I did it!
This operation directly boosted me by six levels! My health soared from over 1200 to 1823, mana increased from just over 300 to 668, and even skill points rose to 20!
Beneath the steel face mask, Li Lin's face showed an uncontrollable joy.
But what excited him even more was the unlocked feature on the system panel: Career Advancement.
His thoughts raced, and he quickly checked this new feature, discovering that his current profession, the Mechanic, had evolved into the "Mechanical Heart"
However, this "Career Advancement" had a prerequisite; he had to enhance the affinity with the mechanical creations he built.
What troubled Li Lin was that, apart from "increasing affinity with mechanical creations," there were no other hints.
Could the "Mechanical Affinity" skill be related to this?
Currently, this skill was at level 3, and at his current level, he could raise it to level 6...
However, hearing the rushing water behind him, Li Lin shook his head, putting aside thoughts of upgrading skills for now.
Now is not the time...
"Li Lin!" Caitlyn's anxious voice echoed in the narrow passage.
"I'm here."
After about ten seconds, Caitlyn and Grayson, carrying a sniper rifle, ran into the corridor where he was.
Seeing Li Lin, Caitlyn hurriedly jogged over and asked, "Are you okay?"
"With the power armor, how could anything happen to me?" he chuckled, "But how about you? No injuries, right?"
"Both Sheriff Graves and I are fine..."
As she spoke, Caitlyn frowned slightly, looking past Li Lin, gazing at his back.
In the next passage, Zach, now back in human form, stood with his back to them, staring at Twitch's corpse, seemingly lost in thought.
A touch of worry flashed in Caitlyn's azure eyes. "Zac... is he okay?"
She was well aware of Zac's recent bout of madness.
"Just now, Zac went crazy due to negative emotions," Li Lin turned around and glanced, sighing. "Now that Twitch is dead, he should be back to normal."
He had mentioned this to Caitlyn when he told her Zach's story, so today he was explaining more to Grayson.
"Let's go and check."
Grayson' tone carried a hint of sigh and sympathy, slightly easing the tension for Li Lin and Caitlyn.
The three kept silent, stopping about three or four meters from Zac.
Before they could speak, Zac, with a dejected tone, spoke first, "I'm sorry... Did I cause you trouble?"
Li Lin and Caitlyn exchanged a glance, understanding the message in her moist eyes.
Coincidentally, Li Lin felt the same way.
"What are you thinking? Without you, we wouldn't have found Twitch's trace. How can we say you caused trouble?"
"But if I didn't mess up just now, you could have resolved it earlier..."
Li Lin walked to Zac's side, gently patting his arm reassuringly:
"You've seen it yourself. This rat could smell us from more than ten meters away. Plus, he has alchemical venom and uses some special alchemical materials to turn invisible.
"Without you, things wouldn't have gone so smoothly today."
Hearing this, Zac's tendrils on his head perked up, swaying twice. "Really... really?"
"Of course, both Sheriff Grayson and those elite enforcers were not of much help." Caitlyn smiled, reassuring him. Zac could sense the goodwill and sincerity of the three.
"Thank you all..."
"No, we should be thanking you." Grayson also laughed, saying, "After this matter is resolved, I'll personally visit your parents and present them with a commendation flag and a reward for your 'bravery.'"
"Will my mom and dad be happy?" Zac asked cautiously.
Getting a positive response from all three, he immediately jumped up in excitement, startling Caitlyn and Grayson who quickly dodged the splashing sewage.
"I'll go tell Mom and Dad about this right away!"
Without waiting for their response, Zac immediately turned into a gel-like liquid and flowed away with the current, disappearing from their sight.
Grayson looked in the direction where Zach disappeared, shaking his head in amazement. "He's really like a child..."
"Of course, Zac has only been born for half a year," Li Lin remarked.
"Can we talk on the surface? Aren't you disgusted by the sewer environment?" Caitlyn interjected impatiently.
Li Lin and Grayson exchanged a glance and burst into laughter simultaneously.
"I contacted Marcus with the communicator just now. Let them handle the mutant rat's corpse in Piltover," Li Lin assured her.
...
...
Two days had passed since Li Lin had tackled the case of the "serial murderer" Twitch.
It happened by chance that the enormous mutated rat's corpse, a result of alchemical venom, was brought back to the Piltover Academy by the enforcers. The creature's remains were handed over to the biology professor for further examination.
Li Lin, not particularly interested in Twitch's corpse and lacking expertise in biology, did not request permission from Heimerdinger to dissect it.
During these two days, his focus had been on the "career advancement" known as "enhancing mechanical affinity." Besides assisting Kassadin in crafting his "Hextech-powered Armor," he had been engrossed in raising the "Mechanical Affinity" skill to level 6, investing three skill points for improved mechanical affinity.
Yet, this alone did not fulfill the requirements for the "career advancement." It meant that boosting the "Mechanical Affinity" skill was insufficient; he had to find other ways.
Stuck at a bottleneck in the evolution of the profession, Li Lin had no choice but to study Kassadin's power armor for the time being.
Since he only modified the design of the infinite armor for himself, Li Lin didn't spend much time on the schematics, producing it within half a day.
Similar to his own Project Genesis·Infinite Power Armor's defense module, the Hextech-powered armor, of rare quality, was driven by three energy crystals. It possessed active skills like "Adaptive Defense," "Overload Charge," and "Energy Field Oscillation."
Unlike Li Lin's armor, Kassadin's set primarily focused on defense, with significantly thicker armor, providing a total of 25,000 additional hit points. The "Adaptive Shield," generated by consuming 12% of the maximum energy, increased to 30% of the maximum hit points, with a cooldown reduced to 27 seconds as much as possible.
The skills "Overload Charge" and "Energy Field Oscillation" also improved in performance and duration to varying extents. After all, Kassadin sacrificed the armor's "output" for enhanced "tankiness."
However, Kassadin's damage output came entirely from the celestial warrior Horok's "Nether Blade" making it a relentless attack with significantly boosted defense!
Finally, he could overcome the agony of starting with a level 19 armor…
Because Li Lin had asked Kassadin to come back in a few days, with the power armor completed, he found himself with a lot of free time.
Having obtained essence rewards from killing Twitch, his blue essence had reached 1200. This was enough to buy a complete Primordial Crystal, priced at 875.
As Li Lin was about to purchase the Primordial Crystal and research a new power core, his door was urgently knocked on, "bang, bang, bang."
This rude knocking style surely wasn't Caitlyn.
"Who is it?" Li Lin furrowed his brow, a bit annoyed, and got up to open the door.
Standing outside was Jayce, pacing back and forth with an excited look on his face. It seemed like he had some good news.
"Jayce?" Li Lin felt a bit surprised, glancing at the wall clock. "At this hour... aren't you supposed to be at the academy?"
Jayce walked into the room without ceremony, locked the door behind him, then put both hands on Li Lin's shoulders, excitedly saying, "Never mind the academy. My Hex Gates are completed! Moreover, the Council has approved me to supervise building of Hex Gates in Bel'zhun and Nashramae in Shurima, while simultaneously constructing the Hex Gates tower at the Sun Gates harbor in the Upper City."
Changing his tone, he became serious, "But the pressure on me is too much, and Viktor's health doesn't allow him to sit on a ship for too long. I asked him to stay in Piltover to assist in the construction of the Hex Gates..."
Alright, I already know what you want to say…
Li Lin sighed with his head down, "So, you need my help?"
"Indeed, you're my trustworthy friend!" Jayce laughed heartily, patting Li Lin's shoulders twice with force.
"Exactly, now, only you, me, Viktor, and Professor Heimerdinger know about Hex Gates technology. The professor, being the headmaster, can't leave Piltover. Now, only you can help me..."
(End of this chapter)
=========================================================
DROP THEM POWER STONES AND KINDLY LEAVE REVIEWS AS WELL!
SUPPORT ME ON P@TREON IF YOU'D LIKE ACCESS ON ADVANCED CHAPTERS
PAT REON.COM/TurdTranslations (Just remove the space).