Before heading home, Bai Chen stopped on the third floor and packed up an absurd amount of food to take back with him.
The moment his door clicked shut—
Boom.
Nergigante burst out from her Poké Ball.
Her golden eyes widened at the sight before her: tables, chairs, even the counter piled high with food.
And then—she dove in.
Chomp, chomp, chomp—!
She devoured like a hurricane, tail thumping happily against the floor.
After all, neither of them had eaten a proper meal in days.
Field rations and emergency tonics might brim with life energy—but taste-wise, they were torture.
Now, even Nergigante seemed to miss Lillie a little.
At least back then, she got to eat Chansey eggs every morning.
"Don't look at me like that," Bai Chen said, tapping her head when he caught her thinking about it.
"I gave you Wyvern Gems from the Jyuratodus as snacks. Those things aren't cheap."
"Rrgh."
Nergigante grumbled through a mouthful of roast meat, pretending not to hear.
Bai Chen sat cross-legged on the floor, eating while reviewing his recent gains.
The coins and materials were just side income.
What truly mattered were his Skill Proficiency Points—and the Skill Stones.
When he hunted the Great Jagras (Danger Level 2), the system had rewarded 10,000 proficiency and a Rarity 3 Skill Stone.
A Kulu-Ya-Ku (Danger 1) gave 5,000 points and a Rarity 2 Stone.
A Tobi-Kadachi (Danger 3) yielded 20,000 points and a Rarity 4 Stone.
And finally—his first Danger Level 4 monster, the Tobi-Kadachi King Hunt.
That one alone gave 30,000 points and a Rarity 5 Skill Stone.
He also gained smaller amounts of proficiency from each normal hunt:
200 from Danger 2 monsters, 300 from Danger 3s.
After some quick math—
His total came to 74,300 freely distributable skill points.
He'd already spent 37,000 upgrading Power of Nature to Master rank for both himself and Nergigante,
leaving 37,300 points to spare.
But even that number wasn't nearly enough.
"Sixteen skills for me, twelve for Nergigante… and that's not even counting for the blacksmithing set."
He sighed.
"Can't spread it thin. Every point has to count. The first round's always the most important."
Grinding monsters endlessly for experience wasn't his style—
Nor was he about to defy the balance of nature for power.
He still remembered what he told Hara:
"Nature punishes what disrupts its harmony."
If he started slaughtering indiscriminately, the world itself would forge something to counter him.
And if that happened, even other hunters would turn their blades on him.
No thanks.
Re-checking his current stats, Bai Chen noted:
Power of Nature — Master
Ki Blade Breathing — Expert
Titan's Body — Expert
Dragon's Blood — Adept
Super Regeneration — Adept
He'd need roughly 17,000 more points to push Titan's Body to Master.
Tempting, but the other two—Super Regeneration and Dragon's Blood—were equally valuable.
After a long minute of thought, he nodded to himself.
"All right. Let's split the cost."
He poured 9,300 points into both him and Nergigante—
raising Super Regeneration and Dragon's Blood to Expert level.
[Super Regeneration (Rarity 8) — proficiency increased: adept → Expert (1/20,000)]
[Dragon's Blood (Rarity 7) — proficiency increased: adept → Expert (1/17,500)]
That gave Bai Chen one Master-tier skill and four Expert-tier ones.
Nergigante wasn't far behind—only one skill short.
Among their rank, they were already unmatched.
There was another pleasant surprise.
His defensive move, Protect, had evolved.
[Individual 'Bai Chen' acquired Foresight (Rarity 4). Detecting similar skill… merging—
Result: Quick Guard (Rarity 5).]
Quick Guard (Rarity 5):
Always activates first. Completely blocks an opponent's attack. May fail if used repeatedly.
It wasn't a massive change—but that instant priority made all the difference in life-or-death fights.
He still had 28,000 points left,
but decided to hold off.
Instead, his attention turned to the Skill Stones—
one of each rarity from 2 to 5.
Each stone could evolve a skill to the next rarity tier.
In theory, he could take a rarity-2 move and push it straight to rarity-6—
roughly equivalent to an advanced Pokémon's signature move.
Scanning through his skills, two stood out:
Crisis Sense (Rarity 2)
Quick Attack (Rarity 2)
Both had proven their worth.
"Quick Attack's too basic," Bai Chen murmured.
"It can evolve into Extreme Speed later. Better to save it."
Crisis Sense, on the other hand, had no upper-tier version—and it had saved his life countless times.
"Let's see what happens if I push this one."
He pressed the Skill Stone to his chest.
[Individual 'Bai Chen' used Rarity 2 Skill Stone — Crisis Sense upgraded → Crisis Detection (Rarity 3)]
Then again.
Then again.
And again—until—
[Crisis Detection evolved to Enhanced Senses (Rarity 5).]
[Detected similar skill: Enhanced Smell (Rarity 3) — merging…]
[Result: Sensory Boost (Rarity 5). 1,923 proficiency refunded.]
Bai Chen blinked in surprise.
"It actually consumed my mushroom-pig smell skill?"
One skill vanished from his list.
Sixteen became fifteen.
Curious, he activated the new one.
Instantly—
His world exploded with detail.
He could hear conversations five hundred meters away.
He could smell the sea breeze rolling through the west gate.
He could even taste the faint burnt edge on his steak—
Two seconds overcooked, if his tongue was right.
"That's… powerful."
He swallowed hard, then pulled out the final Rarity 5 Skill Stone.
"Let's take it one step further."
[Individual 'Bai Chen' used Rarity 5 Skill Stone.]
[Acquired new skill: Super Perception (Rarity 6).]
The world shifted again.
Not only were his five senses amplified—
His mind now perceived.
He felt every living thing within five hundred meters.
Even inanimate objects had shape and texture within his awareness.
A three-dimensional map unfolded in his mind.
Hunters became gray silhouettes walking through a white world.
Each bore a faint glow of color—emotions rendered in light.
A man leaving the forge shone faint red—excitement.
Bai Chen exhaled slowly.
"So that's Super Perception… a radar in my mind."
Then he smiled.
"But what happens if I add this—?"
He closed his eyes.
"Natural Vision."
His pupils flared gold.
And in that instant—
The gray world bloomed with color.
The white turned to sky.
The lights of emotion melted into hues of nature.
The world…
was alive again.
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