My talent panel can be increased.

Chapter 167 Sparring! Earning Resources!
In the audience
"Two punches were all it took?"

Qingyu's expression was incredibly interesting, his eyes filled with disbelief. Although Ye Mingqiu had told him before that Tang Ruobing was very strong, he was mentally prepared.

Even so, he couldn't imagine a mage being able to smash a tank with two melee punches, especially a level 10 legendary tank at its limit.

"Something's not right! This doesn't look like he was killed by being poisoned."

Qingyu narrowed his eyes, reliving the scene in his mind. Although Tang Ruobing's attack was powerful, it didn't seem like she could destroy Zhenyue, who had activated the Xuanwu phantom defense, with a single punch.

It's worth noting that when she attacked Zhenyue, who was unprepared, inside the Xuanwu phantom, she only managed to reduce his health by one-third.

This injury is very strange!
Just as he was pondering, Tang Ruobing returned from the arena with a relaxed smile, gracefully and calmly returning to her seat, in a pleasant mood.

"Congratulations, you have successfully secured second place."

Ye Mingqiu said with a smile.

"Hmm, simpler than I thought. His resistance to abnormal statuses is much lower than expected."

Tang Ruobing replied.

The power she uses is obtained by establishing a connection with the Ancient God Realm through the [Aura of the Ancient God], and by tempering herself through the power of the Ancient God Realm.

Gaining power in this way is inherently a very risky act. Although the Eye of Omargon absorbed the curse, her psionic energy was still tainted and corrupted by the power of the ancient gods.

Erosion and corruption occur simultaneously, and the presence of corruption makes erosion difficult to detect, creating a truly terrifying combination of forces.

Tang Ruobing's tactics are extremely deceptive. When others think she is going to launch a burst attack, she will use a huge amount of psionic energy to make the opponent realize their mistake.

When she finished setting up her board and successfully unleashed a high-intensity spell, making the enemy think she was about to unleash a barrage of attacks as a turret mage, she quietly approached and stunned her opponent.

As the enemy gradually adapts to this bizarre battle rhythm, little do they know that Tang Ruobing's initial setup was to spread psionic energy, transforming it into icy winds that silently merge into the air, and into extremely cold earth that quietly interacts with the enemy, thereby adding the effects of erosion and corruption.

Finally, the accumulated erosion and corruption effects were detonated by a single punch, resulting in a barrage of judgments. The judgments for instant death, erosion, and corruption were hidden within a large number of freeze and slowdown judgments, subtly confusing the player.

When the instant death judgment was successful, Zhen Yue didn't even know how he died.

"As expected of the deputy commander, he is indeed impressive."

Qingyu praised with a smile.

"It was just restraint. If it were an assassin or warrior of the same level, I probably wouldn't have won so easily," Tang Ruobing replied with a smile, while her small hand quietly reached out from the crack in the seat to her side.

Feeling the familiar touch on his fingertips, Ye Mingqiu smiled and took the playful little hand in his.

"Ding~"

A notification sound from the spirit world rang out.

Shattered Star: I have good news and bad news. Which do you want to hear?

God: Good news.

Shattered Star: Under the tempering of the power of the ancient god realm, my psionic energy has also acquired a portion of the power to corrode and corrupt, and at a very high level.

Deity: What are the specific effects?
Shattered Star: Anyone who comes into contact with my psionic energy will be subject to erosion, corruption, and instant death. My psionic energy attributes are significantly affected by the power of the Ancient God Realm.

Ye Mingqiu was not surprised, because the ancient god realm power that Tang Ruobing had undergone tempering was all lethal dose, and dozens of times the lethal dose. It would be surprising if she didn't even have this effect.

God: What's the bad news?

Shattered Star: If this continues, I feel that my psionic attributes will gradually be assimilated by the power of the ancient gods, increasing in strength and quantity while possessing even more terrifying characteristics, and potentially causing some kind of impact on my body.

God: For example?

Shattered Star: In the worst case, it will trigger an instant death check as soon as it makes physical contact with me, and this check happens very frequently.

God: Are you alright yourself?

Shattered Star: No problem. To adapt to this kind of power tempering, I wear a lot of equipment that stacks abnormal status resistance every time I temper, so it doesn't have much of an impact on me.

Shattered Star: To be precise, it is the power of the ancient gods that remains on the surface of my body, rather than my body being transformed into a cursed form.

God: Hmm, it's good that you're alright. You don't need to push yourself so hard. You can relax a bit, go on a trip, see the scenery, or do some baking or something.

Shattered Star: So you'll take the opportunity to overtake me on a curve?

Shattered Star: Stare.

God: Don't misunderstand me. I'm just thinking of you. As for levels and stuff, I don't think they're that important.

Shattered Star: Alright, then don't level up, come travel with me.

God: That won't do. A truly good relationship is one where you help each other succeed, not drag each other down. I'm just giving you a suitable recommendation based on your situation. After all, I don't have that kind of negative state interfering with or affecting you, so wasting my time would be a waste, don't you think? This is a very irrational thing to do.

Shattered Star: Ha!

God: (ω)
Shattered Star: The resources we agreed on should be approved in a couple of days. But let me make this clear first, the psionic points and materials/equipment you gave me are only enough for one batch.

God: Do you have a solution?
Shattered Star: First, take a screenshot of the top spot on the Heavenly Ladder Arena leaderboard. If you can maintain your first place, then give the result directly to Zheng Xuejun and let the school generate some gold coins.

Shattered Star: As long as you can take the top spot on the leaderboard, you will bring a significant honor boost to Chenghai No. 2 Middle School. It would be unreasonable for the school not to give you some gold coins.

Divine Lord: By the way, I've never heard of the Heavenly Ladder Arena at school before. It seems like not many people know about it.

Shattered Star: Because it's impossible to go up, only a few psychics in our school can reach level 10 before graduation, let alone those with enough talent and potential to be selected by the spirit world to enter the Heavenly Ladder Ranking.

Shattered Star: In most cases, even if our students get in, it's just a formality. They're eliminated in the first round. The school isn't ashamed to promote such results, and the neighboring No. 1 High School is in a similar situation.

Shattered Star: Over time, high schools in our city stopped promoting it, and fewer people knew about the Ladder Arena.

God: I understand. Since you said first, there must be a second, right? Are there any other ways to quickly obtain resources?
Shattered Stars: Yes, yes.

Shattered Star: Do you know where attribute-boosting items come from?
God Lord: A level 10 capped psychic?
Shattered Star: Clever, a level 10 capped psionicist who, under normal circumstances, will not use attribute-enhancing items to raise his base attributes to the maximum.

Shattered Star: This is because the benefits are too low for them. When the attribute improvement is close to the limit of the [body's basic potential], the effect of attribute improvement items will become negligible. It is difficult to reach the maximum even after spending a lot of resources, which is extremely wasteful.

Shattered Star: In this situation, it's better to sell the attribute-enhancing items directly, then enter the Spirit Realm to explore. Use the attribute points from the Spirit Realm to increase the basic attributes to the upper limit of the body's basic potential. The extra resource gains can also be sold.

God: I understand the principle, but the problem is how to get anything out of them?
Shattered Star: It's simple. Just sell the challenge or sparring qualification to the top of the ladder. Naturally, people will want to challenge you in advance. If you're lucky, you should be able to make a lot of money.

God: Thank you.

Shattered Star: Just one thank you?
Ye Mingqiu turned to look at the girl beside him. She casually turned her head, a playful look in her eyes, as if she was curious about what he wanted to do and how he should thank her.

He quickly moved closer, closing the distance to the point of near-surprise and confusion in Tang Ruobing's eyes, before gently kissing her forehead.

The touch on her forehead momentarily stunned her, and then an indescribable feeling welled up from the tip of her heart. She felt her heart beating at its fastest speed, and her face became increasingly hot, making her look like a steampunk princess.

Tang Ruobing lowered her head and started typing.

Shattered Star: Is this how you thank me?

God: Isn't that enough?
Shattered Star: !!!
Shattered Star: This is the Heavenly Ladder Arena, and there are other people here! If someone takes a picture of me, my butt will be split in eight pieces when I get home!

Shattered Star has retracted one of the messages.

God: Don't worry, I will do my best to rescue you from that old man in your family.

Shattered Star: 666.

Shattered Star: Remember to activate Ghost Fire when you save me.

Qingyu sat silently to the side. From the moment the two of them lowered their heads and held hands, he realized that they were secretly typing and chatting. As a top-level psionicist, it was impossible for him not to notice something like this.

He politely remained silent and didn't disturb them. He guessed that the two were probably having a private conversation and would look up and resume their normal chat after they finished.

But Qingyu was wrong.

The two interacted and touched intimately under his gaze, feeding him a huge dose of "dog food" (a Chinese slang term for public displays of affection), making him feel stuffed.

Ugh!
It's time to run away!
Just as he was about to leave, a young man with tousled hair, dressed in a black robe, emerged from the rest area and headed straight towards them. Who was this guy?

Lu walked towards Ye Mingqiu, but stopped halfway. Looking at the two holding hands intimately, a thought suddenly popped into his mind: Perhaps, I came at the wrong time.

Immediately afterwards, Qingyu stood up and walked towards the slightly embarrassed Lü, saying with a smile, "Friend, it seems you know them? Would you mind introducing us?"

"law."

"Oh it's you."

Qingyu nodded knowingly, smiled, and whispered, "It's a bit awkward here, let's go over there and talk. By the way, how did you join the God of Hunters?"

Ritsu's strength is actually not weak, after all, there are no weaklings in the ladder arena, but compared to these monsters, Ritsu's strength is slightly lacking.

Aside from him, everyone in the hunting team is a legend. Tang Ruobing appears to be a hero, but in reality, his combat strength is also legendary, making him extremely powerful overall.

"I exchanged my team building card for a spot."

As he walked, Lü answered honestly.

As a rational monk, he felt no need to hide such matters or lie for the sake of superficial dignity.

After all, their strength is undeniable; whether they are strong or weak, and whether they are qualified, is immediately apparent.

"I see."

Qingyu nodded in relief and said with a smile, "A team creation card buys you a ticket to a circle, plus this level of team buffs. You've made a great deal."

"Ah."

"By the way, since you got your spot through a team-building card, that means you must have joined the God Hunter Guild a long time ago, right? Is there anything interesting we can talk about?"

"A little bit."

Soon after, Ye Mingqiu set up a sign in the arena that read "Trading Challenge/Sparring Qualification" while looking down at a book and waiting for customers.

Soon, a tall man carrying a black and gold spear came to Ye Mingqiu's side and said simply and directly, "I'm here to spar and hone my skills. What's the price?"

"Attribute enhancement items, with a maximum of 100 or more," Ye Mingqiu replied succinctly.

The man took out a black pill and displayed the information panel.

[True Martial Pill]

Description: A precious pill produced in the world of high martial arts. After use, it can greatly increase the strength attribute, with a maximum increase of 120 points.

“Okay,” Ye Mingqiu said.

"I have one condition: during the sparring, you cannot use attributes exceeding mine, nor can you use skills. In return, I will not use skills or equipment; it's purely a sparring match to hone our skills," the man continued.

"Ok?"

Ye Mingqiu looked up and asked in confusion, "Isn't this common sense in skill exchanges? Since when does this kind of common sense have to be emphasized?"

"Yes, I encountered a problem not long ago."

The man sighed, his expression wistful.

"When does it begin?"

"Just now."

In the blink of an eye, Ye Mingqiu and the man were teleported to the arena, and he learned the man's code name: Old Black.

This battle is a friendly spar, so the arena setting is relatively simple, just a regular ring without any fancy terrain, making it perfect for a straightforward spar.

Of course, if there are special needs, the arena environment can be changed by spending a small amount of psionic points, but there is no need to change it at present.

"My Lord, let me see how skilled you are." Old Hei raised his black and gold spear, his eyes gleaming with a burning light.

"it is good."

Ye Mingqiu was equally eager to fight.

Encountering a master gun user is not easy. Guns and spears are similar weapons. Although they have some differences, combat experience and skills can be learned from and verified by each other. Sparring with other psionicists of the same type can better improve one's skill level.

"Come!"

Old Hei's eyes narrowed, and his tall body surged forward like a tank, charging forward at incredible speed. His black and gold spear thrust out, and a single point of cold light transformed into dozens of silver rays, as terrifying as dozens of venomous snakes emerging from their holes.

[Instinctive Perception]

As Ye Mingqiu brandished his blood spear, he focused intently on the old black man before him. Dozens of silver rays seemed to possess life, moving forward along unpredictable paths within his instinctive perception, constantly changing and difficult to decipher directly.

He had experienced this feeling before, during a sparring session with Tang Ruobing. Tang Ruobing had extremely strong control over her magic; the trajectories of thousands of ice spikes were controlled in real time and would change according to his movements, requiring extra attention.

I feel the same way now.

What a tough guy!

"when!"

The blood spear pierced the air, colliding with the spear shadow with unparalleled precision, and dozens of silver rays dissipated.

But Lao Hei was not surprised. He simply flicked his wrist, causing the spear that had been deflected to spin rapidly. The black and gold spear shaft trembled in a breathtaking arc before suddenly springing straight up and unleashing an even more powerful thrust.

Good marksmanship!
Ye Mingqiu's eyes brightened slightly as he swung his spear again to counterattack, keeping his strength at roughly the same level as his opponent. His combat experience grew rapidly as the battle progressed, and his learning, memorization, and mastery were proceeding at an extremely terrifying speed.

"I have a feeling that our commander might be at a disadvantage."

Qingyu, sitting in the audience, was eating sunflower seeds and watching the battle below the stage with a smile.

“How come you see?”

“I know Lao Hei. Although his overall strength is not strong, his foundation is extremely solid. He has also saved enough money to buy techniques and plans to soar to the sky when he advances to the second level.”

Qingyu casually tilted the melon seed bag, gesturing for Luye to have some, and said at the same time, "Although his strength is not strong, his special skill level is already maxed out, and he has also mastered the power of momentum. Although it is unstable, he can still unleash it from time to time. As long as he can unleash an attack with momentum, it will be difficult for the Divine Lord to resist."

"Special skill level maxed out?"

Lü seemed somewhat surprised.

Among psionicists, maxing out a talent level is actually quite uncommon, because upgrading talents is more difficult than upgrading skills, and the benefits of upgrading are relatively small. Therefore, talents are given a relatively low priority for improvement. Only those who are extremely strict with themselves will max them out.

Under normal circumstances, even for level 10 heroes in their best condition, many people haven't maxed out their specialization levels. After all, there are too many skill books required for leveling up, and the difficulty of leveling up through combat is too high, causing many people's specialization improvement speed to not keep up with the leveling speed.

Those who can max out their special skill level are mostly those who have been practicing since childhood, have good talent, work hard, and have abundant family resources. Only under these circumstances can they reach the maximum level.

"However, that's not necessarily true. I have a strange feeling about our commander."

"How to say?"

"Um"

Qingyu thought for a moment and said, "He gives me the feeling that his skill level is not high, but he can easily see through the opponent's attack and then make a corresponding counterattack."

"Of course, that's not the point. The point is that his combat fluidity seems to be improving in a terrifying way, almost like a powerful amnesiac gradually awakening his combat instincts and mastering what he already knew. Perhaps this is part of the price he has to pay."

"The price?"

Lu murmured softly.

He always felt that things weren't as simple as Qingyu had imagined.

According to historical records, the remains of the ancient god they challenged were precisely the remains of Omargon, and the leader most likely obtained the Eye of Omargon around that time, if that's the case.

So, what are the ranks of the Divine Lords?
The God-King's combat talent.
This is too scary!

(End of this chapter)