Chapter 28: Growth Before the New Trial

"The strength is equivalent to my mental attribute, and the physical form can be destroyed." Chu Danqing looked at the shattered life link and energy link.

"No cooldown, no limit on the number of activations, plus the activation speed and linking speed are fast enough."

"It only takes 1 energy point to create a link."

"And it only shares the loss, not the recovery."

"The pros outweigh the cons; the flaws don't obscure the merits." Chu Danqing had nothing to be dissatisfied with. Since the two skills were only of excellent quality, he shouldn't expect invincible effects.

He couldn't help but smile. Linking to one person splits the burden in half, but what if he linked to another?

Chu Danqing’s current energy pool, even with the White Velvet Robe, was only 35 points, and his recovery rate was a mere 1 point per hour.

If he used the energy link to set up a network, once the first link was established, all his subsequent energy consumption would be halved.

This ratio would continue to expand, meaning that as long as he was fast enough, he could turn the links into a damage-mitigation network.

There was a drawback, however: he would also have to bear the losses of his enemies, so he needed lightning-fast reflexes to sever the links.

He would link to others when he used abilities, and he would sever the link when they used theirs.

Since the skill user is one of the linked parties, they can actively dissolve the link.

Once he linked energy to five different individuals, the 20 energy points required to summon a crossbowman would be split by 50% for each step, meaning he would only need to pay 0.625 energy points.

The remaining energy cost would be distributed among the five linked individuals; the first person linked would be the unluckiest, bearing half, while the second would bear half of that half, and so on.

The life link could use the same tactic, though it had more variables.

There was an insurmountable difficulty: he could not redistribute the losses coming from the other side of the link.

When the loss of life or energy was transmitted through the link, he had to bear half of it; there was no way to "nest" it by linking it further to others.

As for linking multiple times to the same person, the effect was the same, but it was not friendly to Chu Danqing. If he failed to sever the transmission of loss in time, he would be the one to suffer.

A single link could, at most, share half the burden, but five links would cause this to soar to 96.875%. With the right timing, it could act as both a damage skill and a reflection skill.

Unfortunately, each link could only share fifty percent, and no matter how many were stacked, it would never reach or exceed one hundred percent. Otherwise, every time Chu Danqing used a skill or took damage, he might not only consume nothing but even recover energy and life.

These operations could be used not only on himself but also on Dabao, thereby enabling Dabao to have greater combat efficiency.

"Next is the issue of link quantity and range."

"With my current 5 points of spirit, I can comfortably control five links, with ten being the limit."

"As for range, I’ll likely have to upgrade the skill or develop it myself."

"It is inseparable from the spirit attribute." Chu Danqing was treating the two links as weapons rather than simple skills.

"It's a shame I don't have the money to upgrade them. Raising these two skills by 1 level requires 1,000 Paradise Points."

Chu Danqing didn't plan to upgrade them; he would make do for now.

Entering a trial world required purchasing a language and script pack, which cost 200 points. He lacked detection skills and needed to rent them from the Paradise, which cost another 500.

Then, there was the trial identity, which cost another 500 points; otherwise, it would be difficult for an unregistered person to operate in the trial world.

Just entering a trial world required a base of 1,200 Paradise Points.

He also needed to activate two permanent permissions: Combat Log and Equipment Camouflage, which together cost another 1,000 points.

The Combat Log could digitize and record the damage he dealt and the damage he received.

Equipment Camouflage was exactly as the name suggested, making equipment from various worlds appear reasonable so that the natives wouldn't find them abrupt.

Therefore, they had to be activated.

After calculating, he only had 450 Paradise Points left.

If he bought consumables, he could probably afford 2 to 4 health-restoring items, depending on their effectiveness.

As for energy-restoring consumables, he could only afford one.

The price of energy-restoring consumables was far higher than that of health ones, and Chu Danqing couldn't understand why the prices were set that way.

With his plan set, Chu Danqing took Dabao out to shop.

Searching the center of Apostle Square, arriving, haggling, and purchasing.

He acquired 3 consumables, and his Paradise Points dropped by 2,200. He couldn't touch the rest; he would have to spend them after entering the trial world.

[Minor Healing Potion ×3]

[Type: Consumable]

[Quality: Common]

[Effect: After drinking, restores 15% of health over 5 seconds. Can be consumed in portions to obtain different recovery ratios.]

Chu Danqing had considered buying an item to permanently contract a summon, but it wasn't cost-effective at this stage.

It was better to choose summoning-type equipment or items, which saved on cultivation resources and could be resold to recoup costs if they were no longer needed.

Cultivating a summon also required costs.

If Dabao hadn't eaten the Cave Beast Priest back then, Chu Danqing would have had to provide the resources himself.

For the remaining time, Chu Danqing did not leave his personal room. In the morning, he consolidated his knowledge of summoning and guided Dabao in mastering the power of blood rage; in the afternoon, he pondered the life and energy links.

He didn't need to worry about energy; he had three energy links hooked onto Dabao, who bore 87.5% of his energy consumption.

Dabao could recover 1 point of blood rage every minute, a faster recovery rate than Chu Danqing's.

-----------------

Twenty days passed just like that. Once the rest period was exhausted, the Paradise sent a reminder.

[The reserve apostle will enter the trial world to execute the trial mission in one hour. Please prepare in advance.]

The Paradise was quite considerate, giving a one-hour warning.

Chu Danqing stretched his limbs. He had nothing to prepare; he only silently canceled the life and energy links hooked onto Dabao.

One hour was enough for Dabao to recover.

"Skills can be improved on their own, though the efficiency..." Chu Danqing's gaze fell on his two link skills.

[Life Link LV.2: Links 1 target within an 11-meter range, sharing 50% of life loss, consumes 1 energy point per minute, no cooldown.]

[Energy Link LV.2: Links 1 target within an 11-meter range, sharing 50% of energy loss, consumes 1 energy point per minute, no cooldown.]

He had pondered for twenty days and only managed to level them up once. The linking range had increased by 1 meter. Any further levels would not be something he could achieve just by pondering.

Just like his two basic summoning skills, they hadn't budged an inch so far.

However, Chu Danqing was not without gains; the saying "reviewing the old to learn the new" was no empty phrase.