Unholy Player

Chapter 448: Distributing Stats

[Talent Recognition: "Instrument Playing (Lv4)" confirmed.]

- Talent identified through consistent musical expression, rapid mastery of unfamiliar instruments, and performances that exert a strong emotional influence over listeners.

- Proceed with registration to the Status Panel?

- Cost: 400 Energy

- Reward: 80 Free Stat Points

Though it was not another bloodline talent, it was still useful to gain 80 free stat points.

Instrument Playing was also one of the easier talents for him to level up, but he had simply not found a suitable opportunity for it so far.

He thought that if he got to learn and play a few more instruments like this, and maybe even gave a concert to a big crowd, the system would probably recognize it as Level 5 and meet one of the requirements for him to move up to Evolution Step 4.

As he kept descending the stairs, he did not rush. He opened his character panel and decided to spend his free stats now, so he would be better prepared in case anything went wrong while he was trying to harvest the blood of the five strong individuals.

If they, for a change, decided to wake up while Adyr was trying to kill them, it would cause quite a commotion, especially in the underground, where there was not much space to run.

For that reason, he decided to put most of his points into [Will] first, since he needed speed to run and leave the crammed cave if anything went wrong.

With his Rank 4 Citadelith Spark ready to use and his natural innate ability to rewind his time, allowing him to escape from most damage, he did not spend any stat points on [Resilience]. His defensive means were already high enough, so he decided to put the rest into [Sense].

[Sense] had especially beneficial synergy with [Will]. One was increasing his body’s speed while the other was sharpening his awareness, and when the two came together, his reflexes and decision-making would rise to a much higher level, each stat amplifying the effect of the other instead of working alone.

He took his time to slowly and steadily increase his stats, allowing his body, mind, and soul to feel every subtle shift within him. When he finally placed the last of his stat points, he called up the character panel again to check his newly risen power in numbers.

[Physique]: 1783

[Will]: 700 → 1400

[Resilience]: 905

[Sense]: 825 → 1260

[Energy]: 5513 → 6648

Now that his speed had increased more than twofold, he felt far more confident that he could survive, even if those five powerhouses somehow woke up.

His energy capacity passing the 6000 threshold was also a positive thing. To reach Rank 4, one needed to spend 3000 energy in a single push, and he had already doubled that requirement without issue.

I wonder what the requirements for Rank 5 evolution are?

The thought crossed Adyr’s mind. There was no one he could ask about it, no experienced elder, no record, nothing he could really rely on.

Rank 5 was an entirely new threshold for the mortal body, the point where a person stepped onto the path of the immortal and formed their core inside their Sanctuary. It was obvious it would demand far more than anything required in the Practitioner phase.

However, he would need to face that question in the future, since he currently lacked both a Rank 5 Spark to evolve with and the strength required to subdue one.

Putting aside these unnecessary thoughts and focusing on planning his next steps, he finally reached the bottom of the stairs, where the 3 Rank 4 Practitioners were waiting for him.

"We were about to call you," Zephan said, stepping forward with a calm smile.

His features looked far more relaxed than before. The tension he carried earlier seemed to have faded, as if making his decision and saying his farewells had finally eased him.

"Are you ready?" Adyr asked, more out of courtesy than impatience.

Zephan turned once more to glance at the closed door behind him, then looked back at Adyr. "Yes, we are."

"Then leave this place to me and go prepare for your mass ritual. We need to synchronize what I will do here with your moment of absolution."

Zephan nodded. "Just give us 30 minutes, then you can begin."

Since there was no communication device that could work inside this strange underground chamber filled with the odd aura, giving a time estimate was the only option. After that, the three of them left, disappearing into the stairway and leaving Adyr alone.

He waited until their footsteps faded, then turned to the door, pushed it open, and stepped inside.

He closed it behind him, making sure no strange aura leaked out, and he also gave himself a private space away from any eyes.

"Now I am alone... I see they really are terrifying," Adyr murmured with a small laugh as his eyes moved over the 5 figures still lying exactly where they were before.

Though he did not actually need to wait the full 30 minutes, since the entire "ritual timing" excuse was nothing but a lie, he still chose to hold off.

While he waited, he concentrated on his energy body and initiated another round of power-ups within his Sanctuary.

His energy body drifted through the lightly clouded sky of Nimbus Land, observing the two islands that had changed and developed slightly over the past month.

In truth, not much had changed. Adyr had been too busy filling his new treasure, the Heart of the Blood Palace, through constant killing. Still, a few noticeable additions had appeared across the two islands.

On one island, standing beneath the soft glow of dawn light, was the Mother Tree’s massive form, its towering trunk and shimmering crystal-green leaves spreading wide enough to cover half the island in shade.

The magnificent tree was no longer alone. One of the additions he had made now decorated its green-leafed branches. Nestled among them were tiny white-feathered birds, each no larger than a fist, chirping softly.

These were Dawn Birds, a resource Adyr had purchased from the market for only 100 energy crystals. He had bought 50, and now their number had likely grown to around 100.

They were not simply for breeding. He could sell the ones he raised later for energy crystals, but their real value lay in their unique trait: they produced excellent fertilizer.

Beneath the Mother Tree, Cannibal walked around with a small shovel in hand, gathering piles of bird droppings and collecting them in a bucket to be used as rich fertilizer for the farmlands.

Adyr had also added another farm area covered in red flowers, in addition to the gritstalk patch, which is a small field filled with tall, dry, wheat-like stalks.

This new field of red flowers was not intended for investment purposes. Adyr had purchased these flowers specifically to feed the new Sparks he added to his skillset.

Small bees, each only a finger long, were moving about among the flowers.

There were a total of 7 of them, some of which were feeding on the nectar in the flower centers, while others hovered in the air with a slight flex of their translucent wings.

Though they all appeared small and harmless at first glance, each of these bees was actually a Rank 3 Spark. They were one of the most deadly Sparks that could be found in the Outer Region market.