Chapter 197 - 145: Players: Open Your Eyes and Grind

With that, a player jumped right in, ready to change their Talent.

Of the three functions offered by the Candle Spirit Tree, the Repetition Blessing had the highest cost at 50 Wax Oil per use. The Blessing Ascension and Enhanced Ability functions both cost 30 Wax Oil per use.

The costs didn’t seem that high; in fact, considering the functions they provided, they almost felt a little cheap.

It seemed that with the increase in the number of players, the various building functions of the Spirit Candle were no longer limited to requiring physical contact with the fire. Instead, players could now make their selections through the game interface after entering a certain range, which was far more convenient.

[Do you wish to spend 50 Wax Oil on a Repetition Blessing?]

[50 Wax Oil has been consumed. Performing Repetition Blessing...]

[Randomly selecting a Talent...]

As the Wax Oil vanished, the first player to try it out saw tiny Flames fly from his body and merge into the "leaves" of the Candle Spirit Tree.

At the same time, another Flame descended, replacing the previous one and integrating into his body.

[Repetition Blessing successful!]

[Cleverness (Residual Ash) → Bloodthirsty Blade (Embers)]

[Bloodthirsty Blade (Embers): Melee attacks that deal damage will slightly restore your own Life Value. Power +1.]

"Holy shit?" Seeing this, the player’s face lit up with a pleasant surprise. "It went straight to an Embers Quality Talent? With built-in lifesteal? Awesome!"

"HAHAHAHAHA, worth it!"

The player was instantly ecstatic. He had been playing a melee character, but his own Talent was geared toward Spirit, so it had always felt awkward, and he’d been thinking of changing it.

He never expected his very first attempt to yield such a great Talent. This was fantastic!

"Huh? You can get an Embers Quality Talent for just 50 Wax Oil? That’s a great deal!"

"Maybe I should give it a try too?"

"Are there any Molten Slag Quality Talents?"

Seeing the first player to test the waters have such a good time, the others were tempted. Before long, a group of players was lining up to perform Repetition Blessings on their Talents.

However... the players who followed seemed to have worse and worse luck.

"An Embers Quality Talent for me too! But the Effect is pretty average, so whatever..."

"Damn it, how come I only got the most basic one?"

"You should be grateful your Talent is even usable. Mine is the real trash..."

After several players had their attempts blow up in their faces, the crowd finally understood what "probability" meant. It seemed that getting a desirable Talent wasn’t going to be so easy.

Of course, there were a few "extremely lucky" ones among them, and after getting a good Talent, they naturally had to show it off with their noses in the air.

This, of course, made the other players burn with envy and resentment. Spurred on, they would angrily resort to Krypton Gold spending, continuing to consume more Wax Oil on the Candle Spirit Tree...

...

Meanwhile, Luo Ge was secretly spectating.

’This kid looks pleasant. I think he called me handsome on the forums last time. Reward him!’

’Never seen this kid before. Give him an average one, make him spend a few more times.’

’Ho, what a brat. Cursed me out so badly on the forums, even said I was petty. Am I petty? Here’s a garbage one for you. Keep spending for me!’

"..."

Luo Ge was having the time of his life.

That’s right. This "probability" was actually something Luo Ge had deliberately cooked up.

Although the Talent drawing was indeed relatively random, the actual probabilities weren’t nearly as terrible as they appeared.

As for the Blessing Ascension and Enhanced Ability functions that followed, they never had a "success probability" to begin with.

Luo Ge was just looking for an excuse to line his own pockets with Wax Oil.

His Candlekeeper’s Candle Spirit Body needed upgrading too, after all.

’The players will just have to suffer a little more,’ he thought.

...

「In the real world, evening was gradually falling.」

As a large number of players came online, the Spirit Candle became even livelier.

Li Miao, of course, also came to the Candle Spirit Tree in high spirits.

’Should I change my Talent?’

’...Never mind. This Talent isn’t anything special, but it’s decent enough. I’ll just go straight for the enhancement.’

After a moment’s hesitation, Li Miao decided to keep his Talent and enhance it.

Based on the other players’ attempts and summaries from during the day, he had discovered that Talents also had corresponding Tiers. However, a high Tier didn’t necessarily mean the Talent was strong. For example, certain Talents that only increased proficiency with a specific Weapon were rather useless.

Having made his decision, Li Miao didn’t hesitate any longer and began to enhance his Talent.

[30 Wax Oil has been consumed. Performing Blessing Ascension...]

[Enhancing Talent...]

[Enhancement successful!]

[Strong and Healthy (Residual Ash) → Strong and Healthy (Embers)]

[Strong and Healthy (Embers): Slightly increases Physical Strength recovery speed. Constitution +1.]

Seeing his first enhancement succeed, Li Miao was a little happy. The odds weren’t as low as everyone on the forums was saying.

With that thought, he decided to press on and enhance his Talent again to the Molten Slag Ash Tier.

This time, however, his luck wasn’t as good.

[50 Wax Oil has been consumed. Performing Blessing Ascension...]

[Enhancement failed.]

Seeing this, Li Miao’s expression froze. "No way, 50 Wax Oil just gone like that?"

He was a little speechless.

But he still had a fairly ample supply of Wax Oil on hand. Thinking of this, Li Miao decided to try two more times.

After one more failure, he finally succeeded in enhancing his Talent to the Molten Slag Ash Tier.

[Enhancement successful!]

[Strong and Healthy (Embers) → Steadfast Body (Molten Slag)]

[Steadfast Body (Molten Slag): Slightly increases Physical Strength recovery speed and damage resistance. Constitution +1.]

"Not bad, not bad." Seeing that he had finally succeeded, Li Miao breathed a sigh of relief.

If he had failed again, he would have had to put it on hold for now.

After all, both the Tier Two Demon-Harboring Cottage and the Tier Three Spirit Fire Port required a significant amount of Wax Oil.