Chapter 67 -67-Skill Values Revised, a New Class Advancement Quest Issued
[Primordial Divine Beast Void Serpent lv.40 has sent you a contract request. Do you accept?]
John chose Accept without the slightest hesitation.
At once, he saw the giant python raise its head.
"Next, please leave the contract mark upon my heart."
As soon as the words fell, the python’s chest split open to either side like a pair of doors.
A bloody, pulsing heart was revealed within.
Seawater washed endlessly over it, flushing out streams of gore.
The contract ritual was just that brutal and bloody.
For this giant python to endure such torment and still insist on completing the ritual just to escape this place—
the methods used by those people in Scholars’ City were probably ten thousand times crueler.
John immediately stepped forward and struck out a contract sigil.
A black imprint appeared at once upon the python’s mountain-like heart.
Gurgle! Gurgle!
The moment the contract was completed, the surrounding bloodied water began to churn like boiling liquid.
The giant python’s chest rapidly closed shut.
At the same time, notification after notification rang out in John’s mind.
[You have successfully contracted Primordial Divine Beast Void Serpent lv.40. Its talent and skills have begun to share with you!]
[You have obtained 100% Drowning Resistance!]
The instant that prompt sounded, John felt the suffocating pressure of being unable to breathe underwater vanish completely.
Now, he could breathe beneath the sea as naturally as on land.
Then another system prompt sounded.
[You have collected four resistances: Curse, Falling, Poison, and Drowning. Class Advancement Quest complete!]
[Current level cap removed. You may now use experience from your experience pool to level up.]
...
Hearing the notifications in his mind, John was invigorated.
"Finally. It’s done. I can start leveling now."
Over this period of time, he had already stockpiled over ten million experience points in his experience pool.
That was more than enough for leveling.
Still, he did not rush to use it right away. Instead, he turned his gaze toward the Void Serpent’s status panel.
[Void Serpent] lv.40
[HP]: 100,000/100,000
[Attack]: 8,000
[Defense]: 6,899
[Skills]: Tidecraft (SS), Void Consumption (SS), Wyrmcoil Rage (SS)...
...
To John’s delight, most of the Void Serpent’s skills were SS-rank.
That meant they were within the range of skills he could share.
But when he opened the values for one of those skills, his expression froze instantly.
[Void Consumption] (SS)
[Effect]: Upon activation, deals damage equal to 100% of Attack. If the enemy’s HP falls below 5% of max HP, the "Devour" effect may be triggered, allowing the target to be swallowed whole and instantly killed.
...
It was clearly an SS-rank skill.
Yet those numbers were so pathetic they were worse than some A-rank skills.
And the Void Serpent’s base panel itself looked nothing like what a level 40 primordial divine beast should possess.
Most likely, over the past thousand years, its original stats had gradually deteriorated under the relentless erosion of those curses.
"With numbers like these, no one would believe this is a Primordial Divine Beast.
No wonder it was willing to become my Contract Beast.
If it stayed trapped here any longer, it would probably degenerate into a mindless wild beast before long."
Looking at the giant python in its pitiful, haggard state, John let out a quiet sigh.
"Fortunately, I have the value-modification system.
Since the Void Serpent is now my Contract Beast, it also falls within the system’s editable range.
I can completely restore it to its peak state by modifying its values."
With that thought, John immediately opened the system and began adjusting the numerical values of the Void Serpent’s skills.
The 100% damage in Void Consumption was directly changed to 5000% damage.
The Devour execute threshold was raised from 5% max HP to 80% max HP.
In other words, once an enemy’s HP dropped to 80%, the serpent could swallow it whole and kill it instantly.
Now that was the kind of value an SS—or rather, SSS-tier—skill of the Void Serpent ought to have.
As for its other SS-rank skills, John used his system modification points on all of them as well, pushing every value to the limit.
Roar!
After the modifications were completed, the Void Serpent could clearly feel that much of the strength it had once lost was returning to its body.
Unable to restrain itself, it let out a low, rumbling roar.
In an instant, sections of the undersea mountain range cracked apart.
The might of a Primordial Divine Beast was plain to see!
Only after finishing the adjustments to the Void Serpent’s skills did John finally begin using the experience in his pool to level himself.
[Experience Pool: 100,000 EXP consumed. Your level has risen to 51.]
[Experience Pool: 200,000 EXP consumed. Your level has risen to 60.]
[...]
John continued leveling all the way to 70.
Only when the system notified him once more that he had reached the level cap did he stop spending experience from the pool.
Looking at the experience that still remained, John grew curious and tried using it on the Void Serpent instead.
To his surprise, it actually worked—it could level the serpent too.
[You have consumed 50,000 EXP. Void Serpent has risen to level 41.]
Looking at the Void Serpent, whose dull scales had begun to recover some of their luster, John smiled faintly.
"In that case, let me help you return to your prime."
[You have consumed 100,000 EXP. Void Serpent has risen to level 42!]
[You have consumed 500,000 EXP. Void Serpent has risen to level 44!]
[...]
By the time the experience pool had been completely emptied, the Void Serpent had been directly raised to level 60.
The level 60 Void Serpent had already returned to its peak state—and had even become stronger than it had been in its prime.
Two savage protrusions resembling dragon horns began to emerge from the top of its head.
Its ferocious scales sprouted dense barbs, making it look sharper and more terrifying than ever.
"Could this thing actually be on the verge of transforming into a flood dragon?"
Curious, John opened its current status panel.
[Void Serpent] lv.70 (cannot exceed owner’s level)
[HP]: 1,000,000/1,000,000
[Attack]: 18,000
[Defense]: 16,899
[Skills]: Tidecraft (SS), Void Consumption (SS), Wyrmcoil Rage (SS)...
...
Its numbers had increased across the board.
The giant python could also feel the surge of strength now filling its body, and it rolled wildly through the sea, stirring waves and currents everywhere.
It let out an excited roar.
"Thank you for your cultivation, my lord.
I have never felt as refreshed and invigorated as I do at this very moment.
From the instant I became your Contract Beast, I could already sense that those former curses no longer had any effect on me!"
Hearing that, John finally relaxed.
He really had been worried that his Contract Beast might still remain under the curse-control of those lunatics from Scholars’ City.
After all, a Contract Beast and its master were closely linked.
If the Contract Beast were controlled, it would surely affect John, its master, to some extent as well.
Now, however, it seemed he had worried for nothing.
The authority of the Contract Beast bond clearly ranked far above those curses!
But just then—
as another prompt rang out, a rare look of stunned disbelief appeared on John’s face.
[Detected that the host’s level has reached the current cap. A brand-new Class Advancement Quest is now being issued!]
[Quest Requirement]: Collect 5 Codices of Classes
...
Hearing that system prompt, John’s lips parted in shock.
He had never expected that this new Class Advancement Quest would no longer need to be triggered manually, but would instead be issued directly by the system itself.
And the quest requirement left him even more incredulous.
"It actually wants me to find five Codices of Classes?"