No strange things are allowed to evolve!

"What?" Snow King was stunned.

"It's nothing, that was just my second personality." Jiang Shu casually tossed the popsicle aside, then stood up, opened the car door, and got into the passenger seat.

"Um... isn't there a trash can over there?"

“It’s okay, I’m not a local.”

"Oh, so... isn't there some connection between the two?"

"Focus on driving."

Watching Jiang Shu get into that red sports car that looked very expensive and then drive away, several hairdressers who had been observing Jiang Shu for a long time pouted with disdain and envy.

"What? So you're in the same industry."

"Are the tastes of rich people all this strange nowadays?"

......

Looking out the half-rolled-down car window at the scenery along the way.

Jiang Shu became increasingly certain that he had taken the wrong path from the very beginning last time.

It turns out that the way to Yunfu Temple is via the main road, a road he had never seen before!

While he was observing the road conditions outside the window, Xue Wang was also secretly observing him, occasionally glancing at Jiang Shu's profile out of the corner of her eye.

She suddenly realized that her understanding of Jiang Shu was extremely one-sided.

Although Jiang Shu seemed difficult to deal with in the incubator, she appears to be even more difficult in real life.

She tried to find a way to start a conversation, but when she finally managed to ask, "Why did you come to Yunfu Temple?", Jiang Shu simply brushed it off with, "To offer incense to those doll brothers."

This heavy topic left her no room to respond.

I never expected the other person to be such a sentimental and emotional person. If I were to comfort them by telling them those things are just NPCs and not to worry about them, I might just get disliked...

With no other option, she had to focus on driving for the time being, thinking about how to start a conversation when they arrived at their destination.

Fortunately, the two-kilometer journey is not far. Although the road up the mountain is not easy to drive, it only takes about ten minutes to get there.

After parking the car, the two got out.

Jiang Shu handed her the trench coat that he had been holding for Xue Wang: "It's quite cold up in the mountains, don't catch a cold."

"Um... thank you." Snow King took the trench coat and put it on, somewhat surprised.

Well, she's actually quite caring; maybe she just doesn't know how to express it well.

As she was thinking this, she saw Jiang Shu take a mask out of his pocket and put it on.

"You...have a cold?"

“No, that’s not true.” Jiang Shu said without changing his expression: “In fact, I was a model student in elementary school, joined the Communist Youth League in junior high school, and successfully received the organization’s guidance during my freshman year of college.”

"Hmm... what's the relationship between these two?" Xue Wang felt a little out of sync with Jiang Shu's rhythm.

"Don't you know?" Jiang Shu asked in surprise, "Members of the organization are not allowed to appear in public in such feudal and superstitious places, so I have to wear a mask."

"So that's how it is..." Snow King nodded, seemingly understanding.

Due to the influence of her family background, she never attended a regular school, so what Jiang Shu said was completely unfamiliar to her.

But it doesn't matter if they're not strangers, since Jiang Shu is just fooling her anyway.

He was just afraid of running into that female weasel and being recognized.

"Should I lend you my sunglasses too?" Snow King suddenly asked.

“Alright.” Jiang Shu didn’t hesitate: “Now I have everything I need.”

Jiang Shu was very satisfied with Xue Wang's understanding and decided not to hold it against her for the unpleasant thing that happened when they first met.

Leaving the parking lot, the two strolled slowly toward the main hall of Yunfu Temple.

With the unpleasantness over, Jiang Shu took the opportunity to ask Xue Wang about the precautions for adding skill points.

How many evolution points do you have now?

When it came to serious matters, Xue Wang automatically switched into work mode, and her tone and style became much more efficient.

“Not much,” Jiang Shu replied earnestly. “So I want to know how to add points with the highest cost-effectiveness, or which aspect is better to focus on in the early stages.”

"Not much..." Snow King said with some doubt: "The basic reward should be 4 points, right? And achievements can also be converted into evolution points. You played such a big role, it's impossible that you didn't get any achievements, right?"

Jiang Shu suddenly realized that it was indeed difficult to hide certain things from his old comrades who had gone through the same incubator as him.

Fortunately, Jiang Shu was thick-skinned and insisted on keeping it a secret.

"Hmm... achievement?"

Seeing Jiang Shu's expression, Xue Wang understood that the other party did not want to reveal his gains.

She could understand that, since the other party might not fully trust her at that time.

So, to show her sincerity, Snow King first explained her situation: "My rating is C, which is slightly better than the barely passing D. It may be because I provided the perception potion, but since the rating is still not high, the experience points I received were not complete."

"Losing ratings will lead to further reductions?"

"Yes, the higher the rating, the more experience points you get. If you get a comment, you can also get a hidden reward, although most evolvers will only have such an opportunity once in their lifetime."

Snow King explained:

"However, I still managed to advance to level four and gained four evolution points. In addition to the two points from the reduced base reward and one point from the achievement, I had a total of seven evolution points at my disposal."

"Your rating can't be lower than mine. With your base experience and the death-type boost, you'll have enough to reach level two, maybe even level three. As long as you meet the upgrade requirements, you'll have at least five evolution points and spirit root points to spare. Add in achievements, and you should have more than me."

Jiang Shu was sweating profusely.

This is roughly the feeling he had when his mother questioned him about how he spent his allowance when he was a child.

Hello, could you please go back to your dazed state from before?

"What achievements have you made?" Jiang Shu chose to downplay the important points.

"Never mind that." The Snow Queen had no intention of telling anyone what her achievement was; although it was a reward, it was also the most humiliating thing she had ever experienced in her life—

[The "Lazy Winner": You did nothing and still easily conquered the hatchery. Your efforts weren't wasted because you didn't put in any effort at all.]

"In short, if you have enough evolution points, I suggest you prioritize Strength and Speed. For a level 3 evolver, these two values ​​need to be above six to be considered qualified."

Even knowing that Jiang Shu was still hiding, the Snow King spoke frankly and without reservation:

"In the early stages, when everyone doesn't have enough spiritual root points to unlock skills, they mainly rely on pure physical strength. If you have extra points, you can then invest in physical strength, which will make you more resistant and less likely to get injured or even die easily when hit hard."

"What about intelligence and charm?" Jiang Shu asked.

"Basic intelligence is actually the level of intelligence of an average person, which is easy to understand."

However, for evolved beings, the Intelligence gained from subsequent stat allocations should actually be considered Mental Strength. Besides Mental Resistance, it primarily contributes to skill proficiency and control, so it can also be seen as learning and creative ability, which isn't particularly useful in the early game.

Snow King paused.

"As for Charisma, no evolved being would specifically allocate points to it; it's practically useless."

Chapter 41 Monks Are Not Human (Please Read Further)

"Why do you say that?"

Jiang Shu found it hard to accept.

His charm value is almost the sum of the thresholds required for a level three evolver, yet this stat is completely useless in the eyes of the public.

Doesn't that mean I'm a blank slate compared to other evolvers of the same level?

Impossible! Absolutely impossible!

"Because it's useless."

Snow King didn't understand why Jiang Shu cared so much, but still explained:

"Charm might be somewhat useful for non-evolved individuals, but it probably has little effect on evolved individuals whose intelligence is above average."

However, if charm exceeds intelligence to a certain extent, it seems to have some effect. After all, besides appearance and manners, there are many other aspects such as strong strength that can also release charm.

But it's meaningless. Think about it: when you're facing an evolved being with whom you have a conflict of interest, or a boss you have to defeat in the hatchery, no matter how high your charisma is, it's impossible to change their hostility towards you.

Therefore, Charisma doesn't provide the immediate, tangible boosts to Strength, Speed, or Physical Intensity, nor does it offer the same benefits as Intelligence. Furthermore, Evolution Points are so difficult to acquire in the early game, making it inherently inefficient.

You're lying! I clearly beat the game using charm, and the gummy bears even went easy on me because of that. How can you say it's useless!

Jiang Shu wanted to say that, but there was no need.

He simply nodded knowingly: "Is that so..."

"For this reason, those whose spiritual roots are of the love and desire type are generally considered to be inferior."

Snow King continued his pursuit of Jiang Shu:

"In the early stages, they often give up on the charm that has a higher base value and instead add points to other items, but they don't have an advantage in these items, and many of them are even at a disadvantage from the start."

For example, while others gain the equivalent of two points with one point, for them, gaining two points only achieves the effect of one. Not only is it inefficient, but they also lose three points overall, resulting in extremely slow leveling up.

As they were talking, Snow King suddenly realized something.

Jiang Shu cares so much, could it be...?

"Um, your spiritual root attribute wouldn't be...?"

"Hmm..." Jiang Shu nodded.

"..." Snow King suddenly felt so embarrassed that he wanted to find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

What's the difference between this and pointing your finger at someone and yelling at them?

Then she changed the subject: "But...but don't worry about it. Although the early stages may be tough, as long as you make it to the later stages, you'll have a chance to acquire powerful skills and turn weakness into strength."

Jiang Shu tilted his head: "For example?"

For example...for example...

To be honest, Snow Queen didn't know what specific powerful skills the Love and Desire type of spiritual root had, but she knew one person.

"For example, a peaceful and unassuming elderly person!"

"A peaceful old man?"

"Correct!"

Snow King introduced:

"As his name suggests, the Old Man of No Contention is detached from worldly strife. Although he is one of the top-tier evolved individuals and lives alone, he is adept at navigating social situations through his powerful strength and personal charisma, maintaining good relationships with various powerful organizations. Even the rebels have never clashed with him."

Legend has it that he reached his current position thanks to a calamity-level skill related to lust that he acquired in his youth. I don't know the name or effect of the skill, but any skill that reaches the calamity level is never weak!

Snow King's real intention was to comfort Jiang Shu, to tell him through this pie-in-the-sky promise that although his spiritual root attribute was naturally inferior, there would always be a day when the clouds would part and the blue sky would appear.

Although when and how to dial are unknown.

The Wuzheng Elder is one of a kind that has only appeared once in over a hundred years.

But these words took on a different meaning when they reached Jiang Shu's ears.

A mere, insignificant disaster-level skill possesses the power to turn the rotten into the miraculous...

That disaster-level aircraft can't take off, can it?

Moreover, the disadvantages that Xue Wang mentioned do not exist for Jiang Shu. If he adds points, it will not only not be a case of diminishing returns, but rather a case of twice the results with half the effort, multiplied by four!

In short, the prejudice of the evolved beings against the love and desire type of spiritual root had no effect on Jiang Shu at all. Rather, before the Snow King introduced him to him, he knew he was awesome, but he never knew he was this awesome.

Never before... such a wonderful start!

Thinking this, Jiang Shu said to Xue Wang, "Yes, I understand. Thank you for your comfort. I feel much better now."

"Is that so..." Snow King clenched his fist, awkwardly and embarrassedly encouraging, "In any case, there will be times when we ride the wind and break the waves, and set sail to cross the vast ocean!"

Jiang Shu shook his head: "You're wrong."

"W-what's wrong?" Snow King asked blankly, "Isn't that how it's pronounced?"

"The older sister is the one who rides the wind and waves, while the older brother is the one who overcomes all obstacles."

"?"

As they spoke, the two had already arrived in front of the main hall of Yunfu Temple.

"Weren't you going to burn incense?" To divert Jiang Shu's attention, Xue Wang deliberately pointed to the most crowded place and said, "That seems to be it. The incense is burning very brightly there, so it should be quite effective."