A faint blue glow now fell into Lu Yu’s eyes, becoming exceptionally bright. Lu Yu had never realized how beautiful the blue light could be. Even when facing monsters, he had never felt this nervous before.
Days of effort had finally paid off.
With a slight tightening of the two fingers holding the bead—
Crack!
The Star Spirit Pearl shattered. Countless fragments transformed into a thin strand of blue light. This thin ray of light, seemingly about to dissipate in midair, instead gently spiraled around Lu Yu’s fingertip before suddenly shooting into his forehead.
This beam of light surged like a faint electric current straight into the region of his brain that had opened during the catastrophe.
Lu Yu could clearly sense that as the weak current entered that area, it was rapidly broken down, and the divided currents transformed into even finer streams, flowing directly from his cerebral region into his body.
Streams of symbols flickered in his mind, reassembling into lines of text.
…
Skill Acquired—Blood Shield!
Blood Shield: Level 1 (can be upgraded three times)
Ability: Activates Blood Shield, temporarily increasing maximum HP by 50 points, attack power by 30 points, and physical resilience by 30 points!
Special Effect: When HP drops below 100, restore 1 HP every 120 seconds.
…
“It actually granted a skill,” Lu Yu stared at the text floating before him, hardly believing he had succeeded.
Since when had his luck gotten this good?
From the moment his brain seal was broken, he had gained access to a massive amount of data. It had been stored there for who knows how long, but was in complete disarray. These past few days, aside from fighting, he had spent his rest time organizing data related to skills and star spirits, and had gained a general understanding of how skills worked.
Actually obtaining a skill from a mutated Star Spirit Pearl, and then upgrading it several times, was really a matter of luck.
The same skill might allow someone to upgrade three times, while another person might only manage once.
Skills obtained from level one Star Spirit Pearls usually could only be upgraded once. Those that could be upgraded twice were considered rare treasures. Yet he had obtained one that could be upgraded three times. This wasn’t just rare—it was nearly one of a kind.
Before Lu Yu could even feel happy, the blue symbols began rearranging into a new line of text: “Congratulations! You possess the unique ability ‘Slaughter Promotion,’ granting additional stat bonuses to your skill. Maximum HP increased by 50 points, attack power increased by 20 points, physical resilience increased by 30 points! Special effect improved: restore 1 HP every 110 seconds.”
In that instant, Lu Yu was momentarily stunned.
“This is the effect of Slaughter Promotion!”
Lu Yu gazed at the newly arranged text, a slightly excited smile appearing on his face.
The effects of Blood Shield only activated when the skill was in use; it didn’t permanently increase base attributes.
But Lu Yu had already calculated the numbers. Once Blood Shield was activated, his maximum HP would reach 300, his attack power would reach 160, and his physical resilience would reach 170.
Compared to his previous base attributes, this was a qualitative leap.
Right now, one shouldn’t underestimate even a 50 or 20 point increase.
For level one skills, a 50-point boost in base stats was already the maximum. Getting a 30-point increase was already quite impressive. In the future, gaining such stat boosts from an upgrade would be considered sheer luck!
Some skills might only grant a 10-point increase. Occasionally, some might grant over 50 points—but that was entirely dependent on luck!
Restoring 1 HP every 110 seconds meant that instead of taking several hours to recover from serious injuries, he could now recover within one or two hours.
Lu Yu’s excitement upon seeing the additional stat boost was because he knew he had struck gold—big time.
The additional stat boost he received was almost equal to the stats granted by Blood Shield itself. He was well aware that even a single upgrade to a skill would at most match or slightly exceed this boost.
This single additional boost from Slaughter Promotion was essentially equivalent to a full skill level-up! Considering Blood Shield could be upgraded three times, and Slaughter Promotion could grant three additional boosts, it was as if he had six levels’ worth of upgrades.
Don’t forget, when he first obtained the skill, there was already an additional boost, equivalent to another level-up.
While others’ skills could be upgraded three times, his was effectively upgraded seven times. Each level-up for him granted double the stats of a normal upgrade. When added together, it surpassed the maximum possible for a level one skill. With such an ability, what more could he possibly desire? Even the most mundane skill became a treasure in his hands!
Who else had such talent? Who else possessed such ability?
At this moment, the acquisition of the Blood Shield skill was complete.
The energy stored within the Star Spirit Pearl began to release.
Now, Lu Yu could feel the cold star soul inside his body, as the faint electric current from earlier entered his body and flowed into his heart along with his blood.
At that moment, Lu Yu seemed to see his own heart. In the center of his heart, the black star soul, no larger than an eyeball, pulsed slightly. With each gentle beat of the star soul, streams of blue electric current flowed into it.
Just like during battle, the star soul slightly expanded, pulsing like a beating heart.
However, after just two faint pulses, the star soul returned to calm.
No attribute increase, no change in the star soul.
“It seems one Star Spirit Pearl just isn’t enough,” Lu Yu frowned. After waiting for a while with no change in the star soul, he felt somewhat disappointed.
Still, this time’s gains had been significant.
He hadn’t expected to obtain a Star Spirit Pearl at all, let alone a mutated one.
If he had known earlier that the monster could grant skills, he probably wouldn’t have dared to kill it.
After all this, Lu Yu was wide awake, with no hint of sleepiness.
Outside, the monsters’ roars became even more intense after nightfall, as if the entire city were surrounded by an enormous beast horde.
Even atop the tall buildings, one could occasionally hear the screams of humans.
Those were people who had chosen terrible hiding places and had already been discovered, becoming food for the monsters.
Several girls covered their ears, crouching in a corner, their faces pale.
Lu Yu slightly closed his eyes, wanting to rest briefly.
However, he never let his guard down.
He didn’t want to survive the fangs of fierce monsters only to be senselessly killed by a group of helpless students.
With great difficulty, the dozen or so students managed to reattach Wang Hai’s severed hand and foot. The pain was so intense that Wang Hai bit through his own teeth.
He wasn’t truly disabled; once the hand and foot were reattached, the text in front of him warned that it would take a long time to fully recover.
At least for the short term, he couldn’t move.
Therefore, he hated that young man with every fiber of his being.
Wang Hai had managed to get into university; his mind was definitely not that of someone with an IQ of only 70.
After suffering such serious injuries, he also realized that this young man was clearly not an ordinary student like them.
He was completely different from the street thugs.
This person’s fighting style wasn’t just street brawling! Every strike targeted vital or crippling points—this wasn’t something learned from fighting on the streets.
The more he thought about it, the more he felt this person resembled someone from TV. Could it be—this was an assassin?
At this thought, Wang Hai couldn’t help but shudder involuntarily.
…
The effects of Blood Shield began to show.
Within two hours, all of Lu Yu’s wounds had closed, and new skin had grown, as tender and pink as a baby’s.
This recovery speed shocked the group of students.
They knew the world had changed, but they still didn’t understand the meanings and effects of all these attributes.
“Congratulations, your vitality has recovered to 100.” The blue text flickered before his eyes, lifting Lu Yu’s mood. The pain in his body had vanished, and he felt much lighter.
Now, all his injuries were healed.
The remaining part was the recovery of his maximum HP, which would now proceed faster.
Once HP reached 100, it would recover at a rate of 1 point every two seconds. Reaching his maximum HP of 300 wouldn’t take long.
Lu Yu glanced at his watch; there were still six or seven hours until dawn. He could only wait for now.
The atmosphere grew heavy, no one spoke, only the sound of heavy breathing filled the hall.
Lu Yu stared blankly at the ceiling.
He thought back to the city’s tragic state during the day.
Perhaps soon, not only this city, but the entire world would become like this.
Nightfall brought tens of thousands of monsters, nearly enough to fill the entire city.
To stay or to leave?
Lu Yu kept thinking.
Leaving—
With his current abilities, he believed escaping the city wouldn’t be a problem.
But if the entire world had changed, where else could he go?
Wherever he went, it would be war-torn and like this world. So what difference would there be?
Lu Yu kept thinking, his outstretched hands slowly clenching into fists, his expression gradually becoming resolute.
If the entire world really was going to change,
Then he would stay here, carving out a sanctuary for himself with his own strength.
A sanctuary that neither humans nor monsters could ever invade!
This was Lu Yu’s determination!
…
The moon sank westward, and only as dawn approached did the monsters’ roars gradually fade.
When the streets were finally free of beasts, the corpses on the ground had been reduced to less than a third.
Around Fanggang City, some survivors began to appear, moving between the ruins.
Lu Yu ate half a can of meat, a piece of bread, and drank some water before beginning to rest.
Once his energy and physical strength reached their peak, it would be time for him to move out.
The dozen students watched longingly, swallowing dryly.
They hadn’t eaten in twenty-four hours.
Some considered asking him for food, but recalling Lu Yu’s terrifying actions the previous night, they abandoned the idea.
Ten minutes later, Lu Yu opened his eyes, pulled out some clothes from another bag, changed, slung his backpack over his shoulder, and prepared to leave.
All eyes were fixed on Lu Yu’s backpack as he walked toward the exit of the hall, their fists tightly clenched.
Lu Yu paused at the entrance of the hall, seemingly hesitating for a moment.
He turned around, tossing the food bag toward the group of students, saying, “Ration this food—it should last you two days. Head east, and you should be able to leave the city by tomorrow noon. Remember, before 4 PM, you must find a place to hide.”
With that, Lu Yu turned and left.
The group of students stared at Lu Yu’s retreating figure, then at the bag on the ground.
Only after Lu Yu had walked far away did the group finally snap out of their shock.
A girl ran to the window, watching Lu Yu’s tiny figure disappear into the distance, saying softly, “Perhaps, he isn’t so bad after all.”
…
Lu Yu exited the building and immediately headed straight toward a dark alley he had passed through the day before.
He had been there yesterday. There were three monsters there. He had lured one out, taken its life, and left with an injury.
If his memory served him right, there should still be two left today.
At this time of day, these monsters should be in their deepest sleep.
“You’ve oppressed me for so many days. It’s time for the tides to turn!” Lu Yu stared at the dark alley, as if flames of blood were burning around his body, enveloping him entirely.
Blood Shield—Activate!
Today marked the first step in carving out his sanctuary.
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