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Accompanied by a scorching warm current flowing throughout his body, Lin Xiao could clearly feel every inch of his muscles rapidly becoming tougher and stronger under the influence of the warm current. After killing a large number of monsters, he had gained a total of about 300 kilograms of strength, and now, upon advancing to Rank 1, he received an instant additional increase of 200 kilograms of strength. Just the evolution to Rank 1 had added a total of 500 kilograms of strength to him.
Combined with the roughly 400 kilograms of strength he originally possessed, he now had a total of 900 kilograms of strength, just shy of one ton.
With a thought, the attribute panel opened before his eyes:
Name: Lin Xiao.
Race: Humans???
Evolution: Rank 1 2%.
Talent: Time Roaming LV1, Time Acceleration LV1, Damage Absorption (Black Hole).
Skills: None.
If Rank 0 was akin to an ordinary person, Rank 1 signified a formal entrance onto the path of evolution, and his previously suppressed Black Hole Talent and the essence of time were once again under his control in the form of talents.
However, in the beginning, it was just the most basic application of the talent, with limited power... probably!
Time Roaming LV1: Become invulnerable and appear at any location within a 100-meter radius of oneself, negate any damage suffered in the last 2 seconds, inflict damage equal to twice one’s maximum power value to any enemy collided with, and add a continuous 1-second thought stagnation and 100% slow effect, usable three times per day.
Time Acceleration LV1: Apply to oneself, increasing thought response and personal speed by 100%, lasting for 3 seconds, usable three times per day.
Damage Absorption (Black Hole): Absorb all types of damage related to one’s own strength.
Well, these talents are somewhat bugged, two time talents, and one black hole talent.
The time talents are divided into levels, based on one’s strength. The position one has evolved to is the level of the time talents, and the more strength is inherited, the more powerful time talents one will gain.
The Black Hole Talent, on the other hand, is a non-upgradeable passive talent that directly absorbs all damage related to one’s own strength, no matter the type.
In other words, as his power grows, the stronger he becomes, the more damage he can absorb.
With the advancement to Rank 1, Lin Xiao’s strength underwent a tremendous transformation.
After moving a bit to adapt to the sudden increase in strength, he looked up at a few Bat Monsters that had just crawled over from the back of the canteen roof. He stepped out of the passage, and as the Bat Monsters saw him, they screeched and lunged at him.
With an expressionless face, he stood still and waited. When the Bat Monsters were only two meters away from him, he flashed and lunged at the Bat Monsters. They brushed past each other, and the Bat Monsters were split in half, continuing their momentum to hit the ground motionless.
"No challenge!"
One flying axe precisely took out another Bat Monster. Lin Xiao, too lazy to pick it up, shouldered his thick-backed Bone Chopping Knife and turned towards the back of the canteen, where the two Gorilla Monsters he had seen before were hiding behind the dormitory building.
Killing these small creatures now gave greatly diminished rewards. When he was Rank 0, killing one would yield a reward of five kilograms of strength, but now it was only one kilogram, and the evolution degree also shrank significantly, killing one did not even result in a 1% increase.
It was foreseeable that as his strength grew further, such as beyond Rank 1 50%, the reward for killing a Bat Monster might be less than half a kilogram.
Clearly, the advancement isn’t encouraged through the method of farming small monsters but by challenging stronger monsters instead.
Having become much more powerful and awakening two talents, the fight with the two Bat Monsters didn’t even qualify as a warm-up. Lin Xiao felt he could take on the two Gorilla Monsters and clean up the campus while he was at it.
Walking past the canteen and through a grove, this area used to be the division between the front and back of the teacher’s dormitory buildings. There were many small flower beds, gravel paths, and stone benches, all now wrecked beyond recognition. In just a short two days, weeds on the ground were showing a tendency for rampant growth.
Apparently, the entire school had been banished to this world, and all aspects were beginning to be influenced by this world. It wouldn’t be long before the entire teaching building would be submerged in weeds.
"Bang!"
A Long-haired Wolf hiding behind the flowerbed suddenly leaped out and clambered onto his shoulder as Lin Xiao passed by, trying to bite his neck.
Lin Xiao did not retaliate, allowing it to bite down. Its sharp fangs struck his neck, but it was like biting into tough cowhide; it couldn’t break through.
Twisting his neck to reveal a satisfied smile, he grasped the wolf’s neck, forcefully pulled it off, and flung it backward, slamming another Long-haired Wolf away. He stepped forward, chopped one to death with a knife, and broke the neck of the other with his foot.
"Too easy!"
With each advancement, his strength improved qualitatively. The Long-haired Wolf and the Bat Monster were completely unable to pose a threat to him anymore; they couldn’t even breach his defenses. No matter how many came at him, he wasn’t worried.
The recent fight caught the attention of the Gorilla Monster inside the dorm building. A ferocious, black-haired gorilla head peeked out from behind the wall, and upon seeing Lin Xiao, paused briefly, then with joyful excitement at the sight of food, rushed toward him on all fours. Its huge body and weight caused the ground to tremble slightly as a savage and ferocious aura hit him in the face.
"Bring it on!"
Lin Xiao held his knife ready, watching intently as the Black-haired Gorilla Monster pounced. When it was about four meters away, he suddenly leapt high into the air, diving straight down. The colossal body brought an impactful force, creating an immense visual shock especially for smaller creatures.
Keen on experimenting with his newly obtained talents, Lin Xiao held onto his knife and aimed it at the Gorilla Monster without dodging.
"Bang!"
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The massive Black Gorilla immediately knocked him down, its terrifying strength crashing upon him and pinning him under its body; a series of grating bone fracture sounds followed by severe pain all over, with a pained howl so loud it made his eardrums ache.
"What great power!"
The force was greater than he had anticipated; his physique, even with his talents, couldn’t withstand it, and his bones fractured upon impact.
If he were any other Rank 1 Evolver, that blow would have definitely caused crush injuries throughout his body, leading to certain death.
But Lin Xiao was not an ordinary Rank 1 Evolver. With a thought, he activated:
"Time Roaming!"
The next second, his consciousness rapidly expanded to cover a hundred-meter radius around himself, and he could clearly sense everything within this area. With just a thought, he could jump to any location within this hundred-meter radius.
Yes, any location, including the sky and underground.
With a thought, he vanished into a state of Time Roaming and in that instant, his injuries reversed as if rewinded on video, rapidly healing to the state he was in two seconds earlier, completely unscathed.
From the outside, it would seem like a streak of light too fast for the naked eye to follow, passing through the Black Gorilla and appearing hundreds of meters in the air, while the Black Gorilla Monster, struck by the streak, shuddered violently and then its savage face and bloodthirsty red pupils fell into confusion, motionless.
The effects of Time Roaming: causes damage equal to the maximum Power Value*2 to any hostile target it hits, and adds an additional one second of thought paralysis and 100% Speed Reduction.
Ignoring the Speed Reduction, thought paralysis is essentially a full stun.
One second isn’t long, but in intense combat, it can be the deciding factor between life and death.
Lin Xiao, who had Time Roamed to a height of one hundred meters, aimed his Bone Knife downward as he plummeted like a meteor. His velocity increased from less than five meters per second to nearly twenty in the next, and by the third second, he was hurtling down thirty to forty meters — reaching the ground from one hundred meters up in barely more than three seconds. The impact from such high speed far exceeded the strength he possessed.
The Black Gorilla, although it only experienced a second of thought paralysis and a hundred percent Speed Reduction, had a high stature of three meters and slowed reactions due to its injury. Even after recovering, it would be disoriented for a short time, and the response to the severe pain from the Bone Chopping Knife piercing its chest would take time, ensuring it took more than three seconds to rise and locate the enemy.
So when he fell from the sky like a meteor, plunging the knife into the back of the Gorilla Monster’s head, it had no time to respond.
"Bang!"
The thirty-centimeter-long Bone Chopping Knife, with a spine three to four centimeters thick, directly penetrated the Gorilla Monster’s thick skull, and Lin Xiao was rebounded by the force, thrown more than ten meters away into a tree, then bounced back and slammed heavily onto the ground.
"Roar!"
The fatally stricken Black Gorilla Monster shot up high only to crash heavily back onto the ground, kicking up a circle of dust around it before it could no longer move.
A blade straight through its brain, directly striking a vital point, instantly deprived it of the ability to react, leaving its body to convulse involuntarily.
Essentially, it became a vegetable.
Two seconds later, Lin Xiao exhaled deeply and struggled to his feet. The rebound from the fall was extraordinarily powerful, but fortunately, his physique was strong, and his Talent absorbed most of the recoil damage, preventing serious injury.
Checking his status, defeating this Gorilla Monster increased his Evolution Degree by 6% and added a full thirty kilograms to his additional Strength.
At that moment, the dead Black Gorilla Monster’s body began to emit tiny sparks of light, converging into a white orb. Curious, Lin Xiao approached it and saw an outline of a glove within the orb of light.
"It dropped equipment?"
This was very similar to the equipment monsters dropped in video games. Lin Xiao reached out, the orb of light entered his hand and transformed into a black, long-tubed claw sheath.
Equipment: Strength of the Black Gorilla Claw (Common)
Attributes: Strength +30, Defense +20.
"Sure enough, it’s equipment, but what’s up with the defense part!"
Lin Xiao equipped the glove, and it flowed like light over his left hand, extending up to his shoulder, forming an appendage resembling the arm of a Black Gorilla.
"Alright, so that’s where it adds the defense!"
The item was not only a weapon but also provided defense for the left arm, covering the area where the claw sheath extended.
Flexing the huge Gorilla hand a few times, it was as responsive as his own arm, incredibly flexible.
The attributes it added weren’t much, but they were better than nothing.
And if there was equipment, it was likely there was more than one piece. If he could collect a full set, the combined attributes would be significant.
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There was nothing useful left from the Black Gorilla’s body, and it was too large to bother moving. Lin Xiao looked up towards the back of the dormitory building, wondering why the other Gorilla Monster hadn’t come out despite the commotion.
But as he entered the dormitory area and saw the huge gap in the back wall, he realized the other Gorilla Monster must not be there.