Chapter 30

After this series of attribute allocations, Zhao Futu's base attributes were as follows:

- Strength 9 (7+1+1), Agility 7 (6+1), Intelligence 9, Constitution 8, Spirit 15, Perception 19, Willpower 13, Charisma 8...

In the previous plot space, the base attributes of the contractors received a 50% bonus, meaning that at the time, Zhao Futu's willpower was 12 points, which, after the bonus, reached an astonishing 18 points! At that time, the other selected individuals, the white-collar woman, had a willpower of 8 points after the bonus, and the high school student had only 5 points after the bonus, which was not even a fraction of Zhao Futu's!

Willpower resists fear, even under the threat of death.

...

When Zhao Futu opened his eyes again, he found himself in a small room, about twenty to thirty square meters, roughly the size of a regular house. The room was quite empty, with just a table and a bed, but there was an option page on the wall where he could design the room himself. Zhao Futu went over to look and quickly started clicking.

The room began to expand, with a blue sky and white clouds appearing above. A clear stream formed out of nowhere, with a few fish swimming in it. A green stone path led to two flower beds on either side, planted with various flowers. At the entrance stood a jujube tree with ripe red fruits, and a green bamboo fence surrounded the small courtyard. In the back was a delicate bamboo and wood house, exuding an ancient charm!

A green parrot with a golden collar perched on the corridor of the small house, looking around with lively eyes, and chirped, "One, two, three, four, five, up the mountain to fight the tiger!"

Finally, a large bamboo and wood gate formed, and Zhao Futu exchanged for a set of writing tools to write a couplet: "Heaven's way is unfair" on the top, "Only self-strengthening" on the bottom, and "Cannot be said" as the horizontal inscription. After hanging this somewhat asymmetrical but powerful couplet, Zhao Futu looked around and nodded in satisfaction.

In this regard, the Nightmare Space was quite good.

A small courtyard like this, a paradise on earth, would cost at least several million in reality, and such an ancient and elegant structure would be hard to find. However, in this mysterious Nightmare Space, all of this only cost him over 200 survival points and a large soul fragment. The additional soul fragment was because Zhao Futu found the space too small and expanded it several times.

"Ah! Such an environment is the place for cultivation and health preservation..." Zhao Futu sighed softly, thinking that a goal that might never be achieved in reality was so easily accomplished in the Nightmare Space.

He picked a red jujube from the tree and tasted it, then played with the green parrot, teaching it the phrase, "A winding path leads to a secluded place, where the Zen room is deep in the flowers."

Next, he began to count the rewards from this mission.

He had three items in total. One was the potion "Alpha Wolf's Strength," which permanently increased his strength by 1 point, and he took it immediately. Another was the "Alpha Wolf's Fang," obtained from killing the alpha wolf, which increased his strength and agility by 1 point each, with very good additional attributes. The last item was an unknown item dropped from the werewolf, which required identification.

"This space seems to have quite rare equipment?" Zhao Futu muttered to himself, looking at the bloody blue unidentified item in his hand.

After some consideration, he opened his skill page. Besides the innate skills he brought in, he had added the following skills: Basic Melee lv1, Basic Swordsmanship lv1, Silver Swordsmanship lv1, and Grappling Combat lv1. These skills were all listed under Basic Melee and were shown as advanced skills of Basic Melee.

Behind Basic Melee lv1 was a plus sign. Zhao Futu clicked it, and the attribute became Basic Melee lv5.

Since he only knew one basic skill, he naturally could only increase the level of Basic Melee. After upgrading Basic Melee to lv5, the attached attributes changed as follows:

"Basic Melee lv5: Passively increases 25% melee damage and improves the mastery of any melee attack techniques!"

This skill was a universal skill applicable to any melee attack. The additional melee damage it increased could be stacked with any skill. Therefore, Zhao Futu immediately realized that these basic skills were the key to determining one's combat burst power. Because if the damage from Basic Melee, Basic Swordsmanship, and Silver Swordsmanship were stacked, the person specializing in one skill would undoubtedly have very powerful burst power!

However, after upgrading Basic Melee to lv5, the space gave a series of prompts.

"One of your basic skills, Basic Melee, has been upgraded to lv5. You can choose one of the following additional effects!"

"Option 1: Permanently increase 5% melee damage, which can be stacked with any melee attack!"

"Option 2: Permanently increase 2 points of strength."

"Option 3: Further improve the mastery of melee attack techniques."

...

Zhao Futu was stumped by these options.

Because all of them were good. The first one was very versatile. The second one was also good, as the attribute points gained from a plot mission were not many. The third option, although somewhat vague, felt very powerful to Zhao Futu. Improving the mastery of melee attack techniques did not have a quantified attribute display, but its vagueness made it seem mysterious.

Increasing strength and damage were both ways to improve his abilities.

But wasn't the third option also a way to improve his abilities? It just wasn't as direct!

For example, if someone knew a set of sword techniques, which move to use in battle and which move could attack the enemy's vital points all depended on the person's on-the-spot performance. This on-the-spot performance was undoubtedly related to the mastery of the skill. A quantified body could ensure that a person used 100% of their strength, but where that strength hit the enemy depended on the contractor's ability!

After much hesitation, Zhao Futu chose the third option.

He had studied melee grappling techniques and was familiar with many boxing styles. For him, increasing his strength by one or two points was far less useful than further improving his mastery of skills. As long as this ability could help him perform beyond his level, like when facing the vampire, and allow him to seize the right moment to use the right move, it would be absolutely worth it!

After tidying up the remaining items, Zhao Futu walked out of his small courtyard. The space had given a hint that there was a larger platform outside.

He left the room and immediately saw a huge square with many buildings around it. There were many people moving about, but their faces were not very clear. Most of them had black hair and distinct Asian features. There were many light gates, and many people were entering and exiting. Some were setting up stalls on the square.

The Nightmare Space provided an auxiliary tool with annotations of the buildings around the square. Zhao Futu did not intend to wander around and went directly to the appraisal office. The appraisal office was a small storefront with a large machine protected by a light shield. All he had to do was place the item to be appraised inside.

However, before Zhao Futu went in, a young man with an unclear face called out to him, saying, "Brother? Appraising equipment?"

"Do you need my service?"

Zhao Futu glanced at him. In front of him was a stall set up by the space for service, with a clear price list: Appraising equipment below Black Iron grade costs 150 survival points.

Zhao Futu looked at it but did not stay and continued walking.

"Hey, hey, hey! Buddy! The space's equipment appraisal is a rip-off, any equipment costs over 200 survival points. If it's not high-grade equipment, just let me appraise it! With the space's supervision, you don't have to worry about me cheating you!"

Zhao Futu walked in and then out, saying, "Blue unknown item, 50 survival points."

"Bro, that's a bit too harsh!" The young man was taken aback, but seeing Zhao Futu about to leave, he quickly added, "100 survival points! I can only remember the appraisal skill once every eight hours, at least let me make a little profit!"

Zhao Futu nodded and handed over the unknown item.