"Good grief, this micro-star is actually the legendary artificial sun..."
Zhang Yanhang had heard that the Empire also had related projects before the resurgence of Spiritual Energy, but the equipment for such projects would cover areas calculated in square kilometers, yet here an ingestible micro-star had been created, truly worthy of an alien force called the Technology Sect—their technological level is who knows how many times more advanced than that of the Main World.
"Speaking of which, this 'Anonymous Other Dimensional ██████' looks so familiar. I think I've seen it before in the descriptions of the Defense Coin and the Attack Coin. Are they the same person?"
Zhang Yanhang felt that since the prefix was 'Other Dimensional', it was likely the same person. But who exactly they were remained unknown because the person really didn't want to disclose their Name, even going to the extent of turning their name into a mosaic of black boxes—unlike some Nameless Blacksmiths, who say they're nameless but then have their names appear every time in the introductions.
"As for the usage effect of this micro-star, it's only fitting for an Equipment with a full Red Quality score that it could directly increase the Energy Value Limit by 840 points, and moreover, trigger a nuclear fusion effect afterwards that would raise the Energy Value by an additional 60 points per day for six days. This results in an overall increase of 360 points to the Energy Value Limit over six days.
And adding both parts together, the total increase to the Energy Value Limit is an astounding 1200 points.
To achieve these twelve hundred points through merely increasing my Intelligence Attribute, given my current conversion limit of thirty-four points to the Maximum Energy Value, I would need at least a 36-point increase in the Intelligence Attribute to make up the amount. It's absurdly high—11 points more than the total Attribute value unlocked by one Rank Promotion."
Furthermore, considering the actual situation, because Zhang Yanhang's SS-Rank Scroll Dragon Bloodline also provided a 60% bonus to the Energy Value Limit Increase, this 1200 points could actually enhance his Energy Value Limit by 1920 points.
"I recall that through promotions in Rank, I've only managed to increase to an Energy Value Limit of 2365 points. Yet now, a single Red Quality Artifact almost rivals a Rank Promotion, only lacking by four or five hundred points of Energy Value Limit..."
To this, Zhang Yanhang could only say that Red Quality truly deserved to be of Fifth Tier Quality, with Rank crushing might indeed fierce.
"Before this, the most powerful Artifact I had used that could increase the Energy Value Limit was merely of Light Golden Quality—the Scroll Dragon Essence Blood, which could only increase 100 points of Energy Value Limit.
Therefore, this Red Quality Plasma State Micro Star is equivalent to more than a dozen bottles of Scroll Dragon Essence Blood. The disparity between the Ranks is undeniable—the difference between Third Tier and Fifth Tier is indeed like that between the heavens and the earth."
Although the nuclear fusion state requires the consumption of a thousand points of Life Value as fuel every day, in Zhang Yanhang's view, it's virtually without limits.
After all, it's just ordinary Life Value being burned, not the Life Value Limit. With his current Life Value Limit of 8690 points, a mere thousand points of Life Value is just about one-eighth or one-ninth and could easily be recovered straight away.
In fact, Zhang Yanhang even felt it would be better if this nuclear fusion could burn a bit more Life Value, preferably four or five thousand points. After all, the more fuel burned, the more Energy Value Limit converted; however, sadly, he clearly could not control this process.
After reviewing all five item slots, Zhang Yanhang quickly made his choice.
"So, I'll choose '9 Ash Sources,' 'Divination Tarot Card·Judgement[Low] (Gate of Truth),' 'The Forging Hammer of Fire and Craftsman God Hephaestus (Divine Projection),' 'Divination Tarot Card·Wheel of Destiny[Low] (Gate of Truth),' and 'Plasma State Micro Star·Juvenile Stage (Nuclear Fusion).'"
It was only now that Zhang Yanhang suddenly realized that the names of the items opened this time were mysteriously long, but he had to admit, the longer the name, the more impressive it seemed.
After Zhang Yanhang made his final choice, the Time Pause instantly disappeared, but he still had other treasure boxes to open, so he quickly picked up a new Drop Treasure Box to trigger the Time Pause again.
On October 30th, Friday, five days after the Double Ninth Festival, it was still technically Zhang Yanhang's first day entering the Ashen World. At 6:10 in the morning, in the Ashen World, at a Crimson Iron Ore Vein, within the Large Crimson Iron Ant Nest Talano, at the connection passage between the central region and the inner region, stood the Evaluation Settlement Treasure Box.
In just over a minute, Zhang Yanhang quickly opened all twenty-five Drop Treasure Boxes, including the Ashen Treasure Box, and then he immediately began to tally up the related treasure box gains, starting with the Talent side of the gains, which although usually most important, were quite clearly not too significant this time. Updates are released by novᴇlfire.net
The first related gain was the long-missed E-grade Talent "Ant Power," of which Zhang Yanhang opened a total of thirteen this time. He previously had four hundred fifty-one leftover E-grade Ant Powers in his Waist Bag, making a total of four hundred sixty-four Ant Powers when combined.
But while four hundred sixty-four Ant Powers seemed like a lot, in reality, they were equivalent to only fifty-two C-grade Talents worth of "Mystic Steed Power," so it was only a small consolation. They would only possibly be used when he happened to be short just that amount of Talent; otherwise, they'd likely just sit in the Waist Bag as inventory.
Apart from these thirteen E-grade "Ant Powers," Zhang Yanhang also opened another eleven C-grade "Mystic Steed Powers" this time. He previously had two hundred seventy-eight C-grade Mystic Steed Powers stored in his Waist Bag, and now he had a total of two hundred eighty-nine Mystic Steed Powers combined.
"An X-grade 'Longbo's Power' would require a total of 59,049 E-grade Ant Powers if I wanted to upgrade it to an XXX-grade Talent, a rather huge upgrade requirement. Even dividing by nine to convert to C-grade Mystic Steed Powers, it would still need 6,561 Mystic Steed Powers to enhance Longbo's Power to an XXX-grade.
So even after subtracting the two hundred eighty-nine Mystic Steed Powers I have now, I'm still short 6,272 Mystic Steed Powers to enhance Longbo's Power to XXX-grade."
Since he couldn't even meet the upgrade requirement's fraction, Zhang Yanhang figured upgrading his Longbo's Power to XXX-grade was probably a long way off. He would only have a chance if he had time to develop new areas here later on.
After tallying the gains related to Talents, Zhang Yanhang quickly began to count the weapons haul, unfortunately, there were none. Although the Ashen Treasure Box indeed contained items like the Balrog Flame Demon Beheading Greatsword, he hadn't chosen it.
Therefore, Zhang Yanhang immediately proceeded to tally the Equipment gains. The gains in the Equipment category were quite substantial; given the variety of this time's treasure boxes, the opened Equipment may not be many in quantity but certainly varied in type.
First were the Green quality Crimson Iron Rings from the Drop Treasure Box of a Crimson Iron Worker Ant, of which Zhang Yanhang opened a total of nine this time. He previously had ten ordinary Crimson Iron Rings, and now he had a total of nineteen ordinary Crimson Iron Rings combined.
Although the Crimson Iron Ring would soon be of no use to him, Zhang Yanhang still fused sixteen ordinary Crimson Iron Rings to create a Blue Quality Crimson Iron Ring +4.
He casually slipped the Blue Quality Crimson Iron Ring +4, emanating blue light, onto one of his fingers, then opened his attribute list for a glance.
[Strength: 75 (+3[-13])]
[Agility: 75 (+3[-3])]
[Constitution: 75 (+3[-3])]
[Intelligence: 75 (+3[-3])]
[Charm: 75 (+32[-18])]
"Thanks to that Blue Quality Crimson Iron Ring +4 I just fused, my Charm attribute value bonus has grown a bit again. If it weren't for Rank limitations, my Charm attribute should have already increased to 93 points. However, the proportion of equipment in my Charm attribute value has grown again.
The equipment bonus previously accounted for about 33% of the Charm attribute value, but now it has increased by 1%, reaching 34%. To be honest, it is still quite healthy."
Moreover, there was one thing Zhang Yanhang couldn't help mentioning: with that Blue Quality Crimson Iron Ring +4 included, he wore exactly eighteen Blue Quality Crimson Iron Rings.
And each Blue Quality Crimson Iron Ring provided a one-point bonus to Charm attribute value, so theoretically, the additional eighteen points could be considered as coming entirely from the Blue Quality Crimson Iron Rings.
"But those eighteen excess points of Charm attribute value will disappear after my promotion to Fourth Tier due to equipment obsolescence..."
Because he never dreamed he would advance in Rank so quickly, Zhang Yanhang was indeed quite upset about the impending obsolescence of his Blue Quality Crimson Iron Rings.
Because of this, the reason he had still fused the Blue Quality Crimson Iron Ring +4 was essentially to bid it one last farewell.
"Also, although I could now gather eight Blue Quality Crimson Iron Rings +6 to break through the limit and fuse a Purple Quality Crimson Iron Ring +7, the problem is that both Blue and Purple qualities fall within the Second Tier range.
So, Purple Quality is also within the scope of obsolescence. Even if I fused it, it would still become invalid; the only result would be a waste of time."
If it would only take a few minutes, Zhang Yanhang might have completed that little goal he had set himself a long time ago out of emotional considerations, but breaking through the limit would require at least ten to twenty minutes. That was too long; he found it too troublesome.
"If only I could gain an ability that allows me to use any equipment regardless of Rank limitations."
In reality, Zhang Yanhang felt that he urgently needed such an ability, but unfortunately, there was no way to obtain it. He could only pin his hopes on the new professional skills he would gain after his promotion to Fourth Tier, although the odds were pitifully small.
Zhang Yanhang couldn't help but let out a silent sigh, then put the remaining three Green Quality ordinary Crimson Iron Rings into his Waist Bag and continued to take stock of his other equipment.
Next up was the inventorying of the Blue Quality Crimson Iron Heart Necklaces obtained from the Treasure Boxes dropped by the Crimson Iron Flying Ants and Crimson Iron Soldier Ants. This time, he acquired three Crimson Iron Heart Necklaces in total, and the only one remaining in his Waist Bag was a Blue Quality Crimson Iron Heart +1, which could be regarded as equivalent to two ordinary Crimson Iron Heart Necklaces.
So now, he had a total of five surplus Crimson Iron Heart Necklaces on hand, yet to fuse a Purple Quality Crimson Iron Heart +3, he needed at least eight ordinary Crimson Iron Heart Necklaces. He was three short.
Of course, since the Crimson Iron Heart Necklace was also about to be phased out, even if he managed to gather the three missing pieces, he might not fuse them, after all—his four necks were already adorned with Purple Quality Crimson Iron Heart Necklaces.
"Theoretically, the Crimson Iron Heart Necklace could be promoted to Dark Purple Quality by breaking through limits, but to fuse a Dark Purple Quality Crimson Iron Heart +7, one would need eight Purple Quality near-perfect score Crimson Iron Heart +6.
And I currently don't even have eight Crimson Iron Heart +6, let alone considering the Crimson Iron Heart +3 that I'm wearing around my neck; I have a total of just four Purple Quality Crimson Iron Heart Necklaces."
So, although it seemed like there might be hope for the Crimson Iron Heart Necklace on the surface, in fact, it was already as good as buried over its head; it was thoroughly done for.
Zhang Yanhang had not believed he could reach the goal of fusing a Dark Purple Quality Crimson Iron Heart +7 he set for himself a long time ago, and looking back on his prediction after such a long time, he had to admit it was exceptionally accurate, after all, the Crimson Iron Hearts were indeed too difficult to collect.
After placing the three Crimson Iron Heart Necklaces into his Waist Bag, Zhang Yanhang immediately continued to inventory the rest of his equipment gains.
The next piece of equipment was a Blue Quality Crimson Iron Teeth obtained from the Treasure Box dropped by the Crimson Iron Breeding Ant. This time, Zhang Yanhang only got one Crimson Iron Teeth, and he did not have any surplus ones in his Waist Bag.
Even beyond the Waist Bag, one of his heads and mouths was currently empty, lacking even an unfused Blue Quality Crimson Iron Shark Teeth.
Although the Blue Quality Crimson Iron Teeth he had just gotten would be immediately discarded upon his promotion to Fourth Tier, Zhang Yanhang decided to modify it into Crimson Iron Shark Teeth for emotional reasons.
After all, he had been wearing it for so long and had grown attached. Before its phase-out, he would fill in this last gap. After all, changing it would not take too much time; just a simple modification without fusion would be very quick.