Chapter 98: Mastery Enhanced, Rewards Gained
Kitchen.
Dean tossed aside a half-eaten cabbage on the stove, grabbed the beef from a plastic container, and stuffed it into his mouth with desperate haste.
His steel teeth crushed the meat effortlessly, swallowing it down without a moment's pause.
Discarding the empty, blood-stained container, Dean seized the sizzling, oil-dripping steak from the nearby frying pan and tore into it ravenously, regardless of its doneness.
This frenzied eating continued for half an hour.
Having devoured a large heap of vegetables and ten pounds of rare beef steak, Dean finally filled the black hole in his stomach. A satisfied smile, tinged with oil and blood at the corners of his mouth, spread across his face.
"Burp... Luckily, the Stone family’s menu isn’t just hominids; there’s plenty of fresh food too, or else I’d have starved for sure."
After shapeshifting, the blood and energy already lost would not magically replenish; losses had to be made up through eating.
This spawned a terrifying appetite.
"I’ll need to bring more high-calorie supplies before battle next time."
Yet, shapeshifting proved far more strategically valuable than Dean had anticipated; if he could transform successfully when gravely injured or near death, he could extend his life.
...
After a brief rest to aid digestion, Dean’s attention returned to the system—
Extract rewards.
Experience +150
Personal Level: lv2 (290/300) → lv3 (140/400)
Gained 1 attribute point.
Task slots increased to two.
System ability: God’s Eye lv1 → lv2: range from 10 meters to 20 meters.
...
You have slain the nocturnal creature Westin. Please select one of the following four special rewards:
A. Upgrade the novice Iron Man specialization to intermediate Iron Man:
The benefits from physique attributes—increased vitality, stamina, physical fitness, wound recovery speed, impact resistance, digestion, nutrient absorption, and resistance to physical abnormal states—are enhanced from 30% to 50%.
Additionally, your immunity and lifespan receive a modest boost.
Common illnesses and poor lifestyle habits will barely penetrate your body to harm your health anymore. Simultaneously, you will live longer than most, with a slightly slowed aging process.
...
B. Mutate the novice Iron Man specialization into a novice nocturnal species with moderate enhancement:
The physique attribute benefits increase from 30% to 70%.
Your immunity receives a significant boost, rendering you immune to common diseases.
Moreover, your lifespan doubles compared to ordinary humans, and aging slows dramatically. Your appearance, physical fitness, energy, and intellect remain at their prime until the end of your extended life, when rapid aging and decline occur.
However, power is a double-edged sword. With greater strength comes a price:
An abnormal appetite will arise within you; you will regard the flesh and blood of your kind as a delicacy. By consuming powerful targets, you will absorb part of their strength.
But the flesh of your kind is not indispensable; you can still survive on ordinary food alone.
You will dread sunlight—not lethal but diminishing your physical capabilities.
...
C. Superpower—Super Smell (Perception): Your olfactory senses regarding humanoids will be greatly enhanced.
You will effortlessly distinguish thousands of distinct body odors among individuals and assess their health, strength, number of kills, and dietary habits through scent, allowing you to track targets.
The effectiveness of super smell correlates positively with skill level and your perception attribute.
Each skill upgrade grants a slight perception boost.
(Note: Your ability slots are full; you cannot select this reward.)
D. Increase your perception by 1 point.
...
"What a generous reward."
Dean clenched his fists and paced around the chaotic kitchen, his face flushed with excitement. The hardships that had left him riddled with holes were all worth it.
Since crossing over, the Iron Man specialization had provided enormous support, allowing him to train with abundant energy, grow rapidly, recover swiftly from injuries, and confront crises with greater resilience.
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Its importance was indisputable.
Moreover, this specialization added other effects—disease resistance and lifespan extension.
Although Dean was not yet twenty, who would complain about a longer life?
Dean hesitated briefly between A and B.
Compared to A, B offered comprehensive enhancement—immune to disease, eternally youthful until death.
But unfortunately, it came with two dreadful drawbacks.
...
Currently, as a lone wolf, Dean preferred comprehensive development; after all, there would be more time and chances to gain power later.
If he chose B for quick gains, he would be burdened with two weaknesses, especially sunlight sensitivity, which would severely hamper future growth.
...
Reluctantly, he discarded B.
Dean gave some thought to C.
To him, the greatest use of super smell was not merely tracking but its ability to detect the number of kills or cannibalism among humanoids.
This would enable Dean to pick out special individuals from a crowd: assassins, criminals, monsters, or other supernatural beings.
He would gain a decisive advantage.
Furthermore, super smell upgrades enhance perception and have growth potential—unfortunately, his ability slots were full at 5/5.
He wondered how to increase them.
...
As for D, at this stage, directly adding to attributes ranked lower than specializations and skills unless multiple points were added at once, so Dean dismissed it.
...
He chose A.
Iron Man specialization upgraded.
Dean concentrated.
A pleasant surge of warmth flowed from somewhere inside his body, spreading to muscles, bones, fingertips... covering his entire frame.
But the effect came and went quickly.
After a breath, it vanished. Dean closed his eyes, his body feeling warmly as if near a blazing hearth.
He relaxed, as if having soaked in a miraculous hot spring whose waters cleansed all deep-seated ailments and hidden disorders.
Some minor bodily issues vanished forever.
A smile curved on his lips.
A faint joy of life’s essence expanding and ascending to a higher level welled up inside him.
With slight boosts to lifespan and immunity, Dean’s skin grew smoother, more delicate, and radiant.
He touched his face.
"If nothing unexpected happens, living to a hundred should be no problem. Just wonder if I’ll make it to 2077?"
...
The sun began its descent in the west; the sunlight outside the window softened, quietly approaching four in the afternoon.
After tidying up his gains, Dean returned to his bedroom.
The Stone family, fearing exposure of their misdeeds, had no outsiders in the old mansion, which worked to Dean’s advantage.
...
Dean rummaged through the wardrobe for a black suit and changed out of his blood-soaked, tattered clothes.
Then he retrieved a planchette from the ashes, sat on the fragmented bed, and communed with the recently absorbed souls of the dead.
"Christine, Peren, Hedson, Layton, Shannon... hmm?"
"Where has the soul of the nocturnal creature gone?"
The planchette contained only the five Stone family souls, not reaching its maximum capacity of ten.
Logically, it should have been able to hold Westin’s as well.
But it did not.
Dean was puzzled.
Previously, the planchette could absorb souls of devourers; why had it lost effect on the nocturnal species’ soul?
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A cold wind suddenly blew through the window.
Faintly, Dean heard Westin’s dying words carried by the breeze—
"Medien is a monster’s paradise,"
"My soul’s resting place."
...
"Could the Gorgon’s soul have returned to Medien?"
A strange thought stirred in Dean’s mind, and images flashed before his eyes—the dense tombstones on either side of the tunnel’s walls and the labyrinthine underground kingdom beneath the cemetery.
What kind of place was this monster’s paradise Medien?
Besides this sun-fearing, merciless serpent creature, what other humanoid monsters dwelled there?
According to Taim, the more supernatural beings converge, the greater the danger.
Wouldn’t Medien’s convergence laws trigger dreadful supernatural disasters?
Countless questions flooded Dean’s thoughts.
An overwhelming urge to explore seized him. Taking the planchette, he moved to a darker room and summoned the five Stone family hunters’ souls one by one.
Using his old interrogation methods, he questioned them thoroughly about Medien and the nocturnal species.
Unfortunately, he learned nothing.
He then interrogated them about valuable possessions in the mansion and the innocent victims they had consumed.
Waving the planchette, he scattered the five souls to the winds.
"You have killed five ghosts... proficiency +1 ×5, combat lv2 (95→100/300)."
Dean moved to a study on the right.
From hundreds of books on the shelf, he found a key and pulled out a black safe from the desk’s filing cabinet.
He turned it three times.
"5, 4, 1."
Click.
He inserted the key and turned it.
A crisp click sounded, and Dean opened the safe.
A brilliant golden light shot out, dazzling him, bathing his face in gold.
"Gold bars."
He picked up a trapezoid-shaped gold bar, weighing the standard 3.74 ounces.
Besides the bars, the safe was stuffed with bundles of US dollars and a pile of photographs—images of some victims hunted by the Stone family, along with their addresses and names.
Dean could not help but admire the family’s audacity; they had harmed so many yet still left evidence behind.
...
Finally, he counted roughly a hundred gold bars and nearly two hundred thousand dollars in hundreds.
The total value was around four hundred thousand US dollars.
Though not a greedy man, faced with this windfall, Dean wasted no time, swiftly stowing everything into his black backpack.
Amidst the green bills and dazzling gold lay several golden invitations, embossed faintly with a red-winged lizard—no, a red dragon—with two hollowed English letters “DR” on the cover, crafted like breathtaking works of art.
Dean opened one. The invitation was blank inside, containing no information whatsoever.
"What kind of event or place is this for? No time, no location, no description at all."
Regret crossed Dean’s face.
Had he known, he wouldn’t have destroyed the five souls so readily.
Now all he could do was keep the invitations safe and thoroughly clean all traces inside the house.
...
Late at night, he quietly left the estate, heavily laden with spoils.
Wishing everyone a joyful Dragon Boat Festival!
Thanks to reader 20230619014046558 for their generous support! Thanks to everyone for your monthly and recommendation votes!
(End of chapter)
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