"So there are these kind of limitations!" Sheyan sucked in a cold breath! His mind spun fast, and found a lot of deeper meaning behind them.
From what he could see, the way the nightmare realm shaped a person was a thorough and complete process, similar to the process of painting a masterpiece.
The contestants who were new to the realm were like worthless tree barks and bamboos. The realm did not impose any roles on them. Instead, the realm let them fight in various worlds while setting up some rules that were beneficial to them. Its growth. Of course, if they were eliminated in this process, then they were indeed worthless.
This period was akin to the process of pulping, modulation, and processing in papermaking.
The greatest change to a contestant came when they awakened into a Growth Hunter. The contrast before and after they awakened was huge. If they were tree barks and bamboos before, they were now smooth and fragrant high-quality paper. They had turned from worthless materials into famous products.
The Awakener trial, etc. which came afterwards would be akin to additional processes on the papers to make them for suitable for various applications. For example, Xuan papers which were suitable for traditional Chinese painting, canvas for oil painting, or sketching papers for pencil drawing.
The various experiences and tests were akin to brushes that paint on the papers.
In the end, the contestants honed by the realm would be like famous paintings of different styles! They would be like masterpieces that were only made possible after undergoing various processes!
Of course, the amount of people eliminated in the process were definitely no fewer than the amount of paper wasted in the painting of a masterpiece!
Of all the processes, Sheyan believed that the greatest change should be when a contestant turned into a Growth Hunter. The tests afterwards may be harder than the Growth Hunter test, but contestants should no longer be forced into situations so tight that they couldn"t even breathe. Growth Hunters had become useful materials so the subsequent processes should be to shape them. They would no longer be dealt with so roughly.
Sheyan might appear full of confidence in the whole process of breaking through the boundary limit, but one need only look at Reef and the way he was forced into a corner before he met Sheyan to know how much pressure there was in this test.
Sheyan checked his current attributes carefully and quickly came to a conclusion:
"It seemed that it is absolutely impossible to quickly increase base attributes after becoming a Growth Hunter. More importantly, because of the restrictions in allocating free attribute points, Growth Hunters will definitely invest most of their free attribute points in their main attribute. All Growth Hunters will evolve towards a more specialised direction. This is an irreversible trend."
"But what about the attributes they are weak in? For example, if I have 21 free attribute points, I can improve Strength or Physique by 7 points. But if I invest in Charm, I only get 3 points; only idiots would do that. So what do I do if I suddenly find myself in need of Charm?"
"Equipments!! The only way is to make up for this shortcoming through equipments! The attributes added by equipments are fixed. It"s foreseeable that one"s dependence on equipments will increase after becoming a Growth Hunter. Ah, as a team leader, I will have to pay more attention to this aspect."
Suddenly, Sheyan felt a rustling on the top of his head. Some sand fell down off the smooth steel wall. The nightmare imprint transmitted some notifications:
[Growth Hunter No. 1018, your trial has been completed. Due to your military rank privilege, you can use the beginner auction system - that is normally only available to Awakeners - in advance. This function will be activated after you return to the nightmare realm.]
[Growth Hunter No. 1018, your trial has been completed. This trial site will be abandoned. The energy restriction will be withdrawn after ten minutes. Anyone can enter this place afterwards.]
"Then I really have to hurry up." Sheyan loosened his neck and heard his joints cracked. He had not returned to his optimum state after coming out from the trial ground. So, the first thing he did was naturally to take various kinds of recovery food from Jinkuang and gorged on them. After all, the basketball teenager Hakeem was likely waiting for him outside. The information that Hakeem"s military rank could acquire, Sheyan could acquire too, and for free at that!
Fortunately for Sheyan, the food that Zi prepared for him was top grade. Sheyan also had an unused honorary dosage. 10 minutes of recovery time in a non-combat state was more than enough.
Sheyan stood up and re-entered the elevator five minutes later. Sheyan"s aura appeared more hidden and he did not look like he had made a big leap in strength at all. On the contrary, he looked weak and dispirited.
Sheyan stepped out of the elevator the moment it stopped rising. He instantly had a feeling of thorns on his back. He kept quiet and deliberately acted like he was sneaking out of the place. He only turned his head back after a few steps and immediately saw Hakeem sitting on the torch of the Statue of Liberty. His basketball had disappeared.
The moon in the sky was very round, but it had a demonic-red colour, as if it had been soaked in blood. On the sky behind Hakeem hovered several strange creatures. Upon closer scrutiny, Sheyan found them to be half-rotten vultures. Their eye sockets were hollow with faint ghostly fires inside. On their heads was a large blood-red lump of flesh. Their beaks looked very sharp - they seemed to have no problem ripping through tough armours to drag out the internal organs inside.
"Not running away any more?" sneered Hakeem. The voice that reached Sheyan"s ears was quite strange, as if there were microphones all around him.
Following Hakeem"s words, a half-rotten vulture swooped down on Sheyan. The feeling it gave Sheyan when it spread its wings and dived down was that of an all-encompa.s.sing gale.
What was even more bizarre was the sharp tip of a dagger that suddenly appeared from the void thirty centimeters behind Sheyan!
The tip of the dagger glowed with a mysterious blue light, mixed with a bit of dark golden hue!
If Sheyan retreated to avoids the vultures, he would undoubtedly hit the tip of the dagger. Hakeem intended to toy with Sheyan in the illusion until Sheyan fell dead! He wanted every move that Sheyan made to be filled with fear. He wanted Sheyan to not even know how he should react!
However, Sheyan reacted to the dive of the giant vulture in an unexpected way - he pounced towards the giant vulture as if he was launching a suicidal attack. This vulture was actually just an illusion created by Hakeem, so of course it didn"t dare to engage Sheyan. It could only pretend to fly away in panic.
Sheyan missed his target and fell down to the ground in a pathetic way. He only climbed back up after a while, all the while cursing furiously. He turned around and saw that dagger tip had disappeared. Sheyan coughed and spat some thick phlegm on a stone next to him.
Hakeem could feel the blood in his body rush to his head in fury! That"s because the stone that Sheyan spat on was Hakeem"s disguised face! He was so angry that he was ready to brandish his dagger and cut Sheyan into pieces, but at that moment, Sheyan appeared to lose control. He pointed at the Hakeem on the Statue of Liberty, and shouted angrily:
"Hey r.e.t.a.r.d! Is hiding the only thing you know? If you"re a man, come down and fight with me!"
When Hakeem heard this, he suppressed his anger. However, in order to avoid giving himself away, he couldn"t wipe off the thick spit on his face.... Seeing Sheyan run towards the stairs below the Statue of Liberty while roaring furiously, Hakeem could only quietly follow. This time, Hakeem directly followed in stealth.
However, right after Sheyan walked up the stairs to the first floor, he suddenly stopped to prepare something with his back to Hakeem. Hakeem"s was already lacking in patience, so he intended to go up and give Sheyan a throat slit for starters. He didn"t expect that after climbing three steps of stairs, Sheyan would suddenly turn around.
Hakeem, who up to the moment still thought that his stealth was flawless with the help from his illusion, immediately stopped. He still didn"t think that Sheyan was powerful enough to see through his illusion. However, what happened next made Hakeem"s mind go blank.
The buckle of Sheyan"s belt was undone. He had a sly smirk on his face. The tool on Sheyan"s crotch saw the light, aimed straight at Hakeem, and shot him right on the face!
If the previous spitting incident was accidental, being peed on definitely wasn"t. Hakeem was quite strong, so of course he had a lot of pride. It was already a major humiliation when his face was spat on but he couldn"t wipe it away, and now he was peed on?! It"s a lifelong shame! A debt that could only be paid by blood!
By now, of course Hakeem had realised that his illusionary environment had been thoroughly seen through by Sheyan. He screamed at Sheyan and charged! His dark gold dagger flashed with a sharp glint of light.
The dagger was thin, sharp, narrow, and slightly curved. If one were to carefully look at it under the light, there may even be some visual dislocations. This showed that the dagger was vibrating at high speed in the air. When it came into contact with the enemy"s body, it would not just cut, but also saw. Even steel couldn"t withstand this kind of attack, let alone humans!