"The requirement to level up from LV.24 to LV.25 as Heavenly Destiny Master had, unsurprisingly, increased from the original ninety thousand to one hundred twenty thousand, an increase of thirty thousand soul points, and my soul point balance also dropped from eight million seven hundred eighty thousand to eight million six hundred ninety thousand."

After briefly checking the level panel, Zhang Yanhang quickly clicked to level up again.

[Do you wish to consume 120000 soul points to raise your profession level to LV.25?]

"Yes, raise the profession level to LV.25." Although Zhang Yanhang had previously referred to himself as a Peak Third Tier because he had reached seventy-five attribute points, it was still more conventional to measure by level.

[Profession level successfully raised to LV.25, free attribute points +6.]

...

[Do you wish to consume 270000 soul points to raise your profession level to LV.30?]

"Yes, raise the profession level to LV.30." Because the level of both the cultivation technique and the profession had risen exceptionally fast this time, Zhang Yanhang became increasingly confident that he only needed two weeks, or even just one week, to advance in tier, which meant the outdated notion of advancing to Fourth Tier in three weeks was definitely not necessary.

[Profession level successfully raised to LV.30, free attribute points +6.]

"After raising the profession level seven consecutive times and directly reaching LV.30, I now have a total of forty-two free attribute points. Besides the six free attribute points that I need to use later to raise my main attribute, the remaining thirty-six free attribute points can continue to be saved."

Zhang Yanhang remembered that he had saved thirty-six free attribute points when he was at First Tier and the same number at Second Tier, but what he never expected was to be able to save up another thirty-six at Third Tier, which was indeed surprising.

After all, the reason he could save up thirty-six free attribute points at Second Tier was entirely due to the abundance of attribute bonuses provided by various talents and the various artifacts that permanently increased attribute values.

But now, after being promoted to Third Tier, he hadn't managed to obtain a single artifact that increased his main attribute nor had he gained a new talent. Still, he was able to save up thirty-six free attribute points for his promotion to Fourth Tier just four and a half hours after advancing—this was truly outlandish.

In this regard, Zhang Yanhang could only say that the foundation he built at Second Tier was too profound, so profound that he had an overflow of attribute points due to stacking talents, leading to an excess of attribute values as soon as he advanced.

Moreover, at Second Tier, he had also obtained a vial of Golden quality Blue Dragon Essence Blood that increased six points of Agility attribute. All these combined led to him becoming a Peak Third Tier immediately after advancing.

However, when promoting to Fourth Tier, perhaps such good fortune wouldn't occur unless his accumulation at Third Tier was more profound than at Second Tier, but that was clearly impossible, since he had stayed at Second Tier for two weeks, and this time, advancing to Fourth Tier could be achieved in just one week.

After some reflection, Zhang Yanhang quickly reopened his level panel to take another look.

[Name: Zhang Yanhang (Third Tier)]

[Race: Human]

[Profession: Heavenly Destiny Master]

[Level: LV.30 (Legendary Essence [0/1], Ash Source [0/7])]

[Soul Points: 7525346 (-1170000)]

"As expected, it only took a little over one million soul points to raise the Heavenly Destiny Master's profession level from LV.23 to LV.30, a total of only one million two hundred sixty thousand, which is still more than one million, okay, let's not understate it, it should be described as a little over one million.

After spending these one million twenty-six thousand soul points, my soul point balance dropped directly from eight million seven hundred eighty thousand to seven million five hundred twenty-five thousand.

But fortunately, even though one million twenty-six thousand soul points were spent, upgrading skills was still not a big problem, as each skill only requires three million and seven hundred thousand soul points, and I have more than enough for two upgrades."

Speaking of this skill upgrading matter, Zhang Yanhang suddenly remembered that he hadn't devised a skill upgrade plan after advancing to Third Tier. Of course, it wasn't because he didn't want to or was lazy but because there simply wasn't enough time yet, having just advanced to Third Tier four and a half hours ago.

But now, compared to these things, he still felt that he should first increase his main attribute, since he had free attribute points available to use.

"Choose! Attribute enhancement!"

Although it had been only four and a half hours since he advanced to Third Tier, Zhang Yanhang still felt he had been eagerly anticipating the moment when he could raise all his main attributes to the tier limit of seventy-five points.

[Do you wish to enhance attribute points?]

[Option One: Strength +1.]

[Option Two: Agility +1.]

[Option Three: Constitution +1.]

[Option Four: Intelligence +1.]

[Option Five: Charm +1.]

As Time Pause descended, a familiar series of text options appeared in front of Zhang Yanhang, the same ones he had triggered dozens of times just four and a half hours before.

Since he had already planned out his attribute allocations, or rather decided to fill up the six missing points to complete the Four main attributes, Zhang Yanhang quickly made his decision, "I choose Option One, Strength +1."

As soon as Zhang Yanhang made his selection, Time Pause vanished instantly. However, he soon triggered a new set of options, needing to activate five more options to evenly raise each of the Four main attributes.

...

October 29, Thursday, four days after the Double Ninth Festival, and also the first day that Zhang Yanhang left the Ashen World, at ten thirty-five in the morning, in the centre of the Yellow Sea, on a deserted island with no humans around.

After triggering six options in a row and consuming six free attribute points, Zhang Yanhang's total number of free attribute points had dropped from forty-two to thirty-six, but the payoff was the completion of all his main attribute upgrades, so he quickly reopened his attribute list to start checking it.

Strength: 75 (+3[-3])

Agility: 75 (+3[-3])

Constitution: 75 (+3[-3])

Intelligence: 75 (+3[-3])

Charm: 67 (+26)

"Aside from my Vice Charm still remaining at sixty-seven points because it wasn't upgraded, all four of my main attributes—Strength, Agility, Constitution, and Intelligence—have now reached the tier limit of seventy-five points in my unarmored state.

The upgrades to Strength and Constitution each used up two free attribute points, increasing from 73 to 75, whereas Agility and Intelligence only used up one free attribute point each, increasing from 74 to 75.

Now that my rank level has reached the Third Tier limit of LV.30, and all my main attributes have reached the tier limit of seventy-five points in my unarmored state, unlike the false peak of the Third Tier before, I am now genuinely at the Peak Third Tier with both level and attribute values at their limits."

Zhang Yanhang couldn't have imagined that before his promotion to the Third Tier, he would be able to ascend directly to the Peak Third Tier in just four and a half hours.

If the Permanent Teleportation Channel could have provided Ash Sources in addition to soul points, he would even have confidence that he could promote to the Fourth Tier before the week was out, that is, within three days. Unfortunately, Ash Sources used for rank promotion could only be obtained from Ashen Treasure Boxes in the regular areas.

Speaking of this Ash Source, Zhang Yanhang suddenly remembered that he had seemed to see something strange on the level panel before, but he was in such a hurry to upgrade his main attributes that he hadn't taken the time to pay attention. Now that his main attributes were fully upgraded, he decided to go back and take a close look at what that strange thing was, something called Legendary Essence?

Name: Zhang Yanhang (Third Tier)

Race: Human

Profession: Heavenly Destiny Master

Level: LV.30 (Legendary Essence [0/1], Ash Source [0/7])

Soul points: 7,525,346

"Although it's quite a challenge to advance from the Third to the Fourth Tier, I truly didn't expect it to be this tough. It seems that to ascend from the Third to the Fourth Tier, I need to gather not only seven pieces of Ash Source but also one Legendary Essence. But just what is this Legendary Essence?"

Zhang Yanhang opened the interface and read the introduction, discovering that the difficulty of obtaining Legendary Essence was both high and not so high, depending on the perspective. The specific method to obtain it was by defeating Fourth Tier Lord Monsters that were at the Legendary Stage and then acquiring the Legendary Essence from their Lord's Treasure Chest.

If it were anyone else trying to obtain the Legendary Essence, they might have to rely on luck, since it's not guaranteed to drop from a Lord's Treasure Chest. But for him, there was no need to worry about that at all. As long as he found a Fourth Tier Lord Monster and took it down, he could immediately obtain the Legendary Essence from the Lord's Treasure Chest and promote his rank.

"So now, the hardest thing for me is how to find a Fourth Tier Lord Monster; I'm not even sure if the new area around the Crimson Iron Ore Vein will have Fourth Tier Lord Monsters. If not, then perhaps I'll need to look for a new region."

Zhang Yanhang increasingly felt that the Permanent Teleportation Channel was somewhat lacking; except for soul points, there was nothing to gain, which was indeed too uncomfortable. Otherwise, he might have been able to advance to the Fourth Tier directly by using the Legendary Essence obtained from slaying the Molten Fire Demon and the Ash Source gained from clearing the area.

Well, maybe not quite. After all, the amount of Ash Source needed to advance from the Third Tier to the Fourth Tier had increased by another three points compared to the four points previously required for advancing from the Second Tier to the Third Tier, reaching a total necessity of seven Ash Source points to advance.

If the amount of Ash Source in the Ashen Treasure Boxes obtained from clearing that Fourth Tier Region does not increase, then he could at most obtain three points of Ash Source, which is four points shy from advancing; especially since he currently does not have any Ash Source on him to begin with, it's like starting from zero.

But since there is indeed a gap from the Third Tier to the Fourth Tier, and this gap is so evident that even the advancement conditions have changed, Zhang Yanhang believed that it was very likely he could get more Ash Source from the Ashen Treasure Boxes in the Fourth Tier Region.

For example, to obtain four points of Ash Source at once, or even double it, getting six points of Ash Source in one go, but the idea of getting seven points of Ash Source at once seemed a bit too exaggerated and was basically unlikely to happen.

"Previously, advancing from the First Tier to the Second Tier required only one point of Ash Source, advancing from the Second Tier to the Third Tier needed four points, and now, moving from the Third Tier to the Fourth Tier has again increased by three points to a requirement of seven points of Ash Source.

Looking at this pattern, the next advancement in rank might once again increase by three points, making it necessary to have ten points of Ash Source to advance in rank, or maybe even more."

In terms of Ash Source requirement for advancement, Zhang Yanhang felt that an increase of three points was the baseline; future increases would definitely be higher rather than lower.

"Ten points of Ash Source, huh? If each region's Ashen Treasure Box is fixed at three points, doesn't that mean I'd need to clear at least four regions to advance in rank?"

Zhang Yanhang found this completely unreasonable. Even if he could tolerate having to clear four regions before advancing in rank, skill promotion also requires the consumption of Ash Source, and the amount needed for promoting skills would undoubtedly be even more.

Given that Alchemy now requires two points of Ash Source to promote, it's basically unlikely that other Original LV.MAX stage skills will still only need one point of Ash Source for promotion like before; they would probably also need two points to advance.

When that time comes, the upgrading requirement would nearly be twenty points. All things considered, he estimated that it would take clearing ten regions to accumulate enough, which was just too much and indeed unreasonable.

Therefore, he felt that as a brand-new, high-threshold, qualitative-changed rank described as Immortal Land, the Ashen Treasure Boxes should at least increase the amount of Ash Source, shouldn't they?

Otherwise, who knows how long it would take him to advance in rank in the later stages; perhaps he would have to measure the time needed for a single rank advancement in months. Wouldn't that make him just like an ordinary Awakened?

If that were the case, when would he catch up with the leading Awakeners, especially geniuses like the group owner who had already begun advancing to the Fifth Tier? The Fifth Tier was no longer exclusive to powerful cultivators and elder-level cultivators who had been practicing before the Spiritual Qi Recovery; the number of Fifth Tiers achieved by 'ordinary' Awakeners would surely increase.

If he could not catch up in time, he would be ruthlessly eliminated by the times.

Although at times, lying down and doing nothing may seem like a good thing, it's definitely not in the Spiritual Qi Recovery Era because even if one could lie down temporarily, could they do so for a lifetime?

Without any surprise, at most by next year, the Teleportation Channels would truly open on a large scale. By then, it wouldn't just be a question of whether one could continue to lie down—the very existence of the Empire would be in question.

Faced with such an existential crisis for humanity, Zhang Yanhang still had some ambition.

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