Chapter 5
A bemused Alex found himself drifting in what seemed endless starry heavens that he could sense in all directions.
For some reason he was neither anxious nor afraid, and much to his relief, he was in no pain at all.
It was as if he were a drifting spirit whose isekai privileges allowed him to bypass the River of Souls shenanigans entirely, and did he but wish it, he could peacefully ride these starry currents for eternity.
An instant later he snapped himself out of that dreamy reverie, realizing he hadn’t felt like he was drifting in the heavenly skies so much as taking a gentle warm bath…
and he had definitely experienced that soothing, hypnotic drift before.
Because on some level, the river was the spiritual drift of the entire galaxy, and all the countless billions of souls upon billions of worlds drifting from incarnation to incarnation…
or at least, that was how he thought of it.
And perhaps the same handful of gods who had tried enticing him with honey instead of bitter vinegar this time around might be devious enough not to drown him in frigid waters when the soothing warmth of a delicious tale drawing to a satisfying conclusion could get him out of their hair for centuries.
Because hadn’t he effectively just saved Qianshi twice over, in just a handful of days?
Not bad for the end of a hero’s journey.
So why not take a soothing nap of a thousand years before feeling any urge to leave these luxuriously warm waters at all?
Alex winced, fearing that wonderful sense of warmth and ease he was now experiencing just might be another trap of sorts.
His heart—did he still have a heart?—was now pounding in his chest. Or it might have been… Alex quickly shook away his wildly racing thoughts that did him no good at all.
Because he certainly had no time to waste! Just a handful of level-up points to invest before springing out the other side of the gate… absolutely no time lost at all.
Certainly no more months, years, or centuries lost between incarnations, with his friends or even just the memories of his friends increasingly lost to the cycles of time, rebirth, and reincarnation.
Fortunately, he had come to his senses in time.
Or so he hoped as he desperately tried to pull up his character sheet, feeling heartfelt relief that he could do just that.
Because that meant he was still alive! Still in his latest life… right?
Still, his character sheet looked solid.
Spring Leap had ascended to Rank 8 after that absolutely insane dash away from that Gold-tier shadow puma that would have absolutely slaughtered anyone else who had tried to disrupt the configuration Alex had successfully destroyed.
He was now damned certain of that. And how sweet it was that Spring Leap was so effective and efficient that he was basically able to Bullrush a near unlimited number of jumps.
Which was really the only reason he was alive at all.
And those hundreds of leaps—or had it been thousands?
—were what had allowed the skill to grow at an exponential pace as he honed himself in the crucible of absolute peril.
Spring Leap was Rank 8, and his Quickness, much like his Strength and Vitality, was now at a glorious Silver-tier Rank 1! And now he had twelve points to play with.
He then froze, his eyes widening as it finally clicked, the boon he had been granted.
It appeared he had earned a rank of Quickness without having spent any of his twelve points at all, putting it on par with his Draconic Strength and Vitality, which implied that were he to invest another four points, it might rank up again!
Or had that ascension to Silver been the limit of just how fast he could become for this level?
He couldn’t be sure. Not until he spent the points.
Sure enough, the moment he tried to gently coax four of his Ascension Points into Quickness, it effortlessly blossomed to Silver-tier Rank 2 as a certain metaphoric super cable continued to pick up angular momentum, and a certain ancient being locked away in an even more ancient pod began to writhe and howl.
“It worked… Fucking hell, it actually worked! Rank 1 Silver and my Quickness is already Rank 2!”
Even if he alone could hear the words, he couldn’t help but crow with excitement.
Because after his battle with a certain fearsome cat that had come so close to ending him, he was more humbled than ever by just how utterly vital Quickness was for pretty much every aspect of combat.
Being able to process and react to your opponent’s movements before they had finished countering your own, or moving and striking before your foe had even readied his weapon or shield was the absolute key to survival in any battle.
And of course, the faster he swung his weapon, the more devastating his blows would be.
Which meant that he’d be an absolute fool not to maximize the power that enhanced Quickness promised by increasing both his Strength and his Vitality, so that the weapon he held in his hands would feel light enough for him to flick about just as quickly as his enhanced attack promised, without inertia slowing him for lack of Strength, not reflexes.
And Vitality was that which gave him the endless reserves he’d need to attack as rapidly as his Strength and Quickness together would allow, without collapsing from injuries or exhaustion.
Best of all, Each Silver-tier rank of Strength and Vitality cost him only two points to bring up a full rank, thanks to his draconic bloodline.
And his efforts to keep in balance paid off once more when Finesse, pulled upward along with three other enhanced physical stats, also ascended to the realm of Silver.
Which meant that he had managed to enhance four Silver-tier attributes for a total of eight Ascension Points with four more to spare.
Despite all he had endured up to this moment, Alex couldn’t deny that there was a tiny part of him that wanted to squeal with a gamer’s glee.
So much potential! To push a given skill to new heights with just a couple points.
For a single point, he could get Doom Strike to Rank 5, or Enhanced Storm Strike up to Rank 10!
Who knew how those skills might evolve, and what useful perks might now be available to him?
Yet he quickly clamped his will upon the sudden delicious desire to spend his precious points.
For the exact same reason he had held off so firmly, so resolutely, during his previous life.
Because he truly had no idea how many points he’d have to shape his soul once he hit Gold…
assuming he ever hit Gold. Would he have eighteen or twenty-four points to advance with?
Would stats cost six points to rank up, assuming a two, four, six progression, or eight points, if it doubled...
or even more, following a progression curve he couldn’t begin to guess at.
The thought was both chilling and humbling, underscoring just how awesome a height he had reached to require so much potential to ascend in any one direction.
And how fortunate he was that dragon blood meant that Strength and Vitality ranks could always be purchased as if they were one tier lower.
That alone would save him a heck of a lot of points.
But regardless, one fundamental truth still seemed to hold.
If he could manage to get three physical attributes to ascend in tandem, he’d get the fourth to increase one rank for free.
And if he could rank up all four physical stats to the cusp of the next tier, then they were all effectively primary stats for his class.
And thanks to his blossoming in terms of his Qi Pool to the extent that he had, his Boundless Path definitely meant that a wujen’s Potential should be open to him, this time around.
He was already starting with Qi Pool at Rank 6 Silver!
It was then that he was struck with yet another wondrous possibility.
His next level, if he invested his points as he had this level, would see him with eight Ascension Points banked. So why the heck couldn’t he invest all eight right then and there to ascend all four of his physical stats a second step in a single level?
He chuckled silently at the thought. Sure, it was absurd, gloriously so.
Yet he sensed that one possible boon of him effectively having started over was not simply him recovering his former potential at what was truly an incredibly fast pace, it was finding new avenues of ascension and paths of possibility opening up to him as well.
He was pretty sure he had never dared the wujen’s path before…
or at least so rarely that those incarnations had been pretty much wiped from even history’s recall.
Yet now he sensed potential like never before.
So why not see all the other ways he might grow beyond even the limitations of his previous life, as glorious an ascension as that had been?
With a satisfied smile, he took a quick look at his condensed character interface, taking a moment to appreciate just how far he’d come in such a short time.
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Alex Hammer
Class – Cultivator: Disciple of the Boundless Path
Rank 1 Divine Silver Cultivation Achieved!
Physical Characteristics
Strength – Silver Rank 2 (90)
Vitality – Silver Rank 2 (90)
Quickness – Silver Rank 2 (90)
Finesse – Silver Rank 1 (65)
Spiritual Characteristics
Scholarship – 14
Perception – 19
Willpower – Bronze Rank 2 (25)
Qi Pool – Silver Rank 6 (190)
Health Points: 1070
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