Volume One: The Arrival of the Apocalypse Chapter 29: Evolution Points, I'll Scout Ahead

I knew it. The psychic points required for leveling up had increased significantly; there was no way it would come with no other changes besides advancing from Rank 0 to Rank 1.

A "Golden Legend"—this looks like something good!

Xiang Chenguang looked further down and saw that below the free attribute points, a new golden option had appeared: Evolution Point: 1.

What was this Evolution Point? It seemed to only appear upon ranking up, and that shimmering golden hue suggested it was far more precious than standard attribute points.

Xiang Chenguang focused his attention on the Evolution Point option, and a line of text appeared: "Can be used to upgrade skill tier and level."

Based on the description, the Evolution Point was indeed a treasure, though it was currently useless to him. He relied entirely on basic attacks to kill monsters and had no skills to upgrade.

It seemed his leveling speed had become somewhat broken.

The first main quest, "Survival in the Apocalypse," would likely reward him with skills, yet he had already reached Rank 1 on the third day of the apocalypse, earning an Evolution Point. This led to the awkward situation of having an Evolution Point but no skills to apply it to.

Still, it was fine; he would be able to use it sooner or later, and most likely, he would have a use for it by tomorrow.

There was one advantage to staying ahead of the curve: being able to acquire information in advance. The description of the Evolution Point confirmed that the system would certainly reward skills eventually. Even if the first main quest didn't provide any, the second or third surely would.

Although his current strength allowed him to crush all known invading alien creatures with simple strikes, there would be Rank 1, Rank 2, and even more powerful monsters ahead. Relying solely on basic attacks would eventually lead to a fear of insufficient firepower. Besides, basic attacks weren't nearly as cool as unleashing skills!

Pushing these scattered thoughts aside, Xiang Chenguang continued along the Lihe Bridge. The roads that had been cleared the day before were now only occupied by newly spawned monster mites roaming about.

As he walked, the heavy thud of his footsteps acted like a magnet, drawing the creatures toward his steel rod. One by one, their heads were smashed, turning into the psychic points he needed to level up.

When passing the entrance to the vegetable market, Xiang Chenguang glanced inside. The chaotic street, too, was filled only with a few wandering mites. He ignored them, leaving them for the families of He Jie and Wei Wei, hoping they would have the courage to clear the few remaining monsters on their street.

It wasn't until he turned east at the end of Jianxin Avenue that Xiang Chenguang finally saw monsters other than the mites.

Ahead, including the final stretch of Jianxin Avenue, was the town’s "Breakfast Street." Besides a few small tobacco and alcohol convenience stores, the majority of the buildings were breakfast shops.

The situation here was slightly better than at the vegetable market. Although some shops were wide open and debris was scattered on the ground, the apocalypse had begun before 7:00 AM. Few people were out for breakfast, the initial number of monsters had been low, and the nearby vegetable market had acted as a distraction. Apart from a few unlucky souls, most people should have had enough time to close their shops and hide from the insect monsters.

After a hundred-meter stretch of street, he reached a Y-shaped intersection known to the locals as the "Golden Triangle."

It was the third day of the apocalypse; in areas that no one had cleared, the density of monsters was growing. In the area ahead, he estimated there were well over 200 monsters of various types.

Glancing at the unallocated free attribute point in his character panel, Xiang Chenguang continued forward with calm composure. He would be passing through here tomorrow with a group of people who lacked combat capability. In this relatively open space, he couldn't guarantee everyone's safety if they faced an attack from such a large swarm. To avoid unnecessary casualties, it was best to clear this area of monsters.

After the previous day's fighting, Xiang Chenguang had discovered a feature that wasn't quite a bug: the surge of heat generated by allocating attribute points could alleviate physical exhaustion. Thus, he had intentionally saved this point.

The slaughter feast began once more.

It wasn't much different from his practice on the rooftop that morning. His triangular steel rod thrust and swept, killing insect monsters one by one and converting them into the psychic energy he needed to level up. The only difference was that while he repeated the same movements during practice, actual combat required him to adapt his strikes to the situation. When a single monster lunged, he thrust his rod to shatter its head; when multiple monsters charged, he swept them away.

Furthermore, he had to be mindful of his positioning to avoid being surrounded by the swarm. For someone with 14 points in Agility and extremely sharp senses, this was no difficult task.

He was stronger now than he had been the previous morning, and his movements were more poised. As he danced through the fray, he killed monsters while avoiding the splatters of multicolored fluids.

There was a small incident: halfway through the slaughter, a giant black scorpion emerged quietly from an underground parking garage behind him. Because the battlefield was chaotic and filled with the rustling of insect legs, he hadn't noticed the insidious creature.

However, as the scorpion's stinger silently aimed for his neck, his keen sixth sense issued a warning. Holding the rod with both hands and using his core strength, Xiang Chenguang swept it in a semicircle. He knocked away a spider monster lunging at him and a giant centipede rising to bite his neck, while simultaneously shattering the stinger and a third of the tail of the sneaking scorpion.

In the heat of battle, he hated sneak attacks more than anything.

Xiang Chenguang swung his rod, smashing both of the scorpion's pincers into the ground, pulverizing its remaining tail into a pulp, and finally, crushing its head.

Watching the insect monsters still surging toward him, Xiang Chenguang added his free attribute point to Agility. As a warm current nourished his body and his muscles and tendons rippled in response, the exhaustion from the intense battle vanished. With the "Balanced Body" trait, all three of his core attributes reached 15 points.

Over the past few days, he had observed an interesting phenomenon: when monsters were numerous, they would ignore casualties and charge at him one after another, no matter how brutal and efficient his killing was. But once the number dropped to single digits, slightly more intelligent creatures like the spider monsters and giant centipedes would grow timid and attempt to flee.

After he fought his way through the entire Golden Triangle and smashed the head of the last giant centipede trying to escape, Xiang Chenguang couldn't help but let out a long, triumphant roar.

The previous morning, he had fought his way to Jianxin Street, killing about 140 insect monsters and ending up in a wretched state, covered in fluids from head to toe. Yet, just one day later, he had killed around 200 monsters in even less time, and aside from his own sweat, he wasn't stained by a single drop of monster ichor.

The feeling of being able to clearly sense his own growth in strength every single day was absolutely magnificent.