[You've completed the advanced task. Your profession has been upgraded from Scholar to Clever Writer.]

[Your Root Bone +5, Spiritual Power +5, Comprehension +5.]

[You've acquired new skills: Active·Repelling Script Brush, Active·Impressive Lines, Passive·Abundant Knowledge, Passive·Considerate.]

[You've gained an exclusive skill: Creating Beauty with a Brush.]

[Your level cap has been raised from Level 10 to Level 30.]

In the Scholar's Hall at the City of Simplicity, Wang Linchi successfully completed his advanced tasks. The effects were quite good; besides the four new skills, he also acquired a fairly unique exclusive skill, which Wang Linchi wasn't quite sure about yet. However, that was okay—as long as it was useful, it was fine.

[Active·Repelling Script Brush LV1 (0/1000)]

[Skill Description: Launch an attack using Wenqi, enhancing physical and spell Defense for allies within the area.]

...

[Active·Impressive Lines LV1 (0/1000)]

[Skill Description: Launch an attack using Wenqi, causing Fixed Damage to enemies within a range while reducing their Attack Power.]

The two active skills were mainly supportive. Impressive Lines could be considered an area-of-effect attack skill, but its damage was very low—only 100 points, no more, no less—and couldn't be increased through Spiritual Power or Root Bone. Fortunately, the enhancements were all percentage-based, not fixed values, so there was no need to worry about them becoming obsolete, and they could stack with other types of buffs and debuffs.

[Passive·Abundant Knowledge LV1 (0/1000)]

[Experience Gain increased by +10%.]

[Passive·Considerate LV1 (0/1000)]

[Skill Consumption -1%.]

Both passive skills were quite good, but the prerequisite was to level them to the maximum, and he hadn't even maxed out his Calligraphy skill yet. As for the profession's exclusive skill, it didn't have a level and was directly at the maximum level, which saved him a lot of trouble.

[Exclusive·Creating Beauty with a Brush]

[When using Pen-class weapons to launch an attack skill, it will inflict additional Fixed Damage to enemies equal to (Root Bone x Level + Health) + (Spiritual Power x Level + Mana).]

[When using Pen-class weapons to launch a debuff skill, it will increase the debuff duration on enemies by (Root Bone x Level + Health) + (Spiritual Power x Level + Mana).]

[When using Pen-class weapons to launch a buff skill, it will form a Shield effect for yourself and your allies equal to (Root Bone x Level + Health) + (Spiritual Power x Level + Mana).]

"A bit underwhelming, huh. Firstly, I need to be at a high level and also have high Root Bone and Spiritual Power."

In the hands of others, these would no doubt be very useful. However, Wang Linchi was different; his level probably wouldn't contribute much to the increase. But Wang Linchi didn't dwell on these things. The second effect was very good; he just wasn't sure whether the duration was in seconds or minutes, though it was possible it was neither.

After completing the advancement, a special task appeared again. This time it was simple, just requiring him to reach Level 20. The reward was a full set of Level 20 Scholar Profession gear. Clearly, after passing the newbie phase, the rewards had started to decrease, and tasks were not issued as frequently or generously as before.

After leaving the Scholar's Hall and renting a stall, he put up all the items he didn't need. Then, he decided to check what items Abyss Crystals could be exchanged for in the main city of City of Simplicity. Selling items wasn't something he needed to supervise himself; he wasn't someone who randomly set prices but instead relied on the market prices listed on the forums, ensuring they were generally at market value.

[Skill Proficiency Crystal: Abyss Crystal x1]

The first item available for exchange was exactly what Wang Linchi needed: Skill Proficiency Crystals. Each one granted 1,000 points of Skill Proficiency. More importantly, there were no exchange limits, so Wang Linchi instantly bought a thousand without hesitation, then used them all, maxing out all of his Skills.

Next was the Prestige Crystal. This one was not cheap: one Prestige Crystal cost ten Abyss Crystals, and each only increased the City of Simplicity's prestige by one point—yes, just for the City of Simplicity. The 100 prestige points from Wang Linchi's Qilin Set, on the other hand, applied to the entire game and were usable anywhere. He skipped this, as he didn't need any prestige for now.

The third item was a Level 1 Enhancement Scroll, ensuring a 100% success rate for equipment enhancements below +10. He ignored this as well. The Qilin Set wasn't suited for upgrades, and the price was steep: 1,000 Abyss Crystals per scroll.

Then there were materials like Wing Essence, Pet Potion, and Mount Fruit, used for enhancing wings, pets, mounts, and similar features. These weren't as expensive as the Enhancement Scroll but still required a one-to-one exchange. The prices became increasingly ridiculous; Abyss Crystals were akin to the premium currency bought with Charging Money.

All these items were available in unlimited quantities, making Wang Linchi unsure what to say—it was like a bottomless pit. He also saw gemstones for embedding in equipment, Magic Stones for refining equipment attributes, Magic Stone Locks for locking attributes, Effect Symbols for adding equipment effects, Divine Stones for refining effects, and Divine Stone Locks for locking effects—a whole suite of inter-dependent upgrade items.

Seeing all this, Wang Linchi felt a bit uneasy; this upgrade system was clearly lifted from grind-heavy online games. Acquiring equipment, pets, wings, and other such items was just the beginning. If one wanted to become stronger, it meant endless grinding. One might not be able to clear an Abyss Difficulty dungeon, but they could still enter, defeat some weaker monsters, and repeat this process to farm Abyss Crystals. Death didn't matter, as Abyss Crystals could be kept, and this process could even gradually weaken the Abyss Difficulty dungeon. A vague sense of dread about all this grinding began to settle in Wang Linchi.

This mindless way of becoming stronger... it doesn't really suit me, Wang Linchi thought. Surely, I can't keep grinding like this forever.

In fact, many tutorial quests had appeared in his task list right after his profession advanced from Scholar to Clever Writer. These quests generally involved visiting various locations in the City of Simplicity to obtain basic mounts, pets, wings, and so on. Naturally, these were all lowest-grade items. To upgrade them, players needed to exchange Abyss Crystals. While Abyss Crystals could also be obtained from dungeons and quests, the quantities were minimal, effectively forcing players to tackle Abyss Difficulty dungeons.

"Might as well go and claim them. It's a reward, after all..." Wang Linchi decided to start by claiming a mount, as it would considerably increase his movement speed. Wings would allow him to fly in the future, but for now, they were likely just decorative items that boosted attributes. Pets were even more lackluster; he would only receive the lowest-grade ones. If he wanted better pets, he could buy them with Abyss Crystals, with even the highest quality available for purchase.

After laboriously running all over the city, Wang Linchi received a donkey. He could feed it Mount Fruits to evolve it into an inferior horse, and then continue feeding it until it reached the tier of Divine Beasts. He also received a chicken wing that increased his Health and Mana by 10 points each; these could be evolved into a larger chicken wing for a greater attribute increase. There was a plethora of other miscellaneous items, leaving Wang Linchi feeling rather overwhelmed.

The amount of Abyss Crystals needed to max out all these things was astronomical. Fortunately, dungeons were plentiful. There were thousands of Level 20 dungeons alone, each with an Abyss Difficulty. Their rewards were likely ten or even a hundred times greater than those from the Black Wind Stronghold, but the difficulty was correspondingly higher.

"This is absolutely terrifying."

Wang Linchi returned to his stall to find that all his items had been sold. Apparently, some major faction had bought everything in bulk. There were no clichéd incidents where a major faction threatened Wang Linchi to sell his goods cheaply or surrounded his stall to prevent sales. He had listed everything at market price; if they couldn't afford that, it would indicate internal economic problems for the faction, and their own stakeholders would be the first to react, even without threats from him. Factions in the game were, after all, primarily profit-driven entities, not motivated by dreams or friendship.

Wang Linchi packed up his stall, left, and then logged out of the game. He planned to convert all his accumulated Experience into tangible improvements for his character's strength. Afterward, he would check out a Level 20 dungeon. To enhance a character's strength in God-given World, completing quests or killing wild monsters wasn't the fastest method. The most efficient approach was to enter Abyss Difficulty dungeons. These not only yielded high amounts of Experience and Abyss Crystals but also offered rich rewards upon successful clearance. It seemed the primary goal in God-given World was for players to conquer Abyss Difficulty dungeons; everything else was likely just secondary.