120: Attribute surge

With Ye Xiao's departure and the demise of the Ziqiang Society, this small coastal fishing village, which had been abandoned for decades, returned to peace.

Time passed by, drop by drop.

Gradually, a few Ocean Magic Frogs emerged in Linhai Village again.

However, no one knew about any of this.

After the Path of Exile ended, Night Shadow single-handedly killed over 2,000 Dragon Abyss Legion allied forces and five level 180 Black-Clad Deacons in Dingfeng City.

The Zhao Family lost immense face due to this incident and has been continuously intensifying efforts to search for Ye Xiao's whereabouts.

In their opinion, as long as Ye Xiao hasn't advanced to the third turn, he must still be in the 702 Novice Zone.

The Zhao Family has made up their mind to dig three feet deep to find him.

However, apart from the initial attention, most novices, after the novelty wore off, didn't pay much attention anymore.

Neither the Zhao Family nor Night Shadow were matters they could intervene in or confront at the moment.

Offending either side would bring no benefits.

Everyone understood a common consensus: only one's own strength was the foundation for survival in the Eternal World.

Therefore, most people were currently working hard to improve their levels.

There was no need to mention ordinary Professionals; this was even more true for elites from various factions.

In a level 70 secret realm within the Novice Area controlled by the Qin Family.

At this moment, Qin Bing, with everyone's efforts to hold back the boss, finally eliminated the secret realm boss with one move, then teleported out of the secret realm.

Outside, Qin Bing glanced at his experience bar, his expression somewhat disappointed.

"It seems I'll have to come back again to reach level 74. It's still a bit slow."

A Qin Family guard responsible for the secret realm quickly scurried over. Hearing Qin Bing's disappointed sigh, he couldn't help but ask softly,

"Young Master Bing, shall we continue?"

Qin Bing nodded expressionlessly and said coldly, "Ask such a boring question again, and you can leave."

The guard shivered in fright, not daring to ask more, and quickly stepped forward to reopen the secret realm.

Qin Bing snorted coldly, then said to the group of people behind him, "Go in. If I can't get the Rookie King title, there's no need for you useless people to return to the real world."

The crowd behind him, hearing this, were all terrified, but dared not disobey Qin Bing's command, and all nodded in agreement.

Seeing this, Qin Bing's expression softened slightly, and then he walked into the secret realm.

After more than ten days of frantic sweeping, his level had also increased extremely quickly, reaching level 73.

This speed was considerably faster than anyone before him.

However, this was not because Qin Bing's Talent was too strong, but because the family invested resources madly and without regard for cost.

Among other things, the reason Qin Bing was able to gain 13 levels in just over ten days was entirely due to the Qin Family controlling a level 60 secret realm here.

To level up quickly, Qin Bing had entered the secret realm twenty or thirty times back and forth during this period.

After the Path of Exile ended, there weren't many novice Professionals who could reach level 60.

As a result, after the entire secret realm was opened, it only served Qin Bing alone, and there was no way to recover costs by selling entry tickets to the secret realm.

And each time this level 60 secret realm was opened, it consumed 10 million eternal coins.

In this way, just the cost of opening the secret realm had already cost the Qin Family nearly 300 million in the past ten days for Qin Bing.

Not to mention the personnel costs for assisting his leveling, and equipment updates.

It was only when Qin Bing reached level 70 that he immediately switched to a level 70 secret realm.

The opening fee was 5 million higher than that of the level 60 one.

This method of leveling can only be described as insane.

Under normal circumstances, even the Eight Great Families would not be able to spend such resources to allow a family disciple to squander them in this manner.

Moreover, although Qin Bing's Talent was good, and he certainly shone brightly among his peers, if placed among the Eight Great Families, he could only be considered of upper-middle caliber.

In fact, there was a long-standing unspoken agreement among the Eight Great Families that no matter what brilliant Talents emerged in their respective families each year,

the maximum resource allocation must be controlled within a certain range. Under this premise, the supported disciples within each family would compete with each other, and whoever could win the Rookie King title would do so by their own ability.

No one could object.

Such an agreement was to avoid malicious competition, like the situation Qin Bing was currently in.

According to Qin Bing's current progress, he could indeed reach level 90 in a very short time, thereby completing the third turn advancement mission and becoming a strong contender for the Rookie King title.

However, the resources required would be at least a billion, and possibly two to three billion, with no upper limit.

If the Eight Great Families engaged in such internal strife every year, even the largest family fortune would not last for many years.

Therefore, the Eight Great Families stipulated that as long as the Rookie King title each year belonged to one of the Eight Great Families, everyone could accept it, regardless of which family ultimately claimed the title.

This ensured the absolute dominance of the Eight Great Families and also avoided excessive internal strife leading to a decline in the overall strength of the families.

In previous years, it was not uncommon for others to receive the Rookie King title, but most of these individuals had already been recruited by the Eight Great Families before the Path of Exile.

However, this year, due to the appearance of Night Shadow, the situation had somewhat escaped the control of the Eight Great Families.

Especially since the Zhao Family failed to deal with Night Shadow within the Path of Exile, and instead lost many Talents, the Eight Great Families had no choice but to make corresponding adjustments to their subsequent plans.

Therefore, it was not just Qin Bing of the Qin Family; at this time, in other Novice Areas,

Qi Bai of the Qi Family, Wei Jun of the Wei Family, and several other top Talents from other families this year had also received instructions from their respective families to level up frantically, regardless of the cost.

Meanwhile, in a remote Novice Area controlled by the Zhi Family.

After Zhi Zi Jiu killed a level 90 demon, the light representing a level-up finally rose from him.

He checked his level: 80.

"In at most a month, I'll be level 90. No one can steal my Rookie King title."

Zhi Zi Jiu's lips curled slightly upwards, and then he strolled leisurely towards the next demon.

--- ---

Grey Earth Plains, within the Dense Forest, considered a forbidden land.

Ye Xiao could no longer remember how many days he had spent here, nor how many monsters he had killed.

During this time, he had almost completely swept through all the monsters appearing on the outskirts of the entire Dense Forest.

With his current strength, no monster that showed its head here could survive for more than five seconds, so Ye Xiao's sweeping speed was naturally incredibly fast.

Finally, when Ye Xiao searched for another half-day and found that there were no more monsters appearing on the outskirts, he stopped, still feeling a bit unsatisfied.

First, he went to the edge of the Dense Forest and found a safe place.

The relentless hunting these past days, even with his current combat power, was a bit exhausting.

However, the gains were extremely considerable.

Thanks to the large number of hidden monsters here, Ye Xiao's accumulated Purification Points reached 68,977.

Ye Xiao took out his equipment and began to purify them one by one.

He had purified the five Mythical Grade pieces of equipment three times before, but the fourth purification did not require 400 points, but 500 points.

Ye Xiao didn't quite understand the pattern of purification consumption, but it didn't hinder his actions.

--- ---

【Ding! You used 500 Purification Points to purify the endless chain of life.】

【Ding! Purification successful. The attributes of the endless chain of life have been enhanced.】

【The next purification of this equipment requires 800 Purification Points.】

--- ---

With another purification, the attributes of the endless chain of life, under the effect of Water Nourishment, became All Attributes +100.

However, Ye Xiao's attention was currently focused on the last piece of information.

"The next purification actually requires 800 points?"

Ye Xiao was slightly stunned, but quickly understood the pattern of purification consumption: the points needed for the next purification should be the sum of the previous two times.

The first purification required 100 points, the second required 200 points, and the third was the sum of the first and second purification points, 300 points.

By the fourth time, it was 200+300, which was 500 points.

So, the next time to purify the endless chain of life would require 300+500, which is 800 points.

After understanding the principle, Ye Xiao also shook his head.

He had originally thought it would increase incrementally, like 100 points, then 200 points.

"It seems I was overthinking it. And yes, if it really were as I thought, then the effect of this Purification Spring would be a bit too abnormal."

Ye Xiao smiled, not too disappointed.

Although the increase in points required for purification became larger, in Ye Xiao's opinion, it was merely a matter of killing a few more monsters.

Then, he used up all his Purification Points in one go. The basic attributes of the five Mythical Grade pieces of equipment instantly reached a terrifying level.

endless chain of life (Mythical Grade), All Attributes +220... ring of plague origin (Mythical Grade), Agility +620, Intelligence +340... phantom amulet (Mythical Grade), Constitution +780, Agility +840... shadow skeleton king's wind bone staff (Mythical Grade), Intelligence +1740... dragon's sigh robe (Mythical Grade), Constitution +340, Agility +520, Intelligence +490...

Each piece of equipment was purified 6 more times, but unfortunately, the points required for the next purification had already soared to a terrifying 8900 points.

And Ye Xiao's remaining Purification Points were already less than 1000, a significant difference.

Ye Xiao also tried purifying the Legendary Grade Skeleton Set, but the attribute increase was only 20 points, half the effect.

This also made him abandon the idea of wasting Purification Points on equipment below Mythical Grade.

Then, he opened his attribute panel.

--- ---

【ID: Night Shadow】

【Level: 90】

【Profession: Fusion Mage】

【Free Attribute Points: 0】

【Attributes: Strength 484; Constitution 1912; Agility 4186; Intelligence 10727】

【HP: 399170 / 399170; Mana: 110170 / 110170】

【Skills: Fireball, Mana Spring, Experience Surge... Expand】

【Abilities: Lava Blade, Smelting Furnace, Death Domain, Dark Rebirth, Storm Rush, Blessing of Wind, Purification Spring.】

--- ---

After all these operations, Ye Xiao's four main stats surged by 2400 points.

Now, just looking at his four-dimensional attributes, they could only be described as magnificent.

Having done all this, Ye Xiao silently returned to Linhai Village once again.