Chapter 1030
Chapter 1030 - 1116: The Advancement of Abstraction
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As a Fighter who had once reached the defining point, Chris’s vision may be Lu Ping’an’s greatest asset right now.
She had actually seen through everything, noticing that Lu Ping’an was in a state of "false bulkiness."
His frame was large, but mostly it was made up of fat and flesh that hadn’t been turned into muscle; not only did it not hurt to hit someone, but running just a few steps would make these mottled strengths an extra burden and drain.
He needed a "hammer" to forge his material self into steel.
He needed ceaseless real combat training to bring out his "rule building"-granted combat talent and completely transform this "bloated mortal" into a Soldier capable of fierce battle.
"....It’s somewhat better than before," Chris remarked.
In Big Cat’s eyes, only now did Lu Ping’an’s "Magical Vine Body," "Runner profession," "Life system profession," and other assets finally become a weapon with practical combat value.
"It’s almost time, advance to the next tier," she said.
During the brief two-hour rest period, Big Cat suddenly spoke up.
"For the upcoming real combat, being just a 2-tier Fighter is truly not enough. Move up to the third tier and give yourself a powerful "Self-curse"; another step up should be about right."
It had only been a few days since Lu Ping’an became a 2-tier Fighter, and Big Cat was already pushing him to escalate the intensity.
In her view, someone like Lu Ping’an, with his unique existence, didn’t need to keep digging into the nearly depleted pool of 2-tier abilities, but could leap directly toward the next target.
"...Isn’t this too fast? Also, can the rituals and such be managed?" he asked.
For third-tier professionals, advancement had been immensely difficult for Lu Ping’an before, with ordinary professionals possibly needing to strive for a dozen or even several decades to accumulate the resources and experience needed for advancement.
This involved not only choosing the most suitable path, but often, it also required the aid of Divine Power, and one’s own accumulation had to meet the standard. Additionally, there were often extremely cumbersome prerequisite conditions and advancement rituals.
Most directly, it’s the "Self-cursing," a trait that transforms the nature of one’s flesh. Acquiring and utilizing it is a time-consuming and laborious affair.
But Big Cat made it sound as simple as going out to buy groceries.
"It indeed is very important to others, but for you... it’s just a third-tier, a tool path, you need immediate power enhancement," she explained.
That’s the reason. A third-tier for others could be a lifetime achievement, but for Lu Ping’an, as long as his "Panel," "Professional Abilities," and "Occupational Traits" are effective, he could truly consider a part-time commitment.
"As for the costs of rituals and self-cursing... just save it," she added.
A leaky ship still has three pounds of nails, and with that saying, Big Cat showed Lu Ping’an a backdoor.
"Avatar Dancer," nominally a "Dancer," in reality a Fighter’s path to the third tier.
Clearly, this was an Evil Gods path, a specialty path of Evil God Keldaress.
"But you’re gone, isn’t this path wasted?" Lu Ping’an prodded, unconvinced.
"...The profession’s module has been included in the Taboo Library, and you can purchase it directly," she answered.
Well, worse than a person’s death erasing their path; now the assets were directly confiscated, and now she was introducing it to newcomers for purchase.
After reviewing the information, however, Lu Ping’an became quite interested in this "Dancer"...
"...So the key is the avatar, huh? Hieroglyphic Boxing, quite interesting," he admitted.
Beings like the Big Cat, who are Quasi-Gods, often offer professions that are exceptionally modded (and comparatively dangerous)... This is quite evident in the case of the Black Holy Grail Holder.
It is often bestowed upon the devout as a contribution to the Quasi-Gods, where high risk also implies high rewards. In the world of professionals, countless people eagerly seek these opportunities.
The Avatar Dancer profession is no exception, as it actually amalgamates the characteristics of three systems: "Healer," "Dancer," and "Fighter," resulting in a profession that’s exceedingly modded.
However, it wasn’t until Lu Ping’an truly got a grasp on it that he realized the past Big Cat probably didn’t have good intentions, having given others only a crippled version of it.
"...it requires a high-level Life system ability and the cultivation of ’Chr(Keldais)-style Glyph Boxing’ to function fully. Your followers are destined to get something incomplete..."
𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞
Hieroglyphic Boxing mimics the postures and movements of animals and is a routine set of boxing techniques that involves practical application. It is also one of the oldest and most varied types of boxing routines.
Imitating animals such as the snake fist, monkey fist, mantis fist, crane fist, and even the exercises that train the muscles and bones like the Five Animal Frolics, as well as drunken fist which imitates drunkenness—all of these can be categorized as such.
After all, Hieroglyphic Boxing is divided into "shape-mimicking" and "meaning-taking," where the former focuses on body postures and forms, while the latter emulates animal actions, employing the "specialty," "stunts," and "essence of movement" of animals to make up for any shortcomings in one’s combat skills.
The reason it’s considered ancient is due to the "philosophical thoughts" and "roots of development" being universally prevalent, that is, "learning the abilities of powerful beings in nature" to compensate for the natural shortcomings of humans.
This was merely Hieroglyphic Boxing at the level of ordinary people...
[Beep, congratulations Host, you have acquired the third-tier Fighter profession ’Avatar Dancer’.]
[Avatar Dancer profession correction: Physique slightly increased, Reflex significantly increased, Spirit slightly elevated.]
Perhaps Lu Ping’an had reached the bottleneck of his part-time job, or his body had reached a critical threshold, because the increase in his Physique and other basic attributes this time was alarmingly low... Of course, the significant increase in his Reflex, which is a shortcoming, was expected since a Fighter profession is essentially Reflex-oriented in some respects.
[Professional Skill ’Boxing Combat’ transformed into ’Chr-style Soul-binding Pictographic Boxing’, current lvl15, able to bind souls of the target: 3.]
[Professional Skill ’Breathing Technique....Detection of Upper Silver Traits, replacement halted.]
The professional abilities were problematic too. Lu Ping’an’s All Things Breathing Skill was clearly much more powerful than this third-tier breathing method; it directly replaced the latter, indicating that there must be significant overlap in their traits.
[You have obtained a ’Self-curse,’ ’Binder’s Self-doubt (Silver Lower Rank)’: The Avatar Dancer excessively obsessed with ’shape-shifting’ in his dreams, has turned into a curse in reality, where he could gradually devolve into it...]
The price of great power is often unbearable, and this Silver Upper Rank’s ’Self-curse’ also hints at the actual strength of this profession, which is probably on the level of the fourth-tier.
But only after actually obtaining this profession did Lu Ping’an feel even more that it was worth it...
"...Indeed, it suits me well."
With a light wave of his hand, it transformed into a claw, and an animal shape vaguely possessed his surroundings.
That nightmarish scene flashed through his mind, and Lu Ping’an felt as though he could genuinely tear through space with a swing of his hand... but that hand would likely be lost as well.
[Chr-style Glyph (Silver Lower Rank Professional Ability): Specify a target, mimic its shape, absorb its flesh, extract its soul, sacrifice life force and fragments of the soul to create a ’Soul-binding Intent’. Use it as the ’Combat Spirit’ of Hieroglyphic Boxing.]
[Note: The more materials collected, the higher the level of the Combat Spirit, with a current upper limit of three.]
Quite the nefarious capability for Hieroglyphic Boxing, that’s so Chr.
Lu Ping’an had already sensed the inclusion of the "substitute" trait of a high-level Healer.
Therefore, as long as he found suitable targets, he could shape a rather formidable Combat Spirit...
"...Chris, what do you think of my ’First Combat Spirit Keldaress’?" Lu Ping’an said with self-satisfaction. He hadn’t really unleashed that claw because he knew he couldn’t withstand the backlash.
"Scram!" Apparently, a certain Big Cat really didn’t want to talk anymore.
— End of Chapter 1030 —