Samsara Paradise: Dream Weaver of Connections.

Lin Yi sat up from the attribute enhancement chamber and stretched his wrists and ankles.

He had experienced this feeling many times, but each time it was as clear as the first time, because the body doesn't lie; it tells you more accurately than any instrument how much stronger you have become.

Just as Lin Yi was about to leave, the employee approached him hesitantly, as if he wanted to say something.

Her footsteps were so light that they were almost inaudible, but her hesitant posture was all too obvious. Her fingers twisted together and then loosened in front of her, like a little bird tentatively exploring the edge of its nest, wanting to fly out but not daring to.

She had a conflicted expression on her face, her lips moved twice but no sound came out, and in the end she just followed half a step behind Lin Yi, staring at her toes.

Lin Yi glanced at the other person and said, "Speak your mind."

The other party was also surprised by Lin Yi's words. She raised her hand, tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, took a deep breath as if to encourage herself, and then spoke.

"My lord, I have something to ask you." Her voice was a little lower than usual, but much more natural than her previous hesitant manner.

"After I advanced to the second tier, I couldn't find a weapon that suited me. The ones on the market were all common items with mediocre stats, and they didn't match my fighting style. Even when I came across something good, I couldn't compete with contractors who had teams. I'm used to fighting alone and don't have any fixed teammates. Whenever something good comes out, other teams rush in, and I can't even get a taste of it."

As she spoke, her voice lowered even further, as if she were talking about something she was very embarrassed about.

"So I wanted to ask you if you know anyone who can help me forge a handy weapon. I don't need anything too advanced, just something that works, preferably... preferably one that can switch forms."

When she said the last few words, her voice was so soft that it was almost inaudible if you didn't listen carefully.

She lowered her head, her fingers twisting even tighter in front of her.

She knew her request was a bit excessive. Weapons that could switch forms were a luxury item in the low-level game, something that ordinary people couldn't afford, nor could ordinary blacksmiths forge.

But she really needs to; her fighting style requires her weapons to switch between different forms at different stages of the battle.

She waited a moment, but did not receive a rejection from Lin Yi.

“Reed,” Lin Yi said. “No. 17, Workers’ Street, the blacksmith’s shop. Go find him there and tell him the doctor sent you.”

The man's eyes lit up when he heard the word "Reed".

She certainly knew Reed, one of the most famous blacksmiths on Workers Street.

She had considered asking Reed before, but she didn't dare; a blacksmith of that caliber was not someone a second-tier worker like herself could afford to hire.

"Thank you, sir." She bowed, her hands hanging at her sides, her forehead almost touching her knees.

When she straightened up, her eyes were a little red, but her mouth was wide open in a smile, a smile of joy and gratitude welling up from the bottom of her heart.

Lin Yi nodded, said nothing more, and turned to walk out of the attribute enhancement hall.

The person behind him remained standing, watching the direction he left in. Only when his figure disappeared around the corner of the corridor did he turn his gaze away, wipe the corner of his eye with the back of his hand, and then quickly walk towards No. 17, Workers' Street.

After leaving the attribute enhancement hall, Lin Yi stepped directly into the skill enhancement hall.

There are significantly fewer people here than in the Attribute Enhancement Hall. After all, very few newbies come here, and the time it takes to improve skills is much shorter than the time for attribute enhancement, so this place feels much more spacious.

Lin Yi walked to the back of the hall, found an empty skill enhancement pod, and pressed the button on the edge of the pod door.

The hatch flipped upwards, making a very faint hydraulic sound.

He lay down on the cushion, placed his arms at his sides, adjusted his posture, and then summoned the control panel.

The skill list unfolded at his fingertips, the densely packed skill names and levels like an upside-down tree, layer upon layer, covering the entire light screen from high to low rank.

He didn't bother looking at the lower-level skills; instead, he scrolled directly to the top of the list.

[To upgrade to Sword Master, pay 30 Soul Crystals (Complete) and 700000 Paradise Coins.]

Lin Yi frowned slightly as he looked at the number.

It has to be said that the cost of upgrading a master-level skill becomes increasingly outrageous as you progress. Even though Lin Yi gained a lot from the Strongest Tournament and the Cran Star competition, he could only upgrade it by 5 levels.

Thirty complete soul crystals plus seven hundred thousand Paradise Coins only resulted in a level one swordsmanship master upgrade, which doesn't seem like a good value.

However, this is how skill-based abilities are; their improvement is not linear. After reaching a certain level, the resources required for each level up will increase exponentially, but the benefits brought by each level up will also increase exponentially.

This is one of the few fair aspects of the skill system in the Cycle Paradise: you get back exactly what you put in.

However, Lin Yi naturally couldn't focus all his efforts on upgrading his swordsmanship to the Grandmaster level. He had already reached level 35 in his basic healing skills, and Lin Yi planned to upgrade that to level 40 as well.

He exited the Sword Master upgrade interface and opened the Healing Basic Skills Master interface.

[Upgrade basic healing skills to Master level. Pay 50 Soul Crystals (Complete) and 1500000 Paradise Coins.]

Fifty complete soul crystals and 1.5 million Paradise Coins are the cost of upgrading to level 5.

Lin Yi didn't hesitate for long; basic healing skills were the foundation of his healing abilities.

The more solid the foundation, the more stable the superstructure.

[Payment successful. Consumed 50 Soul Crystals (Complete) and 1500000 Paradise Coins.]

[Healing basic skill upgraded to Master level 40. Skill enhancement program initiated...]

After Lin Yi confirmed this, his consciousness was once again pulled into the alternate dimension.

However, to Lin Yi's surprise, he did not appear in a ward or on the battlefield. Instead, he was in an ordinary space where an old man was sitting.

The space was small, about 20 square meters. The floor was made of rammed earth, the walls were made of rough wooden planks, and the roof was covered with thatch. On the stove in the corner was an iron pot with the lid half open, revealing that there was still half a pot of thin porridge inside.

In the center of the room stood a wooden table with an oil lamp on it. The flame on the wick flickered and cast shadows throughout the room.

The old man sat on the other side of the wooden table, wearing a faded gray robe, with sparse, gray hair, deep wrinkles on his face, and cloudy but bright eyes.

He sat casually, one hand resting on the edge of the table, the other holding a rough porcelain teacup. Steam rose from the cup, and the aroma of tea filled the air. It was a very ordinary tea, not a rare variety, just the kind of coarse tea that country people often drank, with a faint roasted fragrance.

Lin Yi stood at the entrance of the room, looking at the old man.

There was no power fluctuation emanating from this person; it wasn't a disguise, he genuinely had nothing at all.

He was just a person, an ordinary person.

Just as Lin Yi was pondering why he had come here, the old man suddenly spoke up, asking Lin Yi if he understood.
Lin Yi looked at the other person with a puzzled expression, indicating that he needed to understand something.
His brow furrowed slightly, his gaze sweeping across the old man's face, trying to find some clues in the wrinkles, but he found nothing.

The other person sighed as they looked at Lin Yi's puzzled expression, as if something that had been bottled up inside for a long time had finally found an outlet.

He stood up from his chair, placed the teacup on the table, and the bottom of the cup hit the wooden board with a dull thud.

“Come with me,” he said.

He walked to the corner of the room, where there was a wooden door. The door was old, and the edges of the wooden planks were warped, revealing gaps inside.

The old man pushed open the door, and the door panel made a piercing creaking sound as it was pushed open.

Lin Yi followed, and the feeling under his feet changed from solid soil to soft grass.

He found himself standing by a dirt road, with vast fields on both sides. The wheat in the fields had already sprouted ears, which swayed gently in the breeze, making a rustling sound.

The sky was blue, with a few white clouds drifting slowly. Sunlight streamed through the gaps in the clouds, casting moving patches of light across the fields.

In the distance, there was a village, with a few low houses on the edge of the village. Smoke was rising from the chimneys on the roofs, and the air was filled with the smell of firewood and food.

The old man stood a few steps in front of him, with his back to him, his gray robe fluttering gently in the breeze.

He didn't turn around, but simply raised his hand, pointed in the direction of the village, and continued walking forward.

Lin Yi followed behind him, walking along the dirt road toward the village.

On the way, they encountered several farmers carrying hoes. Their skin was tanned dark by the sun, and fine beads of sweat appeared on their foreheads. When they saw the old man, they would stop, grin, and say a few words in a dialect that Lin Yi couldn't understand.

The old man would stop and chat with them for a few minutes. Sometimes he would reach out to help them hold their hoes, and sometimes he would bend down to pick up a straw hat that had been blown off by the wind, pat it dry, and hand it back.

His movements were so natural that they didn't seem like someone helping others, but rather like an ordinary old man greeting his neighbor.

Lin Yi followed behind, watching all of this without saying a word.

He didn't know what the old man was going to show him, but he wasn't in a hurry.

They walked through villages, through fields, and across a shallow stream where the pebbles and water plants at the bottom were visible.

The old man stopped by the stream, squatted down, scooped up a handful of water, took a sip, then stood up, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, and continued walking.

Lin Yi also squatted down, cupped a handful of water. The water was very cool and had the smell of earth and grass. It leaked through his fingers and dripped onto the stone, making a crisp sound.

They crossed a small hill, on the other side of which was a small town.

The town is small, with only one main street paved with bluestone slabs that have been worn smooth and shiny by time. Various signs hang in front of the shops on both sides, selling cloth, grain, farm tools, and a small tavern where two old men sit on wooden benches in the sun.

There weren't many people on the street. Occasionally, a few women would walk by carrying vegetable baskets, their steps hurried, muttering something to themselves.

The children chased and played in the alley, their laughter ringing out like a string of wind chimes scattered by the wind.

The old man stopped at the town entrance, turned around, and looked at Lin Yi.

"You've saved so many people in this world, have you ever thought about this question: why do you save people in the first place?"

Lin Yi was silent for a moment, then spoke. "Because I am a doctor."

The old man shook his head, and the corner of his mouth twitched slightly, but it wasn't a smile; it was more like a helpless sigh.

"It's not because you're a doctor. It's because you have a heart that wants to save lives that you became a doctor. Don't get the order backwards."

"You've seen so much life and death, and you've seen so many people who don't care about life and death. In your eyes, death is just a state, a data point that needs to be recorded, a process that needs to be processed. You no longer rejoice at someone's birth, nor grieve at someone's death."

"This is a good thing for a soldier. If a soldier has too many emotions about death, he will hesitate on the battlefield, he will be soft-hearted when he should act, and he will be impulsive when he should retreat. Death is an enemy to him, something that must be defeated, and he cannot have any feelings for the enemy."

“But you are not a soldier.” The old man’s tone became more serious. “You are a doctor. The foundation of a doctor is not technique, not knowledge, not those things you have spent many years learning. Those things are just tools. Tools can be replaced, discarded, or relearned. But there is one heart that cannot be lost. Once lost, it can never be found again.”

"A love and respect for life—these are the foundation of a doctor's work, not skills, knowledge, or the fancy techniques you learn."

After saying these words, the old man turned around and continued walking into the town.

Lin Yi followed him into the town, through the main street paved with bluestone slabs, and into a narrow alley. The alley was so narrow that only two people could pass side by side. The walls on both sides were covered with vines, whose leaves swayed gently in the breeze.

At the end of the alley was a small courtyard. The ground of the courtyard was paved with gravel, and moss grew in the gaps between the gravel. A rusty hoe and a dilapidated bucket leaned against the courtyard wall.

A little boy, about seven or eight years old, was sitting in the courtyard. He was wearing a faded blue short jacket and straw sandals with worn-out soles.

He sat on a rock, his hands wrapped around his knees, his chin resting on his knees, his eyes fixed on the ground, motionless.

His face was sallow, his lips were bloodless, and his breathing was shallow.

His hands were trembling slightly, not from fear, but from the uncontrollable shaking that came as his body weakened to a certain extent.

The old man walked up to the little boy, squatted down, reached out and touched his forehead, then turned around and glanced at Lin Yi.

There were no words in that glance, but Lin Yi understood.

He walked over and squatted down in front of the little boy.

He could feel the boy's life force rapidly draining away. The drain wasn't sudden, but rather like sand in an hourglass, falling down grain by grain, irreversibly.

"Uncle," the little boy looked up at Lin Yi, "Am I going to die?"

Lin Yi looked at him, remained silent for a few seconds, and then shook his head.

"Will not."

The little boy's lips twitched, as if he wanted to laugh, but he didn't.

He lowered his head, rested his chin on his knees again, and spoke very softly, as if he were talking to himself.

“I’m not afraid of dying, I’m just afraid of upsetting my mom. She says I’m her only child, and she says if I die, she won’t live anymore.”

Lin Yi extended his perception deep into the boy's body and found the root cause of the illness. It was not a specific disease, but rather a comprehensive exhaustion accumulated from long-term malnutrition and overwork.

This wasn't something that happened overnight, but rather the result of years of wear and tear, like a knife that's been used repeatedly, leaving behind marks everywhere from repairs and patching.

This disease requires no treatment in the cycle of reincarnation.

A single dose of the lowest-level healing potion can solve the problem in three seconds.

But here, this disease is incurable.

Lin Yi took out a palm-sized porcelain bottle from his pocket. The bottle was sealed with a cork and contained a few pale green pills.

He found this on his body and, after examining it, discovered it was a very ineffective recovery drug.

This thing is very ineffective; if placed in the Paradise of Reincarnation, it probably wouldn't even qualify as a white-quality item.

But for the little boy, this was a life-saving medicine.

He poured out a pill, held it in his palm, and handed it to the little boy.

“Eat it,” Lin Yi said.

The little boy looked up at the pill, then at Lin Yi, hesitated for a moment, then reached out, picked up the pill with two fingers, and put it in his mouth.

The pill dissolved the moment it came into contact with his saliva, and a warm current spread down his throat, through his esophagus, into his stomach, and then from his stomach to his limbs and bones.

His complexion changed from sallow to light red in a few seconds, and the color gradually returned to his lips.

He looked down at his hands, opening and closing them repeatedly, as if trying to confirm whether they were still his own.

The little boy's mouth broke into a smile. This time, he laughed out loud, not a polite smile, nor a forced, bitter smile, but a smile that welled up from the bottom of his heart.

The old man stood at the gate of the courtyard, watching this scene, and his usually expressionless face finally showed a change.

Next, he led Lin Yi on a further journey.

Lin Yi healed many people along the way.

As he watched those people's eyes brighten and their faces rosy, he felt only one thing—a sense of peace.

During the journey, the old man would occasionally talk to him, but not about medical principles or knowledge; he would just say some very ordinary things. For example, "Look at that tree. Its roots are embedded in the cracks of the rocks. It can grow such a large leaf by absorbing a little water from such a narrow gap."

For example, when you smell the fragrance of a flower, such a small flower can have its fragrance travel so far.

For example, listen to that bird chirping; it's been chirping all day long, doesn't its throat hurt?

Lin Yi initially found these words boring, so boring that it felt like a waste of his precious time.

But after walking for a while, he found himself unconsciously paying attention to those things.

He would stop and smell the flowers when he passed a flowering tree.

He would look up when he heard birds chirping and try to find which branch the bird was on.

He would squat down when he saw a stream, cup his hands in water, and feel the coolness seep into his blood from his fingertips.

He suddenly realized that the world was very quiet, so quiet that he had never heard these sounds before.

It's not that the world has become quieter, it's that his heart has become quieter.

As a doctor, dealing with patients and life and death is the most common thing. However, as time goes by, his concept of life and death will become very weak, just like the contract holders in the cycle of reincarnation. Because he has seen life and death so often, he is indifferent to life and death.

This indifference is not coldness, but a form of self-protection, like a shell that keeps out things that cause pain.

The thicker your shell, the safer you are, but at the same time, the less you can hear what's going on outside.

This might be a good thing for other professions, but it's not a good thing for the medical profession. The foundation of the medical profession is a love and respect for life. If you lose this heart, then you've gone astray.

You can save lives with technology, knowledge, and experience, but without that heart, you are just a machine that can heal, not a doctor.

The difference between a machine and a doctor is that a machine will turn off its instruments and put away its tools after the patient dies, and then move on to the next patient.

Doctors will stand for a while after a patient dies, even if it's just for a few seconds.

The old man's appearance was like correcting Lin Yi's way of going astray. Although Lin Yi didn't learn much about medicine on this trip, he rediscovered his lost original heart.

During his journey, he also immersed himself in the lives of ordinary people, and he began to follow the emotions of others.

He smiles when he sees patients recovering, feels sad when he sees patients passing away, feels a lump in his throat when he sees a mother holding her child and crying, and feels his eyes well up with tears when he sees an elderly person holding their spouse's hand in a hospital bed.

These emotions were blocked by that thick shell in the past; he couldn't feel them, or rather, he forced himself not to feel them.

But now that the shell is broken, those emotions flooded in like a burst dam, but instead of overwhelming him, they made him more grounded.

When Lin Yi returned to the skill enhancement chamber, he felt as if a shell had been removed from his mind, and he felt incredibly relaxed.

That kind of ease isn't the ease of unloading a heavy burden, but rather like a tree after a heavy rain, where the dust on the leaves has been washed away, revealing their true color.

[Master of Basic Healing Skills: Lv.40 (Passive Skill)]

Lv.10 Ultimate Ability:
Lv.40 Ultimate Ability: Heart of Salvation (Passive): Greatly increases one's willpower, making one immune to most mental control skills.

Lin Yi looked at the skill details on the light screen, his gaze lingering for a moment on the ultimate ability at Lv.40.

Although level 40 Heart of Salvation doesn't offer any benefit to healing abilities, it can be of great help to Lin Yi's future development, as understanding one's true nature is extremely difficult.

Even in the Paradise of Reincarnation, many high-level contractors still don't know what they really want to do, and most of them just take it one step at a time. Lin Yi, however, has now realized his true self and will no longer go astray.

After upgrading his basic healing skills to Master level, Lin Yi invested all of his remaining Soul Crystals into Sword Master, raising his Sword Master level by 3.

[Hint: Swordsmanship Mastery has been raised to Lv.43.]

Swordsmanship Master: Lv.43 (Passive Skill)

Skill effects: Increases sword attack power by 729%, nerve reflex speed by 261%, and greatly enhances sword skills and reaction ability.

The advancement to Sword Master didn't bring about much change. That's how it is with technique-type skills; there's a hurdle every 10 levels, and a qualitative change occurs immediately upon reaching level 10. Lin Yi didn't feel much about it.

The change from Lv.40 to Lv.43 is just the accumulation of quantitative changes, not a qualitative leap. But the change is gradual, like a child growing taller day by day. You look at him every day and you don't feel that he has changed much, but if you look at him again after a period of time, you will find that he is no longer the child you remember.

After significantly improving his skills, Lin Yi took a deep breath, took out a large Soul Crystal, and entered the Inheritance Space. (End of Chapter)