A month passed in the blink of an eye.
By the twenty-fifth day, Feng Hao had already maxed out the proficiency of all his skills. However, he wasn’t in a hurry to leave the Monster Simulator. After all, he had access for a full month, and he couldn’t let the remaining time go to waste.
Once his Assassin build was complete, Feng Hao’s power underwent a qualitative transformation. His burst damage became especially terrifying once his skill proficiencies were maxed out.
For the next five days, he continuously battled Tier Five Magical Beasts, steadily improving his experience and technique. His use of Moon Pierce and Shadow Veil also grew more and more proficient.
Additionally, once the skill proficiencies were maxed out, their panel stats had changed drastically:
[Dark Moon Strike]
Secret Skill Soul: Dark Moon
Proficiency: 100
Magic Power Cost: 35
Effect: Deals 200% Dark Force damage, with an added instant-death vitality damage
Attack Range: 2 meters
Cooldown: None
Channeling Time: None
[Moon Wheel Dance]
Secret Skill Soul: Dark Moon
Proficiency: 100
Magic Power Cost: 80
Effect: Gathers Dark Moon Power, spins to cast, forming a whirling Moon Blade, and deals two instances of 200% Dark Force damage, with an added instant-death vitality damage
Attack Range: 3.5 meters
Cooldown: 8 seconds
Channeling Time: 0.6 seconds
[Moon Pierce]
Secret Skill Soul: Dark Moon
Proficiency: 100
Magic Power Cost: 100
Effect: A powerful strike gathering Dark Moon Power, dealing 500% Dark Force damage, with an added instant-death vitality damage
Attack Range: 2 meters
Cooldown: 15 seconds
Channeling Time: 0.2 seconds
[Shadow Veil]
Proficiency: 20
Sustained Cost: 5 per second
Effect: Uses Shadow Power to camouflage the user, blocking normal visual detection. Eliminates all self-produced noise, blocking all auditory detection. Ignores 500 points of Divine Sense detection; this effect diminishes against targets with higher Divine Sense.
Cooldown: None
Channeling Time: 0.8 seconds
The greatest improvements were to the two new skills, Moon Pierce and Shadow Veil.
Moon Pierce’s Dark Force multiplier shot up to 500%, making its burst damage terrifyingly high. Meanwhile, Shadow Veil’s Divine Sense negation increased to 500 points, an absolutely brutal effect against his current opponents.
For context, his own Divine Sense attribute at level thirty was only 710 points. Even a Mage of the same level would have at most around a thousand.
But Shadow Veil could negate 500 points of Divine Sense. The effectiveness was obvious. Combined with the advanced breath-concealing effects of his [Black Eyes] state, the Divine Sense of same-tier opponents would be almost completely unable to detect him.
Of course, Shadow Veil’s biggest improvement was its channeling time, which dropped from 1.8 to 0.8 seconds. This meant that when he activated [Shadow Veil], he could turn invisible in just 0.8 seconds.
’I’ll keep killing for a few more days, get a good feel for these new skills, and then head out.’
Amidst lush mountains and clear waters, Feng Hao weaved through a horde of magical beasts, Su Mu Dagger in hand. His figure flickered in and out of sight, like a phantom.
Meanwhile, a different scene was unfolding outside the Monster Simulator. It was as if the wheels of history had turned back to his time at Rongcheng Academy. Countless astonished members of the martial arts hall had gathered in front of Simulator #12, their hearts pounding as they watched the numbers on the Magic Power gauge plummet.
Eventually, even the high-level members from the second floor were drawn over, staring in disbelief at the scene before them.
"What in the world is going on in there? The Magic Power reserves are dropping way too fast!" many of the younger members marveled.
"Could there be a whole group of people in there? How else could this be happening?"
"That’s impossible. The Iron Hand Martial Arts Hall has very strict rules, and no one would dare act so recklessly here."
"Then what’s going on? Don’t tell me a single person can kill that many monsters."
"Maybe some senior from the second floor got bored and decided to come down to our floor to mess around."
"No way. What kind of senior would be that bored?"
...
Everyone who could get into the Iron Hand Martial Arts Hall was an elite, so their normal rate of Magic Power consumption in the Monster Simulator was much higher than an average person’s. But the rate of consumption they were witnessing now was far beyond anything they could have imagined.
Because they were intended for elites, the martial arts hall’s Monster Simulators were specially modified. Their Magic Power storage was three times that of a standard simulator, and the ones on the second and third floors were even five and ten times greater, respectively.
In theory, such a severe drain on the power reserves should have been impossible, yet it was happening right before their eyes.
Bai Yin arrived at the Monster Simulator area as usual. For some time now, she had been honing her new Secret Technique, and the feeling of making progress every day brought her great joy.
But for the past few days, she’d noticed a crowd gathering in front of Machine #12 every day. At first, she hadn’t paid it any mind.
Today, however, she couldn’t suppress her curiosity any longer. She squeezed through the crowd to get a look, and what she saw left her completely dumbfounded. The Magic Power gauge next to the simulator was plummeting at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"Senior Brother Bao, what’s happening in there? Why is it doing that?" Bai Yin asked hurriedly after finally spotting a fellow academy alumnus in the crowd.
The young man, Bao, was taken aback for a moment, then his eyes lit up with pleasant surprise. "Oh, it’s you, Bai Yin! I’m not too sure about the specifics myself. All I know is this machine’s been acting like this for the past few days."
"Who’s in there?" Bai Yin asked, perplexed.
Senior Brother Bao replied thoughtfully, "Someone already asked. Apparently, a person rented it for a whole month and still hasn’t come out."
"A month?" Bai Yin repeated, stunned.
"That’s right." Senior Brother Bao shrugged helplessly. "Most people are lucky to last a few days. For someone to stay in for a whole month... it really takes all sorts to make a world."
Bai Yin’s brow furrowed as she fell silent. After thinking for a long while, an image from a month ago flashed through her mind. The more she considered it, the more astonished she became.
She subconsciously used her Listening Stone to contact Houhuiyao. A while back, she had tried teaming up with him for a mission and it had gone fairly well, so they had exchanged Spiritual Marks to make it easier to stay in touch.
"Houhuiyao, do you know who’s in Simulator #12 at the Iron Hand Martial Arts Hall?" Bai Yin asked tentatively.
Houhuiyao replied without a second thought, "My boss, who else would it be?"
"You’re sure it’s him?" Bai Yin pressed.
"Of course. He rented it for a month straight. Figuring the time, he should be coming out soon," Houhuiyao said, puzzled. "What’s up? Did my boss challenge you to another spar or something?"
"Mm, I understand. I’ll talk to you later." Bai Yin cut off the Divine Sense communication, her mind reeling. A strange light flickered in her beautiful eyes.
On the other end, Houhuiyao was in the middle of a shower, completely baffled by Bai Yin’s questions. He figured he’d go take a look after he was done.
Outside Simulator #12, the crowd of onlookers grew larger and larger, and a ceaseless murmur of exclamations and discussions filled the air.
Just as everyone was enjoying the spectacle, the Magic Power reserves for Simulator #12 began to plummet even faster than before. In the blink of an eye, the reserves were nearly depleted.
This time, even the woman with the black mole at the rental counter was horrified. She scrambled up to the third floor to report to the owner.
The third floor of the Iron Hand Martial Arts Hall was decorated in a simple, antique style that gave it a certain refined charm. Several men and women with graying hair were sitting around, talking and laughing, occasionally taking a sip of tea. The atmosphere was perfectly relaxed.
Suddenly, the woman with the black mole burst in, flustered and panting slightly. "Hall Master, there’s a problem on the first floor!"
The old man addressed as the Hall Master looked displeased. He set down his teacup and chided her gently, "Can’t you be a little calmer, young lady? Go on, is someone causing trouble, or did that pack of youngsters get into another fight?"
"It’s neither of those." The woman with the black mole swallowed nervously and recounted the situation with Simulator #12.