Colin's gaze finally fell upon that line of cold, seemingly blood-stained numbers.
Remaining Kill Points: 337.6
This was his final trump card. It was his most primal capital, accumulated through the lives of his enemies in baptism after baptism of blood and fire. It was his only chance to defy fate when facing insurmountable forces.
He had once thought about saving these points for the most critical moment. For instance, when Blackwood Fortress was breached and he needed to fight his way out alone; or perhaps, in some battle where he suffered near-fatal injuries and needed to rely on the system to exchange for a healing potion to save his life.
But now, he realized he was wrong.
A true crisis isn't waiting for the moment the blade has already sliced your throat; it is the moment when you know the blade is about to fall, yet you are powerless to resist. Waiting would only make him die faster and with less dignity under that woman's sword.
He needed strength. Not the kind of strength that grows slowly, polished bit by bit through arduous training. What he needed was explosive strength capable of allowing him to instantly cross that chasm, strength sufficient to contend with a "monster"!
He could wait no longer!
Colin's eyes became infinitely resolute in an instant; it was a kind of madness, a determination that wagered everything. He cast all hesitation, all calculations, and all thoughts of retreat to the back of his mind at this very moment. He wanted to complete his most important transformation before the war began!
"System!"
His voice did not escape his lips, yet it boomed like thunder within his mind.
"Add 20 points each to Strength, Agility, and Constitution!"
Without the slightest hesitation, without a shred of doubt.
At the moment he issued this command, Colin was even mentally prepared to welcome the familiar, tidal wave of strengthening pain, and... the massive cost of 300 points that would almost drain his savings.
However, the system's subsequent response left him completely stunned.
After a brief, heart-stopping silence, that cold, emotionless mechanical prompt sounded in his mind.
[Confirmed. Total consumption is 180 Kill Points.]
"..."
The expression on Colin's face froze instantly. His brain even went blank for several seconds at this moment.
180 points? He almost thought he had misheard!
"What?!" he subconsciously issued a shocked question in his heart.
He remembered clearly that every time he improved an attribute, regardless of which one, every 1-point increase required consuming a full 5 Kill Points! Therefore, adding 20 points each to Strength, Agility, and Constitution—a total improvement of 60 attribute points—the required cost should be $60 \times 5 = 300$!
But now, the system told him it only required 180 points?
What did this mean? This meant that for every 1 point of attribute increase, it now only required 3 Kill Points?!
Was this... a discount?
A feeling of utter absurdity instantly surged into Colin's heart. Following closely behind was an uncontrollable ecstasy!
Was it because his base attributes were already high enough that the system offered a "discount"? Or was it because the scale of Blackwood Fortress had reached "Advanced Settlement" and loyalty had reached "Revered," thus unlocking some hidden benefit?
He did not know. He only knew that he seemed to have gotten a massive bargain!
This was truly help in a time of need! No, this was like when he was about to die of thirst in the desert, and God not only gave him an oasis but also prepared a feast for him right beside it!
A cost of 300 points would have severely drained his vitality, and the remaining points would not have been enough to handle any emergencies. But 180 points—this number was just right! He could both obtain the massive improvement he dreamed of and retain over a hundred Kill Points as a reserve to meet any contingencies!
"I've made a huge profit!" This thought flashed through his mind like lightning.
The Symphony of Destruction
However, just as he was filled with ecstasy, and even as he was still pondering the reason behind this "discount," an unspeakable, extreme premonition of danger suddenly exploded from the depths of his soul without any warning!
Something was wrong!
This thought had just risen, and he didn't even have time to think carefully about what kind of expensive, unbearable price might be hidden behind that so-called "discount." An unprecedented, intense pain, as if from another dimension, instantly swept through his entire body!
"Ughhh—!"
A muffled groan, suppressed to the extreme and seemingly forced out from the depths of his throat, burst forth from between Colin's teeth.
It was not a simple kind of pain. It was a... symphony of destruction and rebirth!
If every previous attribute increase was like using a small hammer to tap and patch his body, then this time, it was as if an invisible, gigantic hand from gods and demons had completely crushed his entire body into dust at the most microscopic level, and then used a violently extreme method to forcibly reshape this powder into an entirely new form!
It was as if every inch of his muscle was being forcibly torn from his bones by countless red-hot, barbed wires, twisted into braids in mid-air, and then welded back on with searing-hot branding irons! The pain of muscle fibers being torn, snapped, and then brutally reorganized inch by inch caused him to instantly arch his body like a shrimp thrown into a fire.
Following that, it was his bones!
He could clearly "hear" every bone in his body, from his finger bones to his spine, emit a dense, teeth-aching crack sound all at the same time! That feeling was as if his skeleton had been instantly smashed into billions of fragments by an invisible, ten-thousand-ton heavy hammer!
Then, an indescribable, scorching power melted these bone fragments into liquid, and then re-poured, cooled, and molded them into a much denser, much sturdier structure!
The Furnace of Hell
If the reshaping of flesh and bone was still just torture on a physical level, then the burning of his internal organs was torture from hell!
His heart, lungs, stomach... all of his organs, at this moment, felt as if they had been filled with boiling lava! Every breath felt like he was inhaling and exhaling flames from the depths of a volcano, carrying the bitter scent of sulfur! Every heartbeat felt like a violent explosion, and that violent power almost tore his chest apart!
His blood vessels became channels for flowing lava; his blood became the lava itself! That boiling current of heat, capable of melting steel, surged and washed madly through every corner of his body. He felt his skin being cooked inch by inch, and he could even smell the scent of scorched protein emanating from his own body!
Pain! Incomparable pain!
This pain far exceeded any previous attribute increase he had ever experienced! It was a hundred times, a thousand times stronger!
He gritted his teeth tightly, and the fishy, sweet taste of blood instantly filled his entire mouth, but he could no longer feel the pain of his lips being bitten through. Because compared to the excruciating pain sweeping through his entire body, that bit of localized pain was as insignificant as a mosquito bite.
He curled up on the cold stone floor, his muscles spasming and twitching uncontrollably as if struck by a high-voltage current. Sweat, like a burst dam, gushed madly from every pore of his body, soaking all his clothes almost instantly and pooling into a small puddle beneath him.
He wanted to roar, wanted to scream, wanted to use the most primal way to vent this pain that was almost enough to completely destroy his sanity. But he could not. Because all his strength was being used to resist the power coming from within his body that threatened to tear him apart completely. All his willpower was being used to guard that last sliver of clarity within him, which was like a candle flame in a gale, ready to be extinguished at any moment.
Time, at this moment, lost all meaning. Every second felt as long as a century.
Just like that, silently and alone, he was repeatedly calcined, tempered, and quenched in the furnace of hell. The entire process lasted for a full three hours.
As if he had walked through hell.