Chapter 143: Chapter 140: A Tier Two Wizard’s New Ability

The meditation continued.

Lin Qi’s Spiritual Power surged rapidly.

After about six hours, the familiar feeling of a bottleneck appeared.

At that same moment, the range of his Spiritual Vision reached a full five hundred meters.

’It’s already reached five hundred meters, has it? A pity Spiritual Vision is just an Ability I gained at Tier One. I’m afraid it won’t be long before it hits its limit.’

Lin Qi felt a pang of sentimentality; over the years, his Spiritual Vision had brought him countless benefits.

When he first joined the Highest-Level Mercenary Corps, Lin Qi had relied on the unique nature of his Spiritual Vision.

The sentimentality didn’t last long. Lin Qi took out two Tier Two Extraordinary Items.

Both of these Extraordinary Items were gifts from Ding Yang.

They were two Tier Two Crystal Stones, one orange-yellow and one white.

The orange-yellow one came from a Zombie, one that could harden its body, leaning primarily toward defense.

The white one came from an amalgamated animal monster, the same type as the Tier Three Monster in the Beining District. Its Ability was Splitting.

’Analyzing the properties of an Extraordinary Item will influence the Ability I acquire. How should I choose?’

It was a choice between two. He could save the other one for his next advancement, and by then, Lin Qi might have obtained other new Tier Two Extraordinary Items, giving him more options.

After careful consideration, Lin Qi leaned toward the orange-yellow one.

It wasn’t that an Ability like Splitting was weak, but rather that it was highly unsuitable for Lin Qi’s current situation. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Lin Qi was currently in the Cyber World and needed to maintain his disguise as someone with Prosthetic Implantation; he couldn’t easily expose his identity as a Wizard.

If his new Ability was related to "Splitting," its use would be severely restricted, and it seemed unlikely to have any interesting chemical reaction with his Spiritual Vision.

’My Abilities are strange and hard to defend against mainly because of the unique nature of my Spiritual Vision. This Ability has helped me so much.’

For this reason, Lin Qi put the white Crystal Stone away again.

When his next advancement came, if he hadn’t found any new Tier Two Extraordinary Items, it wouldn’t be too late to choose it then.

Having made up his mind, Lin Qi began the analysis.

The moment his tentacle-like Spiritual Power touched the orange-yellow Crystal Stone, it slowly began to break down.

It was as if its entire essence was being sucked out by the tentacles.

Wisps of power transferred through the tentacles.

An unknown amount of time passed.

The orange-yellow Crystal Stone suddenly went limp, as if all its power had been drained and poured into Lin Qi’s body.

Then, the Extraordinary Item slowly faded, eventually disappearing completely.

The Wizard’s Ability transformed this new power into Lin Qi’s instinct.

Without needing to study it, Lin Qi could now unleash the new power.

Just as he had guessed, this power was indeed geared toward defense.

Even the Ability’s effect was very similar to the Zombie’s ability that Ding Yang had described.

’Body Hardening. A very practical Ability.’

With a thought, Lin Qi’s body changed.

His physical constitution, which was already near the Tier One Limit, was strengthened at this moment, becoming incredibly hard.

But this was accompanied by a strong sense of sluggishness.

Just as the name implied, it was Hardening, not strengthening.

After his flesh hardened, Lin Qi found he could barely control his body with his muscles.

Lin Qi had a premonition that if he tried to force it, he would inevitably suffer severe injuries.

At best, his muscle groups would tear; at worst, his joints would burst, and his internal organs would twist.

He immediately canceled the Ability’s effect, and his body returned to normal.

Lin Qi’s gaze fell upon the A-Class Short-Handled Tang Blade on the table.

’I need to test the defensive power of the Hardening. Right now, the side effects seem too severe.’

’I don’t have any Prosthetic Body parts. Once my body hardens, I’ll be completely immobile, and the Exoskeleton will be restricted by my body.’

Releasing the Exoskeleton from all four limbs, Lin Qi removed all the equipment from his body.

The Exoskeleton remained standing in place.

The arms, legs, and a spine-like component connected it into a single unit.

According to Lin Qi’s design, this Exoskeleton could still move via programming even when taken off.

From its appearance, it looked like a robot without a torso or a head.

He had the Exoskeleton grip the Short-Handled Tang Blade.

He set the program for the Intelligent Brain.

Lin Qi extended his left hand, then activated the Ability.

Hardening!

His body stiffened once more, and under the effect of the Hardening Ability, it took on a grayish-white hue.

The program executed.

The Short-Handled Tang Blade, forged from A-Class Materials, swung toward Lin Qi’s left arm with the full force of the L-Class Exoskeleton.

The power of an L-Class, combined with an A-Class weapon, produced destructive force that was no longer in the Tier Two category; it could almost rival the attack of a Tier Three Knight or Martial Artist.

THWACK! The sound was muffled, not the clang of metal on metal.

Pain shot through his arm.

Good news: his arm was still there.

Bad news: the blade had sunk nearly three centimeters in before being stopped by his hardened bone.

He deactivated Hardening and pulled his arm away from the blade’s edge.

It was excruciatingly painful, but Lin Qi’s expression didn’t change. He calmly cast a round of Rapid Growth.

In just a few seconds, the wound had already healed.

Lin Qi now had a concept of the defensive capability of Hardening.

’A Tier Two Ability gives my Tier One body the defense of a Tier Three. This Ability isn’t weak by any means; it’s a power that can save my life at a critical moment.’

’It’s like I can activate the Ability at any time to give my body the defensive power of a near A-Class Prosthetic Body.’

On this point alone, the Ability was worth tens of millions of Credit Points.

’Although this Ability has its drawbacks, if my feeling is correct...’

With a thought from Lin Qi, his Spiritual Vision expanded.

He saw Wang Ziru in the first-floor conference room, receiving Ding Yang.