"Finally, I've leveled up!"
[Rank: lv1 (99/100)] → [Rank: lv2 (0/200)]
Qi Ping couldn't help but feel a little excited as he watched his Druid Level turn to Rank 2.
After more than a month, he finally reached Rank 2!
For over a month, he had never slacked off in beekeeping, farming, cultivating Spirit Medicine, or even comprehending the forest's nature.
"It took so long to grind to Rank 2; it wasn't easy at all!"
Bitterness turns to sweetness!
After his Rank increased, Qi Ping could finally choose the two Druid skills he had been looking forward to!
[Druid Rank 2 Skill Generation in Progress]
[Please select a professional skill…]
[Beast King Druid (Choose one of two): Dominate Beast, Heart of the Wild]
lv1 Dominate Beast: Compel an animal to fight alongside you. (Animals with high intelligence have a chance to fail domination)
lv1 Heart of the Wild: As a Beast King Druid, you can awaken the tenacious will and powerful rage within your Animal Companion, granting your Animal Companion increased Willpower, Attack Power, and Attack Speed. (Active, cannot be upgraded)
[Jungle Druid (Choose one of two): Tree Skin Art, Greedy Vines]
lv1 Tree Skin Art: Consume energy to form a tree-like skin on your body with relatively high defense. (Active, can be upgraded)
lv1 Greedy Vines: Consume energy to summon a giant vine to attack enemies. (Active, can be upgraded)
"Dominate Beast, Heart of the Wild, Tree Skin Art, Greedy Vines… choose two out of four skills."
"For the Jungle Druid selection, I'll directly choose Tree Skin Art. Greedy Vines can be temporarily excluded."
Because Qi Ping currently had Gold Marrow Bees and would soon contract a second Animal Companion, he wasn't lacking in attack power.
On the contrary, his own low Talent made it difficult for him to rapidly improve his strength, which was a weakness he couldn't ignore.
His encounter with robber cultivators during his last outing precisely proved this point.
Life-saving ability was what Qi Ping valued most at the moment. The attack power of his current Greedy Vines was far inferior to the combat power of the Gold Marrow Bees.
While the binding effect of Greedy Vines was decent, its necessity wasn't high.
However, Tree Skin Art was different; it could be combined with the Wood Shield Skill Cultivation Technique. With double-layered protection, Qi Ping's life-saving ability could be greatly enhanced.
"But how should I choose between Dominate Beast and Heart of the Wild?"
Facing these two skills, Qi Ping fell into hesitation.
The Heart of the Wild skill was a buffing skill that amplified Animal Companions. Simply put, it could enhance the mental defense of Animal Companions and boost their strength by making them enraged and bloodthirsty.
This was a versatile skill that would be very useful both now and in the future, and the more Animal Companions he had, the more obvious the benefit would be.
For example, if he was at a disadvantage, or if his Animal Companion was attacked by an illusionary Divine Soul, a Heart of the Wild skill buff might be able to turn the tide of battle.
However, the Dominate Beast skill was also good; it could dominate an animal to fight alongside him.
For instance, if he encountered an animal like a Blood Nectar Insect, if Qi Ping used Dominate Beast, there was a high chance he could successfully dominate it to fight for him.
Although the success rate decreased with animals of higher intelligence.
But through a series of recent events, Qi Ping highly suspected that a Legacy of a Beast Taming or Insect Taming Sect might be about to appear.
Yao Beasts or Yao Insects similar to Blood Nectar Insects, or even more terrifying ones, might emerge and cause great danger.
Once such a situation arose, the Dominate Beast skill could very likely play a pivotal role in turning the situation around.
At least in such a context, the Dominate Beast skill would certainly play a significant role.
Therefore, Qi Ping wanted both Heart of the Wild and Dominate Beast.
"It's a pity I can only choose one."
After much hesitation, Qi Ping finally made a decision.
"I'll still choose Heart of the Wild. Dominate Beast, being a probabilistic skill, is simply too unstable."
After thinking for a long time, Qi Ping still didn't like skills with too much uncertainty.
If he died in a game, he could revive, so he could use this skill to play many tricks, sometimes even dominating beasts far stronger than himself.
If he failed, he could just revive.
But now Qi Ping only had one life!
Even with a 99% success rate, Qi Ping didn't want to gamble, let alone the fact that the success rate definitely wouldn't be that high.
Instead of gambling on that probability, it was better to properly cultivate his own Animal Companion.
Next, he would quickly accelerate the growth of the flowing light grass to fifty years of medicinal efficacy, then he could try to concoct the bloodline mutation potion.
And the Talent [Brewing Artisan] shared by the Gold Marrow Bees happened to enhance Qi Ping's sensitivity to Spirit Medicine, allowing Qi Ping to have greater confidence in successfully concocting the bloodline mutation potion in a short time.
[Brewing Artisan: You have a keen Talent for pollen and some Spirit Medicine, capable of brewing them into honey with extraordinary effects.]
Looking at it now, being able to share this Talent back then was quite good.
Once the bloodline mutation potion was successfully concocted, he could try to enhance and cultivate the Gold Marrow Bees.
According to the description of the bloodline mutation potion, the Bloodline of the successfully cultivated Yao Insect could generally be elevated by at least one minor Rank.
Therefore, the enhanced Gold Marrow Bees would definitely possess a First-Order High-level Bloodline, and if he was lucky, they might even become among the best!
And the enhanced Gold Marrow Bees, under the amplification of Heart of the Wild, should be sufficient to handle many situations.
This was much more stable than choosing Dominate Beast.
"Choose Heart of the Wild and Tree Skin Art!"
After confirming, Qi Ping no longer hesitated.
[Skill selection complete, data panel generating…]
[Name: Qi Ping]
[Rank: lv2 (0/200)]
[Profession: Beast King Druid (Main), Jungle Druid (Sub)]
[Talent: Animal Companion, Nature Affinity]
[Animal Companion: (1/2) Gold Marrow Bees]
[Shared Talent: Brewing Artisan]
[Skills: lv1 Plant Growth (58/100), lv1 Beast King's Grace (8/100), lv1 Tree Skin Art (0/100)]
[Skills (Constant): Animal Communication, Turning Beasts into Friends, Heart of the Wild]
[You have gained a new Animal Companion contract slot.]
"Not bad!"
Looking at the continuously increasing data, an indescribable sense of joy and satisfaction rose in Qi Ping's heart.
In fact, every gain in Rank experience or skill experience gave Qi Ping immense motivation.
With this motivation, Qi Ping would be more serious when using skills and comprehending nature, and the more serious and dedicated Qi Ping was, the easier it was to gain experience.
Because Qi Ping found that the increase in experience was not a mechanical repetition of actions, but rather only gained when his comprehension reached a certain level.
But Qi Ping was not distressed by this; instead, he preferred this method, because every gain was something he had truly comprehended.
This experience, gained through his own genuine effort and comprehension, gave him an unparalleled sense of security.
After his Druid Rank reached two, Qi Ping was not satisfied or complacent; instead, he was even more motivated.
In addition to his daily beekeeping, farming, and cultivating Spirit Medicine, Qi Ping added a new training task for himself: to familiarize himself with the Tree Skin Art's combat style while simultaneously leveling up the Tree Skin Art to give the skill stronger defense.
Qi Ping placed extremely high importance on this life-saving skill.
More than a week later, with Qi Ping's continuous efforts, one of the flowing light grass finally reached fifty years of medicinal efficacy!
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