Chapter 197: Chapter 197 – Game Character and the Jade Pendant

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

“It’s actually effective…”

Ren Suo exhaled deeply and used [Data Stream] on himself—his Practice progress was now tier 1, 38%.

He looked down at the tattoo of the jade pendant on his right arm. At that point in time, the tattoo of the jade pendant was deep green in color, and it looked like it could be washed off easily using Safeguard soap.

His progress was definitely not slow—although he spent the entire day Practicing and even activated [Unlimited Energy], it was definitely still worth it.

At such a speed, Ren Suo would definitely be able to become a tier 2 Practitioner within two months. Even though he was close to numerous tier 2 Practitioners, did that mean that it was easy to become one? No, because most of them were talented, hard-working, and highly qualified geniuses. If it were a few years later when the Practitioner system had been fully developed, Ren Suo would certainly not have had the chance to even meet them.

Nonetheless, now that Ren Suo discovered that his Practice efficiency was gradually improving, he could not bear to stop Practicing either.

After the entire day had passed, Ren Suo found that his Practice efficiency was at its maximum, which was already 10%~15% higher than before.

It was perfectly normal for the talent scores of Practitioners to improve over time—similar to reading a novel, the speed it took to read one page could progressively increase from 10 seconds per page for a new reader, to 2 seconds per page for an avid reader. However, the amount of information processed would still remain the same, despite the increase in speed. In the same way, the more Practitioners practiced, the higher their talent scores would become.

Nevertheless, based on information in the intranet, if the fundamental level of a Practitioner’s breathing current remained unchanged (meaning that the Practitioner was unable to promote to the next tier), then the Practitioner’s talent score would eventually still reach a bottleneck. In Ren Suo’s case, for example, if the amount of Reiki energy in the world did not continue to increase, he may as well remain a tier 2 Practitioner forever.

Ren Suo currently had the means to enhance his talent score, which was using the [Jade Pendant of the Goddess of River Luo]—though he still had to kill and eliminate monsters and demons personally for his talent score to increase.

However, it was very easy for him to lose his reason and sanity while being equipped with [Jade Pendant of the Goddess of River Luo]. Moreover, with the complete development of the Countermeasure System, any monster that was discovered would be gunned down. Even if Ren Suo returned to the Countermeasure Division, he did not have many opportunities to cleanse and purify monsters himself.

On the other hand, however, when Ren Suo found that [Heart-Strengthening] was effective in the game [The Mage Under the World Tree], he suddenly thought of the jade pendant that was born out of the same source as the [Heart-Strengthening] ability. At that time, he wondered if the Evil Demon of the monastery was also considered an evil demon?

As such, Ren Suo equipped Mage with the Jade Pendant to fight the Evil Demon of the monastery, since his props slot was empty anyway. After clearing the first checkpoint, Ren Suo then Practiced himself the next day, while being equipped with the Jade Pendant.

Ultimately, it was impossible for a powerful, top-tier monster to appear in his house and cause him to let his guard (or rather, his timid soul) down, right?

Ren Suo found that the Jade Pendant glowed slightly when he equipped it, similar to the time when he subdued the Awakener who Awakened but fell to the dark side!

When he first started Practicing, Ren Suo did not feel much different. It was only when he was in his second Practice cycle that he clearly felt the Reiki being incorporated into his breathing current and through his veins. He could feel that his internal Reiki energy increased slightly.

Such a feeling was very obvious when practicing the Secret Records of Glorious Xuan, as the Reiki energy would constantly nourish the body and cause exhaustion. However, upon finishing one Practice cycle, the Practitioner would feel thoroughly refreshed.

Ren Suo had fully familiarized himself with the effects he felt at each step of the Practice cycle, so when the amount of Reiki in his body increased, he could feel himself becoming more tired. It felt as if a cucumber was stuffed into his mouth while it was already full!

He almost could not sustain until that Practice cycle was completed, but he eventually managed to complete it successfully. In the end, the amount of Reiki he had remaining increased slightly.

Of course, it was not reliable to rely on feelings and perceptions. Ren Suo had used [Data Flow] on himself and noted down his Practice progress percentage throughout his Practice. In the end, he concluded that his talent score was increasing at an hourly rate.

After Ren Suo unequipped [Jade Pendant of the Goddess of River Luo], his progress rate dropped drastically to 0.

However, even if he wore the Jade Pendant at all times, his progress rate was still close to 0, even after 6 hours. It was only after two consecutive Practice cycles that there was a sporadic increase in his progress rate, which meant that there was only an increase in the Practitioner’s own talent score.

As such, Ren Suo came to the conclusion that: the most likely way to increase his own talent score was to equip game characters with the Jade Pendant to defeat the enemy monsters, and then, equip himself with the Jade Pendant.

Originally, [Jade Pendant of the Goddess of River Luo] required Ren Suo to be equipped with it when killing a monster to be effective. Now, however, Ren Suo had found a shortcut!

The purifying effect of [Jade Pendant of the Goddess of River Luo] could also be activated in the game!

Upon returning home after dinner that night, Ren Suo immediately continued playing the game. However, he started a new savegame then.

He quickly created another game character and entered the same checkpoint which was the monastery. Eagerly, Ren Suo controlled Mage to kill the monsters in the monastery with Red Hood. This time, however, he chose the “sacrifice” route and sacrificed all the monsters he encountered.

An hour later, Ren Suo immediately exited the game and navigated to the Equipment page. He equipped himself with [Jade Pendant of the Goddess of River Luo] and continued Practicing!

Using [Data Flow] on himself, Ren Suo found that his talent score did not increase despite completing another two consecutive Practice cycles.

Ren Suo then attempted the ‘salvation’ route for another hour, but eventually, he came to the regrettable conclusion that: merely killing small monsters was unable to activate the effect of [Jade Pendant of the Goddess of River Luo].

Nevertheless, Ren Suo did not give up on the new savegame just like that. He continued on the [Sacrifice] route to see what would happen later on.

Unlike [Salvation], sacrifice was very straightforward and was indeed more beneficial. The mana used to activate offerings for close-ranged attacks with the sacrifice route was much less than that required with the salvation route, as the offerings for close-ranged attacks would remain effective for a certain period of time. As the level of the Magic Wrist increased, the damage caused by the offerings also increased. Overall, the damage output with the sacrifice route was a notch higher than that with the salvation route.

This time around, the advancement in the game was faster than with the salvation route. However, when the Iron Virgin boss emerged, Cheng Wenchao and his team also appeared once again at the entrance of the monastery…

Ren Suo looked at the game time. He realized that Chang Wenchao and his team appeared at least 30 minutes earlier than they did in the previous savegame.

Logically speaking, there was no reason for him to encounter Cheng Wenchao and his team then!

As such, Ren Suo took a moment to control Mage to ask them: [Cheng Wenchao, why did you choose to come in here at this time?]

He replied: [How did you know my name?]

Mage said: [Answer my question first!]

After some effort on Ren Suo’s part, Cheng Wenchao finally revealed the truth. It turned out that it was because a golden glow suddenly emerged from the mysterious portal which they discovered near Island Lake. That was the reason why the scout team was sent to check it out.

In other words, even if Ren Suo was quicker or slower in his advance into the monastery, the Countermeasure Division personnel would still most likely appear when he was fighting the boss. They must have been wondering what kind of treasure was hidden there…

Regardless, the boss battle was still equally challenging. Moreover, this time, Mage did not have Holy Light bullets, which resulted in more than half of the Xuan Nation warriors being wounded or dying. When the Iron Virgin’s remaining health dropped to 20%, both Mage and Red Hood were also about to be depleted of their health.

With failure imminent, it was Red Hood who activated the Forbidden Skills [Finger Iron Chain] and [Breath of Fire Skin] this time around. The Iron Virgin was on the brink of death from the attacks, and finally, Mage assisted in dealing the final blow. The Iron Virgin boss was successfully sacrificed thereafter.

This time, however, Red Hood did not tell Mage that she would meet him in the next arena. Instead, she said: [With my little fighting power left, I would only be a burden to you, if I follow you to the next arena…]

Red Hood gave her offerings [Giant Fire Axe Fragment], [Cursed Blood Arrow], and [Feathers of Illusion] to Mage, then she vanished.

Ren Suo immediately saved and exited the game, then equipped herself with [Jade Pendant of the Goddess of River Luo]—

—And there was still no effect.

After spending all night, Ren Suo essentially confirmed the following three points:

[Jade Pendant of the Goddess of River Luo] could be activated when the game character killed an evil demon;

However, when Ren Suo was equipped with [Jade Pendant of the Goddess of River Luo], the Jade Pendant could be worn out instead. Only through killing powerful monsters in the game would the effect of purifying Reiki be extended onto himself to improve his talent score;

Each demon could activate [Jade Pendant of the Goddess of River Luo] only once, so even if he loaded other savegames, there would be no effect from subsequent attempts. In the previous savegame, Ren Suo had killed the Iron Virgin boss and activated the Jade Pendant of the Goddess of River Luo. Even though he also killed the boss in the new savegame, the Jade Pendant of the Goddess of River Luo would not be activated, and there was no effect.

Subsequently, Ren Suo thought about it and decided to use the savegame in which he chose the salvation route.

Compared with the offerings, Red Hood was significantly more useful and beneficial in battle.

In addition, Ren Suo could also use merit points to cast Forbidden Skills an unlimited number of times. As such, Ren Suo thought that Red Hood could be solely responsible for beautifying the battlefield with her attractive looks and earning ‘money’ to feed the family.

On the other hand, there was another matter which troubled Ren Suo–

In the savegame where he chose the salvation route, Mage bravely sacrificed himself.

If Mage reappeared in the next checkpoint alive and kicking, the story would be inconsistent and Ren Suo felt that he would have acted in vain.

Ren Suo thought, “In that case, would it be better to…”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep