"'Not much time left'—what does that mean?"
Jiangcheng University.
After a few buzz-cut youths left, Yu Jin on the bunk bed opened his eyes.
His alcohol tolerance truly wasn't great, but…
Tier Three Evolution had greatly improved Yu Jin's constitution.
Now, Yu Jin might not be able to drink a thousand shots without getting drunk, but his tolerance was miles ahead of before.
The reason he pretended to be drunk was to try to get some info about "Wasteland" from Yin Yao.
And the result…
He really did manage to dig something out.
"Was it the truth, or just drunk talk?"
Yu Jin couldn't tell.
But a strong sense of urgency still welled up inside him.
Yin Yao's inexplicable approach, the unexplainably realistic "Wasteland" game, and this odd "Wasteland Survival System" bound to him—all signs pointed to a storm on the horizon.
And those few things Yin Yao said at the dinner table only added a ticking clock to that coming storm.
"I have to get stronger—fast!"
"If I really do get thrown into the Wasteland, I'd at least need some survival skills…"
Yu Jin muttered to himself.
At the same time,
He focused his mind and checked today's loot from the zoo outing.
[Wasteland Points: 613,000]
This was Yu Jin's current Points total.
Aside from the earlier 110,000, today's trip to the zoo raked in a whopping 500,000 Points!
This number was absurd, really.
But…
Yu Jin looked at the Points Mall, which only had three slots, all empty, and felt a little helpless.
Tons of Points, but nowhere to spend them!
The countdown at the bottom of the Points Mall now displayed: [8 hours 50 minutes].
In other words—
He'd have to wait until after 11 p.m. for the store to refresh with three new items.
"Hope I get something good and expensive!"
"No matter how many Points I have, only converting them into abilities feels solid!"
Yu Jin took a deep breath and kept checking his haul—
Tier Five Energy Crystal*1.
Tier Four Energy Crystal*6.
Tier Three Energy Crystal*10.
Tier Two Energy Crystal*25.
Attribute Activation Stone*1.
Wind Blade Lv1.
Among these,
Yu Jin knew exactly what Energy Crystals did—they let you evolve and level up.
"With this many Energy Crystals…"
"Leveling up to Tier Five or even Tier Six isn't too much to ask, right?"
Yu Jin thought, but he held off on using them.
His eyes shifted to the descriptions for the other two rewards on his interface—
[Attribute Activation Stone: Has a chance to trigger a new evolution attribute when used!]
[Note: The more existing attributes you have, the lower the chance!]
Yu Jin was pretty familiar with the concept of Attributes by now.
Right now, he had exactly one Attribute: Light.
Just this one Attribute had already granted him "Laser," "Shield of Light," "Light Touch," and "Light Wings"—a whole four skills.
"If I can activate a second Attribute, I'll have even more skills."
Yu Jin could easily draw that conclusion.
This setup kind of reminded him of online game novels he'd read on Qidian.
Different characters gain different skills as they level up.
Here, the "Attribute" was basically the character class.
Even though he was excited, Yu Jin didn't just rush to use it right away.
Activating an Attribute could cause some commotion—even with the dorm empty, it still wasn't completely safe.
"I'll hit up Langlang Mountain tonight!"
Yu Jin had a plan.
Meanwhile,
He looked at the last reward—
[Ability: Wind Blade]
[Tier: Lv1]
[Evaluation: Can concentrate wind and slash out blades of wind from a distance!]
[Note: You need to have the 'Wind' Attribute to use this ability!]
He kind of expected it, but seeing that last line, Yu Jin was still a little disappointed.
Wind Blade was just like the "Hardening" he bought last night: both required a specific Attribute or they couldn't be used.
"Speaking of which…"
"The very first 'Purifying Light' ability I got actually didn't have any Attribute requirement—in fact, I hadn't even become an Evolver but I could still use it."
Yu Jin suddenly realized this.
At the same time,
He summoned his personal status screen—
[Name: Yu Jin]
[Tier: Tier Three]
[Attribute: Light]
[Title: Dawn City Lord]
[Items: Tier Five Energy Crystal*1, Tier Four Energy Crystal*6, Tier Three Energy Crystal*10, Tier Two Energy Crystal*25, Attribute Activation Stone*1]
[Abilities: Purifying Light Lv2, Laser Lv1, Shield of Light Lv1, Light Touch Lv1, Light Wings Lv1, Hardening Lv1 (Unavailable), Wind Blade Lv1 (Unavailable)]
[Achievements: Wasteland Purifier Lv2 (Equipped), Wasteland Protector Lv2 (Equipped)]
...
[Points: 613,000]
[Evaluation: You are still a weak little bug and can't survive in the perilous Wasteland World. Please go all out and get stronger!]
Compared to the beginning, the status screen was way more packed now.
Especially the Abilities tab—it was practically full.
But…
"Everything except Purifying Light is Lv1!"
Yu Jin frowned.
He still hadn't figured out how to level up his other skills.
One thing was clear though—
The higher the skill level, the more powerful it got—obviously.
"So is it that I have to actually use those skills in 'combat' or something?"
Yu Jin recalled that Purifying Light leveled up just because he went around cleaning up trash—basically 'purifying pollution sources.'
Lately, though, while he'd 'suppressed' quite a few Mutant Beasts, he'd always done it by feeding them or fighting hand-to-hand—never used his skills.
"I'll try it tonight on Langlang Mountain!"
Yet another line added to Yu Jin's plan.
Whew—
After sorting through his haul, Yu Jin let out a long breath.
Then,
He focused his mind, and a few pure, transparent crystals appeared in his hand.
Using Energy Crystals to evolve didn't cause much fuss—the only side effect was that he'd lose consciousness for a bit.
"Perfect—Yin Yao thinks I'm drunk anyway, so sleeping in the dorm all day wouldn't be suspicious at all."
With that thought,
Yu Jin tossed the crystals into his mouth.
Crunch, crispy!
The result…
"Not sleepy?"
"Guess I'll take two more!"
[You used a Tier Two Energy Crystal!]
[You are awakened, the Crystal has converted into evolution energy!]
[You used a Tier Three Energy Crystal!]
[You are awakened, the Crystal has converted into evolution energy!]
[...]
Soon after,
on bed #2 of Dorm 615,
Yu Jin drifted off into unconsciousness.
...
...
Evening.
"Old Yu!"
"Wake up, Old Yu!"
Yu Jin was shaken awake by Old Cui grabbing his arm.
When he opened his eyes, Yu Jin was completely groggy, still not quite himself.
"What's up?"
Yu Jin rubbed his eyes.
He knew Old Cui well—unless it was something really important, he'd never wake him up.
"Seminar!"
Old Cui sounded pretty anxious.
"Seminar?"
Yu Jin snapped back a bit, frowning.
"The university just sent a notice."
"Everyone's supposed to go to the main auditorium for a seminar."
"It's super formal—they're going to take roll by class, anyone who skips gets points docked!"
Seeing Old Cui flustered and failing to explain, Brother Gang chimed in from the side.
"What kind of seminar is this, so official?"
Yu Jin sat up and threw out the question offhandedly.
But Brother Gang's answer froze him halfway off the bunk.
"It's supposed to be…"
"A seminar on wasteland survival knowledge?"