From the initial Lv1 Dragon Force Embryonic Form, to the later Lv2 Iron Body, and then to Lv3 Wild Grass Physique.
Three nodes, three levels, bringing him three qualitative changes in strength.
However, the transcendent "Heart-Protecting Fire" was different. It didn't bring this kind of obvious leap, but instead seemed to quietly rewrite his foundational base.
After carefully sensing it these past few days, Cheng Ye vaguely grasped some understanding.
If ordinary people's foundation was like a wooden board, with talent strength determining the jumping height.
After being reshaped by the Heart-Protecting Fire, his foundation became like a trampoline.
His talent strength remained unchanged, but with the trampoline's boost, he could bounce higher and for longer.
Because of this, when searching Mu Shuang's talent, he had hesitated and ultimately abandoned the safer constitution talent, choosing the perfect-grade "Hundred Weapons Born" instead.
Even though he probably wouldn't use cold weapons in the future and would only draw guns against enemies.
But he was still curious about what kind of sparks would fly when perfect-grade talent collided with transcendent power.Buzz.
The bright red skill slot trembled slightly. After being placed into the skill slot, the entire frame continued to shake incessantly.
Unlike the violent boost brought by constitution talents, a strange sensation spread layer by layer from the depths of his heart.
It was hard to describe in words, like standing at the edge of a rising tide, letting the waves repeatedly wash over his feet, calves, and torso.
He felt both exhilarated and couldn't help wanting to retreat to safety.
Dong.
A faint bell chime rang out, or perhaps it was the clash of a hundred weapons, clear and melodious to the ear.
Cheng Ye instinctively raised his hand, only to discover that fine blood droplets were seeping from his palm, as if countless drops of blood were rushing to emerge from his pores.
He gently flicked his hand, and the blood droplets splattered to the ground, but evaporated completely within seconds, as if they had never existed.
"Perfect grade..."
Cheng Ye looked down at his hands, his pupils suddenly contracting!
He was shocked to discover that his palm's shape, the hardness of his finger joints, even the length of his fingers...
Everything was changing, and at a visibly frantic pace!
The skin at his joints suddenly tightened. The originally taut epidermis from his constitution talent instead developed fine wrinkles, while the blue blood vessel patterns under his skin became increasingly clear, like fire-tempered wire embedded in his flesh.
Each finger extended outward by half an inch. His originally well-proportioned palms now appeared exceptionally slender. Although the protrusions at the finger joint connections became more obvious, they weren't jarring. Instead, they made his grip's curvature better match weapon forms.
"So violent, directly changing my physical conditions?"
Cheng Ye was somewhat dazed.
Rare-grade talents, aside from their initial explosive boost, were all gradual work afterward, progressively improving various stats.
But this perfect-grade "Hundred Weapons Born" had actually given him a completely new pair of hands.
He tried clenching his fist. His knuckles collided with a light "click" sound, firmer than ever before, as if strength was about to overflow from between his fingers.
Looking at his forearms, the inner skin showed fine fish-scale patterns. The originally bark-like surface with its sandpaper texture now revealed a layer of tough, cold light.
When pressed with his hand, he could feel the muscle fibers under his skin vibrating at a peculiar frequency, their hardness several times greater than before, like being wrapped in a layer of fine steel plates.
Even more wonderful was the mental level. After his physical conditions met the standards, countless cold weapon shadows flowed through his mind. The angles of chopping with blades and axes, the trajectories of thrusting with spears and swords, even the wrapping and force techniques of chains and meteor hammers, all seemed carved into the depths of his memory, becoming instinctive.
Although Cheng Ye had never encountered these techniques before, after the information transfer in his consciousness was complete, an instinctual familiarity surged throughout his entire body.
He stood up and casually glanced around the small shop, grabbing a broom from the corner.
The moment it touched his hand, the ordinary broom seemed to come alive.
He lightly shook his wrist, and the broom head traced an afterimage in the air, sweeping out with a clear whooshing sound.
"So what they showed in movies wasn't exaggeration, but real?"
Cheng Ye was stunned.
It wasn't that his strength had suddenly increased, but his mastery of "force" had reached an inconceivable level.
The timing of muscle exertion, the subtle shifts in center of gravity, even his breathing rhythm, all perfectly matched the broom in his hand, as if this crude tool was naturally an extension of his arm.
He could even make the upper and lower parts of the broom head swing in different directions through subtle arm movements.
When pressed against the ground, the front half swept back and forth while the rear half stayed close to the ground, driving the overall movement.
One pull, one sweep, one drag, one extend.
With just a few movements, a small patch of scattered dust was precisely gathered in one spot, more efficient than repeatedly sweeping for ages.
"Amazing, truly amazing!"
Setting down the broom, Cheng Ye pulled out his Cyclone Spike.
Before even making a move, he felt an inexplicable sense of compatibility, as if this weapon naturally belonged as part of his body.
He tried thrusting. The motion looked the same as usual, but internally it was completely transformed.
Previously, to stab at a target, he needed to first focus and aim, then hold his breath and exert force.
Now he only needed a single thought. Even without his gaze, the tip could instantly point toward the target.
Even more outrageous was when he put down the Cyclone Spike and picked up his Buffalo combat pistol, this "point where you aim" feeling didn't disappear.
The moment the thought "aim at that can" flashed through his mind, the muzzle had already automatically turned over, steadily pressed against the target's center.
"Isn't this a cold weapon talent? Pistols also count as cold weapons?"
Cheng Ye's heart burned with excitement. Unfortunately, there were no targets in the convenience store, so he could only set up a few empty bottles and try moving the gun muzzle.
Each time he raised his hand, each time he turned his gaze, his mouth couldn't help opening wider and wider.
No matter how the muzzle swayed, no matter whether he was directly looking at the target, as long as he knew the bottle's position in his mind and the target hadn't moved, when the muzzle settled it would steadily aim at the bottle body, not off by a fraction.
Lock-on?
No way, it really activated?
"Wait, does Mu Shuang have this ability?"
Cheng Ye put down the pistol, his eyes full of shock.
The answer was almost certainly yes.
It seemed he had discovered another terrifying thing. The boost from this perfect-grade Hundred Weapons Born far exceeded the Iron Body he had searched from Dai Zun.
The latter could only make him ignore pain and improve his body control, reaching Embryonic Realm combat power.
The former... hmm? Iron Body enhances body control?
A thought flashed by, and Cheng Ye picked up the Cyclone Spike again, repeatedly thrusting and sensing in the convenience store's basement.
About eight minutes later, he suddenly stopped.
That mysterious feeling... had disappeared.
The weapon in his hand still felt familiar, but it no longer had that "complete body extension" unity. Only a faint sense of connection remained.
To accurately stab at a certain spot, he had to stare with his eyes and concentrate his mind to hit the mark. Any distraction would cause deviation.
It was the same with the pistol. When he picked it up, that "automatic lock-on" extension feeling completely vanished, leaving only basic grip proficiency.
"As expected, this powerful force is another active skill that only I can use!"
"The effective time is much longer than Iron Body, lasting about 15 minutes, and the effectiveness doesn't weaken with time."
Having verified his hypothesis, Cheng Ye let out a long breath.
After confirming Hundred Weapons Born's limitations, he wasn't displeased by the talent's restrictions. Instead, he felt somewhat relieved.
Too terrifying! The more terrifying this talent's boost was, the more his sense of security diminished!
People like Mu Shuang who possessed perfect-grade talents might not be unique cases given the wasteland's vastness. There might even be many!
If every perfect talent holder could casually "lock-on," this world would be too dangerous.
Just imagining himself as a target, being aimed at with this ability, the mere thought filled him with despair.
Unless he could maintain transcendent Starfish state around the clock, otherwise encountering such a person would be certain death.
Now it was good. In normal state, Hundred Weapons Born only improved basic combat power with cold weapon handling.
Presumably other perfect talents wouldn't be so perverted as to leave people with no ability to resist.
"But I still need to be careful," Cheng Ye rubbed his chin, "If someone awakened a perfect-grade shooting talent, I probably wouldn't even have time to activate Starfish."
However, this could also be resolved by continuing to improve Heart-Protecting Fire's level, letting the flame grow stronger.
Once it could expand its monitoring range to one or two kilometers like Liu Kun's Fire Eagle, immediately detecting whenever someone aimed at or watched him, the threat would greatly decrease.
Before then, Cheng Ye was determined that when going to the wasteland, he must wear armor around the clock!
"I also need to buy a helmet, or get a bulletproof one custom made," he muttered.
Others had insufficient firepower phobia, he had insufficient defense phobia.
Before being completely safe, no defensive preparation was excessive.
"Additionally, I need to get a private training room. Some things aren't convenient to test at public training grounds."
Sitting on the convenience store's bed edge, Cheng Ye's thoughts raced.
Constitution talents were pure numerical boosts, continuously breaking through his basic attributes, becoming increasingly inhuman.
Iron Body and Hundred Weapons Born, however, were more like active skills. When activated, combat power would surge.
If that "lock-on" state from earlier was still active, he was confident that the moment Mu Shuang's hair exploded, he could hit her with at least one shot from his Buffalo combat pistol.
But fortunately, he didn't have the talent then. Otherwise, if he had actually killed Mu Shuang, the trouble would have been enormous.
"No wonder the ancient saying goes 'martial artists must first cultivate martial virtue, observe virtue through martial arts, training martial arts trains the heart,'" Cheng Ye couldn't help sighing softly, "The stronger one's power, the more serious damage one can cause. Without sufficient discipline and self-control, one becomes a walking disaster."
He was now just an ordinary person who had mastered some transcendent power, yet could already imagine the consequences of losing control and the enormous harm it would bring to the entire social environment.
Those transcendent beings of the old era, those near-immortal existences, if they indulged their power, the carnage they could cause would be ten thousand times greater than his.
Perhaps a single thought could lead to widespread casualties.
Currently, the Obsession's containment of transcendent beings was, in a sense, also a form of protection.
It protected both ordinary people's safety and prevented transcendent beings from being devoured by their own power.
"Since I can master this power without Obsession, I must guard my original heart even more carefully."
"Otherwise, one day, this power will ultimately drag me down a path of no return."
With this thought settled, Cheng Ye swept all distracting thoughts from his mind.
In a sense, he and Mu Shuang were actually the same type of person, both demanding of themselves and unashamed to admit mistakes.
But he wouldn't get caught in dead ends, wouldn't obsess over "where he went wrong, what he lost," but was accustomed to reflecting on the dual nature of things, seeking the deep impact each change had on himself.
This clarity allowed him to always maintain the composure of "remaining unmoved even if Mount Tai collapsed before him."
A moment later.
Cheng Ye tested Hundred Weapons Born's boost again, discovering that while this skill's duration was much longer than Iron Body, its cooldown time correspondingly increased.
Each 15-minute "lock-on" state required waiting an hour to recover.
More specifically, after using it twice consecutively, the cooldown would continue to extend, increasing by 15 minutes each time.
"It seems Hundred Weapons Born is also draining some kind of potential from my body, though I can't detect it for now."
Cheng Ye nodded thoughtfully.
Fifteen minutes of burst time was sufficient for combat.
Moreover, this was an active skill that didn't occupy a skill slot when unused. It could be equipped during battle.
Currently, Heart-Protecting Fire and Verdant Constitution had permanently occupied two slots. The remaining positions needed to be reserved for new skills to maximize effectiveness.
As for mastering Snake Force and Eagle Force, whether due to enhanced constitution or improved life level, the speed was surprisingly faster than expected.
At this pace, he could complete the Four Forces training in at most a week, then begin Tendon Gate cultivation.
Even if he couldn't achieve breakthrough tendon gates like Jiang Chuan, simply opening twelve tendon gates would greatly increase his strength.
Even more terrifying was that based on past experience, Cheng Ye vaguely suspected his tendon gates wouldn't be affected by a single skill and could stack continuously like when he previously layered Dragon Force.
Even if they were common-grade or excellent-grade tendon gates, stacking enough would eventually cause qualitative change.
As for search materials, although all twelve tendon gates were Lv3 level skills requiring 100% compatibility for searching.
But with Pinghai Tower continuously delivering "takeout" to his door, collection shouldn't be difficult.
Just Wang Qing's four-person group would let him enjoy searching for quite a while!
"Next, it's waiting for the contract system to open and preparing for the contract assessment."
"As long as I repair Dapo Town's hydroelectric station, my energy will be inexhaustible. I'll never need to look at anyone's face again, much less pay a single cent!"
Opening the convenience store's metal door, warm sunlight spilled onto his body, making him feel lazy all over.
Cheng Ye held two bags of nutritional paste in his mouth, finding it somewhat novel. This was the first time since fusing skills that he didn't need to frantically supplement energy, leaving him a bit unaccustomed.
After drinking and resting briefly, he didn't dare delay and hurried to the Works Department.
Although the contract details still hadn't been publicly announced and no news had leaked from the inspection stations, some clues could always be gleaned from the Works Department's material allocation trends.
For instance, every so often, inspection officials would place large orders with the Works Department, making Old Sun's eyes burn with envy.
So much so that when the two met recently, Old Sun always hinted at insider information, some of which even stepped on red lines and counted as minor violations.
The purpose was to help him obtain contract qualifications so he could show some favor.
From this alone, it wasn't difficult to deduce that inspection officials who obtained contract qualifications should have access to "public funds" specifically for purchasing personalized materials, separate from the main satellite city construction funds.
As for what to buy, Cheng Ye had gradually finalized his plans. Now he was making final confirmations with Old Sun to ensure that once funds arrived, transport could begin immediately.
He didn't want to repeat the vehicle frame purchase debacle, getting squeezed to the back and waiting five whole days.
Everything returned to normal routine.
After Wu Rui brought the Crusader Corps to garrison, those covert maneuvers in the buffer zone seemed to completely disappear.
In a blink, two days had passed.
The six o'clock alarm rang. Cheng Ye shook his head and turned over to get up.
He instinctively opened his defense communicator, but with one glance, his entire body shot up.
The second batch of satellite city contracts had finally opened!