Chapter 893: Chapter 893 - 409: Return to the Team (Part 2)

Although it’s a vegetative body, there’s no doubt that my sister has entered the game. It’s just unclear why she hasn’t contacted anyone around her or sent a message to me.

Even if she became a vegetable and couldn’t wake up after exiting the game, within the game, she could have other players help contact, with countless methods to do so.

Even if she randomly called the company, I would immediately get the message and reunite with my sister.

But... nothing.

My sister has never sent any news; the pressure from my parents has constantly weighed on my mind. Although my brother is managing the group, the current situation is entirely different from what I initially envisioned.

Originally, Xiao Jin planned for the whole family to enter the game, gain some strength, making it easier to have some self-preservation ability when the apocalypse arrives.

But now, everything is in chaos.

Xiao Jin took a deep breath, submerged her head in the bathtub, and bubbles rose to the surface.

"Fang Yu, I seem to gradually understand the pressure you bore in your past life..."

Her head emerged from the water as Xiao Jin had already adjusted her mindset.

Weakness and confusion can happen momentarily, but one must never stand still.

Outside the window, she heard the diligent sounds of disciples practicing martial arts at the Martial Arts Training Ground.

The sounds could be heard from so far away, easily showing just how hard they were working.

Unfortunately, among this group, there wasn’t a single player.

Suddenly, a thought emerged in Xiao Jin’s mind.

"I wonder in the game... at this current stage, how many have already gotten past the [newbie phase]?"

Xiao Jin’s thoughts returned to her past life.

That night, under the dark sky, sitting across someone by the campfire.

The man across, silent yet determined, slowly spoke.

That man was Fang Yu from her past life.

There were subtle differences between this Fang Yu and the one now, whether in personality or appearance.

"You have reached a bottleneck, our believers’ bottleneck can also be called the newbie phase."

The hoarse voice was entirely different from the lively Fang Yu now.

But in Xiao Jin’s memory, it was still so attractive, so magnetic!

"Newbie phase?"

Yes, Xiao Jin remembered asking that.

"Hmm, the rapid progress before was all part of the system’s benefits. From now on, cultivation won’t be as easy."

At that time, Xiao Jin was still very naive.

"But I see others don’t have bottlenecks, didn’t Ah Fei, who died earlier..."

"He was a pure Martial Artist, his bottleneck is different from ours as believers."

The man interrupted.

"A pure Martial Artist player merely needs their physique and cultivation technique to meet the standard to directly exit the newbie phase and break through the realm."

"As for Demon Martial Artists, they are more troublesome than pure Martial Artists—they need physique, spirit, and cultivation techniques to meet the standard to successfully advance, otherwise they will also be stuck at a bottleneck."

"For us believers, the requirement is even stricter. The spiritual attribute needs to reach the standard for advancement, and the strength of the Spirit must also meet system requirements to smoothly break through the realm and exit the newbie phase."

"Tomorrow, I’ll help you find a new Spirit to assist your breakthrough."

It’s not embellishing the memory; it really was such a wonderful interaction then.

Xiao Jin’s lips curled into a slight smile.

She didn’t understand before, but after surviving several years in the apocalypse, having seen all kinds of people, and heard countless rumors, she gradually understood.

Reactions to exiting the newbie phase actually varied from person to person.

The most common was that some people chose to suppress their level.

They amassed as many attribute points as possible during the newbie phase.

Unfortunately, this approach was soon exposed: the system monitors attribute points, and once they reach the standard for exiting the newbie phase, it directly confiscates the welfare benefits.

Some Demon Martial Artists, even if they exit the newbie phase, still chose to suppress their level.

Because demonization increases the degree of demonization, while the spiritual attribute can directly suppress the demonization progress.

After all, with the significant power boost from demonization, it’s better to keep attribute points, slowly enhance spirit, and the combined battle power wouldn’t be too much weaker.

This seemed to be a relatively mainstream approach among Demon Martial Artists in the early stages.

However, later, data experts concluded this was wrong.

Because in low realms, the demonization degree increases too quickly, and the more it’s used, the faster it increases!

Even if spiritual power catches up later, frequent early use of demonization causes the speed of power increase through demonization to exceed other Demon Martial Artists of the same level, making their endurance naturally weaker than martial artists of the same level.

This results from mismatched spiritual points and power realm.

Just like an old phone battery: the more you charge it, the faster it drains; the more you use it, the less durable it becomes.

Who knows, maybe one day it will shut down right after booting up.

A phone battery can be replaced, but if an account character is entirely demonized, then there’s truly no hope.

Moreover,

the realm is fundamental.

Boundary enhancement, strength increase, the amplification from demonization will also become stronger.

And the higher the Spirit, the higher the resistance to demonization; on the contrary, it can delay the duration of demonization.

As strength increases, continuously acquiring attribute points can form another positive cycle, becoming stronger and stronger.

Even Xiao Jin doesn’t know which side of this theory is more correct, anyway, the later Demon Martial Artists all directly break through the novice period and don’t choose to leave attribute points in exchange for demonized combat power.

As for the believers, that’s even less of a concern.

The believers seek overall strength, with no concept of suppressing levels at all.

"It’s been almost three months since the game launched, I wonder how Fang Yu is doing now."

"I’ll wait a few more days, towards the end of the month, I’ll use the advantage of the Sect’s avian mount to take a trip to Tianyuan Town, and take a look from afar to ensure everything is the same as in the past life, without any changes."

Xiao Jin secretly thought as she finished bathing, began dressing, and headed out.

"Have you heard? Something seems to have happened at Crimson Echo Vine-Moon Mountain."

"Oh? Did a Great Demon appear?"

"I’m not sure, but a lot of people died anyway..."

Crimson Echo Vine-Moon Mountain?

Xiao Jin’s heart stirred.

Isn’t that where Sister Gua last went for a mission?

Could it be that Sister Gua won’t return?

Xiao Jin looked somewhat puzzled.

She didn’t know if something like this happened in the past with the Black Withered Saint Sect, after all, her understanding of the Black Withered Saint Sect was mostly from the rumors and records of the Unintentional Daoist.

Regarding what major events happened to the Black Withered Saint Sect before the apocalypse, she was completely in the dark.

"It seems that recently, I need to stay low-key and avoid any trouble."

Xiao Jin has strength.

But she still needs more, and in reality, she already has the ability to deal with the Dead Silence Spirit, at this critical moment, she doesn’t want to provoke any trouble.

...

On the banks of the Silver Scale River.

[Attribute points: 224→111.]

[Spirit: 187.7→300.]

[System Prompt: Player has met the rank-up standard, breakthrough imminent.]

Finally, the points were added.

The temptation to rank up was irresistible.

You can only achieve great things with great strength, right?

[System Prompt: Congratulations to the player for breaking through the shackles and advancing to a High-level Tree Realm, Physique +20, Spirit +20.]

Tree Realm, High-level!!

"Phew——"

Fang Yu exhaled a deep breath.

He broke through!

And after the breakthrough, the two attributes received a small numerical boost, reaching the height of 320!

[Physique: 300→320.]

[Spirit: 300→320.]

No doubt about it.

For Physique, Fang Yu invested a total of 100 attribute points.

[Attribute points: 111→11.]

[Physique: 300→420.]

Health increased nearly by 1000 points.

Amid a five-digit health pool, it seemed insignificant.

But the improvement brought by Physique was real and tangible!

Fang Yu felt his whole body’s strength had increased significantly, muscle density, bone strength, every part of his body strengthened accordingly.

As for why only 100 points were invested, it’s to leave a little just in case.

attribute points can at least reduce the demonization progress by 11%, providing a margin for error.

Though he was eager to test how fast the demonization would increase with the boost of 320 Spirit points, it was clearly not necessary to risk it now.

When the time truly calls for it, demonization will be performed, and then it will be clear if this Spirit attribute boost has resulted in positive feedback.

"Captain Diao, and Captain Linghu."

A voice suddenly came from the front, looking up to see it was Zhu Huida also reaching the riverbank, returning to the team.

Behind him were some others, all of whom were previously scattered teammates.

They had been waiting at the riverbank for quite some time, and this batch seemed to be the last one.

Neither Fang Yu nor Ling Huxiang were prepared to wait any longer.