Manor Villa, ground-floor hall.
Lin Bei casually opened an excellent quality treasure chest.
[Prompt: excellent chest opened! You triggered the Ten-fold Critical Hit effect!]
[Prompt: You obtained Advanced Treasure Chest Key ×10!]
Purple light scattered; ten crystal keys glowing faintly appeared in Lin Bei's temporary storage space.
[Advanced Treasure Chest Key: A special key used to open Perfect-quality treasure chests.]
Lin Bei froze—he'd simply opened a chest on a whim, yet it directly spat out Advanced Treasure Chest Keys!
Although this excellent chest only yielded keys, to Lin Bei it was still worth it.
Because Advanced Treasure Chest Keys can open Perfect-quality chests, and he already owned five of those Perfect chests but had been bitterly short of the keys to unlock them.
Now… every problem was solved!
"Looks like luck's on my side."
Lin Bei murmured, then fetched a Perfect-quality supply chest glowing orange, took one of the newly acquired Advanced Keys, and slid it straight into the key-slot.
A soft click sounded; he gently turned the crystal key and the chest opened, releasing a flood of orange light.
[Prompt: Perfect chest opened! You triggered the Twenty-fold Critical Hit effect!]
[Prompt: You obtained extraordinary treasure chest key ×20!]
"Huh?"
Listening to the system voice, Lin Bei looked utterly puzzled.
What's going on?
Why keys again?
And this time… they're extraordinary treasure chest keys?
Lin Bei shook his head, feeling his brain was short on oxygen.
"Am I lucky or unlucky here?"
He asked himself—his luck shouldn't be bad, but these Transcendent keys… he had no use for them at the moment.
[extraordinary treasure chest key: A special key used to open Transcendent-quality treasure chests.]
"Great item, sure—but dammit, I don't have a single Transcendent chest to use them on!"
Lin Bei sighed helplessly. "Sigh, looks like this isn't the right time to open more chests…"
So he decided against opening any further chests for now.
Instead, he pulled up his stat panel, ready to learn some brand-new class skills.
He had already hit level 40, which meant he should be able to pick up two basic class skills and two exclusive class skills.
He opened the class interface and began checking the details.
After level 30, a Combat-class Demolitionist can advance into either Ammunition Specialist or Artillery Master; the former excels at crafting and using all kinds of ammunition, while the latter specializes in firearms and cannons.
At level 40 and beyond, those two merely advance again into Ammunition Expert and Artillery Grandmaster—no additional branches appear like before.
"Seems after level 40 there won't be new branches, just further strengthening of existing ones,"
Lin Bei speculated inwardly.
He then looked over the two routes and, without hesitation, chose the Ammunition Specialist path.
Because an Ammunition Specialist not only uses all kinds of ammo but also masters their production after advancing—an enormous boost for someone commanding a Tank Army and an Automatic Cannon defense network.
He also owned the Perfect-quality Frost Ice Repeating Crossbow, normally limited to Alloy Crossbow Bolts.
But with the Ammunition Specialist class, he could craft exclusive bolts for it, hugely increasing its power.
As for Artillery Grandmaster—though strong—it's comparatively clunky and needs heavy weapons to unleash high damage, not really his style, so he ignored it.
"If I ever need it, I've got Class Forgetting Scrolls anyway; switching later won't be a problem."
Lin Bei had a full thousand Class Forgetting Scrolls—enough to swap freely whenever he wished.
So he only needed to pick whatever suited him best right now; everything else could wait.
If it didn't fit, he'd just change—simple as that.
Thus, he locked in the route Ammunition Specialist → Ammunition Expert, spent some primal stones, and learned the corresponding exclusive skills plus the level-30 and level-40 Combat basic skills of the Survivor class.
Unfortunately, luck was mediocre—those skills only triggered the Ten-fold Critical Hit.
Dissatisfied, Lin Bei began using Class Forgetting Scrolls to reroll and relearn repeatedly.
Finally, after burning a dozen scrolls, he stopped, satisfied.
This time, all four skills triggered the Hundred-fold Critical Hit.
And their effects improved massively.
First, the level-30 basic skill [Killing-Intent Perception] evolved into [Super Intuition] under the Hundred-fold Critical Hit.
[Super Intuition: You possess intuition beyond compare, immune to all Spirit contamination and able to see through every illusion and falsehood. (Note: skill is maxed and cannot be raised further.)]
Next, the level-40 basic skill [Fiercer as Battle Progresses] evolved into [Battle Madman].
[Battle Madman: While in Combat, your Combat Power continuously rises over time, up to 300%. (Caution: once active, you'll crave battle and gradually lose rationality—use with care!)]
These two basic class skills became insanely powerful after their hundred-fold advancement.
Lin Bei could imagine how terrifying he'd be once he activated "Battle Master" + "Super Intuition" + "Battle Madman" simultaneously!
He'd cut down anyone in his way—well, gods… cough, maybe not gods just yet.
Still, he could become a battlefield Asura, reaping lives at will!
Besides the basic skills, the two advanced class skills were equally formidable.
[Ammunition Mastery: You unlock Perfect-grade schematics for armor-piercing, shock, freeze, and blast rounds; magazine expansion greatly increases ammo capacity (100%–300%).]
[Ammunition Expert: Your ammo efficiency and attack power rise sharply (100%–300%), and you can R&D exclusive ammo for weapons below Transcendent quality.]
The two skill names didn't change, but their effects transformed completely.
Originally they could only craft excellent-grade ammo; after the hundred-fold hit, it jumped straight to Perfect!
Moreover, the magazine expansion and damage boost rose from the original 50% to 100%–300%!
"Great—I'm stronger again."
Lin Bei's lips curled in delight.
Though his displayed Combat Power was under 8,000, if he went all-out, he could clash with a 100,000-CP opponent.
Of course, he'd prefer that situation never arose.
After all, he had no wish to fight desperately.
He only wanted to enjoy a peaceful life on the Island.
Provided, naturally, no one provoked him.
As for the Bei Ming Hunting Group members—he intended to wipe out every last one.
"Perfect timing; now that I've advanced I'm itching to test these skills on them."
"A 100%–300% ammo boost—wonder how insane it'll be on the Manor Villa's beyond-visual-range cruise missiles."
"Tch, can't wait to see it."
Lin Bei glanced at the public channel where the Expeditionary Force were already popping champagne, a cold smile playing on his lips.
Who's the hunter? Who's the prey?
Such a simple question—why do people never get it?
Lin Bei rose and walked toward the Combat control room.
This time, he planned to take action personally.