159: Chapter 159 Taking stock of talents, strength surges

The morning light was faint.

Li Taiping slowly opened his eyes, the luxurious ceiling coming into view.

He took a deep breath and stretched lazily.

His nerves, which had been taut for so long, finally found complete relaxation in the ultimate indulgence.

Even the negative emotions brought back from the dungeon dissipated along with it.

He turned his head to the side.

A girl's petite body was curled up into a ball, and a trace of glistening drool still hung on her chubby, bun-like face.

From time to time, she mumbled sleep-talk like "Captain Brother" and "Delicious."

Yun Jinxin's flaxen hair, like seaweed, spread across more than half the pillow.

Her mixed-race features, beautiful to the point of being unreal, were outlined by the morning light, making her look as tranquil as an angel who had fallen into the mortal world.

Only her slightly furrowed brows seemed to be whispering some unspeakable secret.

"What a bunch of deadly succubi."

Li Taiping muttered inwardly.

Who could withstand this?

It was only thanks to his epic grade physique; if it were an ordinary person, they would have been sucked dry long ago.

He lightly lifted the blanket, threw on a large black bathrobe, and walked straight out of the bedroom.

The captain's cabin on the third floor came with an extremely spacious open-air balcony.

Li Taiping pushed open the glass door, and the morning sea breeze rushed to meet him.

Carrying a hint of biting chill, it instantly blew away the last remnants of sleepiness in his mind.

He stood by the railing, his hands resting casually on it.

His gaze crossed the ship's side and cast into the distance.

It was an endless world of ink and wash, composed purely of black and white.

The sky was deathly pale, and the seawater was pitch black.

It had been three days.

The Many Children, Many Blessings had been on autopilot for three full days in this eerie sea area called "Mofeng Mountain and Sea."

Apart from this monotonous, hair-raising black and white scenery, nothing had happened.

No mutated sea monsters.

No sudden storms.

There wasn't even the slightest ripple.

It was quiet.

This extreme calmness, instead of making Li Taiping feel at ease, made the string in his heart tighten even more.

When something is abnormal, there must be a demon.

The Survival World never did charity.

Beneath this calm surface, a terrifying murderous intent capable of swallowing everything was definitely brewing.

He took a deep breath, no longer thinking about those unknown dangers.

With a thought, there was a soft "swish" sound.

A virtual panel emitting a pale blue light appeared directly on his retina.

Li Taiping habitually rubbed his chin, his gaze moving slowly across the panel as he began to take stock of his current assets.

This had always been his habit.

Every time he experienced a life-and-death battle or a significant increase in strength, he would reorganize all his powers.

Only by knowing all his trump cards by heart could he gain a true sense of security in this hellish apocalypse.

His gaze locked onto the first line.

Talent Sequence 1: treasure basin.

Source: Su Mei.

[Effect: This is a causality container containing infinite space. When you "sacrifice" 36 units of the same item into the basin, the treasure basin will record the causality sequence of that item and activate "infinite replication" mode.]

[Output Efficiency: 2 units/second.]

[Current Limitation: Limited to "Excellent Grade" items and below. (Can be upgraded)]

"Huh? The efficiency actually doubled?"

Li Taiping's gaze paused abruptly on the "Output Efficiency" column.

His eyebrows raised slightly.

He remembered clearly that this value had previously been 1 unit per second.

When did it become 2?

Could it be because the ship had advanced to the fifth rank, driving the evolution of his Talent?

However, he did not dwell on this question for too long.

For him now, basic supplies had long since become just a number.

Never mind 2 units per second, even 10 units per second would make no essential difference to him.

Ever since he obtained that batch of precious excellent grade item upgrade scroll in the previous dungeon, coupled with the assistance of Shen Lianer's "bug-like" [Reproduction] Talent, the Many Children, Many Blessings had long achieved complete material freedom at the "Excellent Grade" level.

Others were still fighting to the death for a bite to eat, while on his ship, The girls could already bathe in purified water and play with high-level crystal cores like marbles.

What he valued more was the strategic significance of the treasure basin Talent.

This was the absolute foundation for him to build a massive force and sweep across this sea area in the future.

As long as this Talent existed, he would never have to worry about logistics and supplies.

As for the management of the piled-up supplies, he had long played the hands-off manager, handing everything over to Su Mei to handle.

That woman was born to be a housekeeper; she was much shrewder and more ruthless than him in this regard.

With her holding down the fort, nothing would go wrong.

Li Taiping's gaze continued to move down, landing on the second Talent.

Talent Sequence 2: Swordsmanship Mastery.

Source: Xia Zhi.

[Quality: Excellent (Growable)]

[Effect: Your understanding of sword-type weapons has reached its peak. Thousands of sword principles flow through your heart.]

[You now have the qualifications to create your own Sword Dao.]

[When using sword-type weapons, your attacks will carry a "Sword Qi" effect, with destructive improvements to power, range, and penetration.]

"This is the real tool of the trade."

Li Taiping's eyes instantly became as sharp as knives.

A faint, sharp aura even radiated from his body, forcing the surrounding air to emit a subtle hum.

Swordsmanship was his core combat method.

From a layman who blindly slashed with a broken iron sword at the beginning to the peak he had reached now, the improvement this Talent brought him was a real, tangible surge in combat power.

Especially the life-and-death battle with that "Imposter" in the dungeon.

It made his understanding of the "sword" break through the original shackles and reach a whole new height.

He squinted slightly.

The earth-shattering scene resurfaced in his mind.

The sword strike swung by that Imposter, that terrifying power that severed space and ignored distance, was still clearly branded in the depths of his soul to this day.

Li Taiping's right hand subconsciously formed a sword finger.

He gently slashed through the void.

His fingertips seemed to catch that trace of mysterious sword principle.

He knew he still had a long way to go before reaching the realm of breaking all laws with a single sword strike.

But for now, he had at least pushed open that door and seen the road ahead.

As long as he kept killing and kept comprehending, one day, he would also be able to swing such a stunning, peerless sword strike.

Kill gods if gods block, kill Buddhas if Buddhas block!

Suppressing the rolling battle intent in his heart, he continued to look down.

Talent Sequence 3: Immunity to All Poisons.

Source: Yun Jinxin.

[Quality: Excellent (Growable)]

[Effect 1: Passive effect. Your body structure has undergone conceptual solidification, granting immunity to all forms and all levels of toxins, curses, mental pollution, and other negative effects.]

[Effect 2: Poison immunity sharing. When you perform the "Many Children, Many Blessings Ritual" with any Crew Member, that Crew Member will permanently gain the exact same "Immunity to All Poisons" effect as you.]

"A god-tier life-saving skill, especially this immunity to mental pollution..."

Li Taiping's expression grew a bit more serious.

The further one went into the high-level sea areas, the more evil the monsters encountered became.

As for physical attacks, even if they could move mountains and fill seas, he had plenty of ways to deal with them.

At worst, he would just fight head-on; who was afraid of whom?

But those invisible, intangible curses and unpredictable mental attacks were the most headache-inducing killer moves.

How many powerhouses had died not under swords, but had become lunatics in silent mental pollution.

This Talent was equivalent to providing him, and all The girls on the ship, with top-tier conceptual-level insurance.

No matter how eerie the enemies he encountered in the future, at least he wouldn't have to worry about capsizing in the gutter and being inexplicably controlled.

Furthermore, there were more and more new women on this ship.

The strategic value of this Talent was also rising with the tide.

Every ritual was not just a pleasure for the body and mind, but a real, tangible improvement in combat power.

It was equivalent to adding an indestructible absolute defense to his team.

From this perspective, the unassuming Yun Jinxin's importance was not even slightly inferior to the combat-power-exploding Xia Zhi and the chief logistics manager, Su Mei.

Li Taiping exhaled a long breath, feeling his confidence bolstered once again.

With these three god-tier Talents as a foundation—main offensive, absolute defense, and infinite logistics—the trinity had already formed a perfect combat closed loop.

This configuration, if spoken aloud, could scare other Survivors to death.

However, this was still far from enough.

In this deep sea that ate people without spitting out bones, one could never have too much strength.

His gaze slowly moved down.

He looked at the fourth Talent on the panel.

...