"That jade disk from earlier..." Lin Tian gestured vaguely at the floating items. "Is this its doing?"
"Yes," Zhao Lingfeng replied, perhaps a touch too quickly. "It has some... unique properties."
"Just 'some' unique properties…" Lin Tian, echoed as he tightened his hand as if to feel the strength that still coursed through him.
They fell into a careful silence, both seemingly content to leave their questions unvoiced. There was an unspoken understanding in the air. They had fought together, saved each other's lives, but some secrets weren't ready to be shared.
Not yet.
The atmosphere, though tinged with mutual wariness, remained surprisingly comfortable. Lin Tian watched with barely concealed interest as Zhao Lingfeng moved to collect the floating items, his movements showing surprising familiarity with handling spirit beast materials. Each item was handled with appropriate care, particularly the mysterious pearl that seemed to contain miniature moons in its depths.
When Zhao Lingfeng reached for the wolf's massive carcass, he paused for a moment and did some hand gestures.
[You have not unlocked [Dismantle & Extraction]. Unable to process body.]
Zhao Lingfeng sighed inwardly.
Lin Tian's eyebrows rose slightly as he watched the entire body of the wolf simply... vanished. His eyes darted to Zhao Lingfeng's hands and waist, searching for any sign of a spatial ring or storage device, but found none. His expression turned thoughtful, but true to their unspoken agreement, he kept his questions to himself.
"Mind if I examine the core?" Zhao Lingfeng asked, holding out his hand.
Lin Tian nodded, passing over the crystalline sphere. As Zhao Lingfeng turned it in his hands, he mentally assessed their haul.
[[BOSS] [LV15 Tiger-Eyed Lunar Wolf Leader] [DROPS]]
[Lunar Wolf's Essence Crystal (Tier 5)]
A crystallized manifestation of moonlight essence, pulsing with profound spiritual energy. Extremely valuable for cultivators pursuing moon-attributed arts.
[Frost-Touched Spirit Beast Core (Tier 4)]
The concentrated spiritual core of a high-tier spirit beast, suffused with frost energy. Essential for crafting cold-attributed spiritual weapons or pills.
[Moonlight Wolf Fang (Tier 3)]
A spiritually-enhanced fang that retains traces of the wolf's power. Can be crafted into weapons or talismans.
[[UNIQUE]] [Twin Moon Convergence Pearl (Tier 6)]
A mysterious pearl formed from the wolf's mastery over dual moon energies. Contains insights into the beast's ultimate technique. The pearl resonates with both frost and lunar energies, suggesting hidden potential for those who can comprehend its mysteries.
Zhao Lingfeng's eyes lit up from the loot. Although it almost costed him his life, he had scored big! The first thing he did was try to take a look at the pearl a little closer. The dual energies within, both frost and lunar, seemed to pulse in response to his spiritual sense.
But due to his lack of cultivation, he couldn't do anything at all to probe at it. The only thing he was able to determine was this treasure was definitely something good.
Frustrated, Zhao Lingfeng clicked his tongue, his eyes met with Lin Tian.
He wanted to give this pearl to Lin Tian to inspect, but…
Lin Tian watched Zhao Lingfeng as his face morphed into different expressions.
Zhao Lingfeng struggled internally as he stared at the items in his hands. His gamer instincts screamed at him to keep the best loot. But then he remembered the S-rank quest hanging over his head concerning Lin Tian's grudge. More importantly, he recalled the reality of his situation.
Considering how this world was real and the intense boss he had just fought, Zhao Lingfeng really did think the setting was on Nightmare Difficulty.
Without Lin Tian, he would have been wolf food long ago. The thought stung his pride as a veteran gamer, but this wasn't a game where he could simply grind levels in safety. Well, he probably could, but he was sure that this System had measures for that. That was beside the point, this was the cultivation world, where the strong devoured the weak, and he had been thoroughly "carried" through this fight.
Coming to terms with this helped settle his thoughts. He separated the items, taking the [Moonlight Wolf Fang (Tier 3)] and [Lunar Wolf's Essence Crystal (Tier 5)] for himself.
Then, he held out the [[UNIQUE]] [Twin Moon Convergence Pearl (Tier 6)] and the [Frost-Touched Spirit Beast Core (Tier 4)] to Lin Tian.
Tier wise it was a fair split.
But the term fair in this case was quite subjective.
Zhao Lingfeng actually had much more usage for the Beast Core than the Crystal suitable for rare moon-attribute cultivators, but he was not a saint.
It was okay to be a little greedy.
"These should go to you," Zhao Lingfeng said, trying to sound casual. "Your strength was what made this victory possible."
Lin Tian accepted the items with a nod, his expression neutral. He carefully inspected the pearl. Suddenly, his eyes went wide, and he nearly dropped it.
"This... this is..." Lin Tian stumbled over his words, something Zhao Lingfeng hadn't seen him do before. "This is a Heavenly Treasure! It resonates with the Laws of Heaven themselves!"
"What?"
Zhao Lingfeng felt his stomach drop.
He'd had no idea about the tier system's correlation to treasure rankings. In this cultivation world, treasures and cultivation resources were divided into the following tiers, from weakest to strongest: Mundane, Mortal, Spirit, Profound, Earthly, Heavenly, Divine.
A Heavenly Treasure was just one step below Divine Treasures, the highest grade of artifacts in this world. Even in Liuyun Sect, there were only a handful of Heavenly Treasures. Of course, the sect had no Divine Treasures.
"Fuck!"
The curse escaped before he could stop it. He managed to keep his expression neutral, but inside he was screaming. He'd just handed over what was essentially a godly artifact without even realizing it.
"Could you... tell me about the other items too?" Zhao Lingfeng asked, trying to distract himself from his monumental blunder.
Lin Tian nodded, still seemingly stunned by the pearl to have heard Zhao Lingfeng's curse. "The crystal you're holding is an Earthly Treasure, rare with immense value. The core is a Profound Treasure, while the fang is a Spirit-Grade item."
Zhao Lingfeng smiled weakly. At least he'd kept an Earthly Treasure for himself, even if it wasn't nearly as useful to him right now as the beast core would have been. But what was done was done, and perhaps this accidental generosity would help prevent his sect's destruction in the future.
Still, he couldn't help but think that the System could have been a bit clearer about its tier rankings...
During his journey, he had tried ways to communicate with the System, asking it many questions. Unfortunately, the System he had was too early in its infancy and needs a System Upgrade, or it was simply incapable of answering the Host's questions.
Now, Zhao Lingfeng understood the System's Tier System equivalent with the treasures and cultivation resources of this world.
While Lin Tian appeared to be busy appraising the pearl, his finger with the unassuming jade ring 'coincidentally' rested on the pearl, Zhao Lingfeng took the time to view his stats.
Name: Zhao Lingfeng
Age: 18 (24 previous life)
Level 5: Qi Refining Realm (3rd Level) (EXP until next level 1875)
Affiliation: Liuyun Sect
Title: Liuyun Sect's Outer Court Disciple
Talent Grade: D grade
Body Constitution: None
Reputation: A trash menial disciple that diligently accomplishes his menial jobs.
Attributes (With Party Buffs):
Strength: 11 (+2)
Dexterity: 16 (+3)
Endurance: 14 (+2)
Spiritual Power: 13 (+3)
Perception: 19 (+4)
[You have 1 Stat Point Available]
Damn am I really so trash? Zhao Lingfeng wondered.
That one level up had only given him 1 Stat Point, if it weren't for the fact that he risked his life and obtained a few bonus stat points, his status window would have been much different.
Wait a second… the maths doesn't appear to add right
Previously, he only had 8 points of Endurance. After the battle, he had obtained +2 more. This would mean he should have a base Endurance of 10 points, not 11. With the party buff, it would mean 12.5 points, but rounded to 13.
Yet, what showed was not 13.
Instead, it was 14.
"I get it now. When I leveled up, I initially assumed because of the alert of having 1 Stat Point Available, I thought I had the privilege of picking where I added my points in. But that wasn't the whole story. The System, much like my bonus points for surviving a life and death battle, had also given me a silent +1 to my Endurance for a standard level up", Zhang Lingnfeng said in his mind.
Just like how a swordsman who spends most of his time swinging his sword would naturally grow stronger in Strength, the same applied to him but for Endurance. His journey at his previous level had been full of hardship and perseverance, so when he leveled up, his Endurance naturally grew along with it.
If this were the case, Zhao Lingfeng had found a crucial detail to potentially min-max his attributes.
Next, Zhao Lingfeng furtively checked how many points Lin Tian obtained from his Level UP. Unsurprisingly, the moment he saw his stats, he wanted to weep.
Lin Tian's original Attributes
Strength: 25 Dexterity: 28 Endurance: 23Spiritual Power: 27Perception: 26
Now it was…
Strength: 30 Dexterity: 30 Endurance: 25Spiritual Power: 28Perception: 26
In total, Lin Tian had obtained 10 stat points upon his level up.
Meanwhile, Zhao Lingfeng only obtained 2, with 1 being unused. Well actually, he had gained 5 stat points for surviving a life and death crisis, this was not bad at all.
Still for a hardcore gamer like him, this made him want to change class or race immediately.
The world was unfair.
What Zhao Lingfeng did not know was that Lin Tian had also obtained a bonus for surviving the life and death crisis. It just was not notified in the System display. After all, the System focused on tracking its Host, other people were secondary. If it weren't for the Party Formation, Zhao Lingfeng's growth actually exceeded Lin Tian.
Thus, in the long run it was very possible for Zhao Lingfeng to exceed even the Son of Destiny with his cheat through stats alone.
But, of course, that required surviving and triumphing over life and death battles.