Chapter 572 Return, Upgrade, Infighting, Ambush

Like waking from a dream, his muddled consciousness returned to his physical body in the real world.

Cracks rapidly spread across the translucent barrier enveloping Stodd Island. The few unfortunate seagulls frozen in midair were finally freed from their stasis, flapping their wings in a panicked yet feeble slow-motion rhythm.

The returning sound of crashing waves filled his ears. With every breath, the distinct salty tang of the open ocean rushed into his nose, entirely different from an inland Secret Realm.

Taking control of his body once again felt like experiencing transmigration a second time. Before he could even adjust to his surroundings, it hit him.

An absurdly massive upgrade from the Ritual Secret Realm descended upon Xia Nan's body.

The "Six-Dimensional Attributes" were a direct reflection of his physical fitness, digitized by his Golden Finger's Attribute Panel.

To a certain extent, the values of these six attributes completely determined an individual's level of life.

No matter how high the quality of a "Feat" or "combat technique", it could rarely unleash its full power without sufficient foundational attributes to support it.

In this regard, Xia Nan and his acquired [Gravity Control] were the perfect example.

The quality of [Gravity Control] went without saying—it was easily among the absolute highest tier on the Aifala Continent, and perhaps even in the entire multiverse.

Correspondingly, this combat technique placed absurd demands on [Perception] and [Intelligence]. The former influenced the precision of his control, while the latter determined the mental endurance required for casting. Of course, the specific division between the two attributes blurred somewhat when using [Gravity Control], allowing them to compensate for each other to a certain degree.

It had been nearly two years since his transmigration. Rising from a bottom-tier adventurer to his current status as a rising star in the Southern Archipelagos, Xia Nan had gained plenty of experience in acquiring attribute points, whether through basic proficiency upgrades in combat techniques or special rewards from Secret Realms.

Because of this, he understood with absolute clarity just how precious "attribute points" truly were.

For the vast majority of bottom-tier adventurers on the Aifala Continent, whose combat techniques were of lower quality, they often had to train a skill all the way to Mastery just to painstakingly scrape together one or two points.

People like Xia Nan, whose every mastered combat technique sat above average in quality, were in the absolute minority.

As for opportunities like this "Secret Realm", which directly granted proficiency, a person might not encounter one in an entire lifetime.

Right now, [Ember Echoes] had been raised to Iv3, and [Heavy Tide] had been pushed directly to the maximum limit of Iv5.

Returning to the real world, Xia Nan had unprecedentedly harvested a total of four attribute points all at once!

From Constitution, a warm current surged through his entire body. His spine let out a soft, satisfying crack as an indescribable vitality burst forth within him like a rushing spring. From Strength, his muscle fibers pulled and coiled; his physique first expanded, then sharply contracted into tighter, denser muscle beneath his skin, brimming with explosive power.

From Perception, his already keen observation of his surroundings was further sharpened; whether it was the sound of the crashing waves or the flapping wings of the seagulls in the sky ahead, everything became startlingly clear. From Charisma, the change was silent: to Xia Nan himself, it was a heightened affinity for the magic particles in the air, while to others, depending on whether they were friend or foe, it would oscillate between an amplified sense of security and overwhelming intimidation.

As the foundation of everything, the enhancements brought by these four attribute points naturally went far beyond these surface changes.

Xia Nan would need to carefully experience and test the detailed changes that would truly affect his combat and daily life through practice.

But clearly, the current timing was not appropriate.

"Hum—"

As the translucent barrier in the sky completely shattered, the fluorescent blue light enveloping his body broke into specks and dissipated into the air.

Suspended in midair, Xia Nan lost the support of the ritual energy and went into a free fall, plummeting toward the ocean surface.

Almost instinctively, [Gravity Control] quietly activated, working in tandem with the [Tidal Stabilization] feat and his enhanced Class Holder physique.

He didn't violently slam sideways into the water and kick up a massive splash like a normal free fall.

While still in midair, Xia Nan completely controlled his center of gravity, pointing his legs downward to maintain a standing posture.

Without sufficient acceleration, he couldn't pull off the miraculous feat of "treading water" upon impact. However, when he landed on the sea surface, the water that should have splashed outward suddenly acted like a quagmire. The undulating waves instantly swallowed the massive impact force that should have hit him, absorbing Xia Nan's body in a nearly viscous, gentle manner.

The waterline rose from his toes to his thighs, finally stopping at the young adventurer's waist without kicking up the slightest splash.

Only then did Xia Nan's mind fully clear.

The long period spent operating in the Secret Realm, coupled with his skyrocketing physical stats, made him momentarily unaccustomed to his human body.

But soon enough, the muscle memory forged through hundreds of days and nights of sweat, along with an absolute familiarity with his own body, allowed him to fully regain control after merely treading water a couple of times.

His gaze subconsciously swept over his blurry reflection on the sea surface. As he focused his attention, the translucent Attribute Panel materialized before his eyes.

[Name]: Xia Nan [Class]:

Meteor Blade Hunter Iv4

[Attributes]:

Strength: 11

——

Agility: 11

Constitution: 9

Intelligence: 5

Perception: 13

Charisma: 7

[Feats]:

Slashing Expert, Bronze Sinews and Iron Bones, Light-Bathed One, Tidal Stabilization, Heart-Guided Vision, Gaze into the Abyss, Night Mother's Gaze [Skills]:

Spinning Slash Iv5 (Ma), Fang Hunt lv5 (Ma), Gravity Control Iv1 (99/100), Gravity Etching Iv5 (Ma), Ember Echoes Iv3 (13/100), Heavy Tide Iv5 (Ma)

It was hard to imagine that this was the Attribute Panel of an "ordinary" adventurer who had just reached Class Level Iv4 and hadn't even obtained a second class yet.

Setting aside the combat techniques in the [Skills] column whose quality far exceeded the average, just the densely packed list in the [Feats] column was enough to leave many people horrified.

As for the Six-Dimensional Attributes——

To put it bluntly, if one were to cover the [Class Level] and other columns and only show the [Attributes] to someone else...

An ignorant observer might directly mistake Xia Nan for a bottom-tier "Transcendent Tier" with a weak foundation.

Even Xia Nan himself, looking at the numbers on his Attribute Panel and recalling his blank-slate status when he first transmigrated, couldn't stop an indescribable sense of accomplishment from welling up in his heart.

The only pity was that, whether by some coincidence or an invisible bottleneck before leveling up a high-tier combat technique, [Gravity Control]—which he expected to upgrade alongside the end of the Secret Realm—remained stuck at Iv1 (99/100).

It was just one point away from upgrading.

But Xia Nan wasn't the least bit impatient. After extensive practice, his familiarity with [Gravity Control] itself, combined with his heightened Perception, gave him an indescribable yet palpable premonition.

He wouldn't need to wait until tomorrow.

Today, he would be able to fill in the final point of proficiency needed to upgrade [Gravity Control] on his panel!

On the other hand, the battle in the Ritual Secret Realm yielded more than just a massive harvest of combat technique proficiency.

Having gone through the Fifth Evolution, his long-term experience fighting and moving in a wolf's body gave him a far deeper understanding of his [Fang Hunt]-centric combat system, making the combinations between his combat techniques much smoother.

He even faintly discovered a subtle connection between [Spinning Slash] and [Fang Hunt].

A battle!

Having returned to his human body with a brand new understanding of his various combat techniques, Xia Nan felt that he only needed one more intensely high-stakes battle to completely perfect the prototype of this technique combination.

Even [Gravity Control] would undergo a qualitative transformation in this battle.

As for where to find such a battle—

Floating in the water, Xia Nan subconsciously looked into the distance.

At the very center of Stodd Island, the fluorescent blue pillar of light supporting the Ritual Secret Realm was rapidly shrinking and fading at a visible rate as the surrounding translucent barrier collapsed.

"Algae Scale" Dodd, who carried the key to the [Dream Weaving Corridor], was right there.

That was the situation on Xia Nan's end.

Meanwhile, due to the complete termination of the Secret Realm, the previously dead-silent, time-frozen coast grew lively once again.

The "Windforged" and the "Raging Tide Warband" still maintained their original, highly antagonistic formations.

However, the gunpowder-like tension in the air born from their historical grudge had already been replaced by a much more subtle atmosphere.

The first to break the strange atmosphere was a short-statured Rogue from the "Windforged" team named Leslie.

The name alone might not sound familiar, but if one mentioned the honey badger he possessed in the Secret Realm, it would ring a bell.

"Damn it, Fink! Aren't we teammates? Why did you do that!?"

The target of the Rogue's outburst was Fink, the deputy captain of their "Windforged" squad.

He was also the one who became the "Ulcer-Melting Poison Toad" in the Secret Realm and formed a temporary duo with Leslie's honey badger.

When facing the powerful wolf-beast adventurer they encountered in the ritual, this deeply trusted deputy captain had actually taken the initiative to betray him, kicking off with both legs to stomp Leslie flat onto the ground, using him as a springboard to dodge the enemy's fierce attack.

If judged from a purely rational standpoint, Leslie could perhaps understand why the other party did it, but it didn't stop Deputy Captain Fink's image from plummeting to rock bottom in his heart. The moment he regained control of his body, he immediately confronted Fink to settle the score.

Fink knew he was in the wrong, but constrained by his authority as deputy captain within the "Windforged" squad, he refused to yield.

Facing his teammate's questioning, he merely glanced at him and replied coldly, "The situation was what it was. I had no other choice."

"As a member of our glorious and great 'Windforged', what's wrong with making a little sacrifice for the team? Are you really that unwilling?"

If Fink had properly explained his reasoning, Leslie might have actually shown some understanding given their years of camaraderie. But hearing such a response, the flames of anger in his heart inevitably blazed even hotter.

His right hand even subconsciously rested on the hilt of the short blade at his waist.

He opened his mouth with a furious expression, but before he could speak...

Standing at the very front of the entire formation, the captain of the "Windforged" squad, Zephyr, had already tensed his face and waved his hand at the two.

"What's done is done. If you have a conflict, we'll talk about it when we get back to the ship."

"Now is not the time to discuss this."

His words seemed to prioritize the big picture, but in reality, he completely failed to fulfill his responsibilities as a captain. It could even be called complete favoritism toward Fink.

By not resolving it on the spot and letting the aggrieved party's resentment fester, it was tantamount to personally sowing the seeds of hatred in Leslie's heart.

As the captain, Zephyr naturally knew that doing this was probably not the best solution for resolving the internal conflict.

But—

To be honest, his own hands weren't clean.

In the final stages of the Secret Realm, when facing that extraordinarily powerful wolf-beast adventurer, he had also committed an act of betrayal against his teammates.

It was even worse than what Fink had done. He had personally killed two teammates—one possessing a squirrel and the other a grasshopper—just to temporarily absorb their life energy and achieve evolution.

Presumably, those two harbored equally immense resentment, only finding it hard to lash out because of his status as captain.

If he were to punish Fink for this, how was he supposed to face the two teammates he had personally crushed to death?

It wasn't like he could punish himself, right?

Given Zephyr's authority and level of control in the squad, he would never do something that would damage his own image and status.

Thus, the farce playing out on the field could only be forcefully swept under the rug in this unresolved manner.

On the other side, opposite the "Windforged" who were teetering on the edge of infighting, the atmosphere within the "Raging Tide Warband" was equally stagnant.

Through a stroke of bad luck, the teammates of the "Raging Tide Warband" rarely had the chance to run into each other in the Secret Realm, so they hadn't bred the kind of conflict seen among the "Windforged".

Rather subtly, pairs of eyes looked past the crowd and gathered on their captain, the dwarf and Barbarian half-blood, Tieg.

Of course, Tieg hadn't committed the beastly act of betraying his teammates like Zephyr had, but on the other hand, he had caused a far worse negative impact on the squad's survival in the Secret Realm.

It had to be known that the vast majority of the "Raging Tide Warband" members dragged into the Secret Realm had strictly followed their captain's previous instructions for such scenarios before fully grasping the ritual's mechanics. After familiarizing themselves slightly with their surroundings, they had crafted a large number of squad emblems to verify their identities, hoping to quickly gather their teammates.

In the end, they didn't find many teammates, and instead attracted other hostile adventurers.

This caused the members of the "Raging Tide Warband" to die in the Secret Realm at a rate that far exceeded even the infighting-plagued "Windforged" across from them.

For a moment, the gazes fixed on Tieg's back carried a few hints of thought-provoking implication.

Possessing an equally tough personality, it was naturally impossible for Tieg to admit his mistake to his members on the spot.

Suddenly, as if noticing something, he glanced toward the nearby coast to change the subject.

He saw that Xia Nan, who had just dropped into the sea, had already swum back to shore and was walking up the shallows step by step.

The "Windforged" had also noticed his presence.

Their line of sight was unobstructed. Perhaps because they hadn't fought him, they couldn't recognize his wolf-beast identity from the Secret Realm. However, due to the fluorescent blue light that had enveloped Xia Nan's body for the longest time—only fading when the Secret Realm collapsed—they realized that this "Sea Fang" had likely survived until the very final stages of the Secret Realm.

Subjected to his colleague's questioning and unable to vent the blazing anger in his heart, Fink, the deputy captain of the "Windforged" squad, stared at Xia Nan slowly walking ashore.

With a gloomy expression, he rudely called out in a cold voice, "Hey! You over there, what happened at the end of the Secret Realm?"

But the response that greeted him was a string of force-energy Magic Missiles rocketing from a blind spot behind and to his side.

He had already died in the Secret Realm and was in a state of severe injury and weakness.

Fink only instinctively managed to pull off a barely-there dodge before a full four Magic Missiles slammed into his body.

Two struck his lower abdomen and thigh, one blasted his shoulder, and the last one slammed directly into his temple.

"Splat-Bang!"

Viscous red and white fluids splattered across the field.

One by one, scale-covered green figures surfaced from the sea amidst the piercing shrieks unique to the Sahuagin.