Chapter 30: Rank Up’s
The moment William told Rollie to upgrade Cent’s rank, he got swallowed by a faint white light. A few seconds later, as the light faded, Cent blinked open his eyes and gave William a light bow of thanks. There were no visible changes, just like last time. William looked at him and said, "No need to thank, just keep doing your best. Now let’s see how strong you have become. Rollie, pull up his status."
⟡
Name: Cent (B-Rank)
Race: Thunder Centaur
Rank: Tier 1 (High)
Attributes
Strength: 30
Constitution: 34
Agility: 24
Intelligence: 18
Mana: 24
Affinity: Lightning
⟡
Skill(s)
Static Thrust (High)
Thrusts his spear while channeling faint lightning. There is a 25% chance to stun the enemy.
Technique(s)
Spear Mastery (High)
⟡
Rank Upgrade Conditions
Tower points: 180/180
Tier 1 core: 6/15
⟡
"Well, damn, those stats shot up, especially Strength and Constitution. Cent’s almost on par with Snobtrox now, which was a B-rank too. His Spear technique also went up. Figures, after all, he has been fighting against numbers." Upgrading Cent had burned 60TP and 9 cores, leaving William with 6 cores, enough for a couple of intermediates, but not another high-rank.
Imp was a guaranteed upgrade, no questions. For the other one, it was between his new recruit, Grey, and Mutt, who had woken up by Cent’s upgrade. ’This lazy ass wants a free ride.’ William thought, locking eyes with the wolf, who was giving him the world’s saddest puppy eyes.
"Alright, you want it that bad, fine, you get the upgrade. Grey can wait a bit for being new. But don’t think it’s free." William looked at Cent, then continued. "Your job is to train this lazy mutt at least five hours a day until the next trial. If he whines, just let me know, I’ve got no problem with wolf’s meat in my menu." William grinned, which made Mutt whimper, for having a butcher’s knife on his neck.
Now both have been decided. "Rollie, upgrade Mutt’s rank too." After the same glowing light show, Mutt hit intermediate rank. William pulled up Mutt’s status to see the changes.
⟡
Name: Mutt (D-Rank)
Race: Shadow wolf
Rank: Tier 1 (Intermediate)
Attributes
Strength: 14
Constitution: 12
Agility: 18
Intelligence: 12
Mana: 12
Affinity: Shadow
⟡
Skill
Shadow Flick (Intermediate)
Deliver a lethal bite while hiding its presence in the enemy’s shadow. With a 25% chance of tearing flesh.
⟡
Rank Upgrade Conditions
Tower points: 60/60
Tier 1 core: 3/9
⟡
William closed Mutt’s status with a shrug. Mutt was D-rank, so there wasn’t as much increase as Cent; the only attribute noticeable was its agility.
He wandered over to the Luminara Tree. Ever since the hut went up, he’d found himself coming here more often. There was a strange kind of peace in just lying under it that he couldn’t get from sleeping on a bed.
Most of the Blooms had been sold off or used, so the place looked less like a flowerbed and more like hairy balls, just a few small clusters of blooms here and there. The fairies, who had made the flowerbed their home and playground at the same time, had migrated to Luminara’s branches, for who would want their home to be trimmed by some greedy lord?
As William got close, the fairy trio and Imp shot out from the lush Luminara’s leaves. They started playing around him while giggling in their squeaky voices. William gave a warm smile and let them go with their shenanigans.
After a while, William had Imp hop onto his palm; he’d learned that their wings stop when the upgrade hits them, like what happened with Lumina. The rest of the fairies watched curiously. William flicked Imp’s tiny cheek with his finger and said. "Alright, Rollie, hit her with the upgrade."
A few seconds later, the upgrade finished. William pulled up her status to check how much she got from the upgrade.
⟡
Name: Imp (F-Rank)
Race: Fire Flora
Rank: Tier 1 (Intermediate)
Attributes
Strength: 8
Constitution: 6
Agility: 10
Intelligence: 9
Mana: 18
Affinity: Fire
⟡
Skill
Cinder Burst (Intermediate)
Launches a small explosive seed that deals fire AoE damage. Maximum 15 seeds per day.
⟡
Rank Upgrade Conditions
Tower points: 60/60
Tier 1 core: 0/9
⟡
The only plus here was Imp’s mana. Every boom from her seeds costs a point, so before, she could only blow up 10 out of 15 seeds before running dry. During the last fight, she’d used up all her mana and had to rest to regenerate her mana. Now? She’s got enough mana to blast all her seeds at the same time and still have some spare.
She zipped off, joining the fairies giggling happily. The rest eyed William, all expecting upgrades too, but now, with no cores left, he’d need to cough up 180TP just for cores for each high rank. William looked at them. "Don’t worry. If I have enough TP left after everything, I’ll upgrade you all. So wait a bit, okay?"
With all the upgrades done, it was finally the Luminara tree’s turn. William strolled up and put a hand on its trunk. The tree hummed in excitement. This upgrade would cost him 300 TP, but he could get more by selling half the new Blooms afterward, and it would also raise his grade. So it’s a Win-win situation.
Grinning at the thought of rolling in Blooms, he said, "Rollie, upgrade the tower core."
Just like last time, white light swept through the area around the tree, making new blooms sprout across the shaved flowerbed. The tree’s branches stretched out, leaves growing lusher, pulsing with more life energy. After a few seconds, the core upgrade was done.
Then it was William’s turn. White light swallowed him, and he felt a wave of warmth as his body sucked up the energy and converted it into attribute points. As the light faded, Rollie rolled in with upgrade notifications.
[Tower Core, Luminara Tree upgraded to Beginner Tower (High).]
[You can now summon Tier One (High) rank troop]
[Each Tier One (High) rank troop will cost 330TP]
[Congratulations! Your rank has advanced to Beginner (High).]
[You have gained 20 unassigned attribute points.]
[Bonus: 10 additional unassigned attribute points, due to the Physique.]
William grinned hard at the notifications. ’Thirty fucking attribute points, les gooooo!’ This time, Rollie didn’t screw up and actually listed the troop upgrade notifications, too. Sure, 330 TP per troop was a lot, same as upgrading from low to high rank, but it cuts out all the bullshit in between.
He was itching to dump those points into his stats right now, but first, he needed to see how badly the next core upgrade would gut his wallet. William pulled up the tower core status and scrolled straight to the upgrade conditions.
⟡
Tier Upgrade Conditions
Wood: 1500/1500
Stone: 700/700
TP: 900/900
Tower Stone (TS): 0/1
Tier 1 (Intermediate) Troops: 5/8
Tier 1 (High) Troops: 1/5
⟡
William’s jaw dropped seeing the requirements. The next core upgrade would take the core to tier 2, but 900 freaking TP. That’s almost enough for three high rank troops! There was also a new requirement of tower stone, the same one he gets by defeating a lord in Tower Games.
He’d also need 8 intermediates and 5 high-ranks on top of that. With only seven troops right now, he’d have to start recruiting fast.
That was a problem for future William, right now, he had unassigned attribute points to use. His Strength and Constitution were already at 40, thanks to the brutal Skin Forging technique. If he pushed them to intermediate, he’d get another 10 for each, so now he could add less in those and balance out the rest.
He dumped 10 points each into Intelligence and Agility, and 5 each into Strength and Constitution. Most MCs in those trashy novels skipped Intelligence, but William knew better; it was just as important as the others for its perception, awareness, and comprehension. A pleasant warmth spread through his body as the new power settled in. He checked his updated status to see the numbers.
⟡
Name: William Hart
Talent: Absolute Tower Gacha (Ex)
Tower Core: Luminara Tree (Expand)
Tower Tier: Beginner Tower (High)
Troops: Fairy (F-Rank)
TP: 1100
Power Path(s): Tower Cultivation
Tower Cultivation Tier: Beginner (High)
Bloodline(s): Grubkin (Expand)
Titles: CheapShot (Unique), One Against All (Uncommon)
⟡
Attributes
Strength: 45 (After 10 from technique)
Constitution: 45 (After 10 from technique)
Agility: 35
Intelligence: 35
Charm: 100
Luck: 0 (After +10 from Luminara’s blessing)
Unassigned Attribute(s): 0
(Let me know if you want to see the extra attributes from equipment/item.)
⟡
Talent
Absolute Tower Gacha (Expand)
(Please check Chapter 6 for the full details of talent)
Skill(s)
Danger Sense (Low)
Technique(s)
Trainee Sword Technique (Intermediate)
IronSkin Forging Art (Beginner)
⟡
Inventory
Same reward items + the ones he got from gacha
⟡
Tower Games (Expand)
Constellation (Expand)
Regional Chat (Expand)
Tower Merchant (Call)
Neutral Zone (Visit)
⟡
After a quick glance, he closed the panel and strolled over to the Blooms, like a blessed farmer ready to harvest his crops.
