a pressed-lip smile, "I don’t actually like to wear makeup, but there is a family banquet tonight and my brother insists that I must dress up. I don’t like having the maids fuss over my face."

Aske stared at her for a long while and nodded, "Indeed."

In fact, even without any makeup, Eleanor was beautiful, scoring well above nine points. She had symmetrical deep features, fair healthy skin, long curved eyelashes, deep blue eyes, a prominent nose, full red lips, and brilliant silky blond hair, almost showing no need for makeup to conceal any imperfections.

It could only be said that the game company’s modeling skills were indeed superb.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" Eleanor retracted her neck slightly.

"Are you in makeup now? Or have you not started?" Aske asked.

"I just applied a little lipstick," Eleanor said with a slightly uneasy tone, never having imagined that one day she would discuss her physical appearance with the Squad Leader.

"I think your beauty now is already enough to attend any public event," Aske tentatively said, "Instead of spending time in front of the mirror, why don’t we go out and practice some sword skills?"

Eleanor was still a bit startled, but perked up upon hearing the latter part, and smiled broadly, "Sure, let’s go."