Chapter 654
Xia'er temporarily set aside her complex plans, closing her eyes to check the system panel.
1374...
The massive reward of fate points made Xia'er pause for a moment, but when she saw the death toll, a sense of relief washed over her.
1.5 billion people...
The continent where Xia'er found herself probably had a total population of less than 300 million... and just like that, half of them were gone...
This was precisely why Xia'er had chosen to spread the bacteria in major cities and key towns. If she had taken more time to infect rural areas and remote places, the death toll might have been even higher...
Each of those staggering numbers symbolized a life extinguished... Yet, because it was all simulated, Xia'er felt little guilt about it.
Simulation is just an experiment; it doesn’t require normal emotional responses.
However, what surprised Xia'er the most were the skills she had gained.
Many of her skills had seen a significant leap in levels, seemingly due to the sheer number of indirect kills...
Level 5 was a watershed moment, and this simulation had pushed several skills straight to Level 5—except for the skill called 【全知者】 (Quanzhizhe, "The Omniscient").
Xia'er decided to manually upgrade 【全知者】, as she had a vague feeling it was quite important for her.
After all, she had accumulated so many fate points; it was time for a major upgrade to her skills.
Finally, Xia'er’s gaze fell upon a sealed item gifted by the system.
【猩红子嗣】 (Xinghong Zishi, "Crimson Offspring")...
What is this?
As Xia'er focused, a detailed information list appeared before her.
「【猩红子嗣】：A special sealed item containing the mother strain of the crimson bacteria that has devoured over a hundred million flesh and blood. Activating it will release the bacteria, causing infection in the surrounding area.」
「Side effects: Upon activation, you will become infected with the crimson bacteria and continuously supply blood to the “Crimson Offspring.”」
Xia'er slowly opened her eyes. She raised her right hand, and a silver light flashed, revealing a new object in her palm.
It was a bracelet-like ornament made of blood-red mycelium, radiating a slight warmth as it settled in her hand. The mycelium writhed, inching toward her wrist.
Before long, the mycelial bracelet had coiled tightly around Xia'er’s right wrist, fitting snugly against her skin.
If one didn’t look closely, they might mistake it for a grotesque scar tissue protruding from her wrist rather than a bracelet.
Was this a product of the extensive spread of the crimson bacteria in the simulation?
Could this tiny bracelet be the mother strain of the bacteria that absorbed so many life forces?
As Xia'er felt the “Crimson Offspring” slowly writhing on her wrist, she decided not to store it in the system warehouse.
Wearing it posed no significant side effects, and it was more convenient to keep it on... As for aesthetics, a pair of leather gloves would easily conceal the bracelet, making it hardly noticeable.
This was the first time the system had provided something that seemed to have emerged from a previous simulation... There hadn’t been such rewards during the first crimson infection in Ansu City.
Perhaps the number of people killed by the bacteria in the last simulation had reached a critical point, allowing the “Crimson Offspring” to manifest as a reward this time.
Xia'er had no intention of immediately trying to use the “Crimson Offspring.” Instead, she turned her attention to the list of skills she had just upgraded.
「全知者Lv.4：Passive ability. You will know the existence of any creation directed at you by yourself or others. By consuming mental energy, you can manipulate the creation, allowing a part of your spirit to briefly descend, with strength varying based on the offering.」
「灵巧Lv.5：Greatly enhances your agility, making your movements more nimble, while your strength, skill, and physical attributes receive a comprehensive boost.」
「魅力Lv.5：Your charm has significantly increased, causing any creature encountering you to not immediately feel the urge to attack. Your interactions will more easily garner goodwill.」
「谈话的艺术Lv.5：Your conversations are more likely to make people listen and believe you, with a chance of making them unconditionally trust everything you say.」
「克星Lv.5：Active ability. Creatures that fear you or have been killed by you in the simulation will experience great fear in reality. The more times they have been killed, the deeper the layers of fear they will feel.」
Xia'er was right; Level 5 represented a qualitative leap for her skills.
The agility boost from 灵巧 enhanced her overall physical attributes, while the charm upgrade now applied to “any creature.” The art of conversation had a chance to make others unconditionally believe her words, and 克星 had transformed from a passive ability into an active one...
As for 【全知者】, although it was still at Level 4, its changes were increasingly aligning with Xia'er’s expectations... Now, she could briefly allow her spirit to descend upon her creations.
This was a degraded version of an altar; the altar might be the creation of a higher-level 【全知者】.
She couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if she upgraded 【全知者】 to Level 5...
Upgrading from Level 1 to Level 2 required 10 fate points, from Level 2 to Level 3 needed 100 points, from Level 3 to Level 4 required 200, and to elevate Level 4 to Level 5, she would need 500...
The points required for this upgrade were within Xia'er’s expectations, falling within a bearable range, and the intensity was not much different from the exchange rates in the system shop.
A bottle of Level 1 potion in the system shop costs 100 fate points, while the speed and strength provided by Level 3 灵巧 were comparable to potions suitable for combat at Levels 1-2.
In a way, even without any potions, Xia'er’s physical attributes, enhanced by these skills, could already contend with an average Level 3 extraordinary being—of course, this was without considering her pocket watch, save points, sealed items, and other aids.
However, for Xia'er at this moment, the likelihood of combat was quite low; the “魅力Lv.5” attribute was simply too exaggerated.
Combined with “谈话的艺术Lv.5,” it could be said that as long as Xia'er didn’t want to fight, at least in reality, no extraordinary being would dare to directly seek trouble with her.
Xia'er opened the skill panel and found 【全知者】, clicking the upgrade button.
「命定点数：1631↓500」
「命定点数：1131」
Five hundred fate points vanished in an instant, and the skill panel before Xia'er jumped up a number. The text blurred for a moment before revealing a new description.
「全知者Lv.5：Passive ability. You will know the existence of any text, language, item, or altar directed at you. By consuming mental energy, you can distort any text, language, or item pointing toward you.」
The altar appeared.
At the moment of upgrading 【全知者】, the flames that had once burned with a red hue in Xia'er’s mind began to slowly transform into a dull silver-gray flame.
Through those flames, she could see Tara, Xiao Zuo, Aivina, and other beings from the other realm... Moreover, Xia'er sensed that as long as she wished, she could descend through those altars at any time.
Those were faceless statues of the goddess inscribed with Xia'er’s mark... The statues she had sent out had become similar to altars.
Although these altars seemed unable to facilitate interdimensional descents, unable to bridge the gap from reality to simulation or from reality to the Old Ones, and could only allow partial spirit descents.
Xia'er believed that as the level of 【全知者】 continued to rise, one day it would reach the same strength as the system’s altars.
Moreover... she could distort any text, language, and item directed at her.
That was almost identical to how the system used altars to corrupt their holders, though the system’s method was evidently stronger.
Xia'er glanced at the other system skills; skills like 【猎头者】 (Lietouzhang, "Head Hunter") didn’t seem to require urgent upgrades, but 【敏锐】 (Minrui, "Keen Sense") was worth considering.
Temporarily closing the skill interface, Xia'er opened the simulation interface.
「来日：340Day（圣742年7月3日20:00）（消耗400命定点）」
「往日：141Day（圣741年8月3日12:40）（消耗200命定点）」
「旧日」
「祭坛数量：3」
Almost a year later...
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