Chương 617: Chapter 614: Juicy Rewards

He grinned when he spotted several notifications waiting for him. [Phoenix Renewal lvl 25 -> lvl 27] [Field of the Shattered Will lvl 4 -> lvl 5] [Sage of Savagery lvl 28 -> lvl 29] [Inexorable Aura of Ruin lvl 25 -> lvl 26] Consecutive level-ups in his healing skill were almost unheard of. It had taken his soul getting mangled and his body destroyed just to gain a few levels in the skill. But now it has gained two nice levels from this experience. He was quite pleased by this result.

Even more exciting was that [Sage of Savagery] was on the brink of the next threshold. He knew it would require a lot more to get it over that hump, but once he did, he would officially have a legendary skill of his own. Congratulations, you have destroyed the source of the corruption. Self-destruction sequence for Rift has been deactivated. For successfully destroying the foreign entity, you will be rewarded. Notice: Substantial increase of risk detected. Rewards have been upgraded.

Would you like to accept your rewards? Julius grinned, sat down on the blackened patch of dirt, and without hesitation accepted the prompt. Please select two of the following rewards… Skill Combination Token (Epic Rank) Life Concept Enlightenment Seed of Authority Enhancement Soul Bound Weapon Fruit of Verdant Purity (Pinnacle Grade) Trial Key (Unique) Julius couldn't help but feel a little confused by the notification. He was able to figure out what the first four were to some extent.

The skill combination didn't really hold any allure to him. He didn't have any rare skills to combine into an epic skill. Perhaps if he hadn't combined his kinetic skills, he might have chosen this option. The Life Concept Enlightenment was something he was drawn to a little bit. He suspected that a pure Life Concept would help him with his training, especially with Tezuko Willow's manual. He used his Phoenix Concept, but it was a combination of life and fire.

He didn't really get the full benefits of a normal Life Concept. The Seed of Authority Enhancement was slightly tempting, but he had already been told by Freya not to accept any of these kinds of rewards. Nor should he consume any treasures that offered this. He knew that Reinera had given him items like that, but was warned that it wouldn't be a good idea until he progressed further on his own. Despite his wish to select this option, he refrained. The soul-bound weapon was quite tempting, though.

The problem was that the reward didn't give a description or hint of what the weapon might be. He wanted an axe or a staff-like weapon. He had come to appreciate soul-bound items rewarded by the Words of the World. His Fledgling Phoenix Lunchbox and Ruinflame Crown were amazing. He would love to get a weapon that suited him or be comparable in value to those two items. But it was a risk, one he didn't know if he needed to take if he had other options available to him. The fruit sounded quite fascinating as well.

It wasn't even because it was clearly related to life mana, but because it was rated as pinnacle grade. Which made him believe that there was something different about this fruit than the other treasures he had been offered in the past. He knew pills and tokens could be rated as such, but a natural treasure? He wasn't sure. The only thing that he felt pretty confident in taking was the Trial Key. That thing sounded like it was exactly what he wanted.

He had no idea what it would do, but he was certain he wouldn't have been offered it if it weren't good. Plus, he felt like it was a good gamble. So far, the Words of the World have been fair to him. It offered equal and beneficial rewards each time. The fact that he was being offered an opportunity to get more rewards rather than get them right away led him to believe the rewards from whatever this "trial" was would be pretty good. At the very least, better than some of the rewards he was just offered.

The question was what he should choose for his second reward. He eventually dismissed the Life Concept Enlightenment as an option. He already had five concepts and didn't feel it was necessary to add another. At least, not one that he didn't gain by his own efforts. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. That only left the Soul Bound Weapon and the Fruit of Verdant Purity. He didn't know which one to choose. He stood there thinking about it for a while.

Eventually, he made a decision. He decided to choose the fruit. If the weapon was an axe or something he wanted, he would have been more tempted, but for all he knew, he would have gotten a sword or something else. He was already taking a risk on the key, so he couldn't justify his gambling on both selections. Plus, he would never deny Drasil an opportunity to get stronger and was already planning for Drasil to take this reward for himself. So with his mind made up, he finalized his choices.

Congratulations, you have acquired Fruit of Verdant Purity and Trial Key. Julius watched as a glowing orb appeared in front of him and dropped the items into his open palms. The fruit was different from what he expected. It was small, only about the size of a kiwi. It was also pure white, not the green he had been expecting to see. It glowed a warm white light, and Julius felt refreshed just being in its proximity. The key, on the other hand, was just a key made of pure black metal.

There was no energy radiating from it; it was inert, and if not for the faint connection he felt within his soul, he would have thought this key was useless. He was about to pick up the key and examine it when the fruit suddenly floated in the air. He frowned, and before it could do anything, he summoned Drasil. The little spirit appeared on his shoulder, looking around with confusion. Drasil cooed and looked over at the floating fruit. However, to Julius's surprise, Drasil didn't go after the fruit.

The little guy just stared at it blankly.

"What? Not interested? I got it for you," Julius stated. Drasil shook his head and pointed at him before pointing back at the fruit.

"What? Are you saying that I should eat it?" Julius hadn't predicted this. Drasil always accepted the treasures Julius got for him, and he was at a slight loss in this situation. Drasil nodded firmly, jumped down from his shoulder, and onto his palm. The fruit was still floating there, and the life mana coming from the fruit was unlike anything he had ever seen before. But Drasil walked up to the floating fruit and gave it a few pokes and prods.

After Drasil's examination was over, the cute guy nodded and sent several flashes of emotion at him.

"Do you know what it will do?" He got a few confused flashes, and Drasil shrugged his tiny shoulders.

"Are you sure you don't want it?" Drasil shook his head, and Julius felt him trying to communicate with his emotions. It took a little care to parse through the information, but Julius realized that Drasil didn't want it because it was useless to him, or at least not tempting to eat. He wasn't really sure which one it was. Julius was surprised, but when Drasil started to tug on his arm, he just went along with it.

He took hold of the floating fruit, and with Drasil's encouragement, he put the entire fruit in his mouth. He bit down, and to his astonishment, the fruit dissolved the moment it hit his tongue. A wave of sweetness and slight tartness coated his taste buds. To his concern, he started to feel a warmth grow in his stomach. This warmth slowly turned into a low flame, and it stayed like that for several minutes.

He took a seat on a nearby blackened log, letting the life mana and the fruit make their way through his body. Then, as if someone had kicked him in the stomach, he hunched forward, grabbing his belly. He didn't know what was happening and really wished these rewards had clearer instructions for using certain things. The sensation slowly faded, and he was left sitting on the log with a skeptical look on his face. He had no idea what had happened or what the fruit was supposed to do.

He was about to start regretting that he hadn't chosen the weapon or the Life Concept. But before he could draw too many of his own conclusions. He received a notification. Congratulations, you have successfully consumed a Fruit of Verdant Purity. Your body has been cleansed thoroughly with life mana. Notice: Due to the fruit's pinnacle grade, there are additional benefits… Congratulations, your affinity to life mana has increased. (High -> Excellent) Julius stood there in shock and disbelief.

He knew that there were supposedly ways to increase one's affinities, but he had never come across one. That is, until now. He reread the message, still unable to believe that he had upgraded his affinity so easily. He had been a little self-conscious about his high affinities, but now he officially had an excellent affinity of his own. He laughed loudly and couldn't help but think about all of the wonderful things he could do now. He knew that affinities had a massive impact on skill progression.

High-level skills took a long time to increase, and an excellent affinity, compared to a high affinity, would make a huge difference. He only had a single life mana skill, but his healing skill was also one of the hardest to level, so he was very glad about this outcome. He also knew that affinities were more important once you reached Tier 4. Since affinities also influenced how quickly and efficiently one cultivated their Seeds of Authority. But he was curious how that would affect him.

How much of an increase would he see? Would it even matter? Regardless, he wasn't about to complain about it. But now he felt a little excited about the prospect of getting another affinity up to excellent as well. Perhaps there was something in the sack of goodies from his tournament rewards that would help him improve his fire or kinetic affinity. Or maybe that was just wishful thinking. He didn't really know how rare such treasures were.

But honestly, Reinera knew about his high affinities, so it was very possible that she made sure he got something. He would need to take a look when he got to the Burning Sun Sect, once he had more time to relax. In the meantime, he needed to catch up with Cassandra and the others.