Chapter 71

（I am a person who tends to be a bit stubborn. For me, it's not important whether I can squat on the recommendation list, but I must go through it, even if I quit right after. Otherwise, I will have regrets and won't sleep well, like last night when I had insomnia. Thank you everyone! I can finally have a good night's sleep tonight. Also, let's celebrate the increase of over a thousand collections. This book is indeed suffering from a lack of exposure.

Today is the 13th day of the 10th lunar month, Futu's real birthday! Thank you for giving me the best birthday gift!!!）

-----------------------------------------

5 choose 2!

Why not 5 choose 3?

Zhao Futu couldn't help but want to roar to the sky when he saw this. After gaining 25 points in Perception, each ability is very important. However, it was difficult for him to choose. The first one was definitely indispensable; a 5-point Perception boost is almost equivalent to the reward for completing a hidden quest.

But which one should he choose for the second one?

The Perception Eye and Beast Instinct are slightly less valuable, as they can be compensated for with high Perception and high Reflexes. However, the fourth and fifth options are both very tempting for him. He already has the Scouting ability, and if he solidifies the fourth skill, he can even detect the other party's skills and equipment during reconnaissance. This means he has an advantage even before the battle starts!

It's important to note that the free attribute points for contractors are limited, and most are specialized in certain areas, while other attributes rely on equipment to make up for them.

If Zhao Futu can see what equipment the other party has, even if he doesn't know the attributes, just knowing whether it's deep blue or silver is enough. At the very least, he can judge the other party's strength, how many plots they have passed, and how many silver-level items they have. If he is in a killing mission, he can also determine how much benefit he will gain from killing the enemy.

This skill solidification is like adding wings to a tiger for him!

However, the fifth option is no less appealing. Perception is linked to early warning abilities, and a 30-meter range Perception suppression, along with immunity to illusions and confusion effects with combined secondary attributes lower than his own, is a top-notch team battle tool. However, the fifth skill solidification is clearly geared towards teamwork, and its effectiveness is maximized in a team.

But Zhao Futu doesn't want to join any team right now, so the fourth skill solidification is more suitable for him.

After he chose the first and fourth options, two deep blue light beams suddenly shot out from the walls of the Nightmare Space, locking onto his eyes. Zhao Futu didn't find the light blinding, but he could only see a blue glow. A faint electrical sensation began to appear in the corners of his eyes and on his retina, as if he were undergoing a minimally invasive surgery. After about three minutes, his vision returned.

"How come there's no change?" Zhao Futu looked at himself in a smooth, mirror-like wall and found that his eyes looked about the same as before.

However, if there was any change, it was that his eyes were much brighter and more spirited, almost like the phrase "shining with vitality" describes. He blinked at the mirror-like wall and suddenly felt a bit uncomfortable because the brightness and vitality in his eyes made it seem like he was giving off electric signals!

"Am I being too flashy?" Zhao Futu rubbed his head, a bit speechless.

However, since this is a permanently solidified ability, it can't be turned on or off at will. He looked a few more times and thought to himself, "I guess I can't blink randomly in the future."

After reinforcing the five main combat skills to level 5, his remaining gains became: 0 free attribute points, 22,180 survival points, 1 E-grade soul crystal, 1 F-grade soul crystal, and 4 large soul fragments.

Reinforcing up to this point, Zhao Futu had to make a choice.

He had to choose whether to continue reinforcing basic skills, spend survival points to enhance other combat skills, or upgrade the Scouting ability from level 1 to level 2. The Scouting ability upgrade doesn't require many survival points, but it does require an E-grade soul crystal. He was already short on soul crystals, and if he reinforced the Scouting ability, he would only have one F-grade soul crystal left.

"Rank Inquiry: Ways to obtain soul crystals!" Zhao Futu thought, and immediately activated his rank inquiry page.

His original rank was Private, which didn't allow further inquiries, but now he had been promoted to Sergeant, so he should be able to access this information.

Sure enough, the space quickly provided a detailed answer:

"Contractor No. 1013, soul crystals can be obtained by killing powerful creatures in main quests and battlefield quests, with the drop rate determined by the challenge difficulty! In killing scenarios, the drop rate of soul crystals when killing other contractors is 100%, with the lowest grade being F-grade soul crystals! Contractors with certain soul-related ability enhancements will have a higher chance of obtaining higher-quality soul crystals!"

Killing scenarios?

Zhao Futu finally understood why some people put rarer soul crystals on display.

He had completed two life-and-death missions and felt his gains were no less than those of other contractors, but he still had very few soul crystals. If it weren't for the two E-grade soul crystals he traded with Ling, he wouldn't have been able to fully reinforce his basic skills!

"So the key is here! Must I kill other contractors in a killing scenario to have a 100% chance of dropping soul crystals? And what are soul-related ability enhancements? Are they skills related to the soul?" Zhao Futu pondered.

Killing contractors, 100% drop rate!

Zhao Futu noticed this line and slowly said, "It seems that future opponents won't be limited to characters in the plot."

...

The Art of War says: Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated in a hundred battles!

Zhao Futu gritted his teeth and still upgraded the Scouting ability to level 2, further enhancing his reconnaissance capabilities. His vision was also slightly reinforced, though this was not reflected in the data. The Scouting ability upgrade required very few survival points, only 1,000 up to level 5, but each upgrade required an E-grade soul crystal, which was quite costly.

After upgrading the Scouting ability to level 2, a star symbol appeared. When Zhao Futu focused on it, the space provided the following prompt:

"Contractor No. 1013, your merit points are 30, and your rank is Sergeant. You can gain an additional query ability one rank higher than your current permissions once per mission cycle. Do you want to use it?"

Zhao Futu was a bit confused but still chose to use it.

Immediately, the space displayed a row of information:

"Your rank is insufficient to query detailed information. The information you can currently obtain is as follows: After upgrading the Scouting ability to level 5, you can choose one of the following abilities to solidify."

"Option 1: Solidify Eagle Eye."

"Option 2: Solidify Dynamic Retina Capture."

"Option 3: Insufficient permissions, cannot query."

...

At this moment, Zhao Futu realized he had wasted a valuable opportunity.

Because his one-rank-higher query chance had been used up and would only be restored after completing a mission cycle. He then flipped through the skill section and found Basic Music Theory, spending 3,000 survival points and one large soul crystal to upgrade it to level 5. As expected, branch options appeared.

These included, but were not limited to, guqin, piano, cello, violin, etc., but he could only choose one branch.

Zhao Futu chose guqin specialization. Then a white light enveloped him, and he felt like he was a USB drive downloading data from the internet. In just a minute or two, all the knowledge and techniques required for the guqin were firmly imprinted in his mind. It felt as if he had practiced the guqin for over a decade, and he could even feel the texture of the strings with his eyes closed. As a bonus, the space also input the basic knowledge of most stringed instruments into his mind.

Zhao Futu plucked a few strings in the air, and the feeling was very familiar. He might not be at the level of a master who has immersed himself in music for a lifetime, but he could definitely teach guqin without any problem.

"Never thought my childhood dream would come true like this." Zhao Futu shook his head and laughed.

Although this mysterious space makes people struggle between life and death, at this moment, Zhao Futu began to feel less averse to it.

{Piaotian Literature}