Although the Observer said a lot, Lu Luo still felt somewhat frustrated. Indeed, he was too weak; he needed to boost his attributes first.
The second-tier Malformed Species provided him with 171 energy points, along with an inactive talent Sequence D-03-Strong. The difference in returns compared to a first-tier Exotic Species was just too great.
In total, there were 176 energy points. If he reserved 36 points, the current energy available for allocation was 140. Lu Luo wanted to see if the energy required for Agility above level 5 had changed, but a new prompt made him pause.
[Your current attributes have reached the pinnacle of your current life stage. Please advance your life stage as soon as possible. If you continue to add points, it will cost three times the energy.]
"What is life stage advancement?"
[It is what you humans refer to as professional rank. You need to quickly find a way to advance. Friendly advice, under the assistance of a powerful Grade S Sequence Observer, any profession can lead you to the pinnacle.]
Looking at the Observer's advice, Lu Luo pondered. Any profession could lead to the pinnacle—that must have something to do with the special nature of his body or talent sequence.
"Without specific professional requirements, that does make things a lot easier, but don't I lack any qualifications of a Transcendent?"
[The host asks too many questions. How many of your past selves do you think you can handle now?]
"Even if they came at me all at once, with weapons, I feel I could take on 10. But I have some doubts. Isn't my current strength decent, at least? Am I really not considered a Transcendent now?"
[Without taking your Sequence into account, you indeed do not qualify as a Transcendent. Let me put it this way: your current attributes have merely reached the pinnacle that a human can achieve. In the Wasteland, it's possible for ordinary people to reach your current attribute level through some means. Therefore, you're still within the category of a normal person. The Wasteland's definition of a Transcendent is someone capable of feats beyond normal human limits. Currently, you cannot control any energy, and your Essence of Life remains unchanged, so you do not qualify as a Transcendent.]
"Gu Fangyi can shoot bullets that explode. According to you, Gu Fangyi counts as a Transcendent, but I don't? The hell, you can determine it like that? I could definitely trounce him."
[Yes, although you could trounce that young man, he is still a Transcendent, and you are currently still a mortal. Annoyed?]
"Annoyed."
[That's why the host needs to quickly find a channel for advancing the Essence of Life—that is, a Cultivation Technique or a secret tome for becoming a Transcendent.]
"All right, I get it!"
He already had two plans in mind. The first was to try to get in touch with someone from Blue Sky Pharmaceuticals after this incident was over. If this incident truly had something to do with Lan Tian Bio-Technologies and they were indeed being treated as lab rats, then Blue Sky Pharmaceuticals would definitely take notice of them. Such a large company would surely have a method to become a Transcendent. He had a sponsorship contract with Lan Tian Bio-Technologies, and considering this incident would certainly be known to the Lan Tian company, he had a great chance of acquiring an advancement method from Blue Sky Pharmaceuticals. He needed the corpses of Exotic Species, and he needed to go beyond the wall, so contacting Blue Sky Pharmaceuticals early was a good choice, albeit with certain risks. The second plan was to find his brother, Lu Yang, who had already become a second-tier citizen. Lu Yang was known as a genius with a Grade B Sequence, Camouflage Coating. He had been recruited by the higher echelons of the Alliance; it was still unclear which department he would join, but it wouldn't be a bad one. Lu Yang definitely had methods of cultivation. As his nominal younger brother, obtaining an advancement method from Lu Yang was relatively less risky.
Lu Luo made his calculations silently. The matter of choosing a Transcendent profession needs to be addressed soon.
「...」
Ending his contemplation, Lu Luo refocused on allocating points. Since adding to Agility was no longer cost-effective, he decided to use the remaining energy to enhance his other attributes.
"Let's boost Constitution first; having greater survivability is always a good thing."
Spending 90 energy points to enhance his Constitution, Lu Luo brought it to 5, and a prompt appeared once more.
[Constitution attribute increased to 5.0. You have awakened Sequence D-01-Tenacity.]
Sequence D-01-Tenacity
Effect—Tenacity: Damage reduced by 5%; can be stacked with any other damage reduction effect.
[Tenacity Progression: Continue to enhance Constitution + Battered and Bruised.]
[Another talent awakened? It seems you really do have something different about you. Tenacity is a talent with great potential; it seems I need to revise my previous candid assessment of you, strong mortal.]
Lu Luo automatically ignored the last sentence.
"Aren't talent Sequences supposed to automatically awaken when an attribute reaches a certain value?"
[How could there be such good fortune? If everyone could awaken a Sequence, then talent Sequences wouldn't be valuable.]
Lu Luo narrowed his eyes; he seemed to have found the aspect that set him apart from others, or perhaps a special talent that was originally hidden in this body. It was just like Gu Fangyi's talent, Hawk Eye, which gave him exceptionally powerful observation abilities. This body's special talent might be a particular affinity for awakening attribute Sequences. If that were indeed the trait, with the boost from the Devourer, then the number of Sequences he would have in the future would certainly not be few.
"It's a pity I'm running out of energy; otherwise, I could try to see if Strength could be awakened."
Next, Lu Luo raised his Strength to 4, leaving only 16 energy points in reserve. He couldn't help it. The talent Sequences that came with 5-point attributes were too desirable—they were solid enhancements he still wanted.
"If, after reaching a Strength of 5, a new talent is awakened, then it would prove that this body truly has an extraordinary characteristic."
The pressing need, however, was for energy. To get energy, one must kill Exotic Species or obtain their fresh carcasses. And beyond the wall was the world of the Exotic Species.
"What exactly is the world beyond the wall like?"
「...」
When he returned to the others, Chu Qi had prepared two more javelins for Lu Luo, and Gu Fangyi tactfully avoided bringing up the issue of Lu Luo having taken his machete.
The machete was more effective in Lu Luo's hands than in Gu Fangyi's, so he had no reason to ask for it back.
"Next..."
Chu Qi had just opened her mouth to summarize the current situation when shouts from outside interrupted.
"Is anyone there? I am a Hunter from the Safety Bureau! Is there anyone still alive? If no one's there, I'm coming up!"
Before the group had even recovered from the aftershock of killing the Malformed Species, this shout caused the expressions of everyone present, including Lu Luo, to turn peculiar.
Zhou Kai said with a surprised expression, "What does this mean? Are they playing the same trick again? Or do they think we're idiots?"
After the earlier incident with Liu Ting, everyone was unsure whether the thing appearing behind the grey curtain was human or not.
Just as everyone was filled with doubt and suspicion, the grey curtain that had been shrouding the stairwell suddenly dimmed. It seemed that something had happened to the monster residing there—the Sleep Witch.
[Although I don't know what just happened downstairs, the Sleep Witch's power is weakening. That should be good news for you all, right?]