Chapter 70

In the Nightmare Space, the prices of items are relatively high. A contractor might gain only two or three pieces of equipment from a mission if they have good luck. To complete a full set of equipment, it would likely take four or five missions. If you add the costs for enhancing basic skills, the time required could be even longer. Therefore, most contractors choose a focus, either spending their mission rewards on equipment or skills.

At the same time, some established teams are already cultivating talent in forging. The powerful attributes of contractors make their combat effectiveness with cold weapons even more astonishing. In some storylines, firearms are almost useless, so the trading area has begun to see weapons forged by contractors. Compared to the difficulty of obtaining equipment, the Space can provide some materials ranging from light blue to dark blue.

Zhao Futu had spent some effort gathering intelligence in this area. There were no restrictions based on rank, and currently, he knew about alchemy, forging, enchanting, and even firearms, though the Space does not offer mass production. Instead, it provides services for equipment modification. A vague intuition told Zhao Futu that this Gold-level main mission might be related to firearms, as the Resident Evil series is set in a modern era.

...

Zhao Futu's contractor number is 1013, and the number of contractors in the Nightmare Space is not very large, making it seem like it hasn't been around for long.

He always felt there was some secret he didn't know!

After passing through the trading area, a turn led to the hall for enhancing basic skills. The Nightmare Space only provides the most basic skill learning and improvement; other advanced skills must be obtained by contractors from storylines. Although the trading area offers fixed-price services, it lacks a more standardized auction system, resulting in a vast trading area, about one kilometer long.

The cost of stalls is very low, and contractors only need to hang their items for sale. After walking around, one can get a good understanding of the current equipment prices in the Space.

Zhao Futu entered the hall, where there were about dozens of people, mostly not interacting with each other. In the center of the hall was a row of teleportation arrays, and on both sides stood several statues, none of which resembled humanoids. He couldn't identify what creatures they were. The walls were carved with mythological stories from both the East and the West, including depictions of the Olympian gods and ancient Chinese legendary creatures.

When he stepped into the teleportation array, he appeared in a small room the next moment.

A light screen appeared on the wall, followed by the cold voice of the Nightmare Space: "Contractor number 1013, please choose the basic skill you want to learn or enhance!"

Below were rows of basic skills. The top row was for main combat skills, the second for secondary skills, the third for support skills, and there were also skills like music, chess, calligraphy, and painting.

After flipping through all the pages, he focused on the first page of combat skills. He had already enhanced his basic melee skills to level 5, which is a turning point. The cost of further enhancement is quite high. Generally, specialized contractors would choose to enhance another skill at this point and then enhance their main skill when they have enough funds.

The unlearned skills displayed on the page were as follows:

"Basic Ranged Combat Level 1: Passively increases ranged attack damage by 5% and improves the mastery of any ranged combat techniques."

"Basic Footwork Level 1: Passively increases movement speed by 5% and reflexes by 1%, and improves the mastery of any footwork techniques."

"Basic Endurance Level 1: Passively increases stamina by 5% and base health regeneration by 1%, and enhances physical recovery speed."

"Basic Meditation Level 1: Passively increases energy by 5% and base energy regeneration by 1%, and enhances the effects of meditation, including but not limited to sitting meditation, Zen meditation, and breathing exercises."

...

The cost to learn each of the four main combat skills is the same, 1000 survival points, and the cost to enhance them to level 5 is also the same. However, the cost of soul fragments (large) starts at level 3. To enhance Basic Ranged Combat to level 5, it would cost 5000 survival points and one F-grade soul crystal. If Zhao Futu wanted to comprehensively enhance his basic skills, he would need 20000 survival points and four F-grade soul crystals.

To enhance a basic skill from level 5 to level 6 costs 3000 survival points and one F-grade soul crystal, and the cost from level 6 to level 10 is the same. The data for levels 11 and above is not accessible to him.

To be safe, he first enhanced Basic Footwork. If the benefits of comprehensive enhancement were not as good as individual enhancement, he would consider changing his approach.

After enhancing Basic Footwork to level 5, he gained 25% increased movement speed and 5% increased reflexes. Zhao Futu moved around a bit and found that his running speed had indeed increased significantly. He ran directly toward the wall, leaped up just before reaching it, and then took four or five steps on the wall before landing.

This was a scene he had seen in the "Matrix" movie, but he never thought he could do it so easily now.

As his basic skills reached level 5, a new set of options appeared:

"One of your basic skills, Basic Ranged Combat, has reached level 5. Choose one of the following additional effects!"

"Option 1: Permanently increase movement speed by 5% and reflexes by 1%."

"Option 2: Permanently increase agility by 2 points."

"Option 3: Further improve the mastery of ranged combat techniques."

...

Firearms were not Zhao Futu's primary means of attack, so he chose the first option to further increase his movement speed and reflexes. Anyone who has practiced martial arts knows that human reflexes are quite remarkable. Sometimes, you might dodge an attack without even seeing it coming. This is the effect of reflexes.

If we use game terms, it would be like increasing the dodge chance.

Next, Basic Ranged Combat was enhanced to level 5, and a new set of options appeared:

"One of your basic skills, Basic Ranged Combat, has reached level 5. Choose one of the following additional effects!"

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

"Option 2: Permanently increase strength by 1 point and agility by 1 point."

"Option 3: Further specialize in firearms, bows, or throwing weapons."

...

Basic Ranged Combat did not show an improvement in mastery but split into three major categories: firearms, bows, and throwing weapons. The third option was basically out of the question, and the first two were hard to choose between. Zhao Futu chose to increase his attribute points.

By this point, he had discovered that with each basic skill reaching level 5, he could gain a fixed 2 points in attribute points.

Next, he enhanced Basic Endurance and Basic Meditation, both of which he chose to increase attribute points, adding 2 points to endurance and 2 points to intelligence. He already had the "True Inner Core Technique," so attribute points were undoubtedly more cost-effective.

He allocated the 6 free attribute points from the battlefield mission: 2 points to strength, 2 points to endurance, 1 point to agility, and 1 point to intelligence. His base attributes became: Strength 12, Agility 8, Endurance 12, Intelligence 11, Spirit 15, Perception 19, Will 13, Charisma 8...

"Comprehensive enhancement is indeed much harder!" Zhao Futu thought as he looked at his attribute points.

If he had focused on a single attribute, he could probably have stacked his strength to 20 points after two storylines. However, he was not used to relying on others. For someone like him, a cultivator, leaving obvious weaknesses was unacceptable. However, he now understood that most specialized contractors inevitably have significant weaknesses, which is why they need to rely on teamwork.

"The amount of water a bucket can hold is determined by its shortest plank."

Zhao Futu hesitated for a moment and then said slowly, "I hope I'm on the right path!"

He looked at the remaining 6 potential points, thought for a moment, and decided to allocate all of them to perception. At this stage, perception was the most useful for him, and the early warning effect of high perception was the most noticeable.

Thus, his perception was enhanced to an unprecedented 25 points for new contractors!

Reaching 25 points in perception brought an unexpected result: the Nightmare Space gave him another prompt:

"Your base perception has reached 25 points. Choose 2 of the following 3 additional abilities!"

"Option 1: Increase perception by 5 points."

"Option 2: Solidify the 'Perception Eye Level 1' ability, which suppresses any investigative skills and may cause perception backlash on enemies with lower perception when investigating."

"Option 3: Solidify the 'Beast Instinct Level 1' ability, which triggers a warning effect for any attacks within 10 meters based on instinct."

"Option 4: Solidify the 'Mental Detection Level 1' ability, which enhances investigative skills against targets with lower perception and reduces the chance of being detected. When perception suppression is formed, you can see the attributes, some skills, and even the equipment of the target."

"Option 5: Solidify the 'Perception Field Level 1' ability, which suppresses targets with lower perception within 30 meters, reducing their warning effect by 10%. In the perception field, you are immune to any secondary effects from targets with lower total attributes, such as confusion and illusions."

[Note: 25 points in an attribute can generate 30 random options.]

...

"Damn!"

Zhao Futu couldn't help but curse when he saw this.

At the same time, he felt a surge of excitement. If 25 points in a base attribute could bring such effects, would other base attributes also offer similar choices when enhanced to 25 points? This would mean that while he might not be as strong as specialized contractors in the future, he would have many additional innate abilities.

Of course, this would also include the 5 points from the first option!

Undoubtedly, this was a very difficult path, but the prospects were immeasurable. At this moment, Zhao Futu seriously doubted whether he could last until then.

...

(Third update! I will try to minimize the data on attributes. Some skills will not be repeated, and I will only write about new additions after a storyline. In the future, I will try to write in a more concise manner.

To be honest, organizing and conceptualizing this data is quite tiring, but since it's a data template, some parts are necessary.)