Chapter 288: Chapter 288: The God-Rank Assessment’s Rewards [2], All Skills Leveled Up

Ding!

[Your skill "Appraisal (Common Lv.5)" has evolved to "Appraisal (Common Lv.7)"]

[Your skill "Torrent of Lightning (Elite Lv.5)" has evolved to "Torrent of Lightning (Elite Lv.7)"]

[Your skill "Deep Darkness Barrier (Epic Lv.3)" has evolved to "Mega Darkness Barrier (Epic Lv.5)"]

[Your skill "Eclipse Dance (Ascendant Lv.5)" has evolved to "Eclipse Dance (Ascendant Lv.7)"]

One notification after another continued appearing rapidly before Leon as every single skill he possessed evolved and improved simultaneously.

Even the atmosphere around him shifted slightly as mana surged throughout his body.

The feeling was honestly incredible.

His abilities weren’t simply leveling up.

They were fundamentally becoming stronger.

And eventually, once the notifications finally stopped appearing...

Leon opened his updated [Skill] panel.

[Skills: Appraisal (Common Lv.7), Vision Enhancement (Common Lv.6), Cataclysmic Fireball (Max), Torrent of Lightning (Elite Lv.7), Dark Crescent Slash (Ancient Lv.5), Mega Darkness Barrier (Epic Lv.5), Abyssal Slash (Legendary Lv.5), Blood Beam (Legendary Lv.3), Celestial Hand (Ancient Lv.4), Ice Spikes (Legendary Lv.3), Vines of Torment (Legendary Lv.7), Eclipse Dance (Ascendant Lv.7)]

A wide grin slowly appeared on Leon’s face.

"Nice."

This reward boosted his strength massively.

Not only did many of his strongest abilities level up significantly, but several weaker skills also became much more useful now.

Most importantly though... [Celestial Hand] increased. And so did [Eclipse Dance].

Leon was honestly extremely satisfied with those two specifically.

The amount of [Skill Stones] he had just saved because of this reward was genuinely insane.

Honestly, even if the other rewards ended up disappointing, this one alone already made clearing the assessment worth it.

Still...

Leon was extremely eager to check the second reward.

And especially the third.

The system had specifically stated earlier that the third reward would be identical for every player regardless of performance.

Which obviously made it suspicious.

But before moving on, Leon first wanted to properly examine all the changes to his upgraded skills.

After all, some abilities completely transformed upon leveling up.

Like [Deep Darkness Barrier] evolving into [Mega Darkness Barrier].

That alone showed major changes likely happened.

And so, without wasting any more time, Leon calmly went through the descriptions of all the skills that had evolved after receiving the reward from the assessment, his eyes moving from one panel to another while the others nearby were still discussing their own rewards with excitement.

The floating windows illuminated his face as he inspected every little detail carefully, wanting to understand exactly how much stronger he had become after surviving the nightmare that was the [Forsaken City].

Some of the skills honestly did not change that much. At least not enough for Leon to spend too much time thinking about them.

[Appraisal], [Torrent of Lightning], [Dark Crescent Slash], [Blood Beam], [Ice Spikes], [Vines of Torment], and even [Eclipse Dance] had mostly received simple improvements to their overall power, cooldowns, or mana efficiency, but nothing completely game-changing.

Still, Leon knew better than to underestimate even small upgrades.

A tiny increase in power could become devastating during battle once combined with his talents and equipment.

Especially now that his combat power had grown so absurdly high.

But among all the skills, a few had clearly changed more than the others. Those were the ones Leon focused on immediately.

The first one he opened was the simplest.

[Vision Enhancement (Common Lv.6): Consume a certain amount of Spirit to enhance one’s dynamic vision for four minutes. 2-minute cooldown.]

"It doubled..." Leon muttered quietly while nodding to himself.

Originally, the skill only lasted for two minutes, but now it lasted for four whole minutes while keeping the same cooldown.

That meant Leon could practically keep it active during an entire battle if needed.

And for someone like him, whose fighting style depended heavily on reaction speed and precision, such a thing was incredibly useful.

It was a simple skill. But simple did not mean weak.

Then Leon moved to the next evolved skill.

[Mega Darkness Barrier (Epic Lv.5): Deeply focus the element of darkness into a barrier capable of tanking many blows and negating some attacks entirely. This skill now possesses a passive effect that constantly grants a darkness barrier around the user.]

Leon’s eyes widened slightly, "Now that’s useful."

The barrier was already extremely durable, especially after being boosted by his [Monarch of Darkness] sub-talent, but now it possessed an automatic passive shield around him at all times.

That meant Leon would constantly be protected even without activating the skill directly.

And considering how much Spirit he now possessed thanks to the [Destiny Staff], the durability of that passive barrier would probably be ridiculous.

Most players around his level likely would not even be able to break through it.

He could already imagine how annoying it would be for enemies to fight him now.

Then Leon opened the next evolved skill.

[Abyssal Slash (Legendary Lv.5): Blend into the shadows for up to two minutes before striking an enemy with a powerful darkness-based attack. The abyss calls out to you, seeking their heads. The longer you remain hidden in the shadows unnoticed, the stronger the attack becomes.]

Leon’s grin widened slightly after reading the final sentence, "Interesting."

That line had not existed before.

Originally, [Abyssal Slash] was simply a stealth-type assassination skill that allowed Leon to hide within shadows before launching a powerful strike.

But now it had become much more dangerous.

The longer he remained hidden without being detected, the more powerful the final attack would become.

And combined with [Monarch of Darkness], Leon’s would be devastating. It was essentially the perfect assassination skill.

A single hidden strike from that ability in the future might very well kill monsters much stronger than Leon himself. Especially if paired with [Celestial’s Might].

And finally... Leon opened the skill he had truly been waiting for.

[Celestial Hand (Ancient Lv.4): Upon killing an enemy, there is a 25% chance that this skill allows you to choose one of the items dropped by a monster and obtain an additional copy of it.]

"Hahaha..."

Leon could not stop himself from laughing lightly after seeing the percentage.

Twenty-five percent. One out of four monsters.

At this rate, the skill was becoming completely ridiculous. And Leon knew something even more terrifying.

Once this skill continued leveling up in the future, there was a chance it might eventually reach fifty percent. Or perhaps even higher.

If that happened... Leon would essentially begin duplicating rare items constantly.

Not even the gods of [Eternal Ascension] would be able to compete with him in terms of resources.

The more Leon thought about it, the more absurd the skill became.

Satisfied with the results, Leon finally closed the skill panels and moved toward the second reward.

He had already been excited before, but now his curiosity had reached another level entirely.

And the moment he looked at the reward... His eyes widened.

[Reward #2: Forbidden Skill.]

"...Oh shit." Leon genuinely looked shocked.

Even in his previous life, forbidden skills and spells were extraordinarily rare.

Most players would never obtain one in their entire journey through [Eternal Ascension].

The fact Leon already possessed [Oblivion Meteor] was already insane enough, not expecting to receive another easily.

And now he was receiving another forbidden ability only after completing his second God-Rank assessment.

Meanwhile, even Violet and the others seemed stunned after checking their own rewards.

It was obvious none of them had received something this absurd. And then the system revealed the skill.

Ding!

[You obtained the Forbidden Skill: "Berserk"]