Chapter 76: Launch Day Perks

Whether the armor could be made and what the dragon blood could do would have to wait for the Federation’s research results. Lin Yan opened the System to upgrade his Trait Slots first.

"System, add a slot."

[10,000 points deducted.]

[Trait Slots increased: 4 → 5.]

[Current points: 90,000.]

The original four slots held Trollblood I, Brawn I, Minor Regeneration I, and Vitality I. The new one was just right for Agility I.

[Agility I — White equipped.]

Trollblood I could no longer influence his mind, so he had no need for Willpower II at the moment. He figured that merging with Zeta, fighting for control of his body, and absorbing those soul fragments had strengthened his soul and his own willpower enough to suppress the Trait’s mental side effects.

Speaking of those fragments, there was something in Lucia’s memories worth thinking about.

Throughout her life, the people around her had always seemed unusually quick to like her, care for her, trust her, and lower their guard around her. Lin Yan had been the same. He normally found kids noisy and troublesome, yet from the moment he met Lucia, he’d been far more patient with her than usual.

"Some kind of affinity?"

An ability that subtly made the people around her favor her. Even he had been affected while equipped with the Green Trait Willpower II. If it really was a Trait, it was probably at least Blue.

That realization was a little unsettling. He hadn’t even noticed himself being influenced.

Still, after going through Lucia’s memories, Lin Yan couldn’t exactly hold it against her. There was no sign that she’d ever deliberately used that effect on anyone. She probably hadn’t even known it existed, and putting the Trait aside, she had simply been a fairly likable kid.

They hadn’t known each other for long, nor had they shared some deep bond. But Lin Yan had grown up in an ordinary modern society. Whatever the world had become, the basic sense of right and wrong he’d carried since childhood hadn’t simply vanished.

Lucia had been a real teenage girl.

Whatever had happened to her soul afterward, her body had ultimately died by his hand. Thinking about that, regret was unavoidable.

If he’d had another option back then, would things have ended differently?

Lin Yan couldn’t know.

But he did know exactly what he lacked.

When Zeta’s soul first appeared, he couldn’t touch it. When it emerged from Lucia’s body, both blades had passed straight through. Even after it entered him, Soul Cohesion I had done little more than slow the possession down.

For all the strength he’d gained, once the real threat turned out to be a soul, almost everything he had became useless. Next time he ran into something like Zeta, Lin Yan didn’t want to be forced into whatever choices the situation left him. He wanted enough ways to deal with it that the choice was his.

"Still too many gaps."

At the very least, he needed something that could actually touch a soul, restrain it, or destroy it. That weakness had to be dealt with as soon as possible.

His stomach growled, pulling him out of his thoughts. After collecting himself, Lin Yan decided to order something to eat. He’d expected prices to have gone through the roof, but after checking a few restaurants, he found that food was only a little more expensive. Delivery fees had gone up the most.

It made sense. More than seventy percent of Earth’s surface was ocean, and vast stretches of the remaining land were taken up by deserts, barren plateaus, mountains, and tundra. The places where humans concentrated their cities and homes occupied less than three percent of the planet. With Convergences appearing entirely at random, most would land in the ocean or uninhabited wilderness.

Only a small fraction were actually encountered by humans. It was like seeing earthquakes or tsunamis on the news—terrifying for the people caught in them, but for everyone else, they were happening somewhere far away. Convergences filled the headlines, yet most people had never experienced one firsthand. Outside the affected areas, daily life went on.

Lin Yan picked two restaurants offering bulk meat meals with the shortest preparation times, selected six family meal options, and ordered two of each. He pushed the extra delivery payment to the maximum.

A little over an hour later, the doorbell rang. Three fully armed guards stood outside. The two in the back were each carrying six large insulated food containers, three in either hand, the handles digging into their gloves.

"Thanks. Just put them on the dining table."

The twelve containers covered the table. Lin Yan opened one of the meat meals and started exploring the black phone he had received as he ate.

The internal platform was already logged in. All he needed to do on first use was choose a nickname.

Lin Yan entered "Food First," confirmed it, and opened his profile.

[Nickname: Food First]

[Account Grade: A]

[Authorization: Federation Special Approval.]

"A-Grade?"

He opened the explanation. Ordinary accounts started at F-Grade and could apply for promotion by completing commissions and building a record. A special Federation assessment could grant the corresponding access directly.

His assessment listed both Convergences he had participated in.

[Goblin Incursion — F-Grade Convergence — Combat Record Verified.]

[Sacred Incarnation — E-Grade Convergence — Combat Record Verified.]

[Approved Account Grade: A.]

"So this is the launch-day player bonus..."

Two Convergences had earned him an A-Grade rating. As more people got involved, more powerful players would turn up too. Getting that rating probably wouldn’t be so easy then.

Lin Yan left his profile and opened the forum. At least half the trending posts were about Awakening, and one compilation thread had tens of thousands of replies.

[Regional Rank 1 Awakening Compilation—What Did Your Region’s Top Contributor Awaken?]

Fire Manipulation, Enhanced Perception, Healing, physical enhancement, beast transformation... The abilities reported from different regions came in every variety, with plenty of demonstration videos attached.

Lin Yan read through a dozen or so entries. Every Regional Contribution Rank 1 had received an Awakening, yet he hadn’t received any notification about one.

"System, did I miss out on an Awakening because Trait Plunder had already awakened?"

[Yes.]

Nothing to complain about, then. Without that early Awakening, he would have died in the subway.

Lin Yan kept browsing as he ate. The homepage was packed with new Convergences, missing-person reports, sightings of abnormal creatures, and quarantine notices. One news post was near the top of the local section.

[Third Victim Found in Six Days. Police Have Not Ruled Out a Serial Killer.]

He skipped it, scrolled through a few more posts, then left the forum and opened the Official Trading Platform.

[Current Credits: 25,000.]

"Why do I have so many Credits?"

Lin Yan opened his transaction history and found a compensation payment from Sacred Incarnation.

[Convergence Emergency Response Compensation]

[+25,000 Credits]

The assessment included civilian evacuation assistance, high-risk hostile neutralization, operational support, and casualty reduction.

Lin Yan had no idea how much twenty-five thousand Credits could buy. He entered the marketplace, and the very first recommended item looked familiar.

[First-Generation Strength Enhancer]

[Price: 500 Credits / Dose.]

The metal injector in the picture, right down to its silver-gray cooling case, matched the one in his refrigerator. The description was consistent with what Claire had told him: it only enhanced muscular strength, with an average adult gaining roughly fifty kilograms in standardized strength tests. Only the first dose worked. Further injections provided no additional enhancement.

So the compensation he had received for killing that bear sold for five hundred here.

After comparing a few more products, he figured that five hundred Credits had roughly the purchasing power of fifty thousand dollars under normal circumstances.

That put the twenty-five thousand in his account at around two and a half million.