My skills have mutated again!

Chapter 390 Dean and Nicola
Within the City of Oaths, Victor did not elaborate on what advantages the Eternal Inscription Replacement System brought to Xia Lin.

The black gem-like eyes pierced through the barriers of space, the left eye reflecting the scene of Xia Lin and Nikolai confronting each other, and the right eye reflecting the battlefield between Wu Xin and Dean.

He spoke slowly again.

"Third of the twelve characteristics: System integration."

Whether it's a professional system or any kind of extraordinary system, leveling up is a normal and necessary phenomenon.

And the moment of upgrading is also the moment of transformation in strength.

The same principle applies to level twelve—the moment a professional completes the transition from level eleven to level twelve, their strength will be elevated!

If we incorporate the explosive increase in racial stats and base attributes into the characteristic of infinite growth.

Therefore, changes in professions, talents, and skill systems should be listed separately.

It was as if memories of past events from the old universe were replaying in my mind.

The power of the Stone of God is still fresh in Victor's memory!

"The stone bestowed by heaven itself possesses the ability to create things from nothing and transform the false into the true."

"The power granted by the God-given Stone allows level 12 professionals to reconstruct and optimize their profession, talents, and skill set at the moment of promotion."

What you think is reality!

Even Victor felt that the system integration opportunity gained during the level 12 promotion was no less valuable than having his boss work all out for a year to customize a skill system just for him.

"And this also means that every level twelve must possess a trump card super skill system... even more super than those so-called super systems that Xia Lin inscribed!"

Opportunities to advance to level twelve are already rare.

Even though the Six Pillars can artificially create loopholes in the universe, they have never seen the Six Pillars casually manipulate the Twelve Levels—because the rules established in ancient times made the Six Pillars regard the Twelve Levels as potential seeds that could change the pattern, and also as their challengers.

It's not only against the interests and original intentions of the Six Pillars system that any Tom, Dick, or Harry can achieve level twelve, but it also tarnishes the prestige of the Six Pillars system.

Therefore, throughout history, those who can advance to level twelve are the best among those at level eleven.

Even if there is an opportunity to "autonomously" advance to level twelve in the Black Domain... just imagine, being able to snatch this spot among more than ten level twelve professionals and evil gods, and thousands of level eleven competitors, is an extremely difficult thing to achieve, and it is also a manifestation of ability!

Therefore, it can be said that way.

Anyone who can reach level twelve cannot be weak at level eleven.

Such an entity would not have weak basic attributes; in fact, it would most likely be at the limit of the Ember Zone.

Such a being would possess a formidable skill set, likely exhibiting the super system Xia Lin envisioned.

When such beings receive the blessings of the universe and reach level twelve, they naturally possess the power to crush their past selves and all those below level twelve!
……

Tier 12 Trait 1: Unlimited Growth.

This allowed level 12 professionals to break through their attribute limits, while also significantly enhancing their racial stats and physical attributes.

Considering that most level 12 players had already reached their attribute limit at level 11, this enhancement has widened the gap between their base attributes and those of their former selves, as well as those of Xia Lin and Wu Xin!
Level 12 Trait 2: Cosmic Gift (Divine Transcendence).

This allows level 12 professionals, even without the special six-pillar level skills and items provided by the six pillars, to bring powerful but powerless individuals like Wuxin down to earth, bringing both sides back to the same starting line.

The third of the twelve-level traits: system integration.

This allows level 12 professionals to completely transform into their dream selves—as professionals, who wouldn't fantasize about things like, "If I had such a skill, my skill set would be absolutely overpowered" or "If I could find these skills, I would have a bugged and unsolvable system"?

The system integration during the promotion process turned dreams into reality and allowed level twelve professionals to undergo a fundamental transformation!
In Victor's right eye reflection, after a brief period of disorientation, the dead form of Heartless regained control of the situation.

—The so-called stabilization of the situation means that what was just a brutal beating has turned into a barely perfunctory resistance.

A subtle ripple of solemnity appeared in his eyes, which should have been as calm as still water.

Wuxin was well aware of the characteristics of level twelve, and naturally understood that in the face of level twelve, everything he relied on to dominate the Ash Zone had turned into a dream.

However, his past "battle" experience with the Immortal Venerables under the Creator's command, and his casual conversation with the Immortal Venerables where he said, "The twelfth level of the Black Domain is nothing, and its strength is far inferior to ours," caused the proud Wuxin to commit the sin of "arrogance" from the very beginning.

He thought he could challenge a level 12 Black Domain expert single-handedly.

But as it turns out, he doesn't seem to be able to do it.

"It's just not possible right now..."

The ripples in his eyes slowly subsided.

Suddenly, a diamond-like sparkle of vitality emanated from that deathly body.

The dual nature of life and death provides three states: lifeless, dead, and half-life/half-death.

When the diamond shines, it reveals its ultimate form of being without intention: a dazzling brilliance that transcends life and death!

Dean just grinned, his gap-toothed smile appearing even darker in the unintentionally bright light.

Having lived in the Black Domain for so long, he was unaware of Wuxin's formidable reputation.

But why should Dean, who has already reached level twelve, avoid the sharpness of those of lower levels?

Should I avoid him?
No, no, no, I have to tell you what it means for your grandpa to always be your grandpa!

I must show you the strict hierarchical order within the professional system!
Then, black light erupted, enveloping Dean.

At this moment, Dean seemed to transform into a black hole, swallowing all the light emitted by Wuxin.

But this is not the end.

The black light, which had the shape and power of a black hole, slowly recoiled and merged into Dean's body, filling his soul, his body, and every cell of his body.

When the black light completely subsided, Dean's appearance did not change significantly.

Wuxin and Donald clearly sensed that the danger emanating from Dean far surpassed what it had just been!
The system integration when advancing to level twelve brings changes that cannot be described simply as "having an extra skill or losing a skill" or "changing the effect of a certain skill".

This integration is a profound transformation that is "incomprehensible to those who have not experienced it" and "impossible to describe even to those who have experienced it."

It transforms all the skills of a professional into a complete and perfect whole. The intertwining and chaining of at least twelve skills and talents together constitute the absolute strength of a level twelve powerhouse!

And it must be mentioned that the first of the twelve trait traits, infinite growth, also has this function.

It breaks the limitation that buff skills can only stack up to a hundred times the temporary attribute!

Devourer Dean named his level 12 skill set the Black Hole System.

When he made his move again, the terrifying nature of the black hole system was revealed, only the tip of the iceberg.

Like a moving black hole streaking across the cosmos, it instantly carved out a dark path along its journey.

Because Dean was moving too fast, the route appeared out of thin air and connected to Wuxin in an instant.

However, Wuxin has not even completed the transformation from a state of death to a state of superposition of life and death...

Transformation doesn't necessarily take long; it might just be a blink of an eye, or a fleeting moment, but it's definitely not an instant.

Instead of instantly giving Dean, who was at level twelve, an absolute first-strike opportunity!

Just as Wuxin's body was still unstable and the death energy and life energy had not yet merged, two strong, rock-solid hands grabbed Wuxin's shoulders from the left and right.

The difference in size and attributes made Dean's pinching effortless, as easy as a strong man pinching a baby.

However, this is not the most terrifying thing.

The most terrifying thing is that countless tiny black holes, which can only be observed from a microscopic perspective, began to rotate from Dean's body!
His hands, his torso, and every cell in his internal organs seemed to have transformed into tiny but powerful black holes.

On the one hand, this gave Dean an exaggerated temporary attribute boost of over ten thousand times.

On the other hand, it also allows Dean to inflict heavy trauma on everything around him even without doing anything, simply by standing still!

Space was pulled by countless black holes, and began to twist and overlap.

Donald, who was not far away, couldn't even see Dean and Wuxin because of the interference from the distorted gravitational waves.

Even though the life and death energies were more stable than the rules of space, they still wavered in the face of this powerful suction force. They were swallowed into Dean's body bit by bit, turning into abundant energy that propelled Dean's power to new heights!

Blessed by divine protection, there is no need to consider the so-called skill permission judgment.

Alternatively, level 12 powerhouses can choose whether or not to gamble on this judgment—when facing weaker opponents, the weighted judgment, which is irrelevant to level 12, can give them an advantage. And when facing a power-hungry individual with six-pillar-level abilities, they can choose to bring everything back to the same starting line.

Having the right to choose means I can fight within the rules, or I can break out of the rules and choose another path!
The right to choose is not the same as transcendence, but having the right to choose is the starting point of transcendence.

This is precisely why Victor named the twelfth level the Transcendence Period.

At this moment, in Dean's eyes, all of Wuxin's resistance would be crushed into dust by his physical abilities and black hole system, which far surpassed Wuxin's!

Until the black and white eyes suddenly opened, a chaotic light and shadow instantly roared.

The Eternal Netherworld Blade, at an incredible angle and with incredible power, pierced through Dean's jaw and emerged from the top of his skull, bringing with it a black stream of light that resembled blood.

"Hey, old man, aren't you getting a little too arrogant?"

The hoarse voice spoke of determination. The sons of the Six Pillars never feared powerful enemies.

Whether it's Xia Lin, Donald, or this level twelve person in front of us.

……

Xia Lin was unaware of the characteristics of Level Twelve, nor did he understand what advantages his Eternal Inscription Replacement System could bring him at higher levels.

Of all the powerful individuals at this level and above that he had encountered, besides the Six Pillars, only Victor remained.

But he wasn't glued to Victor's side day and night, and Victor hadn't specifically introduced these things to Xia Lin.

Donald had mentioned it briefly before, but Xia Lin didn't care—because he couldn't have predicted that he would come into contact with a level 12 being in the Ashes Zone ahead of time.

But regardless of anything else, the fact remains that he has now clashed head-on with Nicholas, the Pale King, a level twelve being.

From all directions, stars shone brightly, slightly illuminating the cold universe.

But the light was not warm; instead, it was chillingly cold.

Even colder than the light was the expression on Nikolai's face and the energy fluctuations emanating from his body.

"Give me the Book of the Spirit World."

No longer gentle, no longer benevolent.

He spoke calmly and casually, as if it were only natural for Xia Lin to give him the Book of the Spirit Realm.

Pale white ripples slowly spread from Nikolai's body, who resembled a middle-aged gentleman.

Space and time are thus solidified, and then shattered.

When the pale ripples finally reached Xia Lin, penetrating the protective layer surrounding her body and touching her skin, Xia Lin finally shifted her attention from the changes in the Heavenly Dao back to Nikolai in front of her.

Ning Feng's ascension to heaven replaced the Heavenly Dao of the Black Domain, bringing a series of consequences.

Xia Lin was naturally able to sense the unusual movement of the Heavenly Dao; in fact, he had just been pondering this matter.

However, after Nicholas appeared, the anomaly in the Heavenly Dao was clearly no longer Xia Lin's most pressing concern.

When the cold energy fluctuations touched his body, Xia Lin felt a chill.

It's like a slippery, venomous snake, coiling around your body, gently wriggling and slowly rubbing against you.

Compared to the disgusting coldness, the fangs of the venomous snake, which might be poked out at any moment, would bring Xia Lin even heavier psychological pressure.

"No sound notification for the scorched earth area..."

In the void, Xia Lin spoke slowly.

Yes, there is no sound effect for the burnt-out area.

This cold energy undoubtedly brought Xia Lin a debuff... but the specifics of what it was were not specified by the Ash Zone system.

This is only natural—the Ash Zone system, being a subsidiary system under the professional system, has no jurisdiction over level twelve.

This left Xia Lin somewhat at a loss.

The lack of an audible notification from the Ash Zone meant he was unsure of the effectiveness of his defensive system, let alone whether his unstable mutation talent had taken effect...

However, soon, as the body turned into a steely and dark color, the cold and slippery sensation slowly disappeared, and the invisible psychological pressure also vanished without a trace.

Xia Lin vaguely realized that steel belonged to the East Wind Dominator, while darkness belonged to the Ghost Five Elements Black Emperor Slash.

Even without the notification sound of the Ash Zone, Xia Lin's core defensive skill, East Wind Domination, was still protecting him in a different way. Combined with the dark source power brought by Ghost Five Elements Black Emperor Slash, Xia Lin did not fall into a disadvantageous position in this first probing exchange.

Seeing this, Xia Lin looked slightly enlightened.

Although he didn't know the various characteristics of a level twelve expert, this simple exchange was enough for Xia Lin to notice some issues and complete the initial adaptation to fighting against a level twelve expert.

"There seems to be a problem with the authorization of talents and skills."

"The confrontation between skills seems to be based on a non-data-driven and more ambiguous judgment standard."

It's impossible to assess the judgment authority of that cold energy, or whether it's stronger or weaker than the East Wind Dominator.

When facing Level 12, this set of standards seems to no longer be applicable, and has instead transformed into a more realistic non-data-driven confrontation.

The cold energy affected Xia Lin, but as the East Wind Overlord and the Ghost Five Elements Black Emperor Slash exerted their power, this effect was slowly dispelled by Xia Lin.

In this process, strength is no longer determined by the skill's ranking, but rather by one's own attributes and energy intensity.

Attribute energy is fundamental, while innate skills become weapons.

Without a strong foundation, even the sharpest weapon will be difficult to harm.

"That would be bad..."

Xia Lin realized what the problem was.

Yes, making judgments outside the established framework is seriously detrimental to oneself.

Because the attributes of a level 12 being can only be higher than one's own, the energy intensity of a level 12 being must also surpass one's own.

12 > 9, that's common sense.

This significantly reduces the room for cheating by judging skill level, and the difference in strength will be presented in the most intuitive and violent way in the combat performance!
Just like now!
The pale ripples were not just a single line, but a continuous series.

At first, they were just ripples caused by pebbles thrown into a calm lake, but as time went by, they turned into raging waves in just a few breaths!
A raging wave swept towards Xia Lin, and it had already taken him quite a while to deal with that ripple, consuming a small but definitely not insignificant amount of mental energy.

Amidst the waves of pale ripples, the source of everything: the Pale King, slowly spoke.

"I only want the Book of the Spirit Realm, not your life..."

"But that was before. When I appeared in front of you in person, I had no choice but to have it all."

In Nikolai's eyes, Xia Lin had already been swept away by the pale fluctuations, and it was only a matter of time before she turned into white crystal sand.

In Nikolai's view, the famous Ash Walker was still a junior, and he only needed to make a slight move to decide Xia Lin's life or death.

However, ten seconds, thirty seconds, and even a full minute passed, but the scene of Xia Lin turning into white crystal sand as expected did not appear.

This startled Nikolai, who then looked at Xia Lin, who was being eroded by the pale fluctuations.

But there was no erosion.

Xia Lin stood motionless, completely unharmed, with one hand on his chin, as if deep in thought.

Nikolai: ...

In the silence, the pale fluctuations gradually subsided, causing Xia Lin to raise his head and look at Nikolai, revealing a malicious smile.

"I thought it was something amazing, but it's just like this?"

This wasn't some kind of psychological warfare; it was Xia Lin's genuine feeling.

Because of Nikolai's pale and fluctuating appearance, Xia Lin became aware of something.

—Level 12 has higher attributes, a stronger skill system, and the ability to ignore judgment.

However, ignoring the judgment does not mean ignoring the inherent effects of the skill itself!

This leads to the following problem: While numerical monsters are greatly strengthened at level 12, this does not mean that mechanic-based monsters are completely unable to deal with numerical monsters at this stage—provided that your mechanics are not the kind that simply overpower others by judging authority, such as the unintentional curse sealing system.

During the brief encounter, Xia Lin still didn't receive any notification from the Ash Zone, but after experiencing 259 pale waves of energy, he suddenly became immune to them...

The reason for immunity is obvious!
The sixth-level skill, Eternal Inscription, has taken effect!
In battles against level 12 opponents, due to the characteristics of level 12, the effects of some skills will not be as fully effective as described in the description. For example, the Wuxin Curse Seal system is greatly weakened at level 12 due to causal entanglement, and can only be partially effective or even not effective at all. As a result, this system that wins based on authority level cannot achieve the expected results.

For example, with Eternal Engraving, when facing a level 12 opponent, the number of engravings required will not be a fixed four times, but will depend on the strength of the opponent and their skills.

The answer that Eternal Inscription submitted to Pale Fluctuations was: 259 times.

Regardless of the number of times required, the fundamental effect of the skill will not change, nor will it be affected by the power of divine transcendence—Eternal Inscription has ultimately inscribed the Pale Wave skill and incorporated it into Xia Lin's permanent skill bar.

【Pale Wave (Racial Heritage Level): Active Skill. Upon activation, it will emit energy ripples outwards. The destructive power and frequency of these ripples depend on your attributes and the nature of the energy! This skill has no cooldown and can be activated or deactivated at any time.】

To be fair, it's just a very simple skill, and in Xia Lin's hands, there's not much room for him to use it effectively.

But this reveals the fact that Xia Lin's Eternal Inscription Replacement System is still effective at the level of twelfth grade!
The fact that the Eternal Inscription Replacement System is effective means that at this level, Xia Lin can still be the "plunder everything, what's yours is mine" mechanism monster!
His strengths as a mechanic will not be weakened by the level 12 trait.

A red light suddenly appeared.

The cross-shaped sword light instantly pierced through layers of obstacles and went straight through Xia Lin's chest!

Ahead, Nikolai, holding a slender, blood-red longsword, smiled slightly at Xia Lin.

"what about now?"

He responded to Xia Lin's "that's all" with his actions.

(End of this chapter)