Chapter 46: Lightning Speed

"Swift Footwork?"

It seemed to be a movement skill. Let’s check its effect.

[Swift Footwork] (B-rank)
Type: Movement Skill
Effect: Instantly increases leg strength by 50%, enabling brief bursts of speed. No cooldown, but consumes a large amount of stamina.

...

As expected, it was a movement skill—his instincts were usually spot on.

The effect was straightforward: a sudden 50% boost in burst speed.

Having no cooldown meant it could be used anytime without restriction.

If unleashed suddenly during battle, the enemy would most likely be caught off guard.

Even if they reacted, the erratic timing of its use could disorient opponents, pressuring their mental state. Used well, it was truly a divine skill.

The only concern was its heavy stamina consumption.

This world didn’t waste words—“large consumption” was no joke.

He decided to try it out and feel the difference.

“Swift Footwork.”

Muttering it silently, he leaned forward, suddenly feeling his leg strength surge, propelling him instantly toward the wall.

Boom!

A tremendous noise shook the dormitory, dust raining down from the ceiling. The dust drifted over Chuxue’s head but seemed to hit an invisible barrier and slid down onto the bed.

Turning back, Lu Ming found himself embedded in the fortress-grade wall.

Struggling fiercely, he used his arms to pry himself free, looking somewhat embarrassed.

He had made a mistake—he had just advanced to an intermediate hunting warrior, and his body hadn’t adapted to the enhanced strength yet. The sudden speed surge was uncontrollable, and he hadn’t fully felt the stamina drain, only his hunger becoming more pronounced.

Nevertheless, there was a silver lining: this indirectly confirmed how astonishingly strong his body was now.

A fortress-grade wall could be broken through just like that. Without stacking any buffs, without any enhancements or weapons, he could engage mutant elite species in hand-to-hand combat. Other E-rank elites were mere poultry to him.

He glanced at Chuxue and gave a sheepish smile, wanting to reassure her so as not to scare the little spider.

Wiping the dust from his face, he opened his personal information panel and checked the description for the intermediate hunting warrior.

[Intermediate Hunting Warrior]: Capable of single-handedly hunting down a squad of E-rank elites. With team coordination, they can even challenge E-rank king-class foes. They are elite hunting warriors. Devouring specialization crystals allows promotion to advanced hunting warrior. Promotion progress: (6668/15000).

It matched his expectations closely but only applied to ordinary intermediate warriors.

Generally, due to the drop rate of specialization crystals, most people use every last one just to upgrade their specialization level, leaving no spare crystals to improve awakening power. Thus, their awakening power mostly stays at level one, and their skill repertoire remains limited.

In his case, with fourth-tier awakening power combined with Strength Multiplication and Swift Footwork, he could dominate the daylight hours with ease.

If he refined Strength Multiplication further, raising his awakening power by one tier, solo hunts against king-class mutants would become a real possibility.

Acting on the thought, he triggered Strength Multiplication and chose the second-tier refinement.

[Prompt: Confirm consuming 2000 "specialization crystals" to refine B-rank skill "Strength Multiplication" into S-rank skill "Strength Bestowal"?]

[Confirm]
[Cancel]

“Confirm!”

A flash of purple light faded from the skill name, which reappeared in golden letters as Strength Bestowal.

[Strength Bestowal] (S-rank)
Category: Active Enhancement Skill
Effect: Grants triple strength to self, lasting thirty minutes, with a one-hour cooldown.
Special: This enhancement can be applied to multiple targets simultaneously. The number of targets depends on the user's specialization level.
Current user specialization level: Intermediate Hunting Warrior
Number of targets that can be enhanced: 2

...

Triple strength enhancement, with two targets. Sweeping through daylight had never been more certain.

No, even during the brief night hours, he now possessed ample confidence.

Especially with a spider companion soon to evolve into an E-rank king.

At this moment, the outer suburban area posed no danger to him whatsoever.

Checking his specialization crystals, 4668 remained.

His priority now was upgrading awakening power and Swift Footwork.

Raising awakening power by one tier required 1000 crystals.

He hadn’t tried Swift Footwork’s enhancement yet; he’d see that next.

“Ultimate Refinement.”

[Prompt: Please choose...]

“Second tier.”

[Prompt: Refining B-rank skill "Swift Footwork" to S-rank "Godspeed" requires 2000 specialization crystals. Confirm consumption of 2000 specialization crystals to refine "Swift Footwork" into S-rank "Godspeed"?]

[Confirm]
[Cancel]

The crystal cost for refining any B-rank skill was the same. This was probably the greatest fairness of the ultimate refinement system.

Clicking to view Godspeed’s information.

[Godspeed] (S-rank)
Category: Movement Skill
Effect: Instantly triples speed, achieving a leap in velocity. No cooldown but drastically drains stamina.

...

Triple speed.

The description shifted from precise leg strength to generalized speed, implying an overall enhancement rather than a localized one.

Stamina consumption rose from large to severe, meaning fewer uses.

But it had no time limit, so a side effect was understandable.

Moreover, this drawback could likely be offset using multi-functional sports drinks or similar supplements—akin to stamina potions in games.

Should he upgrade?

Lu Ming asked himself.

Or should he keep using Swift Footwork for now, funneling more crystals into awakening power?

After a moment’s hesitation, he cast aside doubts. Upgrade! Damn it, upgrade!

Skills were meant to grow stronger. Even if usage frequency dropped sharply, the effect would transform fundamentally.

The same enemy: with Swift Footwork, it might take ten strikes to kill before exhaustion sets in; with Godspeed, one strike suffices, then exhaustion. The result was the same, but the process was ten times simpler.

How many unnecessary battlefield variables would that avoid? Sometimes just a few seconds could change everything. How often had he seen advantages lost to a dragon steal or a base push because of delays?

“Confirm!”

[Prompt: B-rank skill "Swift Footwork" successfully refined to S-rank "Godspeed".]

In the skill bar, the purple "Swift Footwork" vanished, replaced by the golden "Godspeed," adding a touch of extravagance.

Comforting.

Next was awakening power—not refinement, but an upgrade.

[Prompt: Sufficient specialization crystals detected in spatial pouch. Confirm consumption of 1000 specialization crystals to upgrade awakening power by one tier?]

“Confirm.”

[Prompt: Awakening power successfully upgraded. Current tier: Five (2 base + 3 additional)]

The panel updated; awakening power had reached tier five.

[Awakening Power]
Category: Awakening Skill
Effect: Temporarily enters a gene awakening state, boosting overall physique by five times for five minutes. Cooldown resets daily at midnight.
Special: Consumes specialization crystals to increase awakening power tier. Both the gene awakening effect and duration improve with tier, maxing at tier ten.
Current Tier: Five (2 base + 3 additional)
Upgrade Progress: (1668/2000)

...

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