Chapter 221: Golden Talent
[Simulation ended.]
Summary: Congratulations! You've completed a glorious and brilliant life, and you've perfectly cleared this map! In this traversal, your life surpassed that of 99.5% of all other travelers. You became the Sword God of Blades and Storms, an eternal legend in that world. You could kill a man within ten steps, travel a thousand miles without stopping, and with nothing but the bold spirit in your sleeves and a single sword in hand, you intimidated the entire martial world. Even many, many years later in the game world, people still remember your legend—how you reached sword mastery with a single strike and shattered the void. Among players, you're also a legendary in-game character. Even though you only appeared for a single version, you became one of the most classic figures in the game's history. Some even suspect you were a traveler from Sword Art Online dropped into the game. People like that usually get burned at the stake!
Evaluation: S. World exploration rate: 99.6%. Since your exploration rate is over 90%, you've earned 56 Traversal Coins as a reward. Because you made a historically unprecedented and unparalleled impact on the world, you've earned another 45 Traversal Coins.
Since you perfectly cleared Blades and Storms, you've gained a chance to keep one of your talents in the real world!
Because you achieved an S-rank rating and cleared the game, [Sword God · Zhou Ning] has been updated into a hidden template, which you can select if you're extremely lucky.
[Congratulations to the player for clearing the map. A new map has been unlocked. Please check the relevant tab for details.]
[Please select your reward quickly.]
[1. Randomly obtain three skills or specialties gained during your traversal.]
[2. Randomly draw three items you obtained during your traversal.]
Zhou Ning stared, almost dumbfounded, as he watched the entire simulation to the end. Damn, aside from a few templates, this fierce version of himself felt completely unfamiliar.
Maybe it was because of the "Lucky Clover," but this traversal—whether in skill selection or on-the-spot decisions—was like playing with cheats on, smooth beyond belief. In just a few short years, every sword master in the martial world had been crushed by him, and he flattened the entire Jianghu. He'd even thought that if he didn't make it this time, he'd send Chivalrous Hero Zhou Ning to show his face, but unexpectedly—just like with Fierce Tiger Zhou Ning—he'd cleared this map in one go again, and even set a new record with a 99.6% completion rate.
Ever since he got the Lucky Clover, Zhou Ning truly understood what "cheating" felt like. It was… simply too good!
But this unusual smoothness also made Zhou Ning wary. The entire world operated on equivalent exchange—however lucky he was now, the bad luck later would be just as intense. He was already mentally prepared for the serious misfortune ahead.
As for the choices, either option one or option two would be fine.
Option one: The skill/specialty rewards were a bit much. If he ignored the fact that the tone would get a little too out of place, he could get Li Chungang's QWE triple combo, three incredibly powerful sword moves, Grandmaster-level basic swordsmanship, and an elite specialty called [Weak Point Strike]. Every reward was great, though what he needed most was [Weak Point Strike]—he was just two elite specialties short of becoming a Boss template.
Option two: The item rewards were clear as well. Though things like the Nine Yin Manual and the Nine Yang Manual might feel bizarre in tone, they should also belong to the Hall of Curiosities and would have to be collected sooner or later. The instance summoning stones were also rare treasures.
After some tough deliberation, Zhou Ning still chose the first option—he wanted that specialty too much. The rest could wait until the reward pool opened or he could find a way to get them during a backtrack.
[You chose option one.]
[You have obtained the skill: Two Sleeves of Green Serpents (Beginner).]
[You have obtained the skill: Basic Swordsmanship (Grandmaster).]
[You have obtained the specialty: Weak Point Strike.]
[Two Sleeves of Green Serpents (Beginner)]: "I have two sleeves of green snakes dancing; the green snakes in my sleeves know the will of the gods!" You can use sword-type weapons to deliver four consecutive defense-ignoring attacks to a target. Damage output depends on your Agility and swordsmanship level.
[Basic Swordsmanship (Grandmaster)]: Your swordsmanship skills are at the level of a grandmaster. When using sword-type weapons in battle, Attack Power +35%, Critical Hit Rate +4%.
[Weak Point Strike]: You have a chance to strike directly at an opponent's weak point when attacking, with a 20% chance to hit unerringly and a 15% chance to deal double damage.
Zhou Ning: …
Not bad. All three rewards were things he wanted. Though it was a pity he didn't get One Sword to Open the Gate of Heaven or One Sword to Make Immortals Kneel, melee combat was never really his specialty. This was a case of "lucky if I get it, fate if I don't."
On the other hand, with Weak Point Strike now in hand, he was just one step away from becoming a Boss. Definitely something to look forward to.
After receiving his skill rewards, it was time to draw the talent that would awaken in the real world. This time, the options included three top-tier talents—Nemesis Slayer (Gold), Chosen of Fate (Purple), and Mighty Strength (Purple). Any one of them would be fine.
[Since you perfectly cleared Blades and Storms, you have one chance to keep a talent in the real world. Draw now?]
"Yes!"
"You have obtained the talent: Nemesis Slayer (Gold)!"
Unlike the last time with Rampaging Tiger Zhou Ning, when he missed out on [Unstoppable by Ten Thousand Men], this time he was riding a wave of great fortune and easily drew Nemesis Slayer.
Although it was extremely powerful, Zhou Ning only felt even more worried about the bad luck that was bound to follow.
After checking over all his gains, Zhou Ning turned his gaze toward the newly unlocked map.
To his surprise, the name of the eighth new map didn't appear. Instead, the new map interface showed the word BONUS.
Clicking on it, the prompt said it was a random bonus map—not difficult, with extremely generous rewards.
However, the price had once again broken all previous records—it required 180 Traversal Coins. Already back to being dirt poor, Zhou Ning could only look on helplessly.
Thinking about it more, it was terrifying—overnight, his total assets had plummeted from 16,000 to less than 1,600…
His golden finger was great in every way except for the money burn—it was so fast it was unbearable. Zhou Ning immediately felt a new round of financial crisis looming.
In the Darkland, there were still about one-third of the players left to harvest. He needed to find a new way to make money quickly. Still broke, Zhou Ning couldn't help but sigh.
Glancing at the time, he saw that the entire traversal had taken less than two hours. Zhou Ning decided to relight the gas lamp, took out several items he had just gotten from Joshua Lambert from his inventory, and began to study them.
He was quite interested in these unknown rare items.
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