Talent ability rapidly activated in an instant. Chu Tian, like a ghost, circled around the gnome. The gnome's head continuously twisted like a radar, apparently preparing to strike Chu Tian again.
Just as the gnome was about to open its mouth to spew venom again, a ball of flames condensed in Chu Tian's palm and shot towards the gnome's round, sharp-toothed mouth.
This ball of flames was no longer at the E-level; its temperature was so high that it could melt ordinary steel. The gnome's mouth had no solid skin protection, making it defenseless against Chu Tian's flames.
The flames entered the gnome's mouth, and it immediately emitted a painful and agonized scream, like a whistle.
Seizing the opportunity, Chu Tian released another fireball and a freezing icicle, both forming from his palms, and they entered the gnome's mouth again.
The flames nearly melted the soft flesh inside the gnome's mouth, while the ice, upon entering, quickly melted and turned into a stream of water that flowed into the gnome's body.
With a thought, this stream of water instantly condensed and burst inside the gnome's body.
The gnome let out a scream and then collapsed on the ground, seemingly as limp as a hose without water.
At this moment, the system's voice reappeared.
[Killed a C-level ferocious beast, gained 180 talent points, current talent points: 920.]
[Found decomposable materials. Do you want to decompose them?]
Without hesitation, Chu Tian decomposed the gnome.
[Decomposition yields minor increases in strength, speed, spirit, and defense.]
Upon hearing this, Chu Tian quickly checked his attribute panel and found that each of his four attributes had increased by five points.
He had initially wondered how much of a boost he would get from killing a C-level ferocious beast, and now he realized that it wasn't too significant, but it was still better than nothing.
With a few dozen kilometers left to the city, Chu Tian leaped into the air like a cannonball. It seemed that flying was still the faster option.
After a few minutes, Chu Tian landed on the rooftop of a dilapidated building.
Although flying seemed enjoyable, it did consume his spiritual energy.
Chu Tian entered the interior of the building and found a relatively safe corner to sit down. He took out several first-level spirit crystal formations from the system's space and began absorbing them.
Spirit crystal formations not only replenished the dwindling spiritual energy but also accelerated the absorption of external spiritual energy for advancement. Many high-level materials were also valued in terms of spirit crystal formations, with higher-level ones providing better effects.
Currently, the highest-level spirit crystal formations seen in the Federation were of level six. However, on the black market, level seven spirit crystal formations were traded as commodities. As for level eight and nine, they were extremely rare, and even in the Federation, they were seldom seen. As for level ten, Chu Tian doubted even the Skysen family had ever encountered one.
After absorbing three first-level spirit crystal formations, Chu Tian replenished the missing spiritual energy in his body. Then, he took out five more and continued absorbing them.
By the time the sun set, Chu Tian had already absorbed twenty first-level spirit crystal formations. He stopped because he realized he couldn't absorb anymore.
Looking at his talent points, he didn't have enough to level up. So, Chu Tian decided to kill ferocious beasts while also copying their talents and converting any unwanted talents into talent points to increase his talent points more quickly.
Thinking about it, selling talents to the system seemed like a good plan. Some talents might not be valuable, but every little bit helps.
In a great mood, Chu Tian decided to start sweeping the area around the dilapidated building where he was based for the time being.
...
For ten consecutive days, Chu Tian expanded outward from the dilapidated building as the central point. He had already killed thirty C-level ferocious beasts, which, while not comparable to the E and D-level ones he had previously killed, was still a decent amount of wealth.
The ferocious beasts here were much more vicious than those on the outskirts of the base, and many C-level ferocious beasts had strength comparable to B-level ones.
Furthermore, he might encounter B-level ferocious beasts here, and dealing with those would be beyond his abilities.
As the sun began to set, Chu Tian had just killed two gnomes lurking on the school playground, and his talent points had reached over seven thousand.
Of course, a small portion of these talent points came from copying talents and the majority from killing ferocious beasts.
Looking at the "+," Chu Tian decided to level up.
[Successfully advanced to mid-level C-class, cost 2070 talent points, remaining talent points: 5110.]
Chu Tian was surprised this time. Previously, the talent points needed for advancing to mid-level D and late-level D had been increasing each time. But this time, it had only cost 2070 points.
Seeing another "+," Chu Tian decided to level up again.
[Successfully advanced to late-level C-class, cost 4950 talent points, remaining talent points: 160.]
[The host has reached the requirements for advancing to B-class. Below is the advancement mission.]
[Advancement Mission: Kill the leader of the B-level ferocious beasts, the gnome leader, or cultivate to B-level on your own.]
[Completing the mission will upgrade the system to a new version.]
"The gnome leader? Why don't you just tell me to die?" Chu Tian muttered when he saw the mission.
However, the system didn't respond at all, acting as if it were a mindless artificial intelligence.
"Also, is the system malfunctioning? It only took me a bit over two thousand talent points to advance to mid-level C, but it took nearly five thousand to advance to late-level C." Chu Tian was puzzled and asked the system in his mind.
The system's cold voice dryly responded.
[Please work hard to cultivate, host!]
Hearing this, Chu Tian was confused. What kind of answer was that? "Work hard to cultivate?" How could he cultivate when he was only at the C-level and didn't even have martial skills?
Martial skills were the only way to actively draw in spiritual energy from the world and absorb it into one's body.
Thinking of absorption, Chu Tian suddenly realized what the system meant by "working hard to cultivate." It was probably referring to absorbing spirit crystal formations.
Every day, Chu Tian would absorb spirit crystal formations during his rest to replenish lost spiritual energy and stamina. After all, absorbing spirit crystal formations didn't require martial skills.
Checking the time, it was already close to evening.
Nighttime was a very unfriendly time for humans, so Chu Tian flew to his nearest temporary resting place.
In the sky, Chu Tian looked down at the ruins that were about to be engulfed by darkness. If he hadn't awakened his talent, he couldn't imagine what his days would have been like.
But just then, Chu Tian furrowed his brows because he noticed something trailing behind him not too far away.
Using his spiritual perception to carefully observe, he realized that it was a Thunderbird following him.