Chapter Fifty-Two: Exaggerated Rewards for Revered Fame-Attention, This Is Not a Game(Did he attain enlightenment in a single night?)

“Skill point allocation!”
With 9 skill points remaining, Chu Cheng unhesitatingly spent 8 points to raise Swift from Level 1 to Level 5.

Swift Level 5 (Intermediate): Increases movement speed by 130%, grants a 50% chance to dodge physical attacks while running, lasts for 15 seconds, cooldown of 2 minutes.

“Your Swift skill has been upgraded to Level 5. Please select one specialization from the following three for your skill within 60 seconds, or a random one will be assigned if you exceed the time limit.”

“Specialization One: Movement speed +20%.”
“Specialization Two: Physical dodge +10%.”
“Specialization Three: Duration +5 seconds.”

Chu Cheng smiled faintly, a sphere of light flickered in his mind, countless threads of light shot out and entwined the panel, the screen wavered slightly, and the three specializations changed.

“Specialization One: Movement speed +60%.”
“Specialization Two: Physical dodge +30%.”
“Specialization Three: Duration +15 seconds.”

“Impressive!”
Without hesitation, Chu Cheng chose Specialization Three: Duration +15 seconds.

What he wanted was endurance.

Originally lasting 15 seconds, now with an additional 15 seconds, it amounted to half a minute of acceleration—far more persistent whether fleeing or pursuing.

After upgrading his skills, Chu Cheng purchased a batch of supplies at the outpost, avoiding any attention, and quietly left.

This time, he intended to delve deep into the wasteland.

Time passed swiftly; days flew by. The northern outpost was unaffected by his disappearance, with students still wandering all over the wasteland daily.

Hunting bosses, accumulating reputation.

At some point, a rumor began circulating between Cross Fortress and the northern outpost. In the battle at Blackstone Bastion, there were suspicions that Elite Class One had deliberately set up the other elite classes. No one knew who, unwilling to accept their loss, had spread their conjecture, but the rumor spread like wildfire—almost everyone had heard of it.

Though there was no evidence and not everyone believed it, the reputations of the elites from Elite Class One were indeed tarnished.

Previously, they could easily recruit a group of underlings to form large teams, but now it was no longer so effortless.

Especially the elites from other classes; they were now completely unmanageable—no one wanted to cooperate.

Chu Cheng returned to the northern outpost on the twenty-second day, stayed just one night, and left the next morning for Cross Fortress.

After more than ten days of intense combat, he had ventured deep into the wasteland, exterminated nearly forty small tribes, and accumulated reputation far beyond the threshold for reverence.

The main reason for not returning earlier was simply that the benefits were too abundant.

The experience was generous, and the difficulty negligible.

He targeted those small tribes; given the natives’ efficiency, news couldn’t spread fast enough to warn them in just a few days.

Moreover, he only attacked small tribes—even if there were precautions, they were useless. He would charge head-on, making their defenses irrelevant.

There were plenty of bosses, but none posed a threat; at most, a handful of level-30 elite mini-bosses, which he soloed flawlessly using tactical maneuvers, facing absolutely no challenge. It was exhilarating, and he was reluctant to return.

At this moment, Chu Cheng had reached Level 25 and accumulated 20 flexible attribute points.

Combined with the 30 points previously saved, he now had 50 flexible attribute points—a staggering amount.

He had been saving these points because there wasn’t a need to use them.

But once the main storyline began, he couldn’t afford to keep them unused.

Upon returning to Cross Fortress, Chu Cheng first liquidated all his spoils, including over thirty blue-grade items.

Forty small tribes guaranteed at least one blue chest each.

Unfortunately, he had only farmed small tribes, so the rewards weren’t particularly high; each tribe averaged about 35 silver, and from 43 tribes, he collected a total of 15 gold and 68 silver.

Including previous income, his total earnings in this scenario were 24 gold and 90 silver.

Adding his existing funds, his total capital now stood at 40 gold and 38 silver.

“So this is enough after all.”

He had underestimated the profits of soloing.

Besides, he had upgraded several pieces of equipment: a blue throwing knife and two blue gloves.

The throwing knife boasted 22 piercing attack, a range of 30 meters, strength +2, agility +2—its attack and range were inferior to the flintlock, but its attack speed was far superior, compared to the flintlock’s once-every-half-minute rate.

Both gloves were leather armor, defense +4, constitution +2, strength +2—standard attributes.

Altogether, this gave him an extra 4 points of defense, 4 points of constitution, 6 points of strength, and 2 points of agility.

With this gear, he was among the top tier across all grades—even those strongest in Elite Class wouldn’t be much better.

After all, rare-grade gear was so hard to come by; he doubted anyone could easily acquire several pieces.

And these were just his current attributes; soon, they would be improved further.

It seemed the reputation items for reverence at Cross Fortress included rare-grade equipment exchanges.

Chu Cheng could barely contain his impatience as he arrived at the Cross Fortress barracks and sought out the quartermaster.

The quartermaster, a teacher from the school named Mo Han, wore mage robes and looked the part. He sat behind a desk reading, surrounded by several students exchanging reputation items. Seeing Chu Cheng approach, he casually pointed to a sign nearby and said:

“Check for yourself. Let me know if you need anything.”

Chu Cheng’s gaze fell upon the sign, and a light screen immediately appeared before his eyes, displaying an array of reputation items.

He calmly tapped and set the filter to reverence reputation; the selection narrowed to just a dozen items, among which three pieces of equipment glowed red.

“There are actually three rare-grade items available for exchange?”

His excitement was short-lived; upon seeing the attributes of the items, he was speechless.

Firestone Staff, a two-handed staff boosting fire spell damage, required 2000 reputation and 5 gold.

Precise Heartpiercer, a longbow with increased accuracy, required 2000 reputation and 5 gold.

Commander’s Crest Shield, a shield with extremely high defense, required 2000 reputation and 5 gold.

“Hmm...”

All three were weapons, but none truly suited him.

Or rather, only the bow was suitable; the shield was passable but would require him to learn shield skills first.

The staff...
Unless he switched to the mage class.

In the reputation items, there was indeed a Mage Class Transfer Certificate*1, costing 10,000 reputation and 25 gold.

Enchanter’s Professional Scroll*1, costing 6000 reputation and 10 gold.

Advanced Class [War Knight] Transfer Certificate*1, costing 5000 reputation and 5 gold.

Advanced Class [Heavy Shield Warrior] Transfer Certificate*1, costing 5000 reputation and 5 gold.

Advanced Class [Sniper] Transfer Certificate*1, costing 5000 reputation and 5 gold.

Advanced Skill [Strike of Ten Thousand Troops] Scroll*1, costing 3000 reputation and 4 gold.

Epic-quality Magic Gem*2, each costing 2000 reputation and 6 gold.

Rare-quality Magic Gem*5, each costing 500 reputation and 1 gold.

Giant Fire Elemental Summoning Scroll*1, costing 3000 reputation and 5 gold.

Pyroblast Scroll*3, each costing 800 reputation and 1 gold.

Solar Ray Scroll*3, each costing 500 reputation and 1 gold.

Warhorse Mount*2, costing 1000 reputation and 3 gold.

Swordmaster’s Handbook*1, costing 1500 reputation and 3 gold.

Void Source Power Array Endowment*1, costing 10,000 reputation and 20 gold.