Death Train: SSS-level talent right from the start!

The hall fell silent for a moment.

Chen Ye frowned, his gaze fixed on Qin Zhaoyang's face, waiting for some change to occur in his body.

Qin Zhaoyang closed his eyes, his brows furrowed, his whole body taut like a fully drawn bowstring, ready to endure immense pain.

Then, nothing happened.

After about four or five seconds, Qin Zhaoyang opened his eyes, and his tightly furrowed brows relaxed.

"Huh? You're alright? I thought you'd be rolling on the floor in pain."

His tone shifted from confusion to surprise, and then from surprise to a complex expression that was hard to define as either relaxation or disappointment.

"Hehe, I already told you, it won't kill you."

The bark face on the tree trunk emitted two low laughs.

Qin Zhaoyang raised his head, his gaze returning to the face of the tree bark man.

His expression was changing; first he let out a sigh of relief, then a sense of relief and relaxation, and then that relaxation was being replaced by something more vibrant.

He took two steps forward, walked straight to the base of the tree, stood there, and looked up at the human face on the tree bark.

Then he spoke, his tone carrying the self-assurance of someone who fears no death: "I've eaten the seeds you gave me. Since you're in charge of this training ground, surely giving me some skill books and equipment shouldn't be a problem, right?"

The bark-faced man narrowed his eyes slightly, as if he was somewhat surprised by Qin Zhaoyang's sudden request.

"Theoretically... there shouldn't be any problem." He paused, his voice carrying a slow, deliberate tone: "Skill books and equipment, I can indeed give them to you directly."

Upon hearing this, Qin Zhaoyang seemed to be injected with adrenaline, taking another half step forward: "Then give us a few SSS-level skill books, and a few pieces of top-tier weapons and equipment!"

The bark man's expression subtly changed. The corners of his mouth widened for a moment, as if he had been amused, but then his expression softened: "This is a two-star trial. The highest I can give is an A-grade skill book, and the highest quality equipment is blue. And... I can't give more."

Why?

Qin Zhaoyang frowned.

The tree-bark-faced man's eyes shifted slightly: "Giving too much will harm you and me. You've participated in quite a few trials, haven't you? When you fight bosses, do they drop several skill books at once?"

"If I gave you ten or eight skill books... in your human terms, that's called a data anomaly, and I myself am a hidden bug. I don't want to be eliminated by the death game system."

The nonchalant tone of the tree-bark-faced man had faded considerably, replaced by a cautiousness that suggested he was stating some underlying logic.

Chen Ye and Zhou Yating also came up.

The two stood beside Qin Zhaoyang, their gazes simultaneously falling on the face of the tree bark man.

Chen Ye narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked at the tree bark face. These two short sentences contained a wealth of information, and this tree bark face seemed to be a special existence.

He could sense that the tree-bark-faced man had spoken very cautiously just now.

"Explain in detail."

Chen Ye's gaze remained fixed on the bark man's face; he wanted to know more about the death game.

The bark man's expression froze for a moment, as if the name Chen Ye had brought up a topic he didn't want to discuss in detail.

"There's not much to explain." The bark-faced man's tone returned to its previous calm: "In short, I can't give you more. You can choose one, but only one."

Seeing that the tree-bark-faced man didn't want to say more, Chen Ye didn't pursue the matter further, but he still wanted to squeeze more money out of this guy.

He pondered for a moment and said, "Is it reasonable for a boss-level monster to drop a skill book and a key to a silver treasure chest?"

The tree-bark-faced man pondered for a moment: "That makes perfect sense."

"Then give us an A-grade skill book and a key to a silver treasure chest." After saying this, Chen Ye turned to Qin Zhaoyang: "Zhaoyang, you choose the skill book. After this trial, I can exchange it for an S-grade skill selection chest. I don't need the skill."

Qin Zhaoyang was stunned for a moment, clearly not expecting Chen Ye to give him this choice.

His gaze shifted from Chen Ye's face to the tree-bark man's face: "My talent doesn't have a base double bonus, so let's choose a skill to maximize the benefits for the class monitor. The class monitor's talent is [Elemental Affinity], so he should be able to learn all four elemental skill books: lightning, wind, water, and fire... Just pick any one, something powerful."

He spoke with unusual seriousness, unlike his usual joking tone.

The tree-bark-faced creature's gaze lingered on Qin Zhaoyang for a moment: "You're quite selfless, aren't you?"

Then he opened his mouth again and spat out two orbs of light.

A silver-white key lay quietly inside the ball of light on the left.

Inside the ball of light on the right lay a skill book with a dark red glow. The cover had no text, only the outline of a flame.

Qin Zhaoyang stretched out his hands and caught the two orbs of light at the same time; the orbs melted in his palms.

After handing the silver key to Chen Ye, he opened the book of skills with a dark red cover.

A blue light screen unfolded in front of the three of them.

[Rank A Skill: Thousand Flames Rain]

[Skill Description: Fire-type skill, consumes 40 stamina points, condenses fire element to rain down flames in a designated area, dealing area damage equal to three times the base stamina. Can stack with talents.]

"That's more like a mage skill! This is great, very good."

Qin Zhaoyang was quite satisfied with the skill given to him by the Tree God.

Chen Ye's gaze swept across the screen, then paused on the words "area damage".

This A-level skill, like his B-level skill "Thousand-Pound Cannon," deals three times the base damage, but while the former is a single-target attack, this skill is an area-of-effect attack.

In the later stages of the game, when facing groups of ordinary monsters, area-of-effect skills will be far more valuable than single-target skills.

"Here you go, class monitor!"

Qin Zhaoyang handed the skill book to Zhou Yating.

Zhou Yating took the skill book and clicked to learn it.

The skill book transformed into countless tiny specks of light and slowly dissipated.

"Brother Ye, you opened that silver treasure chest too, right?"

Qin Zhaoyang turned to look at Chen Ye, his eyes filled with barely suppressed curiosity.

Chen Ye took out the silver treasure chest from his storage space. It was about the size of a palm and had a silver body.

He picked up the key, aimed it at the lock, and gently turned it. With a click, the treasure chest lid popped open automatically.

Inside lay a red pill, slightly larger than a fingernail, dark red in color, with a smooth surface.

He took out the pill, brought up the item attribute panel, and a blue light screen unfolded before his eyes.

[Reset Pill: Resets all free attribute points upon consumption, allowing for reallocation.]

Chen Ye's expression didn't change much, but he couldn't help feeling a little disappointed. He didn't need to reset his freedom attribute now, and he had originally planned to open another item for Qin Zhaoyang.

Qin Zhaoyang craned his neck to look at the panel: "...This thing seems so-so."

"If I had known I would get this, I would have preferred a blue-quality ranged weapon to boost my damage."

Chen Ye glanced at the Rewind Pill in his hand and put it into his storage space.

He then looked up, his gaze returning to the bark-faced man: "Where did you put the others?"